Synoptic Gospels: 266

Hello, Mr. C. Well, sometime this week a lone wolf will be giving me a call and I'll go pick up that Ruger.

That's a guy in New York that's giving it to me. Ruger, Ruger all weather.

Should be a, got a Leopold scope on it and should be a, should be a, well

I might take you up on that. So you have a 338. You can reach out and touch somebody with that thing.

Just shoot a rabbit with that and all you're going to find is the tail. What are you talking about? Well, we don't want to lose any meat now.

Though springtime bear, not worried about it. Not worried about it.

All right. Hopefully we didn't get the bear hunting story on the tape.

That would be, that would be great on the sermon audio. Actually, I know a number of reformed

Baptists be going, yeah, all right, let's talk guns. Anyway, we won't mention any names at that point.

We are pressing on in our synoptic study, getting dangerously close, dangerously close to the passion week here and some of the more challenging, yeah, yeah, we're within just a few pages of some of the most challenging synoptic issues and of course you get into the resurrection accounts and we're going to be investing significantly more preparation time because they are the most challenging sections, so, but we're not quite there yet.

We're getting close. We're on page 229 of the synoptic, which is the parable of the pounds.

I guess the primary text here is Luke 19 verses 11 through 27.

While you're turning there, for those of you who, which is probably pretty much everybody with the possible exception of one fellow down front,

I had the opportunity last week, I had gone to Missouri and then flew from St.

Louis to wonderful Detroit, but I'll tell you, we don't realize how good we have it when you go to a place like Detroit, now

Detroit, Detroit, it's just the way it is, but then when you make it frigid cold and throw in lots of wind, so you have this wonderful thing called windchill, oh, it's wonderful.

I mean, every once in a while I see a windchill thing around here and just chuckle, like oh yeah, we're really concerned about windchill, but I'll tell you what, back there it makes a huge difference and the whole time

I was there they were having lake effect snow, which it really wasn't collecting, but it was just this stuff floating around in the air, and the wind would whip it across the parking lots and it was, when

I was packing up I rented a Prius, a Toyota Prius, it was a nice little car, and I was packing up at four something in the morning to get my morning flight back on Thursday, and you're sitting there trying to get your bags in the car and it's,

I think, I think it was 19 degrees as I recall, and we had had windchills down to like 9, so it wasn't really windy that morning thankfully, but we have a good year anyway, the reason

I was in Detroit was I was doing live Jesus or Muhammad shows on the

Aramaic Broadcasting Network, and I think, I think you got to see a couple of those as I recall, yeah, but for those who didn't,

I'm posting the best parts of those on my blog, and we did have a couple interesting calls, but mainly it was just some really interesting topics, and one of them you might find interesting, you all as a group might find interesting is the one

I just posted this morning, I haven't blogged it yet, but it's on my YouTube site, my 501st video on the

YouTube site, but it's on, it's called Can Muhammad Save You, and it's, we discussed the fact that in Islam there is this concept of Muhammad as an intercessor, that on the final day of judgment, it is quite interesting,

I read a Hadith, it's found in a number of different forms in the Islamic sources, but a

Hadith about how on the final day, all of mankind will come to Adam, and they'll say to Adam, intercede with us, with our

Lord, because they're afraid of the final judgment, they want the final judgment to start, but they're afraid of what's going to happen, and Adam's going to say,

I sinned, ask Noah, and then Noah's going to say I sinned, ask Abraham, and Abraham's going to say

I sinned, ask Isa, Jesus, interestingly enough, in none of the reported versions of this

Hadith does Jesus say anything about sinning, he's not accused of sin, which is interesting, but he still says, that's not for me, go to Muhammad, and so they finally go to Muhammad, and Muhammad says, yes, this is what

I am to do, and so he goes to Allah, and Allah teaches him a new form of worship, and he worships

Allah, and he's given the ability of shifa 'ah, which is intercession, and three or four times he intercedes, and Allah then goes and takes out of the hellfire, which is interesting, out of the hellfire, people who had said la ilaha illallah, which is the kalima, the

Islamic confession, so it takes three or four times to get all of them out of the hellfire, so most

Muslims will end up in hellfire, but just not for a permanent period of time, and so we went over that Hadith, and this concept of Muhammad as an intercessor, and then had the opportunity of contrasting that with the

Biblical presentation of Jesus' intercession, the basis of the intercession, went through the Bible, and stuff like that, obviously it's always my goal, because we do have

Muslims watching, to explain to them what the Gospel is, and make as strong a contrast as possible, so I just posted that this morning, it'll be on the blog this afternoon, and you might find that an interesting study, especially in light of what we're doing, our

Hebrew studies. No, they do not believe that Muhammad was sinless, because the

Quran itself rebukes him for once having ignored a blind man, while speaking to the leadership in Mecca, so they do not say he's sinless, however, it is interesting, just yesterday,

I was listening to Shaykh Aser Qadhi lecturing, and he was mentioning an ayah, a verse in the

Quran, that says to Muhammad, that if he were ever to commit shirk, which is idolatry, that he would be amongst those who are not successful, in other words, those who have not gained

Jannah, Heaven, and he said, now of course we know it is impossible for the prophet to have committed shirk, and so there is, you know, we have discussions of the impeccability of Christ, and whether Christ could have or could not have sinned, etc.,

etc., interestingly enough, they have a similar concept for Muhammad, in the sense that while he might commit very minor sins, that it would be simply impossible, because he is considered to have been the greatest man to have ever been on earth, even though he wasn't virgin born, and even though they don't accuse

Jesus of sin, it's almost, in the Islamic mind, like because he's the Jewish Messiah, and there is such an inborn antipathy toward Jews, that even though Jesus was virgin born, and raised the dead, and performed miracles, and all the rest of this stuff, still doesn't quite get to Muhammad's level, as far as that goes, so it is rather interesting to note that, but anyway, that particular study might be of special interest to you, because when it's combined with something that, in light of our

Hebrew studies, should be at least somewhat fresh in your mind, it might help you to remember and understand some of the

Islamic concepts that we're discussing at the same time, and of course, the host of the program, Pastor Joseph, is

Arabic, and so his comments are always interesting, and so that's up there.

