Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday Divine Service

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Hello, there we go. Alright, I'd like to welcome you all to Kongsvinger for our

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Palm Slash Passion Sunday observance. You'll note that we're running a little behind today, that's okay.

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If you can all gather at the far part of the fellowship hall, grab a palm frond.

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And in your bulletin there's a little insert that talks about our Palm Sunday procession.

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Have that available, and you'll also need a hymnal. Hymnals are a good idea.

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Those of you online, sorry we weren't able to email out palm fronds. We're still working on that.

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And just a little bit of a note on how this works.

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So you'll note that by the end of this little liturgical opening, when

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I say let us go forth in peace in the name of the Lord, then I'll begin the music for the hymn

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All Glory, Laud, and Honor. But we will stay standing here until we begin singing, and then we will actually process into the sanctuary.

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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

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Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Let us pray.

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Most merciful God, as the people of Jerusalem with palms in their hands gathered, to greet your dearly beloved son when he came into his holy city, grant that we may ever hail him as our king, and when he comes again, may go forth to meet him with trusting and steadfast hearts, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life.

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Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

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Amen. The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the twelfth chapter. The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, so they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out,

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Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

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Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when

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Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.

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The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness.

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The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard that he had done this sign.

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So the Pharisees said to one another, You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. Let us go forth in peace.

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Divine service setting two. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

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Amen. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Let us then confess our sins to God our

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Father. Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean.

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We have sinned against you and thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.

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We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

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We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment for the sake of your

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Son, Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways.

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To the glory of your holy name. Amen. Almighty God in his mercy has given his

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Son to die for you and for his sake he forgives you all of your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ and by his authority

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I therefore forgive you all of your sins. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

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Amen. Our psalm tone today is C as in Caiaphas. But you,

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O Lord, do not be far off. Save me from the mouth of the lion.

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My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? All who see me mock me.

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He trusts in the

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Lord, let him deliver him. Be not far from me, for trouble is near.

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But you, O Lord, do not be far off. Save me from the mouth of the lion.

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In peace let us pray to the Lord. For the peace from above and for our salvation let us pray to the

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Lord. For the peace of the whole world, for the well -being of the

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Church of God and for the unity of all let us pray to the

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Lord. For this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise let us pray to the

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Lord. Help, save, comfort and defend us, gracious Lord.

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The Lord be with you. And also with you. Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting

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God, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon himself our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross.

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Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of his great humility and patience and be made partakers of his resurrection through the same

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Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

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Amen. You may be seated. Just a little bit of a note before we get into our texts, and that is that the

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Gospel text today is two full chapters from the Gospel of Matthew, and those of you who desire to sit rather than stand the entire time, you may do so.

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Just want to let you know when it comes to that. Let's see here. There we go.

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The Old Testament reading for the Sunday of the Passion is taken from the prophet Zechariah 9. Rejoice greatly,

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O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he.

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Humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace to the nations.

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His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

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I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold,

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O prisoners of hope. Today I declare to you that I will restore to you double.

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This is the word of the Lord. Our epistle is taken from Philippians chapter 2.

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Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form.

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He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is the word of the Lord. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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Matthew, the 26th and the 27th chapters. When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,

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You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.

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Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest

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Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.

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Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.

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And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.

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But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.

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For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.

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Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

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Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?

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And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

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Now the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the

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Passover? He said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him,

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The teacher says my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.

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And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve, and as they were eating, he said,

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Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another,

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Is it I, Lord? He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me.

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The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the

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Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.

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Judas, who would betray him, answered, Is it I, Rabbi? He said to him,

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You have said so. Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said,

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Take, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying,

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Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

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I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new with you in my

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Father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, and then

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Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

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But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered him,

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Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, Truly I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

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Peter said to him, Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And all the disciples said the same.

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Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples,

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Sit here while I go over there and pray. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

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Then he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me.

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And going a little farther, he fell on his face, and he prayed, saying, My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

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Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.

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And he said to Peter, So could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

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The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again for the second time he went away and prayed,

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My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

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So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

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Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand.

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The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.

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See, my betrayer is at hand. While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve with him, a great crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

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Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, The one I will kiss is the man.

