Questioning our Perspective

Don't know what happened to the worship team

that were supposed to, like, s off for

you.

But

last Sunday,

Janelle and I later in the afternoon

got a text

from the die.

That it was a little video that Audrey

Die and Ash Die made

for this sermon series.

It's 53 seconds long.

Here is their creation to be a sermon

bumper.

I don't know what it's funnier watching the

video or watching Ash watch that just die

in of over here.

Very well done. I think Jane it could

put you guys to good work for creating

some of this stuff.

Bob Cool in town. Bob's in the back

of the room. Bob was founding

per part of our church. We used to

use his house for baptism. He had a

pool and,

Bob is now mostly living in Florida, but

Christie, I've been wanting to introduce you guys

because he's from Louisiana. You're from Louisiana. So

you guys should meet. You're from the great

state of Louisiana.

Right? See I said it right there. Let

me pray. Father thanks. For Jesus, thank you

for the holy spirit.

Thank you for 1 another.

I thank you for this church.

I thank you for the people that make

this church.

God, I pray this morning as we

look into the scriptures that you'd give us

ears to hear.

What you're trying to say, and Lord as

I pray weekly,

we don't need to hear from Scott. We

need to hear from you.

So Lord, I

humble myself before you and before my church

family,

I pray for the needs that are represented

in this room and online,

physically,

emotionally,

materially,

financially.

Thank you for being our provider.

Touch us this morning, holy spirit.

Jesus name. Amen.

Perspective,

Perspective is

someone's angle

on a situation,

a point of view. It's based on someone's

experience. Right? We all have a perspective

on different things.

So I was reading this story,

it's about perspective.

Following World War 2, a general in his

lieutenant,

boarded a British train.

They sat across from an attractive young lady

and her grandmother.

As the train departed, it entered a long

tunnel,

total darkness encompassed the train for approximately 30

seconds.

In the darkness

of those moments, the passengers heard 2 things,

a kiss.

In a slap.

Everyone on board had his or her own

perspective of what happened.

For example,

the young lady assumed to herself,

while I'm flattered the handsome lieutenant kiss me.

I'm embarrassed that my grandmother slapped it.

The grandmother supposed,

I'm disappointed with the lieutenant, but I'm proud

that my granddaughter had the courage to slap

him.

The general thought, what in the world?

Why did my lieutenant kiss that civilian young

lady and why did she slap me by

mistake?

The lieutenant was the only person on the

train

who really knew what happened.

In that brief period,

of darkness.

He had the opportunity to kiss an attractive

young lady as well as slap is general.

Perspective.

We're concluding our our series asked the rabbi,

where we've been looking at different questions over

the summer that were asked of Jesus?

And what was his response?

What what who was the person asking the

question?

And what's the context so that we can

learn

important questions

for us. Today,

we're gonna look at a time when Jesus

was asked by the disciples, who is the

greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

And it got me to think about,

you know, this acronym that we use

in modern culture called who's the goat?

The greatest of all time. It's acronym, greatest

of all time. Who is the greatest of

all time. So I have a couple here

for you. I want some crowd

participation. Alright? And who is

in this kinda either or when I show

you a series of 2 pictures, who's the

greatest of all time. Start with this 1?

Greatest quarterback of all time. Is it Tom

Brady?

How many has?

Yeah. Alright.

Or is

John L the greatest of all time.

We're all homer, but we got to watch

him play for so many years and do

what he did, so I by far, think

he's the greatest of all time.

Said it on live Tv.

Check on the Youtube tomorrow.

Alright.

Next, greatest of all time. Muhammad Ali. He

said he was the greatest boxer of all

time. How many think he is?

Some of you're too young to know who

Muhammad ali he is. Maybe you know who

this is.

Mike Tyson.

This is Mike Tyson.

Ali or Tyson.

Tyson. Okay. Alright. Next, we'll go into the

movies.

Lord of the rings

or

Star Wars.

Alright. Let's go to music, music. Greatest of

all time, the king Elvis. Right?

Or

the beatles. Yeah

Beatles actually at the height of their fame

said they were, more famous than God.

Yeah.

Alright. Let's switch it over to food.

Mexican food.

Or

pizza.

How many mexican can food?

How many pizza?

We're all hungry now.

How about this 1?

Subway

or

Jimmy Jones.

