Mark 14:43-52

Father, we come before you as people, even the best of us, are frail and minuscule compared to you.

What can we bring to you as if you have need?

So Lord, help us, by your Holy Spirit, come to you with arms open to receive.

Lord, help us bring to you the only thing that we can truly bring to you,

a humility before you, saying that you are God and we are man.

And Lord, as we open your word, help us to be people that are underneath your word,

that submit to your word, that trust that your word is from you and that your word is good.

So Lord, we ask that you open our eyes, open our ears, prepare our hearts this morning.

In Christ's name, amen.

One of the best things I've watched, maybe, I don't want to say ever, that seems rather dramatic,

but, I mean, say top five, is the HBO miniseries Chernobyl.

I really, I don't know, it gripped me.

It was a fantastic miniseries.

It's, as you could guess, about the nuclear meltdown in May of 86 in Chernobyl, what is now in Ukraine.

A nuclear reactor exploded and the Chernobyl recounts the explosion, but really the aftermath of the official investigation.

After all the secrets and cover-ups and passing the blame on an institutional level,

the lead character, a man named Valery Legazov, a true person, he really lived,

he was standing in front of a tribunal.

After already lying to kind of an official UN-style delegation in Austria,

he kind of towed the party line, but in front of this tribunal,

he decides to tell the truth.

When asked why the nuclear reactor exploded, he boldly says this,

because of our secrets and our lies.

They are practically what define us.

When the truth offends us, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it.

Remember it is there, but it is still there.

Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth.

Sooner or later, that debt is paid.

That is how an RBMK reactor explodes by lies.

Very powerful scene, like, really powerful scene.

Lies, deceit, delusion, willful misrepresentation, betrayal.

All enemies of the truth.

We come to the fateful passage of Mark.

Mark, it seems like it's been leading up to it week after week.

We're going to get there, we're going to get there.

Jesus finally is betrayed.

His passion finally begins.

Mark chapter 14, starting in verse 43.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

Jesus is betrayed by Judas

into the hands of the religious establishment

who will try to drum up some kind of accusation

to then hand him over to the Romans

who will eventually nail him to a crucifix

and he is left to die.

We will see how the entirety of Jesus' betrayal and arrest,

everything that follows,

was built upon lies and deceit.

None of the people that act against Jesus

are doing so in a truthful way.

In any, by, I mean, you could try to see it in a charitable way.

There's just no chance you can.

Lies and deceit, betrayal.

Be they the personal lies that we tell others,

ourselves, or big cultural lies

that are perpetuated by trusted institutions.

Lies seem to be the most expedient way

to deal with unwanted situations

or unwanted people or unwanted issues.

But the problem is,

those lies can never keep the truth covered up indefinitely.

For a season, for a time,

for maybe even a generation.

But the truth will always have victory over the lies.

Lies perpetuate and grow

until the facade that is built up

comes tumbling down.

Truth cannot be denied forever.

It can't be.

So we're going to look at the betrayal of Jesus.

We're going to look at it hopefully in depth,

focusing on the actors involved.

We're going to look at Judas.

We're going to look at the religious leaders.

We're going to look at the disciples.

We're also going to look at you and I in all of this.

So let's take a look at Judas.

We'll get right into it.

Verses 43.

By the way, if you want to grab a Bible,

there's still a few back there.

If you can follow along, that'd be great.

If not, just listen.

Verse 43.

Oh, a bit of a background.

Jesus, he...

The Last Supper is instituted.

Jesus foretells the denial of Peter.

Everybody swears they're going to follow him to their grave.

Jesus prays in Gethsemane.

The disciples that just swore up and down,

they're going to be with him to the end, fall asleep.

And Jesus, in verse 42, says,

Rise, let us be going.

See my betrayers at hand.

And this is that immediately.

So this is like boom, boom, boom, subsequent events,

kind of one after another.

Verse 43.

And immediately when he was still speaking,

that is Jesus, Judas came, one of the twelve,

and with him a crowd with swords and clubs

from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

Verse 44.

Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying,

The one I will kiss is the man.

Seize him and lead him away under guard.

Judas is called Judas in verse 43,

and then the betrayer in 44.

And after this section, we don't hear from him again.