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Seize him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, Greetings, Rabbi. And he kissed him.

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Jesus said to him, Friend, do what you came to do. And then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

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And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

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Then Jesus said to him, Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

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Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and that he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

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But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so? At that hour

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Jesus said to the crowds, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me?

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Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all of this has taken place that the

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Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled.

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Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.

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And Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end.

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Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death.

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But they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said,

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This man said I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. And the high priest stood up and said,

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Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent.

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And the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the

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Son of God. Jesus said to him, You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the

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Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robes and said,

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He has uttered blasphemy. What further witness do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.

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What is your judgment? They answered, He deserves death. Then they spit in his face and struck him.

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Some slapped him, saying, Prophesy to us, you Christ. Who is it that struck you?

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Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him and said,

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You also were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before them all, saying, I do not know what you mean.

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And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders,

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This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man.

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After a little while, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.

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Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man. And immediately the rooster crowed.

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And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

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And he went out and wept bitterly. When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

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And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. Then when

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Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying,

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I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, What is that to us? See to it yourself.

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And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and he went and he hanged himself.

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But the chief priest, taking the pieces of silver, said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is blood money.

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So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.

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Therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet

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Jeremiah, saying, And they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set, by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field as the

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Lord directed me. Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him,

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Are you the king of the Jews? He said, You have said so. But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

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Then Pilate said to him, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?

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But he gave them no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted, and they had then a notorious prisoner called

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Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release for you,

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Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ? For he knew it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.

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Besides, while he was still sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him in a dream.

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Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to destroy

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Jesus. The governor again said to them, Which of the two do you want me to release for you?

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They said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called

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Christ? They all said, Let him be crucified. And he said, Why? What evil has he done?

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But they shouted all the more, Let him be crucified. So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took the water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying,

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I am innocent of this man's blood, see to it yourselves. And all the people answered, His blood be on us and on our children.

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And then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

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Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.

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And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand.

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And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews! And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.

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And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

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As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.

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And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall.

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But when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.

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Then they sat down and kept watch over him there, and over his head they put the charge against him, which read,

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This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. The two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.

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And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.

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If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. So also the chief priests with the scribes and the elders mocked him, saying,

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He saved others, he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him.

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He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said,

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I am the son of God. And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

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Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over the land until the ninth hour.

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And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.

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That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said,

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This man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

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But the others said, Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And then

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Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

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The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

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And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

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When the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said,

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Truly, this was the Son of God. There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed

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Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

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When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.

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He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered that it be given to him, and Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock.

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And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other

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Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb. Next day, that is the day of preparation, the chief priests and the

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Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, Sir, we remember how that imposter said while he was still alive,

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After three days I will rise. Therefore, order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people.

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He has risen from the dead, and the last fraud will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them,

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You have a guard of soldiers. Go and make it as secure as you can. So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. The hymn is 438.

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You may be seated. In the name of Jesus.

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Amen. So I'm going to preach from an extended text from the gospel of John chapter 12 from our

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Palm Sunday text, immediately after the Palm Sunday text that we read right before our procession.

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In fact, let me kind of put the context here. The crowd that had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.

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The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard that he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another,

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You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him. The text then continues.

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Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him,

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Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told

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Jesus, and Jesus answered, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

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Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

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Whoever loves his life loses it. Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

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If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.

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If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall

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I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

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Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

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The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel had spoken to him.

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Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world.

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Now will the ruler of this world be cast out, and if, when I am lifted up from the earth,

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I will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

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So the crowd answered him, We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the

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Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So Jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer.

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Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

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While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

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Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. So the word spoken by the prophet

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Isaiah might be fulfilled. Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the

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Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe. For again, Isaiah said,

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He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.

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Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many, even of the authorities, believed in him, but for fear of the

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Pharisees, they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. For they love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

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Thus is our text. So brothers and sisters, the hour of Christ has come.

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In fact, you'll note, earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus talks about this hour, but I have to kind of put it into a kind of an interesting context.

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One of the things I have the joy of doing is catechizing our youth, and from time to time, youth are known to say things during catechism class that is just downright funny, all right?

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We were doing a study on the fourth commandment. Honor your father and mother, the commandment says, right?

