Chase: All right, if you may stay standing for the scripture reading with me. This is Revelation 8, 1 through 5. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God's people, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth. And there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. This is the word of God. Thanks be to God. Friends, you may be seated. let me just preface this. We're we're unpacking the book of Revelation. In case you weren't aware, we decided just to be like, you know, what's the most controversial things we could talk about it? Let's do it for the summer and you know, just make it the whole time. So we're going through the book of Revelation, and the passage of scripture that Kirsten just read for us is where we left off last week, and we will be continuing into chapters the rest of eight, nine, ten, and eleven. Now If you've ever read the book of Revelation, especially chapters, I don't know, 9, 10, and 11, you would be probably like me being like, there's a lot happening here, and what is going on? So, what we're going to be doing this morning is we're going to be unpacking it to the best of our ability from a 30,000-foot view. The metaphor I gave in the first service that got one solid head nod. So I'm hoping for at least two solid head nods in this service is if we're trying to get from Ohio to Florida, I'm trying to teach you what I-75 is like. I'm not trying to teach you what every exit is like. Are you with me? That okay two solid head nods. Yes. Praise God. Because when it comes to this book. There are so many exit ramps that you can go down, which is great, and you should, because as one commentator I was reading said, every sentence of Revelation is a callback. It's all a callback. It's trying to surmise the entire story of Scripture and bring it to its natural conclusion. So, yes, it's gonna be a lot of, this was Ezekiel, this was talking about Abraham, this is Jacob, this is Jesus. So we could have sermon on sermon on sermon on sermon. But we're trying to be like, okay, here's the way we don't get lost, and then on your own, you can explore and know the path back. With that being said, there is one exit ramp that we are going to be unpacking, not this morning, because I'm guessing most of you want to have lunch and dinner, not in this room. So to unpack all of it would be quite something, but there's a specific topic at the beginning of chapter 11 that we're gonna make our conversation on the podcast. I think we have the slide. To make sure you're subscribed to not that one, the QR code one, please. QR code does not work. Wonderful. You can search it in Spotify, Apple Music, we're on YouTube, all that stuff. Because the topic we're gonna be talking about is modern Israel and the third temple. Heard of it in the news? Seen it on your aunt's Facebook page, anything like that? It's a big topic right now. So in order to give that the time it needs to breathe. And converse over it and approach it biblically, historically, and intellectually. How do we navigate the waters of this world without just being pushed by one political side or the other, but being pushed biblically? So that's what our podcast is going to be focusing on this upcoming week. So it won't be today, but it is coming. All right. Are we good? Great. Everyone's like, I was really hoping to learn about Israel today. Well, you gotta wait a little bit. So Where we left off. Last week we talked about in the throne room of God. This is the scene that the Apostle John is called up to to see what's going on behind the scenes in order to bring about the change needed in the world to heal it from death, disease, destruction, and ultimately the devil and evil itself. So the one sitting on the throne, who is God, hands a scroll with seven seals on it to the lamb who was slain. To the Lion of Judah, because he is the only creature in heaven and on earth worthy to open the scroll. And the first four seals are describing the consequences of what happens in the world when we rebel from God. This is a review, but it's important. The first seal is the seal of conquest. This is when we desire to take what is not ours. This is goes all the way back to Eden, the first sin, right? Taking from the tree that we are told not to take, and then the conquest leads to war, defending what is yours because someone's trying to take it. War breaks out, and when war breaks out, especially in the period when this was written, it doesn't matter what your occupation was, especially if you're a farmer, you're called to arms to defend the nation. Well, when all the farmers are called to arms to defend the nation. The food supply drains, and so do the reserves, which leads to famine. This is a recurring issue all throughout human history. War, famine go together. All of this leads to the fourth seal or fourth consequence, the natural logical end, which is death. Without food, people die. Without, you know, proper care, there's disease and they die. When they go to war, they die. And it's not