So which 1 subway?

I go subway or Jimmy Jones.

Or Jersey Mike's.

This is fun.

So what that either or who's the greatest?

What's the greatest?

Should

bring out about us like... But but what

about Joe Montana

instead of these yeah, what about

you're talking deep dish pizza thin crust,

Chicago stuff... I mean, there's all these possibilities

because of perspective.

It boils down to perspective.

Now,

there will always be debate on these kinds

of things.

But I'm here to tell you this morning,

there is no debate

about who is the greatest in the kingdom

of God.

And that's Jesus.

But what we're gonna see in the context

of the question that has asked of Jesus,

it's it's not about Jesus.

It's about people who follow Jesus? Who is

the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. What

does greatness look like?

In the kingdom of heaven. The perspective of

the king and his kingdom. So how does

the world first define greatness. The world defines

greatness says success.

Power,

money,

stuff. Good looks, all of that,

and those things have nothing to do with

greatness,

in the kingdom of God.

In Matthew 18 verses 1 through 4.

Matthew 18:1–4

It was at this time that the disciples

came

to Jesus

with the question.

Who is really the greatest in the kingdom

of heaven?

Jesus called a little child to his side

and set him on his feet in the

middle of them all.

Believe me, he said,

unless you change your whole outlook or perspective

and become like little children you will never

enter the kingdom of heaven.

It is the person who can be as

humble as this little child

who is the greatest in the kingdom of

heaven.

Now, if you read through the gospel, you

you realize Jesus disciples were getting on the

job training.

For 3 years.

And they had some serious blu along the

way. Right?

Peter

You know, he's bold and and had a

big talk, but he ended up denying Jesus

on the job training to make Peter

the humble apostle that he ultimately became. James

and John,

come to Jesus, they have the audacity to

come to Jesus and say, hey, when you

enter into your kingdom,

Can 1 of us sit on your right

in your left hand? And can we be

the of a place of a very importance

in your kingdom?

So let's let's talk for a second and

answer the question. What is the kingdom of

heaven?

And what does it like?

What is the kingdom of heaven and what

is it like? The kingdom of heaven is

where Jesus is king.

It's where he is

recognized as king.

It's the place where

his will

is done, where his will is always done.

Jesus taught us to pray, our father in

Heaven, Hall would be thy name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on

the earth as it is in heaven.

God's will is always done in the kingdom

of heaven. And we should be praying that

his will is done on the earth. It's

not always done on the earth. If we

wreck that. Right? It's not.

So the kingdom of heaven is both

now

and also future.

We are get... We get glimpse of the

kingdom as we

follow and submit to Jesus and want to

do his will, the kingdom of heaven is

within us, and we're demonstrating that to the

world around us. Physically,

literally, 1 day when Jesus returns and at

the resurrection

and when he renew

the heavens and the earth,

all things will be perfect, and his will

will be perfectly done. We're not there yet.

So let's look at some things that maybe

describe

the kingdom of heaven or first of all,

what is the kingdom of heaven like? The

king of the kingdom

of heaven is a humble king.

Our king is a humble

king.

Think about

the son of God, God the son, the

second member of the Trinity,

who is eternal, the eternal living word of

God

He came to this earth

in humility, he humbled himself,

and the the

God became 1 of us. He entered

into our life into this world,

into this broken world.

And he took on an additional nature to

forever be the god man. He will always

be perfectly a hundred percent God, perfectly a

hundred

percent human.

And he's perfect at both. But but when

we read about how Jesus came into the

world, he came very humbly

He didn't come into a family of power

or wealth. He came into a very blue

collar

parents,

blue collar

situation, born, you know, in a manger and

a stable and all of that. He he

could have come in pom in circumstances.

But the king of the kingdom of heaven

is a humble king.

The apostle Paul writes

to the Philippians church.

He says have this attitude

in yourselves,

which was also in Christ Jesus,

who as he already existed in the form

of God,

did not consider equality with God something to

be grasped,

but emptied himself by taking the form of

a bond servant.

And being born in the likeness of men

and being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient.

To the point of death, death on a

cross.

For this reason, also god highly exalted him.

And be bestowed on him, the name, which

is above every name.

So that at the name of Jesus,

every knee will bow,

of those who are in heaven and on

earth and under the earth, and that every

tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God, the father.