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So that the idea is that we fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents or other authorities, but honor them, love and cherish them, serve and obey them.

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That's the idea behind it. And so in our workbook, we were given the text from Jesus' parable at the wedding feast in Cana in Galilee.

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And the question really had to do with how did Jesus honor his mother? So I pitched the question to some of our catechumens, and one of them chimed in and says,

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I don't know if Jesus was honoring his mother because when she came to him with a problem, Jesus said, woman, what does that mean?

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My hour has not yet come. Isn't that a breaking of the fourth commandment? And I went, no. It is not.

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But you'll note several times in the gospel of John, most notably in John chapter two,

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Jesus says my hour has not yet come. That's pointing to which hour?

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Well, the hour of Christ's crucifixion. The reason why he has come is so that he would face that hour, and that hour is figuratively talking about his suffering, bleeding, and death.

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Because understand this, it is the glory of God to forgive sinners.

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It is God's mercy and glory that is glorified when he does so. Remember Moses in that Hail Mary pass says to God, show me your glory.

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God says, all right, well, I'm gonna cause all my goodness to pass by and I'm gonna hide you in the cleft of the rock. So Moses wasn't allowed to see

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God, but he got to hear God's glory. Can you imagine hearing it? It's what he heard.

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And what did he hear? Yahweh, Yahweh, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and pardoning iniquity.

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That's the glory of God. So you'll note, God is glorified by what Christ is doing here.

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The Father is glorified in Jesus laying down his life so that you and I can be forgiven of our sins.

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So our text then today says, now some of those who went to worship at the feast, this is right immediately after the

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Palm Sunday processional into Jerusalem, that some of them were Greeks. They came to Philip and they said, sir, we wish to see

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Jesus. And so Philip told Andrew and Andrew told, and Philip went and told Jesus. And then listen to what

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Jesus says. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. The hour has come.

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And you're thinking, well, is that talking beyond the cross? No, it's talking about the cross itself.

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That's the point. So then he says this, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

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But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jesus here is comparing his own body to a seed that has to be planted into the ground and only then being planted into the ground does

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Jesus's body bear much fruit. And that's you and I. So whoever loves his life,

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Jesus said, loses it. Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

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One has to wonder, reading such stark, very clear words from Jesus, the one who loves his life will lose it.

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The one who hates his life in this world will keep it. If some people like Joel Osteen and others have even read this verse, right?

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The whole premise of the book, Your Best Life Now, is that God wants you to have your best life now. Again, I point out, if that's really what you're shooting for, then you're going to hell because, you know, well, you had your best life now.

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That's how this works. So Christ here points to a reality that I see developing in Christians as they mature in Christ.

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You remember when you were being raised, okay? All the lovely things that you got to experience and do and all the great plans that you had of doing in life and all the wonderful trappings of things like your favorite television show.

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Do you guys know that I remember watching episodes of the Brady Bunch when they were first airing, okay?

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I remember the Dukes of Hazzard and the A -Team and being excited about that. I remember, oh, spring training and looking forward to the upcoming baseball season and watching the exploits of Ron Say, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, and Dusty Baker, right?

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These were great things. I could not wait to just kind of imbibe and enjoy the world more and more and more.

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And then you become an adult and things get difficult. You have to pay bills, right?

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You got deadlines. You have cranky bosses and upset employees and just all kinds of drama, right?

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But you'll note that as Christians, we recognize that this world, the reason why there is sin, the reason why there is drama, the reason why this world is awful and has so much suffering is because of our rebellion against God.

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And as a result of it, we've marred this gift of life that God has given us and we suffer horribly as a result of it.

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And I'm not interested in YOLO because you only live once. That's just nonsense, okay?

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That's just not true. That's a false confession. We live twice. The question is where do you go, right?

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And so Christ here is pointing us to a reality that He is accomplishing for us by His death on the cross.

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The fruit that He promises is the fruit of eternal life. And so you'll note that as Christians, then we recognize that what we have here is fleeting.

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What we have here is marred with sin. It's running hot and cold together of good and evil.

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And as a result of it, looking forward to the promises of the new heavens and the new earth, this earth and this world has lost its appeal to us.

