See you then, everybody. He won't eat much. Captain's
chasing him. Technical difficulties, it's
venomous difficulties. He gets his shoe back on. It's been an interesting week.
We've had our third rattlesnake on the property the other day.
Against other people's opinions, there is enmity between me and
snakes. I don't like them. None of them. I don't want nothing to do with
them. Other things don't bother me one bit in the world. I hate
snakes dead alive. I don't want to touch them, don't
want to be around them. Spiders don't bother me one bit
in the world. Bugs crawl all over me while I'm sleeping. I
don't care. Scorpions don't scare me. Don't
get me around snakes. I thought it was a lizard. I
started getting nervous. They're snakes with legs. Well, we're
all good and awake now. Lord did that on purpose, didn't
he? John 18. The nursery's going to be closed
for a little bit longer. But the women's restroom, Tuesday,
the plumber's scheduled to come put a new toilet in. The landlord's
going to have a toilet put in for us. And the mounting bolt's
rusted, so he's going to take care of that. I'm thankful for
it. I expressed our gratitude to
him. being so kind to us and so good dealing with us. And
I'm thankful the Lord gave us the one on this property who
we have. I'm grateful for that. Here in
John 18, I want to look at, these two messages kind of go together
this morning. I'd hate to see them stand apart,
but they ought to be able to stand apart. But I'm here to
preach to you. Somebody might say, what if somebody
didn't download that in order on Sermon Audio? Lord can make
him download it in order if he wanted to, but I want this to
be for us. We're the ones that's here. I
pray every time I can preach that I can plainly show all flesh
is grass and behold your God. It's so easy for us, even after
the Lord's dealt, especially when he first deals with us,
but after the Lord's dealt with us and he saved us and gave us
a new creation, I just want to hear behold your God. We don't
like hearing all flesh is grass. Like, why, we know that. We don't
like instruction. We don't like to be reminded
of these things. And I thought, too, what if it was just two
of us was, me and one of you men, if we was trapped on a deserted
island, just the two of us, should I skip preaching on marriage? Should I skip preaching on what
a bride ought to be? Can't do that, can I? These two
messages go together and the title of this first one is the
enemy's approach. And the next hour, Lord willing,
we'll look at the brethren's approach. This is an enemy's
approach. And the next hour we'll look at how our brother approaches. I think you'll notice some things
that are strikingly similar and some, some things that are very
different. And I pray we can see the one
thing that makes them different. I'll tell you the answer before
we even get started. One thing that makes a difference between
an enemy approaching God and a brother approaching God is
Christ the one thing needful. Who made you to differ? Before
we go getting hot and heavy and how good we are at picking out
where the gospel is and what it is and we found the right
thing, we better think about who made us to differ. John 18, let's look at these
first 11 verses. This is in Gethsemane. That word
Gethsemane, we looked last time at this Brook Sea drawing. Gethsemane
means olive press. Olive press, that's significant.
You have to press olives, that makes olive oil. And that olive
oil is what Moses was directed to make an anointing oil. And
whatever that touches, God says, that's mine and it's holy. This
is where that's taken place. Here in John 18 verse 1, And
when Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples
over the book Cedron, where was a garden into which he entered
and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, knew the place. For Jesus oftentimes resorted
thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a
band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus
therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went
forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon as he had said unto them,
I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. And he asked
them again. Doesn't say they stood up, did
it? Laying flat on their backs, looking
to the skies, paralyzed. He asked them again, whom seek
you? And from that paralytic state,
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. That the saying might be fulfilled,
which he spake of them, which thou gave us me, I have lost
none. Is that just the disciples? Yes, there, and us. That's what's taking place. That's
done. And then for this preacher to
see this is lovely in spite of ourselves. Then Simon Peter,
having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest's servant and
cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
And Jesus said unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath.