Did you catch that?

Our humble king humbled himself

And in his humility,

the father

exalted him to the place place of highest

glory.

He humbled himself.

The king of the kingdom is a humble

king. I was thinking about this,

the king always sets the tone for the

kingdom,

just like,

You know, if you own a business,

you set the tone for your employees.

In a family, you set the tone

for your family.

Leaders set the tone for the people that

they are overseeing. If you're a manager of

any type in your work, you set the

tone

for what it's gonna be like.

Arch king

set the tone as humility. And he actually

did it,

showed us and set the tone in

the upper room on the night of his

betrayal in John 13,

Jesus takes the place of a servant.

And he washes the disciples feet.

He got, you know, put a towel around

them him and he wash their feet.

And if if we're not careful, we'll go

too fast beyond that

demonstration of humility.

Think think about the disciples feet.

First of all, their men's feet. That's pretty

gross to start with. Right? Men's feet are

not, something very attractive.

But

that sandals,

dirt,

no paved roads,

animal waste because of the animals being the

mode of

transportation.

So maybe we could equate that almost to

like, cleaning a really gross toilet or something

on behalf of somebody. It's a place of

complete servant hood of what Jesus did,

And he told them afterwards, he said for

I gave you an example that you also

should do as I did to you.

So our king is a humble king. Therefore

it's a humble

kingdom.

Secondly, the kingdom of heaven is an upside

down kingdom.

It's an upside down kingdom.

It's the opposite of the way of the

world. It's counter cultural.

It's counterintuitive

to the ways of the world. In Matthew,

5 through 7, it's the lengthy version of

the sermon on the mount.

And in the sermon on the mount, Jesus

says several times. He says you've heard it

said in the old

or in the law.

That it's I for an eye tooth for

a tooth.

But I say to you, love your enemies.

Bless those who per you. It's a complete

flipping

of our normal

reaction

intuitive

to take revenge to fight back.

And he says, no. Love those who per

you.

That the kingdom of Jesus doesn't come through

military force.

It doesn't come through

national borders or tanks or Any of that,

the kingdom of Jesus is within us in

the body of Christ, the body of believers.

Then thirdly,

the kingdom of heaven is for the humble.

It's for the humble.

Jesus as I read earlier, believe me, he

said,

unless you change your whole outlook or perspective

on greatness.

And become like little children you'll never enter

the kingdom of heaven.

It's a humble kingdom. It's upside down.

And it's for those who are willing to

humble themselves.

You humble yourself when you say Jesus, I

agree with you.

You are the supreme authority.

You are the creator and sustain of all

things. I'm not my own boss. I don't

get to call.

My own shots. I want to follow you.

That

submission to our humble king,

it helps gets us to enter into the

kingdom and say, Lord, you're the savior. You

died for me.

You rose for me. I wanna live

for you.

Let's switch gears. How does the kingdom of

heaven measure greatness?

Complete opposite of the way the world measures,

greatness.

Now it's okay to have championships

and do well and and all of that.

There's nothing wrong with any of those things.

We were we were born with competitiveness.

We were born

to to be achieve.

It's just we gotta make sure our hearts

are always in the right place when it

comes to that. And real and and stay

humble. A humble champion

is the best kind of champion. Right? When

you see someone who is humble when they

win something great or do something great or

they give credit to the Lord or they

give credit to mom or they give credit

to somebody else, that humility is attractive.

So how does the kingdom of heaven and

measure greatness?

First of all, it's

humility over pride.

Humility over pride.

I was thinking

about my dad, and

My dad was he played

baseball for the University of Georgia,

and then he played a couple years of

minor league Baseball and

the

Pittsburgh Pirates

organization and the old Washington senators.

And he said,

there was a game

that his team

got killed. Like,

like, the other day, the Rockies won

be the Red sox 20 to 7

for you football people. That's like, winning 75

to 10 or something. I mean, 20 runs

is a lot.

Of of of runs and a game. So

it was a game like that where my

dad was on the losing team.

And he said, he's in the locker room,

and he was showering

and he's kinda happy because he went 3...

Like, 3 for 4 with a home run

and 2 doubles.

He wasn't really worried about the fact that

they lost. He was, like, I had a

pretty good game in spite of this loss.

