Jesus Prepares the Temple

we'll go ahead and dismiss our kidss to the little district and for the rest of us go ahead and grab your Bibles Luke chapter 19 we're going to be closing up Luke 19 and uh Jesus finally gets to Jerusalem all right so we've been uh if you have been with us for most of Luke uh Luke 9ine right around verse 5152 um that's when it says Jesus turns his face towards Jerusalem and so for for 10 11 chapters he's been moving through the villages working his way to Jerusalem working towards ultimately accomplishing we all know the spoiler of the story uh him going and being

crucified and offering his body as a sacrifice to us and so all that's going to transpire um as he arrives in Jerusalem and so for for us what is going to be um the next few months is literally just the next few weeks of Jesus's Earthly life uh before his Ascension and so there's going to be again a lot to cover In this passage uh but this one is the one where Jesus finally enters into the City and so we're we're going to be looking at the first thing that Christ does when he enters into Jerusalem does he go to Shalom Cafe and grab some

coffee or barnabas' Burger I don't know but um I mean I do know he doesn't do that uh but let's find out what he actually does I know that's just such a dad thing to do but whatever Luke 19 we're we're going to look at verses 45 through 48 this morning so starting in verse 45 he entered the temple which is just very natural of Jesus first place that go to once he gets into Jerusalem he entered the temple and he began to drive out those who sold saying to them it is written my house shall be a House of Prayer but you have made

it a den of robbers and he was teaching daily in the temple and the chief Chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him but they did not find anything they could do for all the people were hanging on his words all right so Jesus enters Jerusalem and the first thing he does is he heads straight for the temple but it doesn't look like it was a very peaceful visit all right it doesn't look I mean this is again the temple is designed by the Lord is designed by God himself self like it's it's given as a

gift to the people it's given as a place to be a House of Prayer um it's given as a place for people to come and offer sacrifices annually so that again their sins can be forgiven their consciences can be cleared um they can be tempor you know temporarily purified for a season like again this is to be a place that you would enter in expecting to be joyful and to serve you and to be a place where you can come in and and dwell in the house of the Lord as as David would talk about like he would gaze upon the face of the Lord

that he would um enter into the courts with Thanksgiving as we shared in the psalm at the beginning of the service in Psalm 84 like this is what the temple was meant to be and yet what we see here is Jesus entering and there wasn't a lot of Shalom going on there wasn't a lot of Peace um he turned things over uh he flipped tables I mean this is this is angry Jesus all right this is angry Jesus that we get as his kind of first act as he enters into Jerusalem and so to understand what's going on here to understand why Jesus enters the

temple and why does he start flipping over these tables why does he get so angry we need to do a little bit more help from the other gospel writers Matthew Mark and John who allow us to PE together what all is really going on here because it's it's in some ways it's not that Luke is is not being faithful to the story but literally all Luke says is uh he enters the temple and begins to drive out those who sold and so if you were to just look at that you'd be like what's the big deal I mean like why is that why is that

a problem let's look at Matthew's perspective in chapter 21: 12 through 13 this is Matthew's recording of This same thing Jesus entered the temple and he drove out all who sold and bought in the temple and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons he said to them it is written my house shall be called a House of Prayer but you make it a den of robbers so Matthew gives us a little bit more detail as to what Jesus was doing in this visit to the temple now let's also look at Mark's perspective Mark 11 11-19 in

again this same event that is happening Mark 11: 11 says this he entered Jerusalem and he went into the temple and when he had looked around at everything as it was already late he went out to Bethany with the 12 and so you might read that you might think well that sounds different than the others is this like uh where Jesus is just doing a little bit of Recon where he's coming into the temple he's kind of looking around then he goes back out to Bethany and so we actually find here is that Luke and Matthew don't include this first narrative where Jesus actually enters

into Jerusalem he goes to the temple he sees what's going on in the temple he then leaves Jerusalem goes back to Bethany and that's where the other gospel writers pick it up that's where he goes and he has that Feast that we talked about last week where he visits with Lazarus and Mary and Martha he's already resurrected Lazarus so this is him coming back out to Bethany residing there one more night um spending that time in the the feast there which actually is what draws the large crowd and then enters back into Jerusalem and that's where you pick it up on verse 12 of Mark