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And the greater we grow and mature in Christ, the more that reality sets in.

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And so Christ is talking about something that's cultivated in us through His word. And then

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He says this, if anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. And where I am, there will

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My servant be also. And listen to Jesus' words. If you want to serve

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Him, you've got to follow Him. Where are you going, Jesus? The cross. Well, that doesn't sound fun.

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It's not meant to be, right? And where I am, My servant will be also.

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But Jesus doesn't stop at the cross. He's only transitorily working through it.

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As a result of it, He makes a trip through death and then out of death, into life eternal, and He is bringing us there.

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If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him, Christ says. And then He says, My soul is troubled.

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And indeed, you'll note, Christ, what He has to face is not easy. He's not nonchalant about it.

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In fact, He knows full well that the suffering He's going to go through is absolutely agonizing.

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And knowing what it is that He's going to go through, He confesses that His soul is troubled. But then He says,

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What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose, I have come to this hour.

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Father, glorify Your name. So you'll note, Christ is glorified on the cross.

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Christ is glorified in His death, in His passion, in His bleeding, in His suffering, so that you and I can be forgiven.

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And through Him being glorified, that being His glory, the Father Himself is also glorified.

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And so Christ says, Father, glorify Your name. So the voice came from heaven and said, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

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So the crowd that stood there, they heard the voice of the Father and said it had thundered. Another said, Well, an angel has spoken to Him.

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Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine. But now is the judgment of this world.

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Now will the ruler of this world be cast out, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

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You've all heard, maybe from theologians or pastors or other people, that Satan, since Christ's death, burial, and resurrection has been bound.

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And this is most certainly true. We learn from the Apostle Paul that the idols of the ancient world, whether they be the

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Roman pantheon or the Greco -Roman pantheon of deities, which includes Zeus and Mars and Athena and things like this, to the

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Canaanite deities of Asherah and Baal and Molech, or even the deities of Egypt, that they're all inspired by demonic activity, satanic deception.

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And you'll note this, and it's fascinating, that the grip of idolatry on humanity was severely broken with Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

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And so Christ is saying here that the ruler of the world will be cast out, and indeed he has.

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As we draw closer to the return of Christ, remember, Satan's gonna be released for a little bit of time.

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Have you noticed how crazy and bizarre the world's getting by the minute, man? By the minute. So Christ then says, when

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I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. And the text tells us, he said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

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And what a wonderful picture that is, Christ being lifted up. His sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins

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Jesus, as our mediator, as our high priest, as our sacrifice, he is suspended between heaven and earth.

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And it is his cross, then, that breaches the gap and causes us to be reconciled to God and forgiven and pardoned.

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Indeed, him being raised up between heaven and earth and lifted up was an appropriate way for him to die.

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And as I pointed out in my sermon last time, that Christ's death on the cross, that is the new tree of life.

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His cross is that. So the crowd then answered him, well, we have heard from the law, that the

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Christ, that the Messiah, that he's going to remain forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?

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The crowd knows full well that what Jesus is referring to about being lifted up is a kind of an idiom about talking about being crucified.

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We thought the Messiah is supposed to stay here forever. How can you be lifted up? Because if you're going to be lifted up, you're going to die.

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So who is the Son of Man? Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer.

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Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. I love this light and darkness metaphor.

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It's one that we can all relate to. Have you ever been in such a dark place, you can't even see your hand in front of your face?

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You know, one of the things I've noticed is that I have a hard time navigating my house without light, especially the stairs.

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Just saying, okay? Sometimes I'm just too impatient to do this.

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Okay, why? I don't know, but I've learned that that's a stupid thing to do. And I've tried to come up with ways of not having to do this because apparently

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I burn a calorie or something because doing this turns on a light and I can easily get down the stairs. So what do I do?

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I tried learning how many stairs I have. And if you've been to my house, you know there's so many stairs down and then so many stairs down to the left and so many stairs down to the right.

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And so I thought, here's what I'll do. I'll just count my way down. And then I get to the number seven and I go, was that six or was that seven?

