Mark 11:1–12:44 | The Jesus Way

Have you ever noticed that the smallest things, the smallest annoyances can bring out the biggest reactions? I didn't know that there was a word for it until I came here to the United States. We call them pet peeves, right? We have all those little pet peeves that just get under our skin. We just can't stand it. Maybe it's people who drive slowly in the fast lane. Don't do that, people, if that's you. Or maybe someone who chews way too loudly. Or maybe when your phone autocorrect kicks in, it changes your words and makes you sound ridiculous. In fact, this morning, Pastor Carl sent me a text. He goes, hi, Nate. Apparently, that was the autocorrect. Ajit became Nate for autocorrect today. Maybe it's people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot. Or maybe someone who starts a group text at 6 a.m. on your day off. Pet peeves. We all have them and it annoys us. You know, one of my biggest pet peeves is Super Bowl parties. Not the game, but the parties. I still remember the first time. It was 2013. I had just barely been a few months here in the United States. I was going to Moody Bible Institute. I'm in my dawn room at Moody preparing for a good evening when my friend texts me. He goes, hey, aren't you coming down? I go, what's going on? He goes, well, there's a Super Bowl party. We'd love for you to be there. I go, you know what? I don't watch football. I don't know anything about it. So I'm just going to stay in my room. He said, no! This is an American tradition. You got to come. You got to watch this. I go, okay. Would you teach me football? He goes, yes, I'll teach you. And so I went down. It was actually a great game. It was the Ravens versus the 49ers. Very close game. I loved it. And so the next year, they didn't have to invite me. I just went in because... It was great. I had a great experience. And this one was a blowout. I think it was the Denver Broncos. I don't even remember who were they. Oh, Seattle. They were playing Seattle. It was a great game, and so I loved football. I started getting into it. And then the following year, I was committed. I was... Watching the regular season. I was following. It was my first full year of following American football. The Bears were obviously not doing great, so I couldn't root for them. And I had some extended family in Seattle, so I was rooting for the Seahawks. And here they were. Super Bowl. They were playing Tom Brady, right? And it's easy to root against Tom Brady. He was going for his fourth ring. And so here we are. It was a church party. We had about 30, 40 people, you know, in this party. And it comes down to the wire. How many of you remember the Super Bowl? It was 2015. Got a few hands going up. So this was the scenario. 26 seconds left. Seattle and Russell Wilson, they're trailing by four points. They're right at the one-yard line. Man, maybe if I was in there, all they had to do is just throw me across, right? And we could have won. But what did they do? Wilson passes the ball. It's intercepted. They go on to lose. So this moment happens, and I'm shouting. I'm angry, right? I'm shouting like, no! And then I look around, everyone's just doing their own thing. They're like, what's going on? I thought this was about the game, but it's not, right? So, you know, that's when I decided I'm not going to do sports parties anymore if they aren't actually watching with me or they're into the game. So now here's how I do my Super Bowl. I'm in my living room downstairs, just me. watching the game, and I have a lot of fun, guys. I'm sorry to tell you, right? That's my pet peeve because I'm into sports and I want to totally get into it. Pet peeves. You know, here's the funny thing about these pet peeves. They usually say something about what we value, right? If you hate it when people cut the line, it's probably because you value fairness, right? If you can't stand loud chewers, maybe you value peace and focus and manners and etiquette, right? If slow drivers make you nuts, maybe you value efficiency or it's just that you're always late, right? But think about this. If our little frustrations reveal what we care about, What do Jesus' reactions, especially His anger and frustrations, reveal about what He values? It doesn't often happen a lot in the Gospels. You don't see Jesus get angry very often, a few times. And we're going to look at a couple of passages today where Jesus actually does get angry. And He's frustrated. And we learn, what does Jesus actually value? We're almost at the end of our series on Mark called The Jesus Way. We're looking at Jesus. We're learning from Him so that we become like Him. And now we step into the last week of Jesus' life. This is the final week of Jesus' life. And I want to kind of look at how this week unfolds. We're going to look briefly at the timeline of this final week Because I was surprised at what Jesus was doing. You know, if it's your last week, you have one more week to live. You're going to be a man on mission. You're going to be doing the things that matters most. You want to be so focused. And obviously Jesus was. But we're going to be surprised what Jesus actually does for the majority of his final week. So let me give you a timeline. So this is Sunday, Palm Sunday. It's the triumphal entry. Jesus comes riding