The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it? What if I told you, now ain't
time to be audible. I'm gonna be your buddy. What if I told you that there
was a covenant made before anything took place? What if I told you
that after that covenant was made, a multitude was represented
in one man and that multitude was with one man and that multitude
was in one man. And this man, he leads all the
others that are with him and in him to make the sacrifice
that many could live. And he did this willingly for
others. And he did this willingly. He
did it for himself, too. For himself. And he's going to
display a whole lot of knowledge in this that other people don't
have. He's going to seal this in the
very essence, the token, the picture of love, of caring. After that, a horrible Roman
death is going to occur. And because of this man's actions,
one man with many represented by many, what appeared to be
an act of love, right? God's people set free eternally. Go your way. Well, what is our
way? Cross the way. Before you say amen, I just told
you the story of Judas. A little difference between how
facts look on a piece of paper and how they play out in real
life, ain't it? The intent of the heart, the motive of the
heart. That's a story of Judas. The enemy's approach can look
a whole lot like a brother's approach. We can't distinguish
the two. We can't distinguish corn and
wheat, the tares, wheat and tares, can we? We just hear what we hear, we
see what we see. God looks on the heart. We might
find out what the heart was years later. 2,000 years later, looking
back, they all thought so highly of Judas. He was the only one
that held office in that group. He was the treasurer. They went
out and they thought he was out buying meat, doing something
important that they wasn't qualified to do. He was out conspiring
against the Lord. This approach to the enemy, it
starts with the need. Look back a couple pages in John
11. John 11. Before time began, we had a need,
and we had a representative that went into a covenant for us,
didn't we? But this enemy had one. John
11, verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees of counsel and said, what will we do? John
11, 47. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees of counsel and said, what do we? For this
man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take
away both our place and nation, our home. This is where we grew
up. They're gonna take that away.
My position in the community, I have a title in this religion. They're gonna take that away.
Some mean man's gonna come take that away. And one of them, named
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them,
ye know nothing at all. What's wrong with you idiots?
Nor consider that it's expedient for us that one man should die
for the people that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself,
of course. But being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not
for that nation only. but that also he should gather
together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
That's us too. And from that day forth they
took counsel together for to put him to death. They had a
need. We have a need. Much different
though, haven't we? They had a need. Now we need
the doer. We need a man. that we could
live. One represented us, one to represent
us in that agreement, in that covenant. We're going to need
it in contract. It's going to have to be in blood
for us. These had a contract too. Look over in Luke 22. Back
a few more pages. Luke 22 verse 1. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread
drew nigh, which was called the Passover, and the chief priests
and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the
people. Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the Twelve, and he
went his way. and communed with the chief priest
and the captains how he might betray him unto them. We need
to get this done. One has to die so many can live.
And they were glad and covenanted to give him money. A covenant
was entered into. An agreement was made. Then a
plan came to accomplish that covenant. This is the intent. This is the will. It's what must
happen. And the plan came, verse six,
and he promised and saw opportunity to betray him unto them in the
absence of the multitude. I'll pull him out by himself
and I'll betray him. Then it was put into play. This
covenant, it was acted upon. Look over Matthew 26. Back a
few more pages. Matthew 26 verse 47 John didn't record it this way,
but those We have those Gospels whenever the Lord shows it a
little different in each one It gives us a perspective on
it an angle to it so we can better understand what was taking place
Matthew 26 47 And while he yet spake lo Judas, one of the 12
came, and with him a great multitude of swords and staves from the
chief priests and the elders of the people. Now he that betrayed
him gave him the sign, saying, Whosoever I shall kiss, that
same as he, hold him fast. You better not let him go. He
knew something of his power, didn't he? And he said, I'm going
to go up and kiss him. Betrayed with a kiss. He didn't
go up and kiss his feet. That'd be reverent. That'd be
worshiping. He went up and kissed him on the cheek as an equal. You ain't nothing but another
man. That's going to be the sign. And forthwith, he came to Jesus,
verse 49, and said, Hail, master. That even sounds good, don't
it? He's got all of his words right. And he kissed him. And
Jesus said unto him, catch this, friend, comma, Wherefore art
thou come? Room for repentance. And came
they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. He said, friend,
there is no man, woman, or child that can charge the Lord with
being mean and unfair. It can't be done. Bow. Did Judas
fall on his face and say, I've done something terrible. I'm
wrong. Stuck to man's covenant. He stuck
to man's wisdom. He stuck to man's plan to save
man's own way of life and everything else he had going on, didn't
he? He wasn't a friend of the Lord Jesus. Maybe of a lowercase
l, maybe of a lowercase g, that's our buddy. Everybody likes one
they can manipulate, they can talk into helping him out doing
something else. He's face to face with the capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital D in flesh. and he thinks he's doing God
a service. He's serving him, high priest.