In other gospel accounts, in Matthews, for instance,

I mean, we, in Luke's, I think in John's as well,

there's a bit of an aftermath,

kind of like the backstory of what happens with Judas after the fact.

Here, Judas, he disappears.

He is on the scene.

He betrays.

He's called the betrayer.

And then he is gone.

Notice here that Mark makes it very clear that Judas,

one of the twelve, he is described.

Judas, I mean, up until this point,

was still a disciple,

a part of Jesus' inner circle.

And a part of that inner circle meant that Judas had journeyed with Jesus for,

I mean, three years,

had been in the Galilee,

had seen Jesus raise a paralytic from the grave,

calm a storm,

cast out demons,

teach.

He also commissioned his twelve,

which Judas would have been one of,

to go and do ministry in Jesus' name.

Judas was an intimate part of Jesus' very group,

and would have, at the very least,

maybe he was a bit thick-skulled,

and he didn't quite understand that Jesus was saying that he was the Messiah,

fully man and fully God.

But at the very least, my guess,

Judas knew that this was a special man,

maybe a prophet.

So it is very, very remarkable

that twice Jesus warns the group,

with Judas in earshot,

and warns them that the one who will betray him

will become a son of perdition,

will be damned.

That there will be no redemption for the one who betrays

the Son of God.

You'd think that he would

maybe,

maybe

repent,

have a dark night of the soul,

and come to Jesus' aid,

or maybe use now his position

as a betrayer

to upend the Pharisees,

and the chief priests,

and the scribes.

Like, if this was a mini-series,

we didn't know the end from the beginning,

we were just kind of watching it episode by episode.

Verse 42 ends,

Jesus says,

Rise, let us be going,

see my betrayers at hand.

End scene,

roll credits,

what's going to happen in the next episode?

Is Judas going to follow through with it?

Or will he kind of come to his senses,

and be the guy to figure things out,

and save the day?

But no.

Time and again,

he has opportunities

to fix what he has done,

to repent,

but he does not do it.

Judas

did not want to believe the truth

that Jesus was heading to the cross,

and was worthy

of having expensive ointment

poured over him

in preparation for burial.

Do you remember,

a few weeks back,

Jesus is reclining

at Simon the leper's house,

and this woman comes,

she's unnamed,

but she breaks open

this bottle

of expensive ointment,

a year's wages,

and pours it over him,

and the disciples

become indignant.

What a waste of money.

And it's clear that

Judas here

didn't hear

what Jesus was saying.

I'm going to the cross,

I'm worthy of this,

because I'm going to die

for the sins of many.

This woman,

she's doing a beautiful thing,

don't scold her.

Judas

becomes entrenched

in the lies that he believes.

We're not sure

what the lies are,

but they're not the truth.

He doesn't believe Jesus,

doesn't take Jesus

at his word,

and he becomes entrenched

in his beliefs.

He believes the lie.

He allows the offense

that he feels

at the act of this

kind of huge,

huge blessing

of this unnamed woman

to Jesus,

trump all of the good

and the true

and the beautiful

that he saw Jesus

do during his ministry.

And he continued on

in his plan of betrayal.

He's nursing the lie.

Nursing the lie.

Notice here

that Judas also mocks Jesus.

He says,

the one that I'm going to kiss,

verse 45,

and he went up to Jesus

at once and said,

Rabbi,

Rabbi,

and he kissed him.

I mean,

we could say

in our minds,

maybe Rabbi,

like a handshake

or like a greeting,

but this is,

this is 2,000 years ago

in the Middle East.

This is a man

who is showing,

trying to show,

pretending to show

great love

and affection

and deference

to his leader.

This is a sign

of just love,

but it's empty,

and he is doing it

in a mocking way.

Rabbi,

how are you?

The best rabbi,

the best teacher,

embraces him,

touches him,

kisses him,

a sign of intimacy,

a sign of affection.

But there's a mob behind him

with clubs and swords

at night.

He doesn't believe

anything he is saying.

He is mocking Jesus.

Another example

of an embracing

of the lies

because you don't mock

the rabbi of rabbis,

the teacher of teachers,

the leader of leaders,

the king of kings.

If you do that,

you believe

in something different,

a falsehood,

a lie.

What we see with Judas

is a man

who is a betrayer

and he is a mocker

and who is eyeballs deep

in deceit

and self-deception.