on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem where people are cheering for him. They think he's the Messiah, so they cry out, Hosanna, save us now, and that's on Sunday. Right? And on Monday, Jesus comes back again. He's in the temple, but this time he is angry. He drives out the money changers from the temple. He exposes the corruption that has crept into church worship. So he's causing up a stir on Monday. In the temple. And on Tuesday, he's back in the temple. And this time, he gets into a series of seven confrontations with the religious leaders of the day. In other words, Jesus literally is getting into a fight with the religious leaders on the Tuesday before Sunday. He's crucified. And then on Wednesday, it's a quiet day. The religious leaders are obviously incensed. So they finalize their plan to kill Jesus. And Judas agrees to betray him. Thursday is the last supper. And then Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane. He's praying. He's asking God if this cup can pass away, if it's possible. And then he's arrested Thursday evening. Put on trial early Friday morning. Crucified on Friday. And we know the rest of the story. He's resurrected on Sunday, right? Almost three to four of his four days in his final week, Jesus spends his time in the temple, if you were to convert it into modern verbiage, the church of his day, where he's frustrated. He's fighting against the pastors of their day. And you could see him really aggrieved with God, with what was going on in the temple. So if you were one of those that's against the church or you're disappointed with how the church was or church is and your church experiences, you're not alone. Jesus was actually with you too. Right? And that's what we're going to see in our sermon today. The title of my sermon is, When Jesus Flips the Tables. Four powerful contrasts that reveal what Jesus truly values. So we're going to look at the religious systems of Jesus' day, the clergy of Jesus' day, and just see a contrast between what Jesus values and what was embodied by the church. So four powerful contrasts that reveal what Jesus truly values. And as we look at this, here's what I'd love for you guys to do. I want you to look at it through two lens. The first one is personal, individual. It's our responsibility to examine our own lives. And as we look at these contrasts as to what Jesus values, we look at ourselves and we go, is that something that I value? Am I in alignment with what Jesus actually says? So I want you to do that from a, evaluate yourself from a personal, individual lens. But I also want you to evaluate as a church community. We are the church. This is not my church. This is not our lead pastor, Pastor Carl's church. This is our church, right? And we got to be accountable that as a church, we value what Jesus values as well. So I'd love for you to put on these two lenses as we look into four powerful contrasts that reveal what Jesus truly values. Here we go. Number one, obedience versus accolades. Humble obedience versus being swayed by the accolades of people. So I want to jump into Mark chapter 11, and this is what happens. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethpage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a cold tide on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. Just a side note here. Look at what Jesus is saying. This is the omniscience, the sovereignty of God in action. He's saying, go to the next village, next city. And when you enter in, there's going to be a donkey out there. So trespass, get the donkey. And if someone actually tells you, just say, the Lord is in need of it and they'll give it to you. This is what they did. Right? I'd be scared to do this, right? But you can look at the sovereignty of God. He says, when you go to the next village, something beyond his eyes, beyond what he can tangibly see, he goes, there's going to be a donkey there. So you see... the deity of jesus even in action here is omniscience he's all knowing in action right here so verse 4 goes on and they went away and found a cold tide at a door outside in the street and they untied it and some of those standing there said to him what are you doing untying the cold and they told him what jesus had said and they let them go And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he looked around at everything, as it was already laid, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. So we see a huge fanfare happening here because people thought that The Messiah was here. There are so many messianic images in this particular incident that was prophesied in the Old Testament. For example, in Zechariah 14.4, it tells us that when the Messiah came, he would stand on the Mount of Olives. That's where Jesus starts his procession. And then according to Zechariah 9.9, it says the Messiah, for the Messiah, a colt, someone that no one has rode on, was the chosen mode of transportation. And then the waving of branches and spreading of cloaks on the ground signifying welcoming of a king. And it also takes place in the Old Testament. So here there are so many messianic images of the coming Messiah. Now people are excited. They take off their clothes. They're greeting Jesus. They sing Hosanna, which means save us now. So Jesus was kind of soaking in the adulation. Of the folks, he was the