He's serving the elders, the people, and the elders, and the
priests. The Lord warned of this to the
others, didn't he? He told us in John 16, he said,
they'll put you out of the synagogues. They'll kick you out of their
traditions, out of all their benefits that go along with that,
being buried there, getting married there, having your kids baptized
there, birthday parties. He said, yea, the time cometh
that whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God service. We're
doing God a favor. Doesn't that look exactly the
same? Isn't Peter about to do the Lord a service and cut somebody's
ear off? Who makes it different? God makes it different. The work
that he does. Now back in our text from John
18. Verse one says, when Jesus had
spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the book
Cedron, where was a garden into which he entered in his disciples.
And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place. Why do you
reckon the Lord wrote that there? So it says in your Bible, he
knew the place. We learned Wednesday, or Thursday, I guess this week,
he went over at Brook Sedron, there was a garden, he took his
disciples, because his disciples were with him, he took his disciples.
That ain't all accident, is it? This is on purpose. Judas, which
betrayed him, knew the place, for Jesus oft times resorted
thither with his disciples. What knowledge did Judas have? He knew where Christ communed
with the Father. He knew where the Lord met with
his people. Judas was the only one in that
whole multitude that could identify Christ accurately. He said, I'm
gonna kiss him. You don't know which one he is. He looks just
like all the other ones. He could distinguish. He said,
that's the Lord's people and that's the Lord. He could tell
you which disciples were which ones, their relationship. He
could tell you why they're the disciples. They were called.
They were God's elect before time. He chose them. He loved
them. He's their friend. He loved them
to the end. He could tell you what they believed. And all that did was condemn
him all the more. He stood outside of that city of refuge and told
you all about it. He had the plans, the architects.
He told you how many bricks was there, what kind of hinges were
on the door, how old the door was. And he said, that's the
city of refuge. with a kiss, in tender love and
called him master. Who makes him different than
me? God does. God put me in that city of refuge.
If that's a garden of suffering, put me in a garden of suffering.
I won't be with you. Don't leave me to myself. I'll think I'm
doing something good. I'm going to make a little money
out of this, get some pieces of silver, tell the world how
accurate I am and where you are. That's eternal death and damnation. He said, Luke 22, he said, behold,
the hand of him that betrayeth me, it's with me on the table.
And truly the son of man goeth as it was determined. This isn't
out of the Lord's control. This is his doing. However, he
says, but woe unto the man by whom he is betrayed. And they
began a choir among themselves, which of them it was that should
do this thing. Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I? In one account,
Jews had already took the money. He'd already went into covenant
with them. And he said, Master, is it I? Now, is that ignorance?
That's how dumb we are. Is it a lie? That's how sinful
we are. And he said, you just said it. You called me Master.
They all called me Lord. It says in verse one, Jesus had
spoken these words. He went forth with his disciples
over the brook Cedron, where a garden, or was a garden, into
which he entered his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, knew the place where Jesus oft times resorted thither with
his disciples. Judas then, having received a
band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
cometh hither with lanterns and torches and weapons. You think
he felt pretty confident having 500 men behind him with torches
and lanterns and swords? Jesus therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth and said to them,
Whom seek ye? I imagine that's probably when
Judas kissed him. Here he walked towards them, as he was waiting
patiently in this garden, we looked at last week. Waiting
patiently in this garden, knowing what was coming to place, praying
to the Father, just got through warning his disciples, crossed
over that brook, drank of it as an example of what he's gonna
do for us, fulfilling all scriptures. And he said, hey friend, what
are you doing? knowing exactly what it is. And that's what my pastor told
me when I was young. Don't spend too long feeling sorry for the
Lord. Our God is God. Our Lord is the Lord. He was
standing right there. He's the only man that ever knew
when and where and why he was going to be born and every step
he ever took and how he was going to be betrayed and when and everything.