I mean,

quite the character.

Let's take a look

at the religious leaders.

Notice verse 43 as well.

The second part of it.

And Judas came,

one of the twelve,

and with him a crowd

with swords and clubs

from the chief priests,

the scribes,

and the elders.

These religious leaders,

they were kind of

the top tier of society.

The people that

were the trusted authority

on religion,

on civil life,

on social life,

everything that it was

to be an upstanding Israelite

in the first century.

These were the ones

that were supposed

to lead the people,

to know the truth,

and to lead the people

into truth.

Except,

from the beginning,

they too have been

nursing a hatred

towards the truth,

that Jesus is

the one who

is the Messiah,

that he has come

to upend

false religion,

and at least,

just turn this down.

Anyways,

there's a buzzing.

I don't know if it's

distracting, folks.

Sorry about that.

But at least

since chapter 3,

they have been

colluding with one another

to destroy Jesus.

At least since chapter 3.

And it's not like

Jesus did stuff

or claimed things

in private.

He was very public

about his ministry.

They had many opportunities

to have their

false piety,

false religion,

false beliefs

be confronted

with the truth.

But time and again,

they chose to believe

the lie.

They entrenched

themselves.

This is the thing

with the truth.

The truth

is the truth.

The truth

stands alone.

It is on a foundation

that can't be moved.

But lies

require

this

web

of

other lies

and other

deceits

and

falsities

and

cover-ups

and

dust under the carpets

and all of a sudden

this big structure

emerges

and you take

one away

and the whole

thing begins

to topple.

Jesus is the truth

and he is proclaiming

the truth

and it is

offensive

and it is

threatening

to the lie

of the

religious

and social

leaders.

The thing is

truth by virtue

of being the truth

always exposes

lies.

It just always does.

It has to.

There is no

idea of

your truth

versus my truth

if the truths

are incongruent.

You can't

it's silly

to somehow

think that

two opposing

views can be

somehow

congruent

when they are

opposite.

There's truth

and there's not

truth.

There's lies

and then there's lies

and then there's lies

and lies and lies

but only one truth.

You remember

when Jesus

goes to the temple

he pronounces

these indictments

against it

but really

to the religious

establishment.

He says that

the temple

has been made

a den of robbers.

This is back

in chapter 11

and he exposes

false religion.

Why?

Because it is

rooted in lies.

So how are these

religious leaders

trying to suppress

the truth?

On one hand

they treat Jesus

as a revolutionary

coming with swords

and clubs.

They're treating him

the same way

as the Romans

would treat

a zealot

an insurrectionist

a revolutionary.

I mean

in our translation

it's used as robbers

that can work as well

but there's more

to it than that.

They are treating him

as though

the kingdom

that he has proclaimed

is going to be

instituted

by sword and club

like every other

kingdom

that has come before it.

but not the kingdom

of God.

And just on an aside

this isn't

this isn't

this is bonus material

I guess

on an aside

the kingdom of God

never comes

by way of force.

And whenever

there is a show

of force

in the name of God

by whatever

official sources

you know

proclaim it

it isn't

the way of God

because the way of God

is always

to bring

his kingdom

on earth

as it is

in heaven

where there

is perfect

peace.

That's not to say

that God

can't use

horrendous

decisions

by

by really

really bad

people

and leaders

to somehow

achieve his

ends

but it's never

God's will

to have

some kind of

holy war

against evil

people

as a way

of extending

his kingdom.

So

we'll

get back

I mean

we got off

on an exit

let's get back

on the highway

here.

So

Jesus

he

sorry

the religious

leaders

are trying

to suppress

the truth

by treating

Jesus

as

a

insurrectionist

as a

revolutionary

in essence

perpetuating

this false

narrative

that Jesus

is violent

and he's not.

On the other

hand

they oppose him

at night

while the city

sleeps

because their

accusations

aren't rooted

in truth

and can't

hold up

under

any kind

of scrutiny.

Notice that

Jesus

in next

week's text

will be

in front

of the

council

of the

high priest

and they

are scrambling

trying to

figure out

some kind

of

charge

to lay

upon him

that will

stick

and they

can't

find any.