11 on the following day when they came from Bethany he was hungry and seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf he went to see if he could find anything on it and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs and he said to it May no one ever eat from you again and his disciples heard it now I'm going to come back to that in just a moment what does he do once he comes back into Jerusalem verse 15 and then they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and he 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 teach 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 and the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at its teaching and when evening

came they went out of the city now again before I get to why Jesus appears to have lost his temper in the sort of exhibit hall of the temple here um let's revisit this poor fig tree okay so uh because you might again see that as an interesting story kind of nestled in the middle of Jesus entering into Jerusalem doing some recon at the temple exiting Jerusalem going back to Bethany and then on his way back in to start flipping over tables he pauses in a moment because he's hungry and he goes to this fig tree that's in leaf um and then gets frustrated because

the fig tree is not bearing fruit and so then he curses it and what you actually find later after he curses the Fig Tree when he eventually leaves Jerusalem and exit the city again they walk past the fig tree and it's dead I mean it is withered up it's gone so Not only was this a curse no one will ever eat of you again but you're like cut off from life like you're you're dead and so why is that important in understanding what Jesus is doing in the temple well again Mark tells us um that again the Fig Tree was not in season but again

Mark's account tells us that Jesus saw the Fig Tree and though it had leaves it did not have any figs because again it was not in the season for figs this has the looks of sort of like a toddler tantrum from Jesus all right so like it's if the Fig is not in season but yet he's hungry and wants it why then would he be justified to then just kill this poor tree again if it's not seasoned for figs and again Jesus would know that right like he would know that it's not the season for figs but again as most toddlers do whenever they enter

into a situation and they want something and you don't get to have it they lose their mind is that what Jesus just did and then does he go into the temple and continue losing his mind well to get some help in understanding what's going on here Dr James Kelo who was a distinguished archaeologist and a seminary Professor who taught courses on the customs and geography of Palestine he had this to say regarding fig trees in Palestine there are there is clearly a defined season for figs however there were a few rare species of fig trees that bore fruit out of the normal fig season and

the final test for a fig tree was not the season it was in but whether or not the foliage was actually In Bloom whether or not had leaves on it could dictate whether or not it could actually produce figs so Jesus knowing the customs and the culture of Palestine better than Dr James Kelo he saw this fig tree in full bloom with leaves as the text tells us and he would then expect to find on it figs when he visited with it again to satisfy his hunger but instead Jesus found a fig tree in full bloom and yet Barren producing no fruit in other words

the Fig Tree is an object lesson for hypocrisy as RC Sproul once said Jesus among many things was a prophet and one of the most graphic forms of communication we find in the Old Testament was the object lesson where the Prophet would take something from nature or an ordinary use and use that object to communicate the truth of God and so what we see here is Jesus finds with the F tree is an object that displays the sin of hypocrisy the Fig Tree appears to be fertile and fruitful but is figas and fruitless and so what does this fig tree that is an illustration of

hypocrisy have to do with Jesus raging out in the temple before I answer that in his book objections answered are Sproul show shows that the number one reason people object to Christianity is because they say Christians are hypocrites like if you were to just word on the street if you were to ask people how come you know do you profess to be a believer do you profess to be a Christian and they were to say no I'm I'm not a Christian well why not and they would the number one reason in collecting lots of different surveys is that Christians are hypocrites the church is hypocritical

now the best answer to that that is always well there's always room for one more so come on and join us but before you think I'm going to address the hypocrisy of Christians in the church simply because Jesus enters the temple and cleans cleans house let me say this all Hypocrites are sinners but not all Sinners are hypocrites all Hypocrites are sinners but not all Sinners are hypocrites as spr said in in his book the church is the only organization in the world that requires you to be a sinner before joining it but just because you still sin does not make you a hypocrite now

if you say you don't do something and then you someone sees you doing it yes that makes you a hypocrite but as Christians who understand that we are trusting in someone who's perfect when we are imperfect and that is actually what burst the church is a group of imperfect people who are sinful trusting one who is sinless and perfect like that's what we are actually proclaiming to one another I don't know who said it but essentially what Christian is is a bunch of Beggars telling other Beggars where to find bread like that's what we are doing as a church and so we are not pretending