even making a moral judgment, whether it's saying, like, it was a a just war or an unjust war. It doesn't say. Because even if you think to World War II, honestly, the most just war in recent history, like if there's anything more just than stopping the spread of Nazis and the killing of six million people, it would be that one. And yet, there was still death and disease and famine and destruction. God is simply saying, this is the problem with the world. And then the fifth seal is the cry of the martyrs. It's the cry of those who were like, How long, Lord, is this going to last? Have we all not cried out at some point? How long is this world going to last? Not to try and bring everyone down, but my most recent one was there was a story that was in the news that even Mike DeWine had to come and, you know, speak about was I believe it was 13 children in a home. We're just in this hellhole, and they've persecuted or prosecuted three adults, a mother who was abused herself, a father, a grandfather. It's just a disgusting display. And when you read that evil, your your heart cries out, This isn't right. Children should not be subjected to this. This is evil. This is broken. How long, Lord, this is what we all cry. I don't care your religion, you have cried this How long is this going to last? We know the world is broken. Whether you're a Buddhist, an atheist, Jewish, Christian, it doesn't matter. You know the world's broken. If you don't, you're not living in the world. You're delusional. The world is broken. That's the fifth seal. It's like, okay, so that's the problem. What's the solution? The sixth seal is broken, and that's the day of the Lord. The day of God's judgment, to decide, okay, how do we deal with evil? And all those who are not found in Christ. Who decided to reject the gift of God, it's not a good day for them. Let's just put it that way. Go go read it for yourself. It's more than I have time to explain, but it's not a good day. But for those who are in Christ, it's the best day. It's the absolute best day. Because that's the day when God wipes away every tear from their eye, where there's no more hunger, there's no more thirst, they don't even feel the heat of the sun on their bodies. And for a pretty, you know, subdued congregation as we are at times. And that got a very loud amen. When they're like, no more heat, are you kidding me? That sounds great. Praise God. Come back, Jesus. Let's go. So especially Pastor Chase, you must live in Alaska. Didn't ask that question in the interview. So But it's all the suffering of this world will be done. And then the passage we just read was the seventh seal broken and the trumpets begin. Now, again, it's easy to think, because this is how we're trained in our education system. It's not bad, but it's just this isn't the approach. Is we think, okay, seven, then now we're at trumpets, seven, and then next we'll be at bowls, seven. So it's we got 21 events ahead of us. Don't think of it like that. It don't think of it linear. Think of it cyclical. Three different ways of saying the same thing. It's like this. It's like that. Any sports fans in the house? Instant replay? You see an amazing moment and you're like, you babe, babe, babe, you gotta get in here. You gotta get you gotta watch this catch. They're gonna show it again. Just any you just gotta watch. It's crazy. Anybody? Husbands? Alright, cool. So think of it like this. There's a particular play as a Bengals fan that I hold on to. I know, pray for me, I'm ready for my heart to be broken again. When Burrow gets carted off in week seven. Don't cheer that. That's not funny. But as a Bengals fan during the dark days, there was a quarterback named Andy Dalton. And he had a wide receiver named Jerome Simpson. Decent wide receiver starter, not a pro bowler. But there's this one play in a game where he almost like kind of dumps it off. They're kind of close to the end zone. He's like, let's just get like two or three yards. And Jerome Simpson makes this cut. And he's able to get to the end zone. And the defender is in the way. And he's like, I gotta make a decision. So he jumps over the defender, and it's just this like crazy. Let's just watch it. Hood. This is outstanding. He wanted to look at the ups on this guy and then the land on, he snails it. And the East German judge made it a nine. That's pretty good. If we can pull a play like that off every game, we have a chance in the Super Bowl. But what happened? How many touchdowns were scored on that play? How many catches? How many throws? It's the same play, different angles. This is how you need to approach this. Same events, different angles. The Apostle John, the author, is saying it's kind of like this. Another way to think of it is like this. Or like this, okay? So don't think again 21 different events, you're like, this is brutal. It's the same thing addressing the same problem in different formats. So today we're gonna be talking about what is going on on the cosmic realm when all this evil is being dealt with, okay? Same events, different angles. Here is the format. If you're a note taker, most likely in the digital age, pull out your phone, take a picture of the slide. When you read these seven, think this. One through five are addressing the realities of world history, not specific events, but the realities of living in a broken world. Number six, what happens at the end of the world? Number seven is the final judgment and beyond. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, rinse, over and over. It's saying the same thing, trying to get us to understand all that's going on. Now, the seven trumpets. Here's a breakdown. Again, we're supposed to say this is what's going on in the world today, so it's gonna look a little confusing, but we're gonna get there. Don't worry. First one, good weather storm. Hail and fire mixed with blood rain down on the earth. Blazing mountain is thrown into the sea, burning star falls to the earth, and poisons rivers and springs. The sun, moon, and stars go dark. Key detail. It says one third of the earth is consumed by hail and fire, one third of the ocean is impacted by the mountain, one third of the rivers and springs, one third of the sun, moon, and stars. Which logically doesn't make a lot of sense. How can the sun be one third dark? What? What does that mean? That just sounds like an eclipse. Which again is what leads people to thinking every eclipse. Is part of the end times. I had people being like, you know, it's the end time when that eclipse is gonna come. Do you all remember that a few years ago? As a pastor, you get sent some strange questions when eclipses are in the news. They do. But it's just one of those you're like, maybe, maybe that's the day Jesus comes back. If so, I'll be ready. But if it's not, I'll also be ready. Because we also live in natural phenomena of the world. What is more likely and historically been understood as these are metaphors. For the broken nature of the world, that creation itself is impacted by us rebelling against God. We're gonna get into that in second. That the other thing to focus on isn't the one-third fraction per se, but rather the ratio. That when we deserved full wrath and punishment, it was one-third of it. Therefore, it is teaching us. That God's mercy is twice as good as his judgment. It's both, but he withholds judgment to demonstrate his mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment in Scripture. It's said over and over and over. That's why Jesus is friend of sinners. But if you continue to reject the mercy, all that's left is judgment. People like to forget that. You have a choice between mercy and judgment. Please choose wisely. The other thing is for a first century reader seeing this and knowing this is the crescendo of the story of Scripture, you'd have been like, gosh, that sounds an awful lot like our most famous story, The Plagues of Egypt. Read it again one more time. Hail, check. Fire from heaven, check. Blood in the Nile. Blazing mountain. Sounds a lot like Mount Sinai when the presence of God showed up. They sure poisoned that river, the Nile. Sun, moon, stars went dark, refused to shine when God was pouring out cosmic wrath for what Egypt had done. Now, much like the Pharaoh of Egypt, none of this changed his heart. Anyone seen the movie Prince of Egypt? Great soundtrack. Amazing. Best soundtrack ever made, in my opinion. But Pharaoh. Is not changed at all. If anything, he's just like, go away. But it's not like his heart repents. He doesn't say, Now I worship Yahweh, like Nebuchadnezzar did. Never does he do that. He's more like, I can't endure this anymore, so just get out. Like I can't beat it. My gods can't defeat Yahweh. But even then, he changes his mind, chases after them into the Red Sea, and it ends with his own demise. He doesn't repent, he doesn't change his heart, he doesn't change his mind. This is what is talked about in Revelation. It says they endure all this and they do not. This is chapter 9, verse 21, nor do they repent of their sins. All of this happens. All this is happening, and it's not causing people to repent of their sins. An earthquake, while it might scare people into being like, whoa, like God is it doesn't change their heart. It doesn't move their heart to be like, now I will love God with everything. It doesn't work. The fifth trumpet happens at the beginning of chapter nine. Let's read it together. If you have your Bible, please open up to Revelation chapter nine, the fifth trumpet. So the first four describing the problem. The fifth one describes why the problem exists. The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the abyss, and when he opened the abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. That's interesting language. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the abyss, and out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told, though, not to harm the grass or the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have a seal of God on their forehead, which we talked about last week. Those who've been marked as followers of Jesus. So you read that passage, and all God's people said, What? What what's going on? This is the kind of passage of scripture, if we're honest, that we're like, cool, I'm gonna keep going, because I have no idea what you're talking about. Any honest readers in here? Alright. Well, now's your lucky day. Let's figure out what he's talking about. Luke chapter 10. Jesus describes the exact same scene. In Luke chapter ten, Jesus has a following and he picks seventy. Two of his closest followers, and he says, Go out into the surrounding region and preach the gospel, heal the sick, drive out demons, okay? And they all come back and they're pumped up. It went really, really well. And so they all come back to Jesus and they're amped. Here's what it says in chapter 10, verse 17. The 72 returned with joy and said, Lord, even the demons submitted to us in your name. So at the name of Jesus, Even the demons, all evil has to listen. He replied, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions to overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. Sounds a lot like what we just read. However, do not rejoice that the spirits sub the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Satan. thrown out of heaven, Jesus would have witnessed that moment, and it's the same one that John is talking about. This one is a particular moment in time. Friends, if you carefully read the scriptures, the first sin in the Bible did not happen in the Garden of Eden. It happened in heaven. You have to read it carefully. It wasn't Adam and Eve, there was already a tempter. The tempter was the first to fall. He was the one who rebelled against God, refused to worship, so God cast him and all of the angels who wanted to be on Satan's side, a third of them is what we're told, were swept out of heaven. This is why when Adam and Eve show up, the snake is there. God did not create him to be evil, to tempt us. He chose to reject God, and now he says, I will hurt God, I will break God's heart. By destroying his creation. This is what led to the fall. We still had a choice. Adam and Eve still had a choice, but they listened to the enemy of God. Are you with me? This was the ep. So that means the enemy of God is Satan and his demons. This should not be new. Which means that as Jesus followers, that's our same enemy. And Paul says we do not battle with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities. So that means, friends, as Jesus followers, our enemy is Satan and his demons, not Republicans, or Democrats, or Iranians, or Ukrainians, or Russians, or anyone else on the geopolitical spectrum. It's not that political party. Your enemy's not your ex-wife. Your enemy's not your boss, no matter how horrible they might be. Quiet 'cause he said something first service and wasn't ready for it, so But that means you don't, other people are not your enemy. While we differ, what we are trying to do is get them out of the enemy's camp. You were once in darkness, and now you follow Christ. Are you with me? That means the atheist is not your enemy. The Muslim is not your enemy. The Jewish people are not your enemy. You with me? The enemy is the evil one. The enemy is the star that fell from the sky. This is why things are the way they are. This is why creation's in rebellion. This is also why when Jesus shows up on earth, he's like, watch this, guys. He is able to use his creation as the creator to make it do what he wants. Give me five loaves and two fishes. I'll feed as many as I need. That's sea, I'll walk on it. Quiet, he says to the storm. He can subdue all of creation because he is the creator. He drives the demons out of the demon-possessed man like that. He says two letters, go. That's it. It's not a competition. It's pretty much like this. And Jesus has got it. This is what they're saying. So that means, as Jesus followers, we go out into the world, not to be like, who's the enemy today? We're like, it's the same enemy it's always been. It's the one who is using people to get to his ends. Therefore, do not attack the people the enemy's using. Rather, love them as Christ said, love your enemies, as I once loved you. Okay. This is the fifth trumpet. Again, it's re retelling the story. The sixth trumpet: a massive army is released that kills millions of people. Okay? This is again, historians, biblical commentators would have said. This is again the consequences of sin that we now experience death and disease and famine, that the world was not supposed to experience death and evil. But the devil is having free reign right now. Not free reign, but he is allowed to operate for a time. And it is leading to death. But just like Egypt, it's not leading to repentance. People are they experience all this natural disasters and suffering and pain and disease and cancer and heartbrokenness and divorce and everything. But what leads to the changed heart? It's that they don't repent. Like some do, but the majority do not. So what