SPEAKER_00 0:01

We Christians celebrate Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is a wonderful, wonderful holy day to celebrate. Christ came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast, and he came for a whole lot more. The people lined the road. They were praising God. They were waving palm branches. They were throwing their cloaks in front of the colt as it passed by them. Long live the King was simply an expression behind their joyful shouts because they knew that Jesus was intentionally fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, where it says, See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. And he came to announce that he indeed was the Messiah. And Jesus chose a time when all of Israel would be gathered together in Jerusalem at a place where there was huge crowds that could see him, and a way of proclaiming his mission that was unmistakable. And the people went wild, and they were sure that their liberator was at hand. Palestine in Jesus' day was looking for someone to rescue them from the oppression of Rome. So Christ enters the city on a colt, and they're singing, Hallelujah! Hosanna, hail to the king. And the crowd heard about the resurrection of Lazarus, just down in Bethany, just a few miles from Jerusalem. You remember the story of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus, and Lazarus died, and Jesus goes there to that funeral, and he raises Lazarus from the dead. Actually, the funeral had already taken place, and he had been married for days. And so he raises Lazarus from the dead. And many who were here in Jerusalem on this Palm Sunday had seen some of the miracles that Jesus had done. And they'd seen that miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. And they'd seen his works, his deeds, and heard his powerful words. And so by now the excitement of this powerful figure, Jesus, is building up to a climax, a crescendo. And the multitude surged in celebration of this new king. Do you know in Acts chapter 1, verse 24, and Luke 9, verse 47, it says there that Jesus knew what was in the heart of man. He knew what was in the heart of man. Jesus didn't have to ask someone what they were thinking, he knew what they were thinking. And so Jesus here sees the multitude surge and celebration of this new king, and Jesus knew the fickleness of this crowd. He knew what was going to take place later. They were looking for a king to help them overthrow the rule of Rome, and he was the answer to the Roman oppression. And so he was like a political deliverer for them. And Christ knew that within a few days, his celebrators, his admirers would become condemners and accusers as well. And when they found out that he was not the king that they wanted, they were ready to do away with him. And he knew they would not shout, hail to the king, but he knew they would shout out, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Christ knew, get this, get this. Christ knew that he was destined to be slain before the world was ever created. Did you hear that? Christ knew that he was to be slain before the world was ever created. In fact, in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 19 and 20, there, Peter, the Apostle Peter writes these words. He says, Christ became the sacrificial lamb. And he says that sacrificial lamb was chosen before the foundations of the world, before the world was ever created. And then Christ knew that every breath he took took him one breath closer to the cross. In John 12, verse 27, Christ says, Now my soul has become troubled, and what shall I say? Father, forgive me, or Father, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose, this very purpose, Jesus says, I came to this hour. Father, glorify, glorify your name. Have you ever been on a trail and on a journey and and finding the obvious, uh, but missing the subtle? And maybe you stop long enough just to see the to pause a little bit and to see the beauty around you and to find something very subtle as well. You know, let's suppose you're out in Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, and you're out there and you're on a trail, and you happen to be walking across a mountain stream there, and and you're on the bridge, and so you you step on the bridge and you just stop for a moment and you look at the beautiful scenery around you, the snow-capped mountains, and all the pine trees and and the stream that's flowing underneath you, and you just take it all in. You see the obvious out there, you see um uh uh all that's there before you, the boldness before you. And then you happen to look down in the stream and you see a foot-long trout looking at you eyeball to eyeball. You see the subtle. Sometimes we see the obvious, but we miss the subtle, don't we? And here we see as a reflection of Christ's his death, as we see, as we reflect upon his death, we tend to focus on the big events, the obvious events, but we forget the subtle events. And here it's very possible to read Luke 19 and see the triumphal entry, but miss the passage which tells us of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. As we reflect about the triumph, it's easy to overlook the tears. I'm gonna tell you one more story before we get on here, but read this Luke 19. But uh, several years ago, um we had our granddaughter with us. Um, Ava was with us, and we were in Tennessee, and we were doing the Cage Cove loop. Anyone do the Cage Cove loop in Tennessee? Anybody ever seen Bear on the Cage Cove loop? Many of you have, haven't you? You sure have. Well, this time we were on that loop and we saw Mama Bear in front of us on the right side of the road. So we stopped. And to our left, about eight feet away from my window, about my level at the window, was a pine tree. And there were branches out of the pine tree. And guess what was in that pine tree? Three, what was in the pine tree?