But consider

Jesus'

words here

starting in

verse 46

this is what

Jesus says

they laid

hands on

him and

seized him

but one

of those

who stood

by drew

his sword

and struck

his servant

of the high

priest and

cut off

his ear

and Jesus

said to

them

have you

come out

as against

a robber

or as

against a

revolutionary

with swords

and clubs

to capture

me

day after

day I

was with

you in

the temple

teaching

and you

did not

seize me

but let

the scriptures

be fulfilled

let the

scriptures

be fulfilled

Jesus

confronted

them with

truth

all day

for a

long period

of time

he confronts

them in

day in

public

they confront

him with

lies

in private

at night

it's a big

difference between

these two

parties

Judas

given to

lies

entrenched

in lies

the religious

leaders

they were

supposed to

be in a

sense the

stewards of

truth

entrenched

in lies

how about

you and

I

we have

considered

Judas and

the religious

leaders

we've looked

at betrayal

and mockery

deceit

lies

but how

about us

I mean

think of an

experience that

you have had

with betrayal

and mockery

and lying

I mean

we live in a

broken world

you've

I'm sure

experienced

things

those of

as the

prayer book

calls of

more riper

years

have experienced

more

than us

who are

not as

ripe

but

nevertheless

what

comes to

mind

you know

I'm sure

some of

us have

gone through

some really

tough things

have been

betrayed

and mocked

have been

hurt

have been

misrepresented

and there's

something about

Jesus

and only

Jesus

where we

can go

to him

and he

can say

truly say

I know

exactly

what you've

been

through

I can

sympathize

with you

but

how many

of us

when I

ask the

question

about

your

experience

with

betrayal

and mockery

and lying

thought of

yourself

as the

victim

but not

as the

victimizer

not as

the one

who

is

the

betrayer

is

the

liar

is

the

mocker

I know

for myself

when I

was going

through this

initially

earlier in

the week

I was just

like that

Judas

he is

a piece

of work

like

I would

never be

like him

at least

that was

my

attitude

but

the

reality

is

we

although

are

on one

hand

victims

at times

we

are also

guilty

of

living

lies

and

perpetuating

them

mocking

people

betraying

people

lying

to

people

the

great

danger

of

reading

a

text

like

this

like

I

mentioned

is

that

we

deceive

ourselves

into

thinking

we

are

not

immune

to

deception

or

certainly

aren't

deceivers

ourselves

but a

text

like

this

what

does

it

do

it

reminds

us

of

our

default

setting

and our

default

setting

is

that

we

are

given

to

lies

before

we

are

given

to

truth

that's

our

default

setting

the

currency

that

we

deal

in

is

cover

up

in

self

justification

downplaying

our

sin

and

up

playing

our

virtue

is

up

playing

the

right

thing

to

say

is

to

talk

about

how

virtuous

we

are

but

because

the

scriptures

are

true

they

contain

truth

and

are

themselves

breathed

out

by

truth

himself

they

confront

the

lies

that

we

live

we

have

an

opportunity

to

either

continue

in

that

or

do

the

hard

work

in

a

sense

letting

God

bring

truth

to

the

areas

where

we

have

lied

and we

have

been

given

to

lies

but

it's

very

important

that

we

know

that

our

hearts

are

shown

to be

in need

of

great

healing

jeremiah

jeremiah

17

9

says

the

heart

is

deceitful

above

all

things

and

desperately

sick

who

can

understand

it

you

know

the

great

irony

with

judas

and

the

religious

leaders

is

that

they

are

breaking

their

own

values

and

laws

in

order

to

maintain

their

lie

they're

not

even

true

to

themselves

in

their

maintenance

of

a

lie

that

they

try

to

perpetuate

because

in

the

end

judas

gets

so

bent

genuinely

bent

and

angry

at

jesus

for

wastefulness

and

in a

sense

treating

money

poorly

and

he's

taking

a

bribe

himself

the

religious

leaders

it's

not

very

clear

here

in

the

text

but

they

are

breaking

the

sabbath

to

arrest

jesus

big

no

no

even

judas

and

the

religious

leaders

to

perpetuate

a

lie

will

break

their

own

values

and

laws

their

lie

in

order

to

survive

requires

them

to

compromise

their

very

essence

the

things

that

they

hold

dear

so

it's

very

clear

lies

have

an

insatiable

appetite

they

can't

be

satisfied

they