changes people's hearts? I love the scriptures because they walk you through the questions that you're actually asking. It's saying, Will plagues turn people back to God? No. Will death turn people back to God? No. Will guilt? No. No one's ever been guilted into the kingdom of heaven. It's never happened. The Bible answers. What changes people's hearts people's hearts in chapter 10? It says, Then I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head, his face was like the sun, his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which is a callback to Ezekiel the prophet, in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. Eat this scroll! Anyone try to eat paper before? Is that what he means? Go go go eat some school supplies. No, it's a call back to Ezekiel. And Ezekiel was told the same thing. What it is is a message. Consume this message. Let this message come into your life. And he describes the message as one that needs to be told to the world. And he says, it's sweet on your tongue in your mouth, but it will turn your stomach sour. We've all experienced this, whether you know it or not. Who has experienced the goodness of God in their life? We just sang about it. Is there anything sweeter than Jesus? And then when you see someone in your life suffering who doesn't know Jesus, and you know the answer is they need Jesus, because he changes everything, the thought of going and telling them that makes you feel what? A little nervous? A little anxious? Ugh, it's gonna be awkward. Maybe turns your stomach a little bit. Because what will happen when you give a sweet message and it's received with bitterness? This is the message that John is told we are to go and do. This is what changes people's hearts, is the message of Jesus. That's what changes it is the gospel, is the good news. It's what we preach every Sunday and live every day. The gospel of Jesus. In case you don't know, here's a recap that everyone must hear. The gospel, the good news begins with bad news. But you have to get to the bad news for the good news to be great news. And the bad news is this: all of us have fallen into rebellion against God. All of us. I have, you have, the best person in your life has. All of us have fallen into rebellion against God. At one point, Romans says, when we were God's enemies, another passage says, like sheep, we wandered away from the shepherd. We all went our own way. That's the bad news. We were lost. We were in darkness. We were in rebellion. Pick your language of choice. But that's the reality of our situation. Each one of us found ourselves doing what the enemy wanted us to do, not what God wanted us to do. Each one of us. But then one came along, sent from God into the world to live among us, to be light in the darkness, and show us how we are to live. You've heard it said, you live this way, but now live this way. Come and follow me. Take on my lifestyle, take on my teachings. This is how you treat your enemies. This is how you treat your enemies. Family, this is how you treat your children, this is how you treat your money, this is how you worship me. He came to teach us all this, to show us the miracles of what he can do. And then that same man, the only perfect one who ever lived, died the death of a criminal. Even then, they didn't have charges that weren't made up. But he was tortured before he even got to the cross. He dies the death We deserved, is resurrected into eternal life, and then says, Would you like me? Would you like to come out of darkness? Would you like to step into light? Come on, there's nothing here for you. The enemy's promising you fulfillment, the enemy's promising you peace, he's promising you joy, but is it delivering? It's not. The world can't give you what you're seeking. But if you follow me and do life my way, then you will know that life is only found in me. That's the gospel. And every one of us is given a choice. Which do you choose? Do you choose Jesus? And that requires you laying down the way that you want to live. You get everything you've always truly wanted in your heart. I'm not saying all the stuff. I'm saying peace, joy, assurance, an identity that can never be taken from you. Eternal salvation with the great love of your life, Jesus Christ. Or you can continue your own. It's a choice. It's a choice. Each one of us has to choose. So as the church, we're sent out to give that message, to give that invitation, to turn to God and out of the enemy's camp. That's the message. It's a sweet message, but it can be met with bitterness. Are you with me? Chapter eleven says this. Again, talking about the end times, which is like today. We've been in the end times for two thousand years since Jesus got out of the tomb. He says there are two witnesses that will prophesy that message of the gospel. But he also describes them as lampstands. And if you're a very good note taker, you're like, wait a minute, wait a minute, Pastor. I remember that hour and five minute long sermon you gave about seven lampstands a