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And I still can't see a thing, right? It's stupid. It's like, why don't you turn on the light,

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Rose, bro? So you know what I've come up with? I've come up with a solution. Solution is that we now have LED lights in our kitchen and when my wife isn't around because she keeps turning them off.

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Okay. I have a conversation with that Amazon chick,

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Alexa. Okay. I have a conversation with her and I tell her to turn on a particular scene that I have set up.

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It's called tropical twilight. Okay. And I'll tell her, set up, turn on tropical twilight in the kitchen and it's this really cool little vibe.

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It's got like a warm little colors like that. And I leave it on as my nightlight and then I can get down the stairs.

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Otherwise I have to do it in the dark. And if you ever hear that Rose, bro fell down the stairs and broke his neck, you know what happened.

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Okay. All of that being said, you and I understand intimately the concept of light and darkness and darkness overtaking us.

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When darkness overtakes us, bad things happen. Not merely that we stub our toe on our bedpost or things like that, or we fall down the stairs, but bad things happen in the dark.

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You'll note that evil flourishes in the dark. Sin grows like crazy in the dark and darkness is a horrible thing.

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It's the friend of sin, but light is the enemy of it. And Christ is that light. He is the light.

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So walk in his light. The one who walks in darkness doesn't know where he's going.

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While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. And you'll note here then,

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Christ here is talking to the people who are there listening to him saying he is the light, but we were not there.

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So where can we find this light? I would note that in 2 Peter, Peter makes it very clear where we're gonna find the light.

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We're gonna find it in the scriptures. The scriptures are the light now that we walk by. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

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That's the idea. And you'll note that lamps for our feet and lights for our path don't necessarily have to illuminate the entire scenery.

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They just need to be enough light to show us what our next step is. And Christ, his light now is found in the scriptures, in the biblical texts.

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And here's the next part of this. When Jesus had said these things, he departed and he was hidden from them.

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Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.

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Consider the implications today regarding one of the major false doctrines running around the visible church today.

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And this belief that Christians have to perform miracles. If they don't, why would any unbeliever have any reason to believe in Jesus?

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And so what do they do? They sit somebody down and they lengthen their legs and stupid things like this.

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This is a parlor trick, right? And they all claim that it was important that we perform miracles. I couldn't perform a miracle if I tried, right?

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It's God who performs miracles. And you're gonna note here, this text legitimately says that Jesus, even though he had done many, not some, many, not few, many, not just a scant amount of them, but many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.

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Faith does not come by miracles. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ.

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The gospel is the power of God into salvation, not signs and not wonders. So that the word spoken by the prophets then might be fulfilled, the text says.

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Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, they couldn't believe.

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For again, Isaiah said, he has blinded their eyes. He's hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them.

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Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many, even of the authorities, believed in Jesus.

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And listen to this next indictment. This is something that each and every one of us might face or are familiar because we have faced similar temptations.

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So at the time of Christ, when he was here on this earth, there were many people who were authorities, people at high positions.

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And you know what? They believed in Jesus. Did they say it? No, they did not.

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Why? Well, the reason is not a good one. So it says, nevertheless, many, even of the authorities, believed in him, but for the fear of the

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Pharisees, they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue because they love the glory that comes from man rather than the glory that comes from God.

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Ouch. Think about that for a second. That there are people, even within the visible church, who cannot deny what

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God is doing, but they threaten to put you out or to make you suffer or to pay for doing good of all things.

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And what are you going to do when these people show up? Are you going to confess Christ and what he has done?

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Or are you going to bend the knee and basically make it so that you don't rock the boat? I think of the late

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Walter Martin. He had a famous lecture that he gave, and it was one that when I first heard it,

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I had it on cassette tape. You guys remember those things, cassette tapes? You have to have a pencil nearby just in case the thing goes crazy and you wind it back up.

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But I remember listening to this sermon from Walter Martin over and over and over again because he delivered it with such passion, but the point that he was making was actually pretty profound.

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And that is that when it comes to false doctrine running around the church, people don't say anything.

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And he says the reason why they don't say anything is they suffer from a disease called non -rockabodas.

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They don't want to rock the boat. And Walter Martin famously said in that sermon, he says,

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I don't want to rock the boat. I want to sink it. And he said it with a lot more gusto than that.