unknown 7:07

Three cubs.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Three little cubs, three little newborn cubs. They were really young, they weren't any bigger than little cat, you know. And anyhow, they were there climbing that tree. Well, the mama bear came across the road. She came in front of our car vehicle, and she was. I had my window down, but she came right at the base of my window. I rolled my window up. And she coaxed those little three cubs out of that the branch of that tree. Uh, she she uh brought them all together with her front paws there, and she took them across on the other side of the road to safety there. But sometimes we see the obvious. Mama bears over here. Well, look over here. There's something subtle right here, three little baby bears. And so today we're gonna take a look at the broad picture, but we're gonna find something very subtle in that picture as well. Let's look, let's read Luke 19. Luke 19, it says, after Jesus had said this, beginning with verse 28. I'm sorry, Luke 19, 28 in your Bibles, Luke 19, 28. After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. And as he approached Beth Page and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. Verse 31 If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it, tell him the Lord needs it. And those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them, and as they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, Why are you untying the colt? And they replied, The Lord needs it. And they brought it to Jesus, and they threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it, and as he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. And when he came near the place where the road goes down to the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. Verse 38 Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. I tell you, he replied, If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. Verse 41, as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it, and he said, If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now is it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you, and hem you in on every side, and they will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls, and they will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize. You did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. So we take a look today, and we look at, first of all, his sorrows, the cause of his sorrow. What was the cause of his sorrow? By the way, there's there's notes on the back of your bulletin if you'd like to follow that along today, follow along with us today. But first of all, we see the cause of his sorrow. The cause of his sorrow. You know, the Bible does not record that Jesus smiled or laughed, never mentions that. It doesn't, but we know that he probably did. He did. You know, think of Jairus' little daughter that was lifeless and that was resurrected from the dead. Think of the people that were around there, and Jesus resurrected Jairus' daughter from the dead. Can you imagine the joy that must have been there at that event when his daughter was resurrected from the dead? There had to be a big smile on Jesus' face when that happened, and others there as well. As the children were drawn to Jesus, the Bible tells us that the children were drawn to Jesus, and they were attracted to him. So there had to be some winsomeness about Jesus, a smile, a joy about Jesus that attracted the children to him as well. And the fact is this that Jesus had a constant joy in doing God's work, God's will. He had constant joy in that. In fact, in Psalm 40, verse 8, it says this about the coming Messiah. It says this, that he delighted in doing God's work. He was overjoyed in doing God's work. Hebrews 12, 2 says this: that Christ endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. He had joy in enduring the cross because he knew that you and I would be rescued and redeemed and be brought into a relationship with him through his sacrifice there on the cross. In John 15, he spoke of his joy. In John 15, 11, it says this. But joy perhaps was not the dominant emotion. He is called a man of sorrows in Isaiah 53. And he's acquainted with grief. Christ's calling was not a happy calling from a human perspective. He came, Christ came to suffer. He is called a man of sorrows, and he's called one acquainted with grief. Christ's calling was not a happy one from a human perspective, was it? Not at all. He came to suffer and to die. And we're told that Jesus wept on three different occasions in Scripture. First of all, when he, when Lazarus was raised from when before Lazarus was raised, but when Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus, what happened there? Jesus wept. Jesus wept John 11, 35. If you're looking for a verse, a short verse to memorize, that's it right there for you. Jesus wept, John 11, 35. Jesus wept, John 11, 35. Let's do that together. Jesus wept, John 11, 35. You just memorized a verse. Thought you couldn't do it. You did it. Jesus wept there at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. And I was, we had a discussion yesterday. Mark and I were on trail, and we wound up, we wound up talking about this. Why did Jesus weep? Anybody, can anybody think of a reason why Jesus wept at Lazarus's death, knowing that he was going to resurrect him? Anybody? It's kind of interesting to think about that. But maybe what's that?

