Better News for All

All right, well, we are in week 18 of Mark and excited to keep going here in Mark. So kind of a lot to cover this morning. As you heard in that text, there's a kind of longer text we're going to be walking through, kind of walking through, mainly focusing on the first part and then kind of really quickly summarizing what's going on there with John the Baptist. So let's just jump into that again. Mark is about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. This is his good news, the gospel. To be looking at that this morning and asking a question, who is this guy? Who is Jesus? Who is he claiming to be? And his authority and his teaching, his authority over demons. He has authority to forgive sins. He has a nature that must be my batteries. Are my batteries going out. So, okay, so authority over nature, all the things. So today, though, is better news for all. Now we are looking at this is something. That there is something better, right? There is. And then news. What is news? Right? That's why I asked you the question about have you ever had a hard time taking something that was old and making it switching over to something new? And that's what news is. News means something new, right? This is here, it's breaking new. And that's what Jesus is doing. And he's been doing that the entire time throughout the Gospel of Mark. And I think that we could all really, right now, just in our own souls, use a little bit of good news. And so I want to do that. Nobody probably saw this coming, but this is my old Jeep Rip, and our new Corolla cross. And I had a hard time with this one, right? I had a really hard time with this. Even though the Jeep was a 96, you know, and the Corolla was, you know, 30 some years newer or whatever it is, and zero, almost zero miles when we first initially got it. And then compared to 250,000 plus miles in the Jeep, I would have chosen that Jeep any day over that Corolla. Matter of fact, just on Saturday, Angela and I had a chance to just kind of go out on a little date night. And what do you do when you're an adult and you go on a date night? We went grocery shopping for part of it. We went out to eat, and I parked right next to one of these Jeeps. And I was just like, man, I miss that stinking Jeep. I just do, right? It's just part of me. Why? Because there's something about that car that I felt like I was in control right there. I mean, I'M not exaggerating, I'm not trying to just force the illustration here. I got to tell that Jeep when I wanted it to be in four wheel drive. I don't want the robots telling me when my back wheels need to come on. I want to tell my back wheels when to come on, right? I want to tell it when to slow down. I want to tell it when to brake. I don't want to. I don't want to start braking this safely away from that vehicle right now. I want to get close to them on purpose. Right? There's a reason why I want to do these things and this car just doesn't. But now that I've been driving this car for over a year, man, I really like it. There's some nice perks to it. It is much safer. I don't fear for my life when I get over 60 miles an hour. All the things, right? There's just something that's better about the newness of this. And so, and as we look at this passage that we're gonna see this old kingdom, an old kingdom mindset wrapped up in both John the Baptist and Herod, that is old. It's passing away, it's becoming obsolete to use the author of Hebrews language. And there's something new that Jesus is bringing in that is so good, it's so refreshing and yet it's very counterintuitive. There's something about going to the old that we wanna. It feels like I can control this thing because it's morals and it's laws and I can choose what's right and what's wrong based on this. And it's actually pretty easy to obey. But to submit under this new kingdom, this new way of thinking is radically more difficult in that sense. So let's look at this. I'm gonna start off with the dynasty of Herod the Great. So this is just the boring history stuff, but I think it really helps paint the scene because I think that a lot of this goes a little just, I don't know, unsaid. Okay, so when you look at Herod the Great, the dynasty of Herod, it starts with Herod the Great. And then he has a lot of sons, but there are four that are in leadership that's called the tetrarchy. And you have Aristobulus, he's not the firstborn. Herod kills his firstborn son because he was afraid that he was going to take the throne. Herod wasn't really a great guy. He just did a lot of big things that Just earned him the title of Herod the Great. Aristobulus has Herod his son, Herod Agrippa I, who also has a daughter named Herodias. And if you were listening to the passage, that's the same Herodias. Okay, so that's gonna come up. And then here, Agrippa the First has Agrippa ii. When you read the Gospel of Luke, he will just mention Herod. Well, he knew that his readers knew the history of Judea and knew which Herod he was talking about. But there were four. There's Herod the Great, and then also listed in Luke is Herod Antipas, and then Herod Agrippa I in Acts, and then Agrippa II in Acts as well. But they're all just Herod because they're the same dynasty. So what we're gonna see in this passage is that you have Herodias, this other. The brother of Herod, Herod Antipas, brother Aristobulus. That's his daughter. His daughter Herodias marries Uncle Philip. Okay, it gets really weird here, right? And then Antipas says, nope, I actually want