Messiah. Everyone was excited. But they, this was not the Messiah. Jesus was not the Messiah that they wanted him to be. As you can see, it's the same crowd. Four days later, they cry, crucify him. So what were the people actually expecting? Jesus, they wanted Jesus to be crucified. A political Messiah. Someone who would deliver them from the oppression of the Roman Empire. The Jews, they were almost a vassal state. They were heavily taxed, politically oppressed. Well, they had some freedom of religion, but they wanted their own land. They wanted to rule themselves. And they were hoping that the Messiah would come in Win the battle for them. And so they were excited. Now here's Jesus. The man does wonders and miracles. And now he's going to go against the Roman authorities. And we are going to be freed. Right? But what happens? What happens at the end of the story? Absolutely nothing. Nothing happens. Jesus goes into the temple. He just inspects, seems to inspect the temple, and he makes his way back to the village that he was staying, the village of Bethany. Here's the key. Jesus was not waylaid by the acclaim and the accolades of people. He had a clear mission. He knew what he was there for. And so nothing could sway him. The applause, the crowds didn't sway Jesus. His heart was fixed on doing the Father's will. And you know that's a hard thing to do. Maybe Jesus, since he's God, maybe it was easier for him. But think about us. If we were in that scenario where people want us to be their hero, people look up to us, they're cheering for us, man, I would want to do that. I wouldn't want to let these people down, right? It's easy for us to be swayed by the accolades of men. Give people what they want. Try to be the hero. But here was Jesus so focused on the mission that was ahead of him. And you know what? This was in stark contrast to even the religious leaders of Jesus' day. You know, the Pharisees, it says they loved spotlight. In fact, there's so many times that they wanted to do something. They wanted to arrest Jesus. That was what was in their heart. But they didn't do it because they were afraid of the people. And their entire spirituality was centered around what people thought of them. So when they gave a gift, we all gave this morning. So when they gave a gift, they made sure that everyone was looking so that people could say, oh, look at him. He is so generous. She is so generous. When they prayed, they prayed so loud that everyone looked. could hear. When they fasted, they made themselves so miserable that everyone, oh, look at how spiritual that person is. I'm not as spiritual as them. Their entire spirituality was about other people, the accolades of others. It's easy for us to chase approval as well, to want people to notice us, to like what we do, to affirm our worth. But Jesus shows us a better way here. His focus was on doing the will of God. So we have a choice as well. Obedience, we could choose obedience to God's will. Whatever that brings, whatever that entails, we're choosing the accolades of people. What is our primary motivation? Whose applause are we living for? Do we care more about what God thinks of us Or what people think? Are we more concerned with being noticed or with being obedient to the will of God? Obedience versus accolades. Moving on, number two, vibrant faith versus empty rituals. Again, a fascinating portion here. Next day, Monday morning, Jesus is hungry. Jesus is walking back to Jerusalem. He sees a fig tree at a distance that has leaves. So he's assuming that there's going to be some sort of fruit, maybe even a bud that was edible for him to eat. So he goes up to the tree. There's nothing. What does Jesus do? He curses that fig tree. And then his disciples noticed that. You know, you don't see Jesus angry, frustrated, cursed that often. But here he's cursing a tree. And then he goes on to the temple. And this is what happens in the temple. Mark 11, verse 15. And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. So imagine the scene. Jesus comes into the temple. He's flipping tables. He's angry. He's causing a scene out there because he's zealous for what the temple, what the church has come to do. He goes, this is a house of prayer, but you made it a den of robbers. So why is Jesus angry here? There's a couple of possible reasons. One is there's greed, corruption. People were being taken advantage of. People were supposed to, you know, the ritual was, you know, once you come in and then you offer atonement for your sins. So you're coming in. It doesn't matter wherever you are. You know, you might be 300 miles away from Jerusalem, but you make that trek, come to Jerusalem with your animal, you go in, you lay your hands on the animal, your sins are transferred to that symbolically, and then the animal is burned at the altar, and that's how you make atonement of sins, right? That's how worship went on in the Old Testament temple. And here, so people come in, and you have the money changers, you have people who sold these animals, presumably fleecing, taking advantage of these travelers. And Jesus goes, how did this become a marketplace? This was not the intent. of my church. A modern scenario would be, let's say, like we buy something, you know, we've got some books, and then we mark it up 20%, so it's even higher than what you