unknown 14:17

He shared their grief.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

He shared their grief. That's a good point. He shared their grief, exactly. And that's kind of what we thought too, as well, that in a sense, Jesus identified with his grief, the grief of the people there. And maybe he was sorrowful too about the fact that death even entered the human race. Because that wasn't God's original plan or design, you know, for death to enter the human race. And so he was weeping over the fact that mankind was cursed with death there as well. But anyhow, you we think about that, and it's kind of interesting there. But he wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, and he also wept in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Garden of Gethsemane in Hebrews 5, verse 7. During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death. So he, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he wept as well. In fact, the King James translation says this: it says he had vehement cries and tears as well. And thirdly, we see Christ weeping on the day of his triumphant entry, when the king entered into the holy city. Now it's remarkable this on his last journey into the city, as he descends the Mount of Olives, he hears the acclaim of the multitude, shouting, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And Jesus comes up over the hill, the Mount of Olives, there, and views the city where he'll ultimately meet his death. Several of us went to Israel several years ago, and we came up over the Mount of Olives and we saw the city before us. We saw the gold dome there, the Temple Mount, and we saw the city of Jerusalem before us, and we happened to see, wasn't it, a double rainbow over the city of Jerusalem there from that perspective, as Jesus coming up over the Mount of Olives into the city of Jerusalem, the same place where he came into that city as well. But as he comes up over the hill, he sees the city where ultimately he'll meet his death. And amidst all that rejoicing, Jesus began to weep. A tear came to his eye when there was this rejoicing going on. And why was there a tear in his eye as he came in to the city of Jerusalem? Number one, he wept because of the great privileges which he saw being abused. He wept because of the great privileges which he saw being abused. Jerusalem, the holy city, the city of Zion. It was an important place for the religious life of the Jews. It was very strategic for them. But what Christ saw filled him with sadness. It filled him with sadness. The temple, think of this: the temple was a place where people were to worship God. It was no longer a place of glory, it was no longer a place of holiness. It had been turned into a marketplace for merchandising. There was opportunists who were looking for a quick buck there. And Annas, he was the man who controlled the high priest's office. He was a wicked man. He had wicked sons as well. And Annas made his sons high priests, and they used their position to extort money from the people, from the Jews, coming to worship. And the priests, knowing that the Jewish pilgrims would bring sacrifices to the temple for the great feast and the holy days, they insisted that everyone bring a sacrifice to the outer court, first of all, that had to be inspected. Had to be inspected. And Annas, father-in-law, Caiaphas, and his sons rejected all the animals as impure, forcing the people to purchase pure animals. And guess who just happened to sell these pure animals? That's right, Annas and his family, and the priests set up tables all over the courtyard for buying and selling sacrificial animals. And the people would pay two or three times as much what the animals were worth to fulfill their religious duties. And the temple was also filled with money changers who would exchange Roman coins for official temple coins. People couldn't bring a Roman coin into the temple because it had Caesar's inscription upon it. And so the priests would exchange the coins. They would charge exorbitant exchange rates to those wanting to pay the tithe at the temple. So here we find pins of stinking animals and greedy hucksters filled a place that was to be a house of prayer. And it's no wonder that it brought tears to the eyes of our Lord. To see this terrible decay saddened him, and it angered him