He said he was in the shower and

he was

he was singing

and w.

And the manager

overheard that. And the manager came in.

He was like Apple gate. It's all this

singing and w.

I'm taking you out of the lineup up

tomorrow. We got our butts handed to us

today, and you're over here Wi and singing

about yourself. And not the team, and he

sets some very more colorful things. My dad

said to him.

But

humility over pride. Right? Humility always gives us

the right perspective.

Pride is the idol tree of self.

It is putting too much stock into ourselves,

making too much out of ourselves.

Again, Jesus said, it is the man or

person who can be as humble as this

little child.

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of

heaven.

I had the privilege of being part of

the V this last week and be around

these kids and watching what was going on

and

made me think about little kids, like, children

up to a certain age. They are the

definition of the humility

that Jesus is talking about.

Children are dependent upon their parents,

whoever's watching them. To a certain age, they

can't do things for themselves. They are dependent.

We are dependent upon God. They trust

until their parents give them a reason, not

to trust, children trust, and they don't worry.

They're not worried about if the bills are

gonna get paid or am I gonna get

fed. They they just expect that.

That's what it means to be humble like

it. Child before God.

Jesus said, people who make themselves great will

be humbled.

And people who humble themselves will become great.

The kingdom of heaven measures greatness,

humility over pride, 1 of my favorite authors

John S.

He said at every stage of our Christian

development

and in every sphere of our disciples ship,

Pride is the greatest enemy

and humility is our greatest friend.

Pride,

that's our greatest enemy.

Humility

our great friend.

This 1 guy said, he said,

I'd really like to be humble

What will anybody notice?

It was supposed to be funny?

Will anybody notice?

That's that tug of war. I wanna be

humble,

but will somebody recognize my humility.

And when when that's where we're at, we've

kinda lost what it means. To be humble.

We've all been there. I... I'm there all

the time.

Humility is a right assessment of ourselves before

God,

and before each other.

Humility

is

a full dependence

upon our creator and our savior.

Pride is the dependence upon self

and thinking we can do things that only

God can do for us

like save ourself,

like and provide and all of that. So

humility

pride.

Second way,

The kingdom of heaven measures greatness is serving

over being served.

Serving over being served.

There's a I'm gonna read this here in

a second a Mark 10. The disciples were

arguing amongst themselves,

about who is gonna be... Who's the greatest

of the 12.

Imagine these guys, sometimes you just...

But we all would have been there doing

the exact same thing.

And he Jesus overheard that. It says Jesus

called them to him.

And he said, you know how it is

in the in the pagan nations or the

gentile.

He said, think

how their so called rulers act. They lord

it over their subjects.

The high and mighty ones boss the rest

around,

but that's not how it's going to be

with you.

Anyone who wants to be great among you,

you must be become must become your servant.

Anyone who wants to be first must be

everyone's slave.

Don't you see? The son of man didn't

come to be waited on. He came to

be the servant to give his life as

a ransom

for many.

Jesus led by example.

Jesus

never asks anything of you and I. That

he didn't do or wasn't willing to do

himself.

Jesus is the ultimate

servant leader

And in the kingdom of heaven, leadership is

about serving.

My job as a pastor

is to serve.

To be lead servant, if you will.

And and

anybody in a place of leadership as you

follow Jesus, it is to serve

not to be

served.

I love this

picture somebody made

about the difference between being a boss or

a leader.

The boss is, you know, there's another 1

where it's like on a chariot.

And he's telling his employees go, get me

to where I need to be.

The leader is out front with the business

or the church or the organization saying, let's

go

and is the first 1 taken the charge.

That's what a leader does. You serve.

Leaders serve. Serve over being served.

Another measure

of greatness in the kingdom of heaven is

self denial

over selfish.

Self denial over selfish.

Selfish is at the root of a haul

our problems,

it's at the root of sin.

Selfish ness ruins

relationships, it ruins marriages

ruins

churches at ruins families.

In Matthew 16,

Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone wishes...

To come after me,

he must deny himself and take up his

cross and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will

lose it. But whoever loses his life for

my sake

will find it.

The context of that very

quoted

often quoted

scripture. Let me give you the context.

Jesus

takes his disciples

to a place called Caesar Philip.

In the old testament, it was called Bash,

and it was at the the foot of

mount Hu

in northern Israel.