buy on Amazon. And then we're trying to make money off of it, right? Jesus is absolutely incensed. But there's also another reason, you know, you see that clue even in that verse. It says, my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you've made it a den of thieves. The place where the market was, where this was happening, was in the outer court. And this was the only place where the Gentiles, the non-Jews, had access to. So they couldn't go into the temple because they were not holy, they were not pure. But they could be in the outer court. This was the only place where they could worship the one true God. And that location was hijacked. By these folks who turned it into a marketplace. And notice what Jesus says, you made it a den of robbers. A den is a place where you go after you commit your thievery, your stealing, right? It's your home, your den. These people were so comfortable with what they were doing that they had made the house of God their den. Just because you're in God's house, you can do whatever you want. And now we're holy, sanctified, doesn't matter. Because we're in God's house. Right? And I think in our own way, we assume we can do whatever we want. But if we associate ourselves with good people, I think that's good. We're good enough. We don't have to do anything else. Vibrant faith with his empty rituals. Jesus is going against the entire religious order of his day. He goes, this is not the heart of what I want for my church. And then the narrative continues on Jesus goes back. And then what happens is before we get to this passage, we see that they go back out of the city. They're going back to their village. And then they see the fig tree that Jesus cursed. Right? Jesus curses the fig tree. And now this tree is dead. And Peter goes, Jesus, look at that. You cursed that tree. This tree is dead. And on a side note, this is what scholars call this Mark in sandwiches. Mark, Gospel of Mark. Mark uses this literally device where he has a story and then he interrupts that story with something else. And then he comes back to it to prove a point. So Mark in sandwiches. And here we see Jesus is trying to communicate something deeper. And then he goes on in verse 22, he says, and Jesus answered them, have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your Father, also who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. So Jesus uses this as a teaching moment. The fig tree represented Israel's empty religion, full of leaves but no fruit. In the same way, the temple system, the church of Jesus' day, had become full of activity but empty of real faith. And then Jesus talks about a vibrant faith here where he goes, you know what? I cursed the fig tree and now it's cursed. But you can do that as well. And this is not just, I don't think he's referring to any kinds of prayer that we can make. I think Jesus is making a point here that kind of revolutionizes the way we even access God. The temple system in Jesus' day was had become lifeless, going through the motions, doing what they want, thinking you can get away with God just by sacrificing something and praying. But Jesus is saying that faith in God will replace the temple system of his day, the old rituals that we go through. You know, we've all heard this cliche phrase, Christianity isn't a religion, it is a relationship. I think it's partly true. I wouldn't just dismiss the religion part. I think it's partly true. But religion by itself can become routine, right? We show up. We say the right things. We check the right boxes. Oh, I'm serving at church on Sunday. Oh, I just woke up. I got to say a simple prayer. Or the only time we pray is just before we have a meal. We pray and then we're done. Dead, empty rituals. And Jesus goes against that. And he says, vibrant faith is what we need. And this is revolutionary even for us. Because they, people in Jesus' time, they did not have access to God the way we have access to God. Because of what Jesus has done, we can go into the throne room of God with confidence. That's what Hebrews 4 says. And ask him. Ask him. In prayer. Which add, I mean a lot of times I think we complicate prayer to be something more than what it's not supposed to be. Again, we might be like the Pharisees. It becomes a marker of spirituality. So if we pray along prayers, if we say the right words, God is listening. That's exactly the opposite of what God wants. Prayer is us just talking, communicating with God. where we go to God with our weaknesses, in our helpless state, and asking God to come through. You and I, we have access to the God of heaven and earth as we go through life. That's a vibrant faith that God wants us to have. So here's the question. Is your faith alive or just busy? Are we walking with God daily or are we just checking spiritual boxes? Jesus today is inviting you, just like he did there, to trade rituals for a real relationship with him. The next contrast is wholehearted love versus religious pride. This is a long section, Mark 11 and then Mark 12, so we're not going to read all of it. But I want to give you a quick summary because Jesus here gets into a series of seven confrontations with the religious leaders of the day. So these were the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. And so this is what happens. The first, the chief priests