as well. Jesus planned on cleansing the temple. By the way, this is his last and final week before the crucifixion. And we see there that he was later on this week would be chasing out the money changers from the temple. And the great privilege of worshiping the one true God has been abandoned and abused. And he couldn't help but weep as he saw the greedy, empty hearts as well. Now listen very carefully. As God looks down upon Cottonwood Church today, what does he see? Does what he see bring him joy or sorrow? Just like then. You know, I'm trusting that it brings him joy and not sorrow. And secondly, we see this he wept because of the great possibilities that had been rejected. He wept because of the great possibilities that had been rejected. Those were days of great opportunity for the Jews. Their Messiah was in town, and he had walked among them and preached freedom and forgiveness. And they were in spiritual bondage, and Christ came to set them free, but they would not listen. Ever heard someone say, Oh, how I wish that I would have lived in the days of Jesus? I would not have overlooked his message. I would have not overlooked his ministry. Would they? Would they? John 1, 11 says this: He came to his own, and his own received him not. So he wept at the lost and overlooked the rejected opportunity to be rightly related to God through his son, the Messiah. And thirdly, he wept because of the great punishment that he knew was coming. As he looked over the city in Luke 19, 43, the days will come upon you, he says, when your enemies will build an embankment against you, and they will encircle you, and they will hem you in on every side. And notice this, he says in verse 44, they will dash you to the ground. They will dash you to the ground. One translation says, they will level you. They will level you. Christ could look beyond to the future when Jerusalem would be leveled. And he knew that in 70 AD, in a few years, the Roman armies, tired of dealing with the rebellious Jews of Palestine, would attempt to break the back of this resistance. The Roman army would destroy the city. They actually turned it into rubble and burned everything as well. They knocked down the temple brick by brick. This scattered the Jews throughout the Roman Empire, and 600,000 Jews were killed in this onslaught. And at that time, Palestine had only one to two million Jews living there. About half of them were slaughtered as a result of this Roman invasion. And so Jesus saw the terrible judgment that was coming upon Israel. And Jesus wept over it. And then, secondly, we see the characteristics of his sorrow. The characteristics of his sorrow, Jesus wept over a lost generation of people. And when Christ saw the city, he didn't see stones, he didn't see buildings, he didn't see roads, not at all. He saw souls, souls of people within its walls. And he wept at their rejection and their coming judgment. There's a story of a pastor who had just taken the pulpit of a large urban church, and on his first Sunday, he was not in the sanctuary when it was time to start the service. And so a deacon went looking for him, and the deacon looked into his study and he saw the preacher in there staring out his window. But the pastor replied that he was caught up in the sorrows and the brokenheartedness of the people. And when the deacon said, Well, you'll probably get used to it, the pastor looked at that young man and said, That's exactly what he was afraid of, of getting used to the pain and the brokenheartedness of mankind. And the pastor would pray that that would never happen to him. Question, question, listen carefully. When's the last time that you drove through a big city or were in a big crowd, maybe a big ball game or a concert or something where there was a whole bunch of people there, and you looked out over the people and you thought, I wonder if they know Jesus. I wonder if they belong to him. I wonder if they found the Messiah and the Savior as well. People are lost, and people are without Christ, and they're headed for destruction. And Jesus wept over man's lostness. And why don't we? Jesus was driven to the cross by compassion, and that's why he left heaven to come down. Charles Haddon Spurgeon says this. He says this concerning the shortest verse of the Bible. And what is the shortest verse of the Bible?