to marry my niece. Okay? That's what's happening. And these are blood relatives that he says, nope, I want to do this thing. And then John the Baptist says, no, that's actually bad. That's against what God has said and what has been taught. Now, what we're not really told a lot about is that this other guy named Archelaus, he is mentioned in our Bible in Matthew. And so those two, not so much. Philip. We don't read about Philip. He is mentioned in Scripture. But we're gonna focus this morning on Archelaus and Antipas. Philip is only mentioned in these references to John the Baptist as Herodias ex husband. Okay, so the only time we read about Archelaus is in Matthew, chapter two, which says this. This is the birth story of Jesus. Says, when Herod and I entered the Great, this is when Herod the Great died. And if we go back to the first sermon I taught on, we looked at that. Maybe it was even that long ago, but this was 4 B.C. so Herod dies in 4 B.C. jesus is born, most likely around 5 B.C. born five years before Christ. And then you have Herod the Great dies. He's the one who said, we're gonna go into Bethlehem and kill everyone. And the angel says, no, you need to flee. Go down to Egypt. So the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, rise. Take the child, his mother, and go to the land of Israel. For those who sought the child's life are dead. That's Herod the Great. Herod the Great's dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea. So this is Herod the Great son was reigning over Judea in place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. And. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. This fits the timeline historically perfectly. And so you have. This is. I know. Maps are maps. I get that. That yellow up north, that's Philip. Herod Philip is up there. The green is Herod Antipas. He's the one that we read about in our Bible. He is the governor. He is the client king that Rome has put in to rule that area. And he does a good job ruling that area. So he is the king of Galilee in Judea or Judah or Samaria. Down there where Jerusalem is. That's Archelaus area. He is not a good king. He is not a good leader. And that's why we are introduced to Pilate, who is put into power in 6 B.C. we know that historically there's a whole lot of. A lot of things written about Pilate. He's actually the third most mentioned name in our New Testament is Pilate. So that's why when we get there, spoiler alert, when Jesus is on trial, that's why he is under Pilate in the south, under Rome. And then he says, oh, but that's Antipas jurisdiction. You're from Galilee. Oh, go to. You go to Herod. And that's why he goes to Herod. And then Herod says, no, no, I don't want to touch this. You go back to Pilate, and that's what happens. Okay, so that's what we got to think of that. So let's just put that there. Okay. All right, let's move on. That was the boring stuff. Now let's get into the scripture and kind of what's going on here. The new 12. I have a map again here. This is just. I don't really care about the map other than to show you and to demonstrate. These are the 12 tribes of Israel. It was a designated area. It was a region. It had blocked that. They said, These are the 12 tribes that eventually Saul would unite under one banner of Israel. But the 12 tribes are the 12 sons of Jacob. And so now Jesus. We've already looked at this. I did a whole sermon on this on November 2nd, called the 12. This is incredibly significant because Jesus shows up and says, no, actually, we're gonna have a new 12. We're not just gonna be these old 12 tribes of Israel. We're gonna abolish this tribalism and it's gonna be the 12. But I'm not gonna be one that represents the tribe of Judah. I am going to be the leader over of the 12. That's who I am. That's what I am going to do. And so it says this in chapter three, which we've been. We were at back in November, and he went up the mountain and called to them who he desired, right? Not based on their bloodline, not based on anything they had done, but he chooses them. And they came to him and. And he appointed 12. It's incredibly significant. 12 Jewish men, incredibly significant, whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him and might send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. Okay, so let's look at what is an apostle, because I think that's significant. Maybe just enough. Maybe we've talked about this before, maybe we haven't, right? But what makes someone an apostle? It's someone who's appointed by Jesus. I put an asterisk there because it is eventually going to become someone who had seen the risen Lord that Jesus rose from the dead. And then they saw him and he said, you are my apostles. You are the ones I'm going to appoint, and I'm gonna send you out to preach me. And your authority to teach and to preach isn't gonna come from these ancient texts. It's gonna come from me. You have my authority, and so that they're gonna be doing miracles. But we even read about in the Gospel, in Acts, in the book of Acts, that even Paul's handkerchief starts healing people. That's not because of Paul. It's because of Jesus. It's because of where Paul gets that authority from. And this is also that risen Jesus aspect is why Paul has to defend his apostleship so much that when you read one of his letters, he's like, I am an apostle. Let me explain how I'm an apostle. Because Jesus showed up to him and said, no, you're actually gonna do what I tell you to do. He says, no, I was appointed by the risen