and elders, they come to him and ask him, by what authority do you do these things? And Jesus turns the question on themselves. And then Jesus then talks about the parable of the tenants. where he tells a parable that clearly condemns them for rejecting God's messengers, and most importantly, himself. And then a Pharisee asks a question about taxation to Jesus, because they want to trap Jesus. They want to get him in his words so they can punish him. Right? And Jesus has such a wise answer. Render to Caesar what you give to Caesar. Render to God... gods and then the Sadducees now they come they don't believe in the resurrection so they mock the idea of resurrection with Jesus and Jesus defends that and then a scribe tests Jesus about the law and then they talk about Jesus talks about his messianic identity and then finally he condemns the pride and hypocrisy of the Pharisees so again remember this is a few days before Jesus is arrested and put to death he spends the entire day Going against the religious leaders, the pastors, if you may call it, of Jesus' day. And this was kind of par for the course with Jesus and his relationship with the religious leaders. But at the heart of it, I want to point out to you what is, in my opinion, the most important thing. text that shows how we, his disciples, should live. And it goes, it says this in Mark 12, 28. And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another. And seeing that he answered them well, asked him, which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus answered, the most important is, hear O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other commandment greater than this. These were spiritual leaders. They were supposed to be experts in the Scriptures. They were the ones who were supposed to recognize who Jesus was, His true identity, His messianic identity, the fact that He was the Son of God, He was the Savior of all humanity. So if there was someone who was most likely to recognize who Jesus was, it should have been the religious leaders because they were experts of the Scriptures. But what did they try to do? They trap him. They try to trap him. They question him. They're testing his words. They're trying to prove themselves right. They were so focused on protecting their image that they completely missed what God wanted. And if there's one thing that I want you to take away, if there's just one thing that you take away from this message, I want you to Take this home with you. What Jesus wants is wholehearted love towards him. Not religious pride. Not arrogance. He says, love the Lord your God with all of your heart. And it progresses. He doesn't stop there. He goes, all of your soul. Meaning with everything you have. Maybe the essence of who you are has to love God. And then with all of your mind. He goes, with all of your strength. That's how Jesus wants us to love God. I'm learning a lot from my kids. I'm sorry if I, I mean, this is the stage of life where I have a lot of illustrations of my kids. This too will pass, so bear with me if you don't like my kids' illustrations. I am just so amazed at the single-minded devotion that my kids have when they put their mind to something, right? Right now, they're on a Spider-Man craze. Everything is Spider-Man. So my son wakes up in the morning. I go to get him. And you know the first thing that he does? He goes... first thing and all through the day I kid you not hundreds of times every time they see me they go he started doing this when he couldn't even do this so he'd go like this and then now you know he practiced how to do this two-year-old and now he can do this perfectly right Everywhere. And so obviously I'm cast as the villain all the time. So their mom and the kids, they made up a persona for me. So I'm called as, my villain persona is Mega Burger. They know I like burgers, so now I'm a mega burger, meaning that I go all throughout the city devouring all the french fries and burgers that there is. The city has nothing for it. So their job is to save the city from mega burger. It just consumes them every time. And now we can't even go out shopping because the moment they spot a Spider-Man costume, Spider-Man, whatever they wanted. They're completely obsessed with Spider-Man. And that made me think, if God wants me to love him with all of his heart, soul, mind, strength, am I this obsessed with God as my kids are with Spider-Man? We might not be there yet, but this is the process of discipleship, right? Wholehearted love for God versus religious pride. God has to become the center of our lives. Our whole world has to live around him. He needs to get your undivided focus, your unswerving allegiance. He's got to be all-encompassing. This is what God wants, the powerful contrast. God doesn't just want you to dabble with religion, dabble with Christianity, read your Bible here and there. That's about it. I go do my life. That's not what God wants. And this is the best thing that we could do. Give ourselves wholly to him. Wholehearted love versus religious pride. Finally, the fourth contrast between Jesus and the religious leaders. God wants sincere devotion versus self-serving promotion. Verse 38, it goes like this. And in his teaching, he said, beware of the scribes. Again, religious leaders who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces. And