He knew that hour. He talked about it a lot. It's
painful, it's shameful that it was on purpose to save a people
out of love, out of contentment, out of willfulness. He willingly
did this for the joy set before him. Don't think for a minute he's
caught off guard. This is the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent
God Almighty standing in front of Judas. And men think that's
so shocking. I do too. But how often do we
turn our necks to his word, his people, his services, his worship,
his will, his providence? How often do I? This is the great
I am standing in front of him. He says in verse five, and Jesus
answered him, or they answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus
saith unto them, they were looking for Jesus. Do you get that? What's
natural man do? I was searching for God. When man does that by himself,
what happens? You find him so you can kill him or tie him up
or use him, bend his arm, make him be your little magician. That's man by nature, isn't it? People always say they found
Jesus. These did, didn't they? They didn't find no gender-neutrified Jesus, someone
that has their arm bent easily, did they? They answered him,
said, Jesus of Nazareth, and Jesus said unto them, notice
he is in italics. The translators added that for
us to read, to help us read, but that's not what it says.
I am. He could have screamed it, he
could have said it in his normal voice, or he could have whispered
it. It doesn't matter. And Jesus also, which betrayed
him, stood with him. As then, as he stood, as soon
as then, as he had said unto them, I am, they went backward
and fell to the ground. This is the great I am. This
is that one that was in that burning bush when Moses was talking
to it. And it says, behold, I'm coming
to the children of Israel. What shall I say to them? The
God of your fathers have sent me to you. And they'll say, what's
his name? What am I going to tell them? And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. He said, thus shalt thou say
unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. That great I am sent Moses his
servant. That great I am is the very one
that sends every other one of his servants. And the very one
standing in front of this mob in the flesh is the I am. At
his name, he just said his name. I am. And they fell backwards
as trees. Flat on their back. Took a wind
clean out of them. Made them flat. They were so
up. We had to be made flat first.
They were brought down. Man cannot stand at the word
of the Lord. How do we think we're gonna be
able to stand this judgment? By ourselves coming to it. He says,
they all will be drawn to me and they will stand in judgment,
yet not for long. Not for long. What about this self-righteous
church going Bible reading, Christ and his church identifying mob
of murderers? What do they do when they are
faced to sky after the name of the Lord's declared? Verse six
says, as soon as they had, he had said to them, I am, they
went backward and fell to the ground. Then he asked them again, Whom
seek ye? Who are you looking for? The
Savior? The merciful God of heaven and
earth that I've sinned against? Jesus of Nazareth. Without a
new creation in us, who makes it different? How am I any different
than any one of them? Without a new creation in us,
we will not have this man reign over us. It's easy for us that
the Lord submitted to say, get down or bend over next to him,
land on the ground. Submit, boys. You're arrested. You ain't going to win. Bow to
him. Worship him. This is Almighty God. He's the
friend of sinners. He's tender and long-suffering
and kind and good and wise and just. Love him. Bow to him. Adore him. But they can't. They're reanimated corpses. They're dead men that just happen
to be walking around. Who you looking for? I'm looking for
Jesus. Don't you call him that. That goes up my crawl. I don't
like it. That's a Lord. And then he asked
them a second time, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He mocks them a little. Verse eight, Jesus answered,
I've told you that I am. That same Jesus, that Jesus of
Nazareth, that's the great I am. I told you. Well, you didn't
tell us. Yes, he did. Told you twice. Mankind's been told, hasn't he?
Many of them more than once. Many of them multiple times.
Many of them sat underneath a faithful gospel preacher for decades.
But what about those that haven't? Well, maybe somebody doesn't
have a Bible. They're without excuse too. David said, I love
what David wrote. The Holy Ghost moved David's
hand to write this. And he said, the heavens declare
the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Go outside
and look around. We went down to Napa Auto Parts.