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And the point is this, is that we live in a day where evil is running rampant. Running rampant.

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And many of us are basically being told that we either need to get with the evil program or keep our mouths shut or else.

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And what's the or else? You're not going to invite me to your Christmas party, right? What's the or else?

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Or else we're going to fire you. Or else we're going to cancel you. Or else we're going to make you suffer.

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We're going to make an example of you because you're not following our program and what we've set up.

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That's what the Pharisees had done. And even though a lot of authorities believed in Jesus, they didn't say a thing.

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Because they knew that they would receive glory from humanity by not saying anything.

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Is that whose glory we're supposed to see? No. We always have to remember the one we cannot see is the one who we must make our decisions based on.

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Because the last thing I want to hear from God on the day of judgment is, depart from me, I never knew you.

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And so we recognize that we all face similar temptations. And we, even though we're still in Lent, we're kind of in that now in -between phase.

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Lent is ending, Holy Week is beginning. We are still under that call to repentance.

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We need to repent of all the ways in which we have capitulated, been silent, rather than speak out against the evil that is and things that would silence us from confessing the truth and confessing

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Christ and what he has done for us. So Jesus then continues, Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me.

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Whoever sees me, sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

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Amen. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come into the world to judge the world, but to save it.

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The one who rejects me does not receive my words as a judge, and the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

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For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me himself has given me a commandment to say and what to speak, and I know that his commandment is eternal life.

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What I say, therefore, I say that the Father has told me. So, brothers and sisters, Christ has not come into the world to condemn the world.

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We just heard him say so. That being the case, we need not fear King Jesus. There's nothing to fear about him.

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You can see that he comes to us humbled this Palm Sunday, and he comes to go to the cross.

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His hour has arrived where he lays down his life willingly so that you and I can be forgiven, reconciled to God, that the hostilities will be brought to an end, and we can be welcomed by God with open arms back into his kingdom, all because of what

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Christ has done. We are now entering into Holy Week. May this be a holy and blessed week for all of you as you reflect on the sufferings of Christ and the things that he did in this week in real time.

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In the name of Jesus, amen. We rise to confess our faith together in the words of the

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Nicene Creed. I believe in one

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God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, and in one

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Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds,

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God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the

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Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the

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Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

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He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the

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Father, and he will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

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And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the

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Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.

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And I believe in one holy, Christian and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

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Amen. In peace let us pray to the

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Lord for the Church of Christ, that her faith would remain fixed upon his death for our salvation, and his gospel would be proclaimed and lived out until he comes again in glory.

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Let us pray to the Lord. For the world, that the Lord would uphold it in his order.

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For the Church, that she would be defended from all enemies. For our homes, that God would bless parents and children in service toward each other and in faith until life's end.

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And for the government, that God would grant all authorities health and wisdom. Let us pray to the Lord. For a mind like Christ Jesus to spurn all worldly equality, that we would humble ourselves here and find his greater portion in the life of the world to come.

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Let us pray to the Lord. For all who suffer in this world. Today we especially remember

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Victoria, Natalie, Missy, Jonathan, Gerald, Cricket, Angela, Emma, and John.

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We pray for Jana, Roger, Robin, and Bonnie. For Judy, Angie, and Chuck.

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We pray for Louise, Deborah, Rachel, Mara, Gloria, Noah, Deb, Zach, Shailen, Mia, Miranda, and Katie.

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We also pray for those who mourn the family of Ange Gabriel and the family of Patti Solon. We also pray for those who are deceived,

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Anna, Rob, Georgette, and John. We ask Lord that they would not fear but fix their eyes on Jesus as they wait for the fullness of their salvation.

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Let us pray to the Lord. For worthy reception of Christ's body and blood, that as he once entered

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Jerusalem to cries of Hosanna, so we may receive him according to his promises for the forgiveness of our sins and in the unity of a true confession.

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Let us pray to the Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We praise you,

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Father, that you have sent your Son, not in wrath but in mercy. As we enter this most holy week we can ponder together the mysteries of your great salvation.

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Show us the answer to your people's prayers of Hosanna in the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the

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Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. We continue with the offertory.