can't

it's

not

enough

to say

one

lie

and be

done

with

it

it

comes

back

and

it

will

consume

until

nothing

remains

but a

hollowed

shell

this

is

our

default

setting

some

are

less

given

to

it

than

others

but

be

honest

with

yourself

it's

your

default

setting

that's

why

Christ

comes

and he

comes

to save

us

from our

sin

absolutely

to

rescue

us

from

evil

absolutely

but

he

also

comes

to

transfer

our

citizenship

from

the

kingdom

of

lies

to

the

kingdom

of

truth

that's

what

he

does

he

is

truth

himself

but

what

happens

when

after

tasting

the

goodness

of

God

and

knowing

truth

and

having

light

shine

into

darkness

our

citizenship

is

transferred

from

the

kingdom

of

lies

so to

speak

to

the

kingdom

of

truth

what

happens

when

we

continue

to

lie

and

be

given

to

deceit

as

Christians

as

mature

Christians

who have

been in

this

thing

for

decades

what

do

we

do

is

it

treason

is

there

hope

for

us

seems

there's

no

hope

for

Judas

is

there

hope

for

us

what

happens

if

we

are

all

if

we

are

still

given

to

lies

being

deceived

and

deceiving

after

we

are

Christians

is

there

hope

look

with

me

at

verses

50

to

52

well

let's

go back

to

verse

49

Jesus

says

day

after

day

I

was

with

you

in

the

temple

teaching

you

teaching

and you

did

not

seize

me

but

let

the

scriptures

be

fulfilled

verse

50

and

they

all

fled

left

him

and

fled

and

a

young

man

followed

him

with

nothing

but a

linen

cloth

about

his

body

and

they

seized

him

but

he

left

the

linen

cloth

and ran

away

naked

L

the

mother

other

my

his

expander

is

doing

this

this

this

morning

for us

what I

want us

to see

along

with

all

of

Jesus'

followers

is this young man, everybody all fled.

Everybody fled.

Everybody ran, all of them.

It's emphatic in the original language.

And it's emphasized because they all drank the cup

at the Last Supper, the disciples did.

They all pledged unwavering allegiance to Jesus

and yet they all fled.

And I think it's very instructive for us to see

that even the most seasoned Christians can compromise.

I can run from Christ.

It's really hard to live a life year after year,

moment after moment, day after day,

like year after year, continue.

Your whole life in truth, you're bound to slip up.

You're bound to flee.

I think we see the emphatic all

because Mark and really God wants us to see

that that includes us.

We are bound to sin.

We are bound to fall back into our old citizenship.

We are tempted to embrace a false savior

after we have encountered the true one.

We are all susceptible to believing lies

even though we have known the truth.

And the fact is,

we are citizens of the kingdom of God,

the kingdom of truth,

but that kingdom has yet to come in its fulfillment.

And this is a wonderful kind of insight into the scriptures

is that the kingdom is now,

in the moment,

it is here,

Jesus has come,

but it's also yet to come,

in its fullness.

So we live in this kind of in-between time

where we are citizens of heaven,

the kingdom of God,

but here on earth,

where we're still also part of the kingdom of this world.

So we struggle.

That's the reality of it.

We struggle.

So when,

not if,

but when we fail,

when we flee,

we can,

by God's spirit,

run back to him

for help,

to turn back to him,

to flee the other way,

to flee the lie into the truth,

to truth himself,

and trust that he will forgive

and that he won't revoke our citizenship.

Jesus says in the second part of verse 49,

what does he say?

But let the scriptures be fulfilled.

And it's specifically there talking about him being taken away

as essentially a robber,

even though he is innocent.

It's a reference to Zechariah 13,

Zechariah 13:7

verse 7.

It says this,

Awake, O sword,

against my shepherd,

against the man who stands next to me,

declares the Lord of hosts,

strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

Jesus quotes this earlier.

I will turn my hand against the little ones.

It also is a reference to the end of Isaiah,

Isaiah chapter 53,

Isaiah 53:12

verse 12.

And it says,

I'll just read the one part,

And he,

that is the servant of the Lord,

Jesus,

was numbered with the transgressors.

So,

when Jesus says,

let the scriptures be fulfilled,

he's specifically,

in the context,

talking about

his arrest.

They're both fulfilled in his arrest.