few weeks ago. Seven lampstands, seven churches. Describing this is the work of the church. That's your call. It's my call to go on to the world. But why two? What does it mean? Here we go. The church is the light of the world. Pretty obvious for a lampstand, right? We're supposed to shine not our light, but the light of Jesus, the one who's found us into the world. We are also the new Elijah and the new Moses. What does that mean? Elijah is known as like the representative of the prophets, and Moses is known as the representative of the law. This is what's coming. This is what's been done for you by God, and this is how you are to live now. Knowing Jesus should change how you live. We are the representatives of Christ. We go out into the world and represent Jesus. He's not actively walking around on the earth. I wish he was. Wouldn't you buy a plane ticket to where he was? I'd have a lot less questions if I was like, nice to meet you. I've read a lot about you. You seem like a great guy. I got some questions. The spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit's what dwells among us, but not him in the flesh. We are the representatives of Jesus because we bear the Spirit in us. Okay, let me ask you a question. We are called to live differently as the church, as Jesus followers. That means our morality looks different than the world's. Our values look different. Our priorities look different. Our life scripture looks different. Let me ask you a question. If someone were to come up to me next week and say, Pastor, I met Jesus Christ. I accepted him into my heart. And guess what? I'm not reading my Bible anymore. I'm done praying now. Don't expect to see me at church anymore. I'm all good. And I'm gonna go back to treating my wife like crap and being a horrible father to my kids and I'm gonna treat my employees like garbage. But I met Jesus. Isn't that great? You'd be like, who'd you meet? Who'd you talk to? Like you didn't talk to Jesus, I know. But how many of us have met Jesus and then things begin to change? Anyone? You can't live the way you used to before you knew Jesus. You can't go back to that. And when you do, it's like, ooh, that that felt wrong. When you see Jesus in his fullness, it should change your life little by little, but over time, change. You can't do what you want anymore. You do it his way. He changes everything, but he doesn't do it by forcing you. Did you notice that? It's a choice. You're choosing it every time, like God. I want to choose you over this. Even if it's difficult and it runs counter to how my family's always done it or how the world tells me to do it, I want to do it your way. I'm choosing that. The choice is so, so, so critical. But we have an enemy. We have a great enemy. Revelation 11, verse 7. This is after they're going out and proclaiming the message. It says, when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will attack them and overpower and kill them. Do you know that there's people being killed right now for proclaiming Jesus around the world? But are those people who wield machetes or guns our enemy? No. It's the one who's operating in the background, who are using the people we're sent to love. The key difference. If the enemy can keep us fighting each other, then he can get off scot-free. But this is the enemy right here. This is the enemy. The witnesses, the church, the martyrs, those who've been dressed in white, those who are faithful, those who are willing to lose their lives, to hold on to the gospel, to go into darkness, to go into the enemy's camp and say, Turn to God as I did. Repent. This is what we're called to do. That we answer the question is what changes people. Because when the witnesses are validated, brought back to life, that's when people's hearts are changed. It that's what it says in the scriptures. That's when they all said, Praise be to our God. It's when a watching world sees they were willing to die for their enemies to give them the truth. They were willing to lay everything down at a great personal cost. It's when we refuse to fight fire with fire, but we do it the Jesus way with the Jesus message. I love this quote from Tim Chester, an Anglican priest who's been guiding me through this. I think we have a screen. It is not a victory won through power or through the sword. It's not won through drone strikes nor by acts of terrorism. It's one by God's people witnessing the gospel, the good news, that means, even if that means weakness and death. When we want to fight fire with fire, we are not doing it the Jesus way. Friends, I don't want to spoil it for you, but at the end of this book, I mean the book's 2,000 years old. If you don't know the ending by now, I don't feel too bad about spoiling it. Is a wedding. It's a beautiful wedding. The people of God being wed to God forever and ever. It's a beautiful wedding, and have you ever been to a beautiful wedding when it's it's not beautiful because maybe the flowers or the dress? It's because the people up there, you're