And

the

Romans changed the name from Bash to Caesar

Phillip,

But Caesar F was a place of great

evil.

It's where they worship demons,

and they they did sacrifices

and child sacrifices.

And most

scholars believe that what happened, the d disparity

that happened in Genesis chapter 6.

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

With the sons of God, these spiritual beings

come down and and and pro create with

beautiful women and create this

off, you know, offs shoot,

you know, of of humanity, off race or

whatever,

this corrupt race,

that that's what brought in the flood and

why god flooded the earth, but

the that that happened on the top of

mount her own.

So at Caesar,

there was a place

called the gates of Hell.

Those of us who went to Israel in

2019,

and I'm not gonna say it. Those of

us that went to Israel in 2019,

we went to Caesar phillip pie. Oh And

you go there,

and there are 3 little areas

that

there... 1 of them is a pool of

water still active today.

And they called that pool of water, the

gates of hell

or the gates of hades. They believed at

that pool of water

led right to

the get... That 2 hades, the ab boat

of the dead.

And if you re remember,

Jesus takes them to this

evil area

and he says... Because he's got a object

lesson in mind for them.

And he says, who do the people say

that I am. Remember the disciples say, oh,

your elijah, you're Jeremiah,

1 of the prophets come back maybe even

John the Baptist.

Jesus turns the question on to them directly

and he says, who do you guys? Say

I am.

You remember Peter.

He gets the revelation. And he says, well,

you're the Christ. You're the messiah, you're the

son of the living God.

Not the son of all these dead gods

around us, but you're the son of the

living God.

And Jesus says you're right.

Simon.

He says,

flesh and blood did not reveal this to

you, but my father in heaven revealed this

to you.

And he said upon this revelation, I'm gonna

build my church and the gates of hell

will not stand against it.

Gates are a defensive thing.

And he says those the gates that guard

hell in Hades were going in.

We're going in with this truth that I'm

the son of God. I'm the messiah, the

son of the living God.

And changes his name to Peter, the rock

from Simon to Peter.

Well,

a couple paragraphs later. Jesus tells his disciples.

I'm gonna have to suffer and die at

the hands of sinful men, but I'm gonna

rise on the third day.

Peter says not on my watch. No way

is that happening.

And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan.

You do not have in mind the things

of God, but the things of men.

He went from,

Peter, you're the rock. To get behind me,

Satan pretty quick.

What this means about denying ourself.

Is self denial over selfish,

is Peter

had an agenda for Jesus.

That was not god's agenda.

He had this agenda

that through Jesus

that that Israel was gonna become a great

nation again, and they were gonna... He was

gonna overthrow Rome and free them from all

the tyranny of that. Jesus didn't come for

that. He came to defeat. We're the enemies

of sand death and the evil 1, and

he did it through his life death and

resurrection. He's coming back 1 day, in the

all the world is his anyway, but he's

gonna set up his kingdom in the new

heavens and the new Earth.

So for us,

to be great in the kingdom

is to not have our own agenda for

our lives

is to take our life as a blank

piece of paper.

Say Lord, I'm just gonna sign my name

on the bottom. You tell me what do

you wanna do with my life? How do

you want me to live my life?

It's making his agenda, the priority

of our life.

And then greatness in the kingdom is last

over first.

Last over first.

Jesus said, but many who are first will

be last

in the last

first.

The new testament for everyone

puts it this way, But many at the

front will find themselves at the back, and

the back ones at the front.

Think about the people we elevate

in society,

This person's great. This person's a rock star,

this person's successful, and we elevate and put

them first. We even do this in the

church.

The people who we think play such an

important role

in the kingdom of heaven

because they have a title

or they're out front or they're a missionary

or whatever. No.

It's it's us. It's you.

Greatness

in in in the kingdom of god is

faithfulness.

And sometimes it's it's faithfulness

when nobody sees

Nobody sees

your prayers. Nobody sees you inner inter seating.

Nobody sees you being faithful.

In the little things, faithful in the small

things.

That's greatness in the kingdom of god,

in I think we have this idea that

when we go to heaven

that just people who

were vocational

pastors or whatever, no way.

It's the people who are faithful

without titles,

without any of that.