Lord. I saw Jesus and he told me to preach, and he gave me authority to do so. That's the apostles. So now here we are in a text, and he called the 12 and began to send them out two by two. There was a lot more written about this than I ever thought possible about this whole aspect of these things. But two by two, really just kind of follows under the Deuteronomy code of just two or three witnesses, or having company, having other people with you, all that would come with not having to be alone on a journey like that. And he gave them authority. He gave them authority. It's not their authority. He gives them authority over unclean spirits. So what's new? What's new about this? Right? It seems like it's just a rebuilding or a rebranding of the 12. It's just the same patriarchy that, that Israel had been under for over a thousand years. What's new about this? The reason why I showed the map is because you cannot find a map of the 12 apostles because it's not about borders and land and citizenship. It's not about that. You can find maps of the 12, but it's where they have been martyred. It's the places that they went to go serve and teach the preachings of Jesus Christ and to proclaim him and that their authority over all. So there's no maps. That's what's new. It's not about borders. It's not about birthright. It's not about who I was born to, who my father is, or even their abilities. We're gonna see even in this text shortly here that they lack a lot, just the same way that we do. It is all about Jesus and his authority. The only thing that's not new when it comes to the 12 here is their message. They're commanded to go out and to preach and to teach the way that Jesus taught and the way he preached, not just in the way, but the things that Jesus taught. I love how, you know, we've talked about the movie or the show the Chosen. I like how they do this. There's a few times where Peter's up front and he's trying to preach and he's. He's kind of rough around the edges, but he can't quite get the details right. He doesn't remember it quite well. And one of the disciples is standing there like, nope, nope, that's not right. You know, kind of signaling him. You're not getting this story. And I'm sure there was a lot of that because they, they, they weren't the ones coming up with this. This was Jesus. And they would have sat under him and listened and then went back out and tried to teach as the best of their ability. The. What Jesus was teaching as well. This was not their doing. They're furthering the ministry and teaching of Jesus. Again, going to our guy, James Edwards. The sending of these particular individuals at this stage of their understanding of Jesus testifies to the beleaguered believers in Mark's church. So whoever marks writing to, indeed to believers of every age, that's us. That the fulfillment of the word of God depends not on the perfection or merit of the missionaries, but on the authoritative call and equipping of Jesus. This is not about us. It is not about our readiness to serve or our readiness to teach or our readiness to share the gospel. It is all completely about the One who has called us and the One who has sent us. Third point here, a new Exodus. Again, maybe to kind of recap Jesus already in Mark has been reenacting or reestablishing kind of this new Israel, this new way of thinking about Israel. We already looked at this with the 12. We looked at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness so that he endures the exact three different aspects that Israel was tempted in the wilderness and that God very explicitly gave them. This is how you are to react and to obey in a situation like this. And Jesus does that perfectly. He says, I'm going to be, I'm going to do and live a way that Israel should have lived. And they didn't. They fell flat in their face even though they had God's word with them. And so Jesus says, I have God's word. Let me tell you and let me live the way that we were supposed to talk about crossing the river to go into the promised land and, and, and, and being baptized that, that it used to be this ritualistic cleansing that turned, that Jesus turns into a spiritual one of new life in God once for all by faith rather than some kind of religious obligation of, of cleansing and washing to the law. Well, here we are and Jesus is going to do it again. He charged them to take nothing on their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. Again, what is Jesus doing here? He is almost directly quoting the book of Exodus when the Israelites were commanded to leave after the Passover. This would have for sure invoked this understanding to the followers of Jesus, these Jewish men who would have known the Exodus incredibly well. That was like their story. And Jesus is now saying the same thing to the followers of him, his disciples that was commanded of the Israelites fleeing Egypt says this in Exodus chapter 12, in this manner, you shall eat it. This is again this is before Passover. This is, I think, one of the most powerful displays of God and his glory is him calling his shot here that the Israelites are still in slavery. And he says, I'm going to set you free. Pharaoh is going to set you free. And when he does, this is the meal you're going to eat. And this is how you're going to eat it. It hasn't happened yet, right? He Babe Ruthed it. He called his shot, and then he knocks it out of the park. He just says, this is what I'm gonna do. And then he does it. This is how you're going to eat