unknown 24:00

Jesus wept.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Jesus wept. Jesus wept. He says this concerning the shortest verse of the Bible. He says it's the most important verse, too. When I read the words Jesus wept, he says, and Charles Haddon Spurgeon was the Prince of Preachers in London, England, oh a century or so ago. He uh spoke to over 5,000 people that would walk to the London Tabernacle. But he said, When I read the words Jesus wept, I recall his concern and his compassion for people. And if my goal is to be Christ-like, I have to develop a compassion that weeps over the lost souls of those around me.

unknown 24:37

C.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

H. Spurgeon says to his sons, he writes, I should not like for you, if meant by God to be a missionary, to die a millionaire. I should not like it, were you fitted to be a missionary if you should stoop to become a king? What are kings? What are nobles? What are diadems compared with the dignity of winning souls to Christ? He says, If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies, and if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them and begging them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it not be filled, let it be filled with the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for. Next we see the characteristics of his sorrow. And number one, they missed their peace. They missed their peace. Notice verse 42 of Luke 19. He says, If you, if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. Now it is hidden from your eyes. Here's the the Prince of Peace was in Jerusalem. The Prince of Peace was there. Jesus was their peace, and the people looked right past him. They rejected their peace, and they nailed their peace to a cross. Imagine, imagine for a moment. Mushroom hunting. They're finding mushrooms around this too, here and there. Now not many places yet. I was looking yesterday, didn't find any. But imagine going mushroom hunting and looking for mushrooms. And you're tired after having walked for a long ways, and you sit down on what you think is a stump. So you sit down on that stump, and all of a sudden it collapses and you go to the ground. Your bomb goes to the ground. And so uh you get up and you look at what you just sat on, and you just see you sat on a big mushroom. You overlooked the obvious. You overlooked the obvious, and every morning, every morning, how did they how here they'd get up, they'd pray for the Messiah to come, and he came, and guess what? They missed him. They overlooked the obvious and they ignored the reason for the celebration. Many people are looking for happiness, they're looking for fulfillment, they're looking for a treasure, and happiness and richness and fulfillment is found on one road and one path. And Jesus weeps because they overlooked, they overlooked where to find true peace in their lives. In your life have you found it. So they missed their peace. And secondly, they missed their day. They missed their day. The Bible says, today is the day of salvation. In verse 42, notice what it says there. If you, even you had only known on this day, one translation puts it this way if you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the day Jesus entered Jerusalem, had been prophesied by Daniel centuries earlier. And the Messiah of Israel was being paraded into the holy city just as God said he would. But the people missed their day. They missed their opportunity to crown him king. And listen carefully, don't miss any day. Don't miss any day. Any day is an opportunity to crown him king of your life. Every morning, do that. They missed their day. Don't miss your day to acknowledge him and to crown him as king of your life. And then thirdly, they missed the evidence of their eyes. They missed the evidence of their eyes. Notice verse 42, it says, but now it is hidden from your eyes. It's hidden from your eyes. Now listen, their eyes, their eyes had seen the evidence. And they didn't reject a secondhand report. They didn't reject a centuries-old saying or report, not at all. They literally saw him with their own eyes. They saw his life, they saw his miracles, they saw his ministry, and they still rejected him as the Messiah. Remember Thomas, who do we call him? Doubting Thomas. And we're a lot like Peter too, and Paul's as well. But anyhow, Thomas, the disciples were gathered together in a room, and Jesus happened to come to them in his resurrected state. They were all surprised to see him. And anyhow, um they came into the Jesus came into the room, and Thomas was not there. And so as a result of that, Thomas not being there, Thomas was told by the disciples, we've seen Jesus. And Thomas said these words. He said, Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, Thomas says, I will not believe. Thomas was there, and when Thomas saw Jesus, he said, My Lord and my God. And Jesus says to Thomas, Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. They saw him, they saw the Messiah with their own eyes, and they rejected him. You know, we did not literally see Christ, and yet we believe, and so we are blessed. We have a blessing because we haven't seen, and yet we believed. And so they missed the evidence of their very own eyes. Imagine that. And then fourthly, they missed their visitation. They missed their visitation. Notice verse 44. They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. One translation puts it, God's visitation to you. And the Almighty God, because of his love and his desire to see people saved, he made a personal visitation into their lives, but most people missed him. Most people missed him. So Jesus weeps over the blindness and over the ignorance of those who, having seen with their own eyes, yet failed to believe in your life, in my life. Let's not miss his visitation to us. He's to be your silent partner in everything you do. If you're on a journey in a car and there's an empty seat next to you, just imagine Jesus sitting there with you. If you're at a table and there's an extra chair that's not being occupied, just imagine Jesus being there with you. Don't miss his visitation in your life. And verse 44 says, it says, concerning the enemies, he says, they will dash you to the ground, you and your children within your walls. In other words, your walled fortress will not protect you, and they will not leave one stone on another. There's complete annihilation and destruction, totally unprotected and vulnerable. Why? Because he says there, you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. How important is it to recognize and to acknowledge God's coming to us? It's foolish for us to overlook his