to be holier than what we are we are not pretending to be without sin when we still sin when we still struggle when we are still Beggars who are becoming like Christ as we we work towards Glory eventually but we are not Sinners or we are not people who are without sin now I will say this we are Saints we are Saints the difference between someone saying that they are a saint who sins versus someone who says they're a saint without sin is literally Pharisees versus actual True Believers Pharisees would say no we are the chosen people of God we are the family of God

we are the favor of God we are the blessing of God and we have attained everything that God has required of us we have followed everything that God has required of us and we don't ever do anything that is wrong and again as Jesus looks at those people in scripture he calls them whitewashed tombs he says on the outside you're right you look right you look clean you look good but on the inside you are filled with dead people's bones you're dead on the inside and what we're actually saying is the opposite what we're saying is on the outside this flesh like we are sinners

in need of Grace in need of Mercy but on the inside we are alive because of Christ and his identity over us and what the what he's doing on the inside is he's renewing our mind he's Transforming Our Lives to become like Christ so that as we age and as we mature in Christ we actually do live lives that are being Sanctified that are being set apart from our flesh so that we actually worship more and sin less like that's the goal of your long obedience in the same direction like that's the goal of your life is to worship more and sin less because we

are becoming like Jesus who is in full glory and has no sin represented but again we know as Christians we're not going to fully attain to that and experience that until Glory comes and so we're not going to go around telling everybody that we're without sin or that we have no sin no we're going to tell people we still wrestle and we still struggle with flesh and blood we still we still at times forget who we are in Christ and we still trust in who we were in our flesh like we're still wrestling with that Paul talks about that he talks about how what he

loves he doesn't do and the thing he hates he still does and he's still wrestling with this identity crisis and so we're not pretending to be something that we aren't and in that regard we're not Hypocrites we're not Hypocrites just because we still continue to sin hypocrisy would be us saying that we have no sin and yet we are worshippers of Jesus like that would be hypocritical I say that to say this though the story of the Fig Tree in the temple absolutely have truth and application for the church to rid itself of hypocrisy that's not what the context and interpretation of this passage is

actually meaning there's a direct link in this narrative between the cursing of the Fig Tree and the cleansing of the temple let me show you Jesus entered the temple and he was simply just disgusted with what he found and with righteous in indignation he acted with holy fury like if you want to grow a 15,000 person Church you don't act like Jesus in this moment you don't do what Jesus is doing instead what you do is you tell people God does not care about what you do and God is not angry with you like if you tell people God doesn't care about what you do

and God's not angry with you that's the recipe for growing a mega church that's the secret recipe for fast growth that is empty and that's not what Jesus does here Jesus absolutely cares about what we do and at times is angry with us without compromising his Holiness and his righteousness so Jesus enters this Temple and as John 2 describes which John 2 is actually a recorded version but that's the first time he cleanses the temple this is actually the second time that he enters in and cleanses the temp Temple if you weren't aware of that at the beginning of his ministry he came into the

temple and he found them doing the exact same thing and he grabbed a cord with or he grabbed a whip with cords on it and he started driving them out which gives us another bit of the detail of likely what Jesus did when he entered into this Temple and began driving people out he grabbed a whip he grabbed a cord he started flipping over tables he started whipping people I mean like that's you know in our day you're going to go to court over that there's going to be some physical abuse there that's going to be called out but again he's doing this in a

way in which allows him to remain holy and without sin says he fastens a whip with multiple cords and just Goes Ham on people that's my interpretation he's knocking over the money changers he's flipping tables it's just all out destruction have you seen those they're like they're a newer thing those like r rooms where you can like rent an hour and they give you a bat and you just go and you're just I mean you're just destroying TVs and like old box TVs and whatnot like like that's kind of what I picture Jesus just walking through this exhibit hall basically and just destroying everything now

let me tell you a little bit more about the temple to understand the context this is the herodian temple King herod's Temple it's the second temple built the first being Solomon's this one took somewhere between 46 to 83 years as historians say to build by the rule of King Herod being twice as large as Rome's largest temple herod's temple was considered one of the wonders of the ancient world it could accommodate hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who would visit for Passover the temple was divided into four sections and so you had the court of the Gentiles which was the largest part of the temple and

sort of the outward part then you had the court of the women which was the next level and then you had the court of the Jews which was a closer level and then in the uh Center Court you have the holy of holies according to Jewish historicity the court of the Gentiles the largest part was 500 yards by 350 yards that's five football fields by three and A2 football ball fields or in other words 35 Acres um spanning in its um size to put that into perspective the Indiana Convention Center spreads across 12 acres in totality so this is three times what the Indiana Convention