this, with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste the Lord. For the Lord. It is the Lord's Passover. Again, major significance with the disciples to do exactly like their ancestors on Passover. This whole point of Exodus and the Passover, which Jesus is also reenacting here, is complete and total dependence on God to be ready to serve on a moment's notice, to not depend on anything. That when you're hungry, that when you're tired, that when you're whatever, that I can depend on my resources that I have saved up for me. I can go back to camp. I can go back to a safe space. He says, no, no, no, no. Remember when Israel trusted God with the Passover? You're about to go do the exact same thing. You have nothing other than complete trust in God. And while this isn't a command for today, right. We're not commanded to only have a belt and sandals and a staff and a one tunic. It's not where we're called to a life of asceticism or anything like that. This is just saying. But what is it that we can learn from this? Are we too dependent on our own means, our own desires, or what we have in the bank? There's a lesson here. What do we use or what do we have that hinders complete dependence on God? It is really genuinely a tough, introspective question. I put it in one of the questions this week as we looked through this in our small groups of what are the things that I would consider like my bags, what are the things, my extra tunics, what are those things that maybe if I didn't have that thing, it would allow me to fully depend on God. But right now I don't, because I don't have to. I have this security blanket, fourth point, a new Israel. And he said to them, whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. This is just manners, right? This is just when you go in, you don't have anything very custom in that day that when you would walk around and if you were a stranger, a wanderer, and you'd go into town, that you would say, hey, can I stay here? And a lot of people usually had a guest room or an area where you could stay. That was very standard in. And so he's saying, if people welcome you in, you say who you are, that I'm teaching about Jesus, that he is the Messiah. If they allow you to come in, stay there, right? Be welcomed, be warmed by them. And their generosity says, but if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. That might seem very strange, and it would be strange in our culture. So let me just read this is again, going back Jewish kind of culture and law. This is a Syrian indictment. Since Jews traveling outside of Palestine were required to shake themselves free of dust when returning home, lest they pollute the Holy Land. Okay? That was the law. That's what would happen when a Jewish person would travel outside of Palestine. When they came back across the border to. They'd shake themselves off, they'd take their sandals off, they'd dust the feet, the dirt off, and then they would go back into Palestine. And this was to say, because this is unclean, this is symbolic that they are not God's chosen people. So now you can imagine a Jew is at my door, and I'm Jewish, and then he takes his sandals off and shakes the dust off their feet. It would be very indicative, it would be very telling of what in the world's going on here. It's saying, you're not us. Well, that doesn't make any sense. Cause I was born here, I'm a Jew, I'm an Israelite. This is enacting the exact thing that Jesus is doing that is new. There's a new Israel. And just because you are born in Israel, just because you have a dad and a bloodline that is an Israelite or Hebrew, doesn't mean you're an Israelite. Paul tells us in Romans, chapter nine, just because you are a descendant of. Of Israel doesn't make you Israel. This is radical and it's new. This is not in any way damnation. This isn't saying you're not Israel, therefore you're anathema, you're evil to me. This should have, and it should, even in Our own selves revoke repentance and change. This is a doctor looking at your blood work or looking at a scan saying, you are incredibly sick and you are in need of some help. And then us saying, no, I don't think I feel fine. I think I'm good here. That's what's happening. It should invoke something. Jesus is saying that you're not. You aren't a citizen, even though you have the right paperwork. This is hard. Do we want a savior, or do we think we're doing okay on our own? I don't need a savior. I like the idea of a savior. I like the idea of a savior, like, you know, forgiving my sins. But everything else, I think I've. I think I've got it. I think I've kind of got my life under control here. Do we want a savior? So again, they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. This is the message of Jesus. The message doesn't change. Dependence, repentance. And they cast out many demons and anointed people with oil, all who were sick and healed them. Edward Schweitzer, Swiss reformer, reformer, Swiss theologian, said this. A brief description shows how important the genuineness of the proclamation is. Everything, even the poverty and simplicity of the message, indeed even the courage to be rejected, must conform to the word that affirms that God is infinitely more important than. Than all else. These guys weren't ready. We have been reading just in the short books already in Mark. We're only in chapter six, that they have been fearful, they have doubted Jesus, that he performs miracles. And they're like, are you really the Messiah? He's like, what are you talking about? And