I had to get an air filter yesterday. And we got a little hummingbird
feeder, and they're territorial. If there's two of them, and you
walk by that thing, they'll poke you in the head. But Kimberly
said, look at that hummingbird. They had two of them. And that
was, what, 20 hummingbirds? I didn't want to walk in that
place. That'd take my hair out. God made them hummingbirds, and
that's all over the place. It'll be anything. They'll get
you. You better watch out. It all shows his handiwork. Day
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
It's wise and good. There's no speech or language
where their voice is not heard, where this creation doesn't declare
that God's the holy one of the universe. Their lines go out
through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. It's the S-U-N in
Psalm 19. That's for the S-O-N. But with
that S-U-N we have, that declares him too. It says, which is as
a bridegroom cometh out of his chambers and rejoiceth as a strong
man to run a race. I was so excited to say that
today. And then it was cloudy and raining when I woke. That's
a good illustration too. Lord's on his throne. How do
I know the sun came up this morning? Well, I can't see it cause it's
cloudy. Does that mean it ain't up? We'd be freezing to death
if it wasn't. Wouldn't we? We'd be floating
out in space. Absolute zero. He's there. He's there. Verse
eight says, Jesus answered, said, I've told you that I am. If therefore
you seek me, let these go their way. One wanted a multitude with
him to apprehend the Lord and overtake him and do something
with him. The Lord says, take me alone and let these go their
way. He has to do this alone. There's all of mankind. It's
easy for us to find somebody that's wrong, pick on them. They're
trying to make a co-savior out of, or have been for a thousand
years, trying to make a co-savior out of Mary. Is that any different than picking
something else? Then you works, then you sanctification, then
you righteousness, then you attendance, then you picking the right place,
then you reading your Bible 15 minutes every morning, because
you're a good Christian. It ain't no different. You can
label that ball of poison another flavor, but it don't make a difference
in it. It's death, doesn't it? He must be alone. He must tread
that winepress alone. He said, and if you seek me,
Let these go their way. That the saying might be fulfilled,
which he spake of them, which thou gave us me, I've lost none.
Right then, the hour start. Take me, let my people go. I went through, I just copied
and pasted the things from the beginning of my notes to the
end. So I can say it again. Because of the covenant of God,
not man, we went free. What's our covenants do? What's
our promises do? I promise I'm gonna be there
Tuesday, let that plumber in. I may be there Tuesday, I may not.
I may not be alive in 10 seconds. Because the covenant of God,
not man, we live, we go free. Because of the leadership and
the command of our Lord, with his people with him, his band,
band of brothers, not man. Because of our king's willingness
to accomplish this covenant for the Father, to glorify the Father,
for his people, for their salvation, and for himself, for his name's
sake, not man. Because of his knowledge, his
wisdom, not ours. Because he himself was hung on
a tree in our place, not making another hang for him. I hope
to touch on that next hour. Judah, we looked last week, was
surety for Benjamin. Just before that, Reuben said,
I'll be surety for him. And if I don't bring him back,
he can take two of my sons. He didn't say he'd take me. I volunteer
your youngins to. Christ said, I'll do it. Let
these go. Because he laid down his life and he took his people's
guilt and he bore that punishment. He drunk of that cup. We go our
way. What way? Go do anything you
want. Now, Lord save you. Now you can go get you a yacht
and live down in the French Polynesia and be happy the rest of your
life. We'll see you in glory, Lord. No, we go way across. We follow Him. We follow the
shepherd, don't we? It's done. It's done. You want me? Let these go. Oh, it's good news. They did it. They took him and
let those go. This eternal life-giving action
can't be undone by poor preaching. And I'm so thankful for that.
This is just for me. I'm just going to say it out
loud and then y'all can listen in. And there might be some other
preachers listening, and other preachers listen to us sometimes, and they'll
find some comfort in this too. It's done. The substitution's
taking place. We're free. We're free men, free
women. Verse 10 says, then Simon Peter,
having a sword, drew it. I could show you why. Henry said,
why would you bring a sword to a prayer meeting? He had, he was told to. And he
smote the high priest's servant, cut off his right ear. The servant's
name was Malchus. We looked at that three years
ago. He wasn't aiming for his ear. He was aiming for his neck.