Center covers in this space so the court of the Gentiles um to put it in an easy way is is not small this wasn't Jesus entering into the fellowship fall downstairs and just flipping over seven to eight tables like when we think about this scene in our mind because we've watched old movies or whatnot we picture it being a room about this size and Jesus enters in and like interacts with like seven or eight people and flips over tables no this is this takes him a while to work his way through the court of the Gentiles 35 Acres coming in to accomplish what he's essentially

alluding to think of the col Stadium times 5 as an exhibit hall with tables and Tents and booths that the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin set up as simply a lucrative business selling livestock and animals for what why is Jesus here does anyone know I'm G ask you you can talk back to me what what event is going on this week Passover Passover well guess what every Jew does every year they come to jerus J M for Passover and every Jew needs something for the Passover they need an animal to sacrifice and guess what's not easy to travel with animals and so in their um convenience

what they want to do is not travel with an animal but when we get to Jerusalem because we're lazy we'll buy it when we get there well the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin the Pharisees because they see this as a business opportunity because they don't care about what the temple actually represents they see it as an opportunity to let's make a lot of money and so they pull together some money changers because guess what when all these people are coming from everywhere else their coin's not going to match up with our coin and so we need to exchange it and not only do they exchange it

but the tariffs are going to be so high that it's not only extraordinary but it's extortion in robbing people of the money because again they have to do this and not only that but when they arrive guess what they're going to do with the animals they're going to sell them at a premium because they need them supply and demand and so Jesus enters into this scene and this is what's going on back to the building the Temple which was again their equivalent of of a church today was dedicated place that Jesus says was designed by his father to be a House of Prayer however it

had become a den of Thieves of thieves and not only that but he says something very interesting that we see here in Mark 11:17 it allows us to see where and what part of the temple that this was actually happening in my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations for all nations so guess where they weren't conducting this business it wasn't in the holy of holies for sure not we're not touching that place it wasn't going to be in the court of the Jews because well we're not going to do that we're the Jews that's high honor for us that's where

we go and do our our business with the Lord it wasn't going to be in the court of the women which was for the women that were Jewish it wasn't going to be in that area it was going to be guess what who do the Jews hate Gentiles the court of the Gentiles the place where the nations are allowed to come and participate this is what's crazy is in the construction of the temple God has from the very I mean this is what blows my mind that the Jews didn't see this is that God's heart not only for the people through Abraham but for all

nations has always been the plan it's always been the plan like even setting up the temple make sure that there's a place for the Nations to be able to come and worship and pray and do business with the Lord and the Jews said no no we're going to take over the court of the Gentiles and that's where we're going to do our business that's going to be lucrative for us to continue gaining our own stuff they they hijack that place of worship to be a place of greed and self-gain in fact in Jewish culture what they actually expected when the Messiah entered in which is

probably one of the reasons why their perspective of Jesus in the triumphal entry begins to shift towards it's crucify him is because what they expected Jesus to do in entering the temple was to come in and applaud them in what they're doing in the court of the Gentiles hey good job guys we need resources we need money Ministry costs money let's use this to like let's improve the court of the women let's let's let's do some Renovations in the court of of the Jews hey maybe let's throw some more gold on the holy of holies they expected Jesus to enter in and once and for

all rid the Temple of the Gentiles they don't realize that what Jesus is entering in to do is actually prepare the temple for the Gentiles he comes in to cleans it in order for the Gentiles to have access to God once again Jesus's righteous anger did not occur in the holy of holies or the court of the Jews or the court of the women but in the court of the Gentiles he's preparing ultimately the Church of God to receive the sacrificial lamb of God on their behalf so that they may become the true Temple of God and a house of prayer for All Peoples for