But in a sense,

it's a statement that God's word is always true.

That it always comes to pass.

It is always right.

It is always trustworthy.

We can trust in God and in his promises.

We can trust that he can use even the most heinous of lies to achieve his truth.

We can trust in his ultimate victory.

We can trust that he will not leave us or forsake us.

We can trust that if we confess our sins,

he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

That when we turn to him,

he is more willing to forgive us than we are to run to him.

Like,

all of these promises in God's word,

if it's fulfilled in just this little bit in verse 49b,

we can be sure that all of his word is true.

Because he is a source of truth.

He knows our weakness.

And yet he welcomes us all the same.

I'll end with a couple thoughts.

Lies cannot continue indefinitely.

Because God created the cosmos,

the earth,

everything and all of creation

on truth.

And eventually lies crumble under themselves

because they have no foundation.

But God's foundation is,

in a sense,

baked right into our very existence.

Truth is how he created everything.

Chernobyl ends with Valery Legazov defying the gag order

by recording his experiences so that the world can know what happens.

And he says this at the end.

What is the cost of lies?

It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth.

The real danger is that if we hear enough lies,

then we no longer recognize the truth at all.

What can we do then?

What else is left but to abandon even the hope of truth

and content ourselves instead with stories?

He emphasizes that, stories.

In these stories, it doesn't matter who the heroes are.

All we want to know is who is to blame.

Really powerful ending to this mini-series.

Jesus Christ, truth himself,

he frees us from the prison of fear

that leads to the lies

and the life of lies

and our default setting of lies.

He frees us from there.

He frees us so that we can live in the truth.

And what can stop someone who is truly free,

who is not afraid of the consequences of telling the truth?

Who can stop that person?

I mean, you could physically stop them,

arrest them, throw them into jail.

They can rot and die.

But the truth, in the end, is what they have

and it can't be taken from them.

There is a boldness that comes with being a truth teller

because we are empowered by the very one

who is truth himself.

Friends, let us trust that Christ himself

is the greater truth teller.

That there isn't a better version of a self-help,

this or that,

or a narrative that just seems like it would work better for us.

Let us not fall into that kind of lie.

It might present that way,

but truly, it is not that way.

Let us trust in the incorruptible one,

the one that knows all,

even the web of lies that we may find ourselves in today.

And we might be in a web of lies.

We might have done a really good job of lying

for the last, I don't know, 15, 20 years.

Lying since high school,

something that happened,

whatever it may be,

and you're carrying that.

You don't think about it every day,

but it's back there.

It gnaws on the back of your head.

Christ has come to free us from that.

Freedom.

To live in truth.

That is what Christ has done on the cross.

That is what he has won.

That is his victory that we get to share in.

So I'll just say this.

Lent starts on Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday is this upcoming Wednesday.

It'll be here at 730.

There's a shameless plug for coming to Ash Wednesday

if you can make it.

But Lent is a sweet season where we can be honest.

Honest with ourselves before God

and prepare as we journey towards the cross

as Christ went to the cross.

And Lent, in a sense, isn't easy

because it causes us to take a look at ourselves

and ask God to reveal the junk and the sin

and the deceit and the lies in our own lives.

But what's the result?

I mean, hopefully,

to look at Christ and to know his truth

and to live in that,

to be free people.

To be free people.

You don't have to come to Ash Wednesday

to confess your sins to the Lord

or to look to him for freedom.

But it is a fine way to do it.

But as we approach Lent,

let us ask the Lord to help us

to be honest with ourselves

about our sin,

about our propensity to deceive.

And then may we be free

to live in truth,

to live towards truth,

to embrace the true one.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

we thank you that your example here

of how lies don't win

and how truth wins

and how even lies you use

to upend lies.

You use death to upend death.

That the truth will always come to pass.

Lord, let us be honest with ourselves.

Let us first be truthful with ourselves

about who we are

and who you are.

Lord, let us not deceive ourselves any longer.

Help us by your Holy Spirit

to not just know the truth

but to act upon it.

Lord, we thank you

for the second chances

and the 80th chances

and the 1,042nd chances

that you give us.

and Lord, help us to embrace it.

And Lord, as we continue on our service,

we ask that you bless us,

continue to bless the kids downstairs.

We pray all these things in Christ's name.

Amen.