coming. And it's costly to overlook the Messiah and the friendship that we can have with him. You know, we need to see his participation in our lives. We need to look for him at work in our lives. We need to see his involvement and his provision in everything we do and say as well. So don't miss his visitation. Don't miss his coming into your life. Pascal said, the silence of the universe frightens me. The silence of the universe frightens me, he said. I'd like to tell Pascal, I'd like to say to him, the universe is not silent, and recognize the time of God's coming to us. The universe, all creation, boldly shouts forth that God exists and that he's there for us and with us. So you don't want the solution or the answer to the world's definition of how to get freedom and hope. You don't want that. The world doesn't have any answers or solutions, at least solutions that work. Now notice verse 44. He says, Pray that we as Americans, or didn't say we as Americans in that Bible. That's me, Adam man, okay? And you be careful of anybody that adds anything to scripture, okay? Pray that we would recognize the time of God's coming to us. Pray that we would recognize the time of God's coming to us. Don't miss his plan for us. Don't miss his participation with us, and don't overlook his provision for us as well. And then, well, one verse and then we'll close, and that is this. That's verse 40. Verse 40. The Pharisees were telling Jesus to rebuke your disciples because he was taking worship from those people that were acclaiming him and honoring him. And so, what does Jesus say in response to the Pharisees there in verse 40? This is an incredible verse. Incredible verse. Listen what it says there. By the way, by the way, it's been 35 years ago. I was listening to Charles Stanley on television, and his choir was singing this song that said, Before the rocks cry out, I just want to praise you. I want to thank you for all that you have done. I remember that song. I never heard that song ever again, but that was on Charles Stanley's program, and I thought about that. Wonder where they got that from. Right here, right here. Luke 19, 40, Jesus said, if they keep silent, the rocks, the rocks, the rocks will cry out. I want to worship before the rocks get a chance, don't you? I do, I do. Well, this time of year we focus on the mystery and the majesty of the cross. It represents the ultimate undeserved sacrifice. The cross, listen carefully, the cross is a love letter written to us in blood. It's a love letter written to us in blood. And we express our deep gratitude to God for several things here. Number one, we express gratitude to him for Christ's substitutionary sacrifice of love. We thank him for Christ's substitutionary sacrifice of love. He took our curse. An innocent king, an innocent king, did that for you and me. He took our sin. And then secondly, we thank him for the great exchange. The great exchange. If you want to write a book, if I want to write a book, I want to write a book called The Great Exchange. The Great Exchange. The profound grace of trading my sins for his righteousness. The great exchange. Giving my sins to him and me giving him his righteousness. Replacing that, you know what that does? That replaces condemnation with peace. That replaces brokenness with wholeness. It's incredible to think about that. The great exchange. We thank him for that. And then thirdly, we thank him for the finality of redemption. The finality of redemption. The power of the words, it is finished. Those three words, it is finished, meaning this, that the debt of sin is paid in full. And then we thank him for the victory and hope that's from the cross as well. The transformation of an instrument of torture, the cross, think of the cross as an instrument of torture. And that has been turned into a symbol of victory over darkness. The cross is a symbol of victory over death, and it's a symbol of victory over the grave. And do we have any idea how powerful and impacting and transforming the cross is? How thankful that we are for the cross. Let me close with this. So he goes over there, and George Bush is watching Brezhnev's wife as they're getting ready to close the coffin for Brezhnev. And of course, as they close the casket, Brezhnev's wife does the sign of the cross before it's closed. And how bold that must have been in the citadel of atheism in a country that doesn't believe in God. But think of that, the boldness that she had in going in there and using the representation of the cross. And she recognized how powerful the cross was. And of course, wanted it to be also powerful for um time for us to get over with. Okay, let's do that. Okay. Quarter till. Okay, well, it's just a little bit early on me here. But can you imagine that? Incredible to think about that. Brezhnev's wife knew the power of the cross. Do you know the power of the cross? Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the reminder that you've given to us today. I thank you for um we've we've had we had distractions today. We're thankful that you've had you've had um uh able to answer prayer in this distraction as well. We're thankful for um for Nathan as he's as he's uh doing well, and we pray that you would just continue to to uh to to be with him in this time of of difficulty. But just thank you that uh that uh through all these distractions we had today, we still want to recognize the power of the cross, the grasp of the cross. And so as we think about that, um we cling to the cross, knowing that that what happened on the cross is our only hope. Our greatest need that we as humans have was met there at the cross, and how thankful we are. So, in the quietness of our moments here together, why don't we just uh thank the Lord for the power of the cross and what Christ did for us there on the cross? He didn't stay in the grave, but he resurrected. He didn't stay on the cross, he had victory over death. And so, as we think about that, we want to thank you for that the power that's in the cross and the power that it's had in our lives individually. So let's all just thank him for the power of the cross in our lives. Father, we thank you for the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf there at Calvary. And we know that the Bible tells us that God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. We know that that love kept Jesus on the cross. Not nails, but love kept Jesus on the cross. He could have called ten thousand angels, and they would have been at Jesus' beckon call to rescue him from the cross, but his love kept him there. So remind us of that great love that he has for us, and we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.