they have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts. Who devour widows' houses and for a pretends make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. So guys, if you're wondering if Jesus is watching, looking at you putting money, he did here, right here. Remember that during offering time, I guess. Many rich people put in large sums and a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. What a powerful contrast. On one side, you had the religious leaders of the day. They're showing off their spirituality. They use their position to take advantage of people. They prayed aloud. They dressed sharp. They loved the spotlight. They look spiritual on the outside. But their hearts were far away from God. And on the other side was this poor widow. And it says those two copper coins, it says that's all that she had to live on. Think about it. You know, the equivalent today is if you're earning $100 a day, this is less than $1.50. That's all that she has to live on. This is her means of livelihood, sustenance. She takes it and gives it to God. I think this is the greatest object lesson of what Jesus said just right before. When he says, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Exhibit A. Here is this widow who gives everything that she had to Jesus. And Jesus acknowledges that. Sincere devotion is what Jesus values, not self-serving promotion, which the religious leaders were accustomed to doing. How we look on the outside is perhaps what matters to people, right? And we structure, I structure, we all, we've got to be honest with ourselves, we structure our spirituality around what will people think of us. And that doesn't work with God. He sees the deepest recesses of our heart, our thoughts, our motivations and our intent and what he longs for is a heart that is fully devoted to him. I want to move to our turning point. We're going to end today. I'd love for the worship team to come up on stage. But I want us to take some time to Reflect. We want to be doers of God's word, not just hearers only. And I hope I've adequately communicated just the importance of what we're talking about today. This was the final week of Jesus' life. The final week of Jesus' life. And Jesus is frustrated with the church. Jesus is frustrated with the religious leaders. Jesus is frustrated with their spirituality. And he tells us what he values. Where in your life do you see the temptation to prioritize the values of religious systems over those of Jesus? And what is God calling you to do to align with Jesus' priorities? Are we going to choose obedience to God's will? Or are we going to be swayed by the praise of people? Are we going to have a faith that is vibrant, dynamic, where we pray believing, we go to God in prayer, a living relationship with Him? Or are we going to just settle with dead religion, empty rituals? Is your love going to be wholehearted? Are you going to love God with everything that you have? Or at least you're in the process of saying, God, I want to love you with everything that I have. Or are you going to let your pride, your religious arrogance, the way you do things get in the way of God? Is sincere devotion the posture of your heart? or self-serving promotion. I'm going to pray for us right now. I'd love for you guys to really search your heart and see what the Holy Spirit is, is prompting you. And we're also going to do a song right after, which is about making room for Jesus. It's what God has for us is infinitely more than what we can ask or imagine. That's our creed. We want to live a life that you could never have imagined because we tap into the goodness, the fullness of what God has for us. And today is another opportunity. To turn back from empty religion, dead rituals, religious arrogance, self-serving promotion, and say yes to wholehearted love, sincere devotion, a vibrant faith that values obeying God more than anything else. Will that be you? Is that what you value? Will that be what we as a church community value and choose? Father, thank you for your word. God, I ask you, help us to value what you value, God. We want our hearts to long for what you long for, God. And I just pray for each and every person who's here, including me, God. Would you help us to lay aside things that stop us from pursuing you wholeheartedly? Those false idols, those empty pleasures that supposedly satisfy us for the moment, but leaves us with just such a deep chasm, a hole in our heart. Would you help us to pursue you? We want you to be our greatest joy. We want our hearts to make you our priority. And I pray for those who want that this morning, God. I pray even as they take this next step of obeying you and your word. Would you honor their request and give them the grace that is needed to live this out. And God, I also pray for those who might not see the value of this, who might be struggling with this, God. You are a compassionate God and you are patient with us, God. I pray, would you continue working in their hearts so that their spirits would be regenerated, God. And we pray that they would come to see the life that you have for us. Thank you, Father. Thank you that we can get to do life with you. And not only on earth, but you have eternal life because of what Jesus has done for us. Thank you for your word. In Jesus' name.