like, they can't take their eyes off each other. You're like blessed to witness it. Like, my goodness, look at this love between these two. Look at look at the choice they've made to be together. I don't care who you are, but the most beautiful wedding in the most beautiful church at the most beautiful flowers. If the bride's like this and the groom's like that, it ain't that beautiful. Even worse is if one of either the bride's father or the groom's father has a shotgun somewhere and they're like, you better do this because you need to get married. You're like, maybe we can airbrush that one out of the photos. We'll get the gun out of here. It's a choice. Christianity doesn't hold a gun to your head and say, worship Jesus or else. That's another religion. But it's not Christianity. It's a choice. Jesus does not force you into anything, but He woos you. He loves you. He lays down his life for you before you've done anything for him. Not so that you would repay him back, because how could any of us but say, look at the love I have for you? How worthy I think you are of my love. That melts our hearts. That changes us. That's how we overcome evil. And we still think to ourselves, but practically, how how do we overcome evil with sickness and death? Like, even onto that place, like that's not how the world works. It's all about strength and life. I I submit to you the cross. I submit to you the cross. That Is there any scene in human history that's been talked about more, written about more, filmed more than the crucifixion? I I don't know what is. And yet every time we see a depiction accurately showing the Bible story of it, it moves our hearts. Even the most hardened of us, hardened of us are like, If that man really said he did it for me, if I'm intellectually honest, it causes me to pause. Me? Really? Yeah. Yeah, he did. That that pauses us. And yet, and yet, in the middle of that torture, in the middle of that pain, in the middle of everything that he didn't have to endure because he did nothing wrong, when he could have called down legions of angels, when he was the same one who's like, I remember making this tree that I'm currently hanging on. I remember Making the iron for these nails that I'm currently being pierced with. I remember making this thorn bush that's currently wearing me as a crown because I'm the creator. I remember making these Roman soldiers. And now look what they're doing to me. And yet, in that place and space, he says a sentence that cuts through the heart of every human being: Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. More people have been won to Jesus because of his love and sacrifice rather than feeling like a gun was being put to their head. How many of us, when you hear your Savior say, forgive them, they know what they do, makes you want to weep, fall to your knees, and give him your heart all over again. If you did that for me. You have it all. My life's yours. Even if I don't like it all the time. It's yours. I'm not my own. I was bought with a price. For being intellectually honest and we're listening to the cry of our heart. That's the conclusion we should draw. This is how the world is saved. This is how you were saved. This is God's plan A is to send us out into the world with that message. But it's a choice. Choice. It's not a force. It's not a have to. You will not be smote dead. But Jesus wants his bride to choose him. He wants his bride to do the things he did. He wants his bride to elevate the love of him above everything else. So will you do that? Not the person next to you. Not your boyfriend or girlfriend, your spouse, not your kids, not your parents. You. Me. You have a choice. Will you go out into a dark world? Will you go out into a world with disease and death and pain and evil and natural disasters, or will you stay where it's safe and comfortable and cover the light? Do we believe that the light of Jesus is stronger than any evil? It's a choice. We first choose Him. And then we choose what to do with him. But what we do with him impacts more than us, for it is the hope of the world. In fact, friends, it is the only hope of the world. Let us pray. Jesus, we thank you for this word, this truth. That for two thousand years, men and women and children around the world, in every language and tongue, of every religious background or non-religious background, of every socioeconomic class, slave and free, Jews and Gentiles, men and women have said, This is truth. This is truth. I know this to be true because I've experienced it. I've seen it in my life. I've experienced the power. I've seen it for myself. Lord, may the fire in our hearts never be quenched by indifference. Never be set aside by thoughts of ourselves. Worried about what others say about us when we know we carry the cure for the world and our message. May we be people who are intentionally set out to have. The right relationships and conversations and carry the light wherever we go. Lord, pour out your spirit on us. It's your name we pray. Amen.