He's going to behead him. You ain't taking my master. And
that was an act of love towards his Lord. That was, it was wrong. They was there to kill the Lord,
that's wrong, and that's evil. Peter's there to kill Malchus,
and that's wrong, but it was good. The heart was in the right
place. Jesus said unto Peter, put up
thy sword and thy sheath, the cup which my father given me,
shall I not drink of it? Put your sword away, Peter. Peter
cut his ear off, and the Lord put Malchus' ear back on. You
reckon he saved him? Malchus cutting hair, and the
Lord gave him an ear. Might look at that another time. He said, put up the sword in
the sheath, the cup which my father hath given me shall I
not drink it? What cup's that? There's a lot of men that God
sent, his servants that sent to tell you about the I am and
what they say is right. If they're sent to a location,
that location ought to listen to that man that sent to that
location and that time. And they're gonna tell you what
God's word says. That cup of sin, that's what we are. That's all that black darkness
that ran off from the temple of all our false religion and
self-righteousness and ugliness. And that's what he drank and
he become us. And hand in hand, like I said last week, you can't
have mercy without grace, can you? That's wrath. I'm gonna
tell you what God says about this cup. Revelation 14, it says,
the third angel followed them with a loud voice. If any man
worshiped the beast of his image, and receive the mark on his forehead
or in his hand, the same shall drink the wine of the wrath of
God, which is poured out without mixture in the cup of his indignation."
That wrath, that sin, that's what we were. People's scared
to death about Marks of the Beast and all this other nonsense they're
running around studying and looking into. That's 666. That's man,
man, man. We put ourselves in the position
of prophet because we'll tell everybody. We know everything.
We'll put ourselves in the position of priest. I'll be your go-between.
Come ask me all your questions. I'll provide sacrifice. We put
ourselves in the position of king or the kingmaker, which
is just worse, isn't it? Those that do that will drink
without mixture the cup of indignation, the wine of God's wrath. And
he looks at Peter and says, Peter, all that stuff you did that you're
guilty of, this is because it's you. Should I not drink it for
my people? Remember when he said, Peter,
if I don't wash your feet, you ain't gonna have no part of it.
He said, oh Lord, wash my head, my hands, my feet, and wash all
my face. You're clean. Calm down, Peter. It says in Matthew 20, Jesus
answered and said, you know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink
of the cup which I saw drink of to be baptized with the baptism
that I'm baptized with? Are you able to drink of that
cup? The answer is no. I can't pay that sin debt. I
have nothing to pay with. I ain't worth nothing. I'm just
nothing but debt. I ain't nothing but negative.
And anything I try to add to it, it's more negative. I can't,
Lord. And like little children, They
said to him, we're able. Can you drink of the cup I'm
gonna drink of? And I said, yeah, we can do that. And I bet he
shook his head, knowing our frame and pitying us. And he said,
you shall indeed drink of my cup, because you're going to
be in there and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized
with. You shall indeed. They let these go. I put this
in my notes from Alcas. I thought, you know, if you had
Osama Bin Laden standing in front of you. I've thought about that
a lot. And one of his men just cut off one of my men's ear.
This enemy of the state, and I'm gonna kill him. And he puts
the ear back on or does something. He said, now, if you wanna take
me, you take me, but you let all these people go. Uh, no. That ain't happening. Everybody's
going down it. That's just a man and another
man. This is the God of the universe. And when he speaks, it's a certainty. Take me. There's a cup I got
to drink up. Let these go their way. For a season, they didn't go
after him because he had to be alone. He had to be forsaken
of everybody and everything ever in totality. And then he come back to them,
didn't he? Just like that sun, we don't see it. It's there. Warming this earth, providing
for us. This one, we might turn our faces from him for a season,
for a moment, and he'll come back to us again. All right,
let's pray together. Father, thank you for this day.
We'll thank you for these clouds you send. Thank you for your
son that's ever present. In these times of darkness, Lord,
don't leave us to our own understanding and our own knowledge and wisdom
and ideas. Lord, flatten us. Reveal Christ to us and keep
us as you promised you will. Forgive us our sin. Forgive us
what we are. Be with our brethren, Lord, that
aren't with us and those that are sick and with ailments you've
given them, trials that you've sent. Comfort them, Lord. Allow them to see your work and
the freedom you've provided for us to finally follow you. Thank
you for keeping your people. Thank you for this day. It's
because of Christ we ask these things. Amen. We'll wait about 1035 and start
back.