then, even though they might not be ready or feel ready or seem prepared, Jesus sends them out to preach and. And to teach repentance. And I think this is really good for us. I think, especially in our context here at Lowertown, that there's no amount of study or exegeting the word of God or some theological class or study that you could ever take that will make you feel ready enough. It just doesn't work that way. That's just not how God functions. And we see that tangibly here in this passage with Jesus sending out the disciples. I think that learning and education, even theological or biblical education, might be, for many of us, our extra tunic might be something that I rely on. I can fall back on my biblical knowledge to help me if this question comes up when I'm talking to my neighbor. Rather than just go on and teach Christ Crucified. Only when we realize that we aren't ready can we really realize that we've been called and can we fully depend on Christ. I know I've mentioned this before. This was something my professor said this fall. This is a guy who, I mean by all accounts is an expert on historical Jesus, says, I will never be an expert on Jesus. I can only be a worshiper of him. That was radical hearing that from a guy who again has written a lot of books about Jesus. This guy is an expert my all counts on Jesus and just says, no, no, no, I'll never be an expert on Jesus. I can only be a worshiper of him. Do we have that mentality or do we think, oh no, I've read a lot. I went to school about this. I learned this, I took a class in this. I actually feel pretty confident in my understanding about who Jesus was. Okay, but do you think you're an expert? We're never going to understand and fully grasp Jesus, but we can worship him. It has little to do what Jesus is teaching us here has very little to do with anything to do with human capabilities. It has everything to do with the one who called us, his power and his authority. Final point here is a new king. Wow, we are out of time. And I got a lot of text to cover here. Let me just get in this. Right, so Herod again, Herod Antipas is kind of freaking out because he had been in contact with John the Baptist. He was. Arrest him. Because John is a big deal. I hope you understand that. He was a really big deal in ancient Israel and first century Israel had a huge following. It's just not something that was normal back then that he had this massive following. And it started to become such a big deal that even Herod Antipas, the ruler of the region, said, we gotta stop this guy. This is getting outta control. These baptizer. This baptizer movement is moving too quickly. And so he says, I'm gonna. He said, no, wait, isn't he the guy that I killed? Isn't it? But it's Jesus, right? You could imagine they're cousins. You could imagine there's a family resemblance there. Right? So then we're just gonna. I'm gonna skip all this. We're gonna go into this, into this a little bit. So Mark only takes a break from talking about Jesus in two spots in chapter one and here. And they're both about John the Baptist. So we need to take look, take a look deeper look at this. And he's gonna kinda, hey, previously, right in the Life of John the Baptist. And he talks about why he was arrested and then he was killed. Because that's what Herod takes notice of. Herod Antipas says he starts hearing about it. What is the it? The it is hearing about Jesus in this movement. Herod is paranoid. He's petrified. He said, I thought I dealt with that. I lopped the head off of this movement, and now it's back. But not just with one guy. Now it's one guy with 12 guys. This is growing exponentially, and I can't stop this movement any longer. He's terrified again. He goes, I'm just gonna paraphrase here. But he gets into this. I'll give you up to half my kingdom. That maybe for some of you, if you're nerds, you might remember just there's other times in Scripture, and even other times in ancient history, that phrase was evoked. It was just kind of a common thing that kings would say, a figure of speech, if you will. It didn't mean, I'm literally. I will literally give you half my kingdom. Herod didn't have that authority. You weren't allowed to give land. It was Rome's land. But it was a figure of speech saying, I will give you what you want. Right? Kind of like a genie in the bottle almost. And this should remind us of Esther and Xerxes. Xerxes says the same thing to Esther. I'll give you half my kingdom. And he says, I want you to save the Israelites. And so here, that's what happens. But instead of that, it is, I want you to kill John the Baptist. And that's exactly what happens. I want to just say this as we wrap up. Can you imagine that scene? Can you imagine that the wealthy, like the 1 percenters, the leaders, the politicians of Rome, of Israel gathered together for this party. Those parties, I've never been to one, but they can get a little weird, right? We know about that in news that when the top get together, someone does something weird and everybody else just goes, yeah, I guess that's what we do. That's okay. We're allowed to do that. We're above the law. And so when somebody is asked to be executed, someone in weakness, someone who's in chains is asked to be beheaded, and he's made a spectacle of. Nobody speaks up, at least not that's recorded. It doesn't seem that way because then they might be the next ones in the chopping block. That's exactly what John that he spoke up. And now he's dead for it. It's a spectacle. It is a