all eternity bearing fruit to the ends of the Earth you see when you come back to that fig tree the Fig Tree is meant to be a place where you can come and you can pull fruit off of it you can enjoy and you can satisfy your hunger but instead it was hypocritical it was showing like it was supposed to but yet it was being fruitless you see the people of God the Jewish nation was meant to be a fig tree that's Always In Bloom because it's connected to God and it's meant to be a light to the rest of the Nations to say this

is what it looks like to flourish with God when you're connected to him and you're abiding in him and therefore everyone gets to benefit from this because we are a light to the darkness like we are we are showing you what it's like to trust in God and to to serve him and for him to be your God and for you to be his people that's what the Jewish people were supposed to be and instead what they represent themselves as when Jesus shows up on the scene is they're in full bloom but yet they're not bearing fruit so that the Gentiles can come and partake

of so that they can have their hunger and thirst Satisfied by introducing them to God so that they can be be his people and he can be their God just as well again they're missing the fact that if you go all the way back to the very start of the people that God created to be the lineage of the Israel in Abraham what does he say through your Offspring just your people will be blessed no what does he sa through your Offspring namely Jesus All Nations will be blessed every tribe tongue and Nation will have access to him and the Jews said no no we

don't want that we don't want that what the temple was expected to be the Jews have turned it into something Unholy it stood outwardly as a house of God but was producing inwardly a den of Thieves and just as Jesus cursed and destroyed the hypocritical fig tree he is now cursed and will destroy the hypocritical temple of God but this is what I find is so good remember Jesus is a prophet who loves a good object lesson just as he has taken a whip with cords and destroyed the temple Jesus is painting a picture with each stroke of the whip that the Jewish people will

in turn take their own own whip of cords and strike Jesus him being the embodied temple of God him being the representation physically of God he's actually training them in the moment in what they're going to do to him to actually destroy the true Temple because what does Jesus say when he interacts with the Pharisees In This Moment he says destroy this Temple and I will rebuild it in 3 days and they're thinking the one that they've just been spending 46 years on and he's saying no I'm talking about myself destroy me and I will rise in three days to be the true temple of

God and so here's the crazy thing is that him entering into this moment with what he did with the Fig Tree and what he's doing in the court of the Gentiles and even his meth method of coming in with anger and flipping everything over and driving them out with a cord that he had fastened together that is exactly the same type that they fastened together to begin torturing him he's doing it all as an object lesson to show what he's actually come to accomplish he's accomplishing the way for us as Gentiles to come back into the house of pray that's what he's doing in this

moment and unfortunately for many of the Jewish people that we see is that they become a curse themselves and cut off so that he can prepare the way for the Gentiles to come in as Romans n that you can read Jesus destroys the hypocritical temple of God in order to be destroyed himself so that he can establish the Holy Temple of God the church and therefore the court of the Gentiles becomes open again for you and I to come to Jesus and then what he gets to tell us is that the court is open for business when it comes to taking it and spreading it

to where it's not just 500 yards by 350 yards covering 35 Acres but now it's a moving Temple as the Church of God that he commissions Us in the Great Commission to go and make disciples of what all nations so instead of now having all nations come to a single place to be in a house of prayer once a year now he's saying the House of Prayer which is the church the body of Christ is being sent to All Nations and inviting them into this moving organic House of Prayer that we all get to part take up and that we all get to then be

connected to the True Vine that is in full bloom Christ himself where we get to have our hunger and our thirst that we are so longing for our life finally once and for all be satisfied satisfied and so no longer do you have to create some lucrative business to hopefully in self greed and Gain be satisfied no longer do you have to extort others in an extraordinary way to to find your own satisfaction no longer do you have to cut others off because you're trying to separate yourself to create again your own subculture that is just people who are just like you and whatnot to

be satisfied and to be happy with who these people are he's saying no what you now get to be is actually free to go to All Nations and provide for them the very thing that Christ has provided for you forgiveness of sins relationship with the father that is all satisfying so that Paul eventually says like everything that I've considered was gain is rubbish for the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord the surpassing worth of having him and having nothing else that's what this passage is all about and that's why Jesus ERS in it's so angry so angry because they're trying to rob people

of him of him and he says not happening not happening and we're here today as Gentiles Gentiles literally just means anyone who's not a Jew all right last I checked I think there's no Jews in here we're here today because of this moment where he opened it up again for Gentiles and then gave that commission to go to All Nations I mean you can trace it back I one time traced it back from where we were in Tennessee that there were uh settlers who came from the St Andrews area of um Scotland the St Andrews area of Scotland who settled into Virginia that eventually settled