Do you know that

Jesus and Paul,

talk a lot about rewards in the life

to come,

that we will be rewarded in the life

to come for our faithfulness and how we

lived our life. Jesus talks about this and

the parable of the talents. Right?

How did... What did we do with our

time, talent and treasure?

Did we invest in the kingdom of god?

Or did we invest in our own little

kingdom or the kingdoms of this world?

And then Paul, in first Corinthians talks about

at this this... It's an award ceremony

when when you think about it there... You

you go to a football banquet at the

end of the year or school or whatever.

You're celebrating

people's accomplishments. Right? Paul talks about this,

award ceremony where,

you know, he says things that are done

in the right motives for the right reasons.

He said those things will be

rewarded and that that we all be tried

by by this fire.

And that the things that I did

in the power of Christ and for the

glory of Christ, and when I was faithful

when I didn't feel like being faithful.

He said those things when tried by fire,

Are gonna be like rub and gold and

precious stones that the fire won't

ex.

But he said he's saying things that I

did for my sake and if for myself,

or my own glory, those are gonna be

like, wood, hay and stubble. And they just

don't melt away.

But he's gonna reward you for faithfulness,

when you don't feel like being faithful, and

when you forgive people who you don't feel

like forgiving. When you love the un unbelievable.

When you do the hard things in the

kingdom,

of heaven.

It's not perfection.

Lord knows it's not perfection.

It is

faithfulness.

It's when you fail,

you get back up, and you

continue being faithful.

Repentance and faithfulness,

repentance and faithfulness.

And then lastly, the kingdom of heaven measures

greatness by action

over apa.

Action over apa.

Brian did an amazing job,

last Sunday. In his message, answering the question

on who is my neighbor. I'm grateful for

Brian and his teaching.

It was excellent. And he talked about that

question of what must I do to inherit

eternal life and

the the

guy that was the person of the law

says what must I do to inherit eternal

life and he says,

Well, he... What are the commands read. And

he says, well, love god heart soul mind

and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus says, good. Do that and you'll live.

The guy wanted to justify himself and he

said, well, who's my neighbor?

Wrong. Bad question.

Because then he gives him this parable about

the good samaritan.

That there was a fellow jew who was

beaten and robbed

and left for dead on the side of

the road.

And that a priest

walks by and didn't have time for him.

A levi walks by and didn't have time

for him.

And yet this Samaritan did. He took at

action.

On behalf of this man, samaritan were completely

hated

by the Jewish people.

And yet this guy who is hated by

the Jews

took care of this Jewish man.

It was action over apa, the Levi and

the priest had... Where were

He was the good neighbor.

Jesus talks about,

when we do things for the least of

these,

we've done it onto him,

the poor, the broken,

the prisoner,

the thirsty,

the naked

when you do it for him,

when you do it for them, you do

it for him,

action over apa.

Who are the least of these in our

midst? Who are the least of these in

our community?

Well, you're doing some of it when you

take a backpack,

and you fill it for a family who

does not have money for school supplies,

or when you just look out for 1

another. When we look out for 1 another,

that's action over apa. Maybe there's an area

in your life, you go, I don't wanna

be or. I wanna take action.

Pray about it. Pray about it. Because when

we take action,

we demonstrate the kingdom of heaven

to a broken world.

We demonstrated demonstrate it. So they can they

can see what the kingdom of heaven is

like.

We stand with me.

We just put your hands out in front

of you in a way of receiving

this morning.

May the holy spirit

fill you, fresh and new this morning.

May you know the love of God the

father, the eternal love

that he is set upon you and demonstrated

in his son.

May you

Push push push aside shame,

and walk

in your new identity in Jesus.

May you live

in this world

that

pushes a different set of priorities and greatness

in a way that is salt and light

to the people around you.

May God give you

courageous

faith.

May he open your eyes

to people in situations around you where you

need to take action.

And may you experience the joy

of obedience?

The experience of experiencing the love of God

and passing that on to others.

And Lord,

I think of the the verse where it

says that you oppose the proud, but you

give grace to the humble. We humble ourselves

before you.

We don't wanna be in opposition to you.

We humble ourselves and realize it's a hundred

percent grace.

But it's through that grace. You've called us

to participate in in your world and what

you're doing.

So thank you for a fresh perspective today,

Jesus on what it means to be great

in your kingdom. It's for your glory, and

in your name, we pray.

Amen.