flex of power over the weak. But Jesus, as we read in Hebrews, but as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old, as the covenant that he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises. This is new, this is Jesus. John represents old Israel. It's dead. John said, I must decrease, he must increase that I. This is, this thing, this old covenant is dying. And it literally physically dies with John. And Jesus then fulfills that. He takes the baptizer movement and says, oh, we're gonna run with this because you're gonna be baptized in me in my name. I will cleanse you, not some pool. Jesus already taught about the wine cloth, the wine and the cloth of new wine into old wine skins and new cloth. You can't force something new into something that is becoming obsolete. Jesus is the better covenant. However, what I don't want us to take away from this message is that, well, we need to be bold like John. I think there is a time to do that, there's a place to do that. I think there's a text to talk about that. This isn't that text. That again just becomes moralism. I think in a lot of ways Herod represents the old way as well. Herod representing fear, power, oppression, the sword, advantage over the weak and its citizenship and its land and its borders. And it is somebody in power who says, I'm gonna set out to destroy those who oppose me. I'm gonna destroy those who are my enemies. But then Jesus comes along and he teaches love and compassion. He's non violent. He cares and loves for the weak and the stranger and the foreigner. He teaches faith and discipleship and dedication and it's costly. He says radical things like instead of hate your enemies, love your enemies. Instead of destroy those who oppose you, he says, pray for those who persecute you. That's radical. That's wildly new. So an application. What kingdom are you living for, Herod? Jesus? It's really easy when you, when you look at those and they're next to each other to go, well, Jesus, I don't know of anybody who would hear those two lessons and go, ah, Herod, there's a few. But I think most people even in our culture would say, no, no, no, I, I want to choose Jesus. At least that mentality, that way of thinking. Let me ask us this, has there ever been a time where you have tried to save face by taking advantage of somebody else, by belittling them by throwing them under the bus, by whatever it may be to your own advantage. That's old Kingdom stuff. There's been a time where I could look at somebody and use them for my pleasure, my enjoyment, even though it might degrade them as a human being? That's this Old Kingdom. Has there been a time where you use your citizenship, your ethnicity, even to look down on someone or their circumstances? Has there been a time where you looked at laws or morality that you are a good person, you are a good citizen? As a means of God's grace and acceptance by God, we yearn for the law. I think that's the natural inclination of human beings, is to use and to manipulate and to twist. Jesus shows up and says, no, no, no, that's not how we live. That's not the kingdom that I come to proclaim. Are we disciples who are dependent on God? Do we look for his kingdom where we love our neighbor even if, or even, especially if it's not advantageous to ourselves? Do we look to a kingdom where we love our enemies? I brought this up with our small group on Tuesday, and that's a hard one right now. To love my enemy, to pray for those who persecute me or persecute those who aren't like me. Well, I haven't been doing that. Which kingdom are we living for? We have a time to reflect in communion. We do this every week, obviously, at Lowertown. And if you're a follower of Jesus, I just want you to take the time this morning and reflect. I think there's probably a lot of ways and a lot of areas in our life where we say, no, I am kingdom minded of Christ, but are there areas in my life that I don't do that? And I'm sure there's a million more that we could list that I just don't simply act the way Jesus has called me to live in the freedom of grace and forgiveness. I hold onto bitterness when I see people suffering and I hold onto anger and hatred. What kingdom are we living for? I'm going to look down on somebody because they look different than me, whatever it may be. And so we get a chance to take the bread and the juice and remember the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Let me pray and then the worship team will come back up and sing two songs. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our time this morning. Thank you. That we can look at your kingdom. That your kingdom isn't about borders. It's not about citizenship. It is about love and compassion, empathy, that you gave your life so that we could be free. So I pray we would not go back. We would not revert back to the old man, to the old kingdom of thinking I'm something when I'm not. To thinking I'm deserving of your mercy and grace when I'm not. To think that somebody else, some other image bearer of you, is not deserving of your love and your mercy and grace because of their actions. Would you forgive us of that? Pray that as we take these elements, you would be honored, you'd be glorified. Pray that our hearts would just be inclined to turn to you and your kingdom. And we pray that your kingdom would come. Your will would be done here on earth, here in St. Paul and in Minneapolis and in our state. Your will would be done. For thine is the power and the kingdom and the glory forever. Amen.