into Kentucky that eventually planted the gospel down into um the northern Nashville area which was basically the church that eventually was planted that I got saved at like all of that you can trace everything the Great Commission you can trace back how you came to Christ because of Jesus opening up the court of the Gentiles once again and then commissioning the disciples to not be like the Jews not be like the Pharisees but take this message to all Gentiles take it to the to all the nations and we're standing here today worshipping Jesus because someone heard that message and said that's my responsibility that's my

responsibility if I don't who will I'm to be faithful to Jesus I'm to be faithful to God he's forgiven me he's provided satisfaction for me and I want that to continue on and so for us we're in that invitation we're in that commission if not us then who will and so that's why it's important for us that when we leave from this place we don't just treat Christianity we don't just treat Church like something that we do on a Sunday morning or even I mean l just walk through the programs of of what we offer it's not just what we do in little districts it's

not just what we do in community groups it's not just what we do in meeting with one another one onone like all of those things are great in helping point us to Jesus Christ but if it's stops with you and it never rolls past you then you're actually not understanding the fruit that you've partaken of you you're actually not satisfied IED yet because you're still longing for something more and maybe one day when you finally get it then you'll begin sharing it because you're satisfied you're overflowing when the gospel comes to you it's coming through you to continue multiplying and getting out to others that's

the whole reason why he had a court for the Gentiles because he knew that the gospel message that the presence of God that the creator of the universe is for all people everywhere and it's our job to take that message of what Jesus has accomplished for us and share it with everyone that we know praying that God through his grace and his Mercy gives them eyes to see and ears to hear come to faith in him and eat of his fruit as they're connected to the body that's what we're praying for and if you're like man you know you say that almost every week but

I'm still wrestling with like how to do that then like let's get together and talk about it like let's get together and talk about it like we we'll walk into a coffee shop together and just say like here's how you interact with a barista and say hey what have you ever gone to church before what was your experience what did you think about like what have with Jesus everyone talks about Jesus you can watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics and see a mockery of the Last Supper like everyone's aware of Jesus but what do you truly believe about him who do you truly think

that he was 2,000 years ago like do you think Jesus was without sin like you could just walk through so many different things to see where they are to see what they're longing for what they want in life to see how their life is experiencing on a daily basis do you feel like you're satisfied do you feel like you're missing something are you frustrated with life mostly everyone says yes to that what would be different let me tell you what Jesus has done for us life's not perfect I'm not perfect but here's the hope and the joy joy that I have because of Jesus here's

the satisfaction that I have because of him here's why I'm able to go to sleep at night and rest well because of what Christ has done for me here's why I'm able to wake up in the morning with purpose and value and dignity because of who Christ says I am not what this world says that I am here's how I'm able to have a family and be able to lead them in a way that is trying to show them Jesus because of what he's done for me so that I have hope for my family here's how we are to be friends because of Jesus being

a friend to us like it's coming to that fruit and being satisfied in Christ in Christ alone and that's why we go and make disciples of all Nations because of what Jesus has done in coming to us come to us father we thank you so much we thank you that you give us these glimpses into your life into your ministry into your interaction that you had with Hypocrites with Pharisees with these people in the temple that were distorting the purpose of the temple distorting the court of the Gentiles making it a den of Thieves rather than a House of Prayer God I pray that our

lives don't represent the same thing I hope that our lives are not aent of Thieves but I rather hope that our lives are a house of prayer because we are coming to you with all things that we as the Church of God the true temple of God are a place that relies on you we come to you in prayer we hear from you through your word we rest in trust in what you are doing and what you are accomplishing Among Us that you are helping us to become more like Jesus every single day our thoughts our actions our words our Deeds that they're more like

Jesus and less like us as John the Baptist would say he must increase we must decrease there's joy in that when it's about us everything frustrates us when it's about Jesus we're free we're free and so God I pray for us this morning I pray for every single person in this room that maybe there are some things in our lives that we need to overturn because they're robbing us of joy in you maybe we need to overturn them we need to drive them out of our lives and then we need to turn to you and we need to trust you