By the way, next week, I will, I'm very thankful for this, but also somewhat, what should

I say, scared, not scared, nervous, not nervous, concerned,

I guess, I'm back in book writing mode, I haven't written a book in about three years, and the last one was

Pulpit Crimes, I believe was the last book that I wrote, but Bethany House has extended me two contracts,

I'll sign them next week, both books are on Islam, and so it's going to be a lot of work, a lot of hard work, that's the mode

I'm going to be getting into, but don't worry, we won't just start doing studies on Islam, I've told you,

I think I've told you all the story before, I heard in seminary, about a guy who was studying under Karl Barth, now

Karl Barth is not someone I would highly recommend, even though in certain circles he's next deity, but there was a guy who told a story about taking a systematic theology course with Karl Barth, and it happened to be that that semester

Karl Barth was writing, he wrote Church Dogmatics, this big, huge, massive, multi -volume work on Christian theology, and it happened to be that semester he was writing the volume on angels, and so all this guy ever learned that entire semester was about angels, because that's all

Karl Barth talked about, because that's all he was writing about, so therefore, even though it was a systematic theology class, all he talked about was angels.

So I will try not to be like Karl Barth, and go, now

Luke 19 says, as they heard these things, that reminds me about Mohammed, now Mohammed said, you know,

I'll try to avoid that particular kind of situation, but I will be busy on that for quite some time.

So anyhow, Luke chapter 19, after that long, rather completely disconnected introduction, the parable of the pounds, which will be repeated later, notice the

CP number 299, which means we get 299, we can skip it, because we will cover it here.

As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive a kingdom, and then returned, calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to them, trade with these till I come.

But his citizens hated him, and sent an embassy after him, saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. When he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading.

The first came before him, saying, Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more. And he said to him, well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.

The second came, saying, Lord, your pound has made five pounds. And he said to him, and you are to be over five cities. And another came, saying,

Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin, for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man, you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.

He said to him, I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what

I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money into the bank?

In my coming, I should have collected it with interest. He said to those who stood by, take the pound from him, and give it to him who has the ten pounds.

And they said to him, Lord, he has ten pounds. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given. But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

But as for these enemies of mine, who do not want me to reign over them, bring them here, and slay them before me.

Now, you see the parallels, the parallel, excuse me, in Matthew chapter 25.

This is one of those texts where you have Matthew and Luke. What is interesting is that what is missing in Matthew is anything about the rebelliousness of the people amongst whom these individuals are living.

So in other words, if you just read Matthew, for it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted them his property, to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one.

Now, it's very probable, in fact, extremely likely, that these are two different parallels,

I'm sorry, parables told at two different times. Especially in light of the fact that Matthew places this after the triumphal entry and in the ministry in Jerusalem.

So again, let me just mention this, we've mentioned it before. We've seen this, obviously we're almost all the way through the story now.

We've seen it multiple times where there are variations in a story that would allow for us to recognize that Jesus did not come up with something new everywhere he went.

I mean, when he traveled from town to town, he's going to be preaching the same message, and there are going to be parables.

There's an interesting difference here. You have 10, 5, and 1 in Luke, and you have 5, 2, and 1 in Matthew.

So, was it a different occasion? It would seem to be, in my opinion, that the

Matthew 25 is after the triumphal entry, teaching. Remember, we're told that Jesus would spend hours teaching.

I mean, it wasn't like a 45 -minute sermon. He would be teaching all day. And so clearly, illustrations would be used and reused and modified and changed and spoken in different ways.

It's interesting, I believe it was one of the callers we had when

I was on the air last week, asked about...no,

I'll take that back. It was when I was speaking in St. Louis. I had brought up a difference between...it

was a synoptic difference again. Oh, it was the story of Jairus. Remember, we went over this...I remember when we went over this.

We went over this early in 2006. I don't even need to have George here to know this was early in 2006.

And the reason I remember that is because I mentioned it to you when I debated

Shabir Ali at Biola. He brought it up, and we had covered that very synoptic issue in here just a matter of months before the debate, which had put me in very good stead that we had done that.

But if you remember the story of the raising of Jairus's daughter and the differences that exist between Mark and Matthew in the relating of that particular story and how

Matthew telescopes what Mark gives us in a fuller account, I had this fellow ask me at the church.

He said, well, why couldn't that be two different incidents? Now, I'm saying

I think Matthew 25 and Luke 19 are two different incidents. So, why did I answer that man's question?

Well, absolutely, certainly not. Well, because this is an illustration.

This is a parable that would have been told many times.

And when I tell...I have certain stories. I travel all over the place.

I'm going to be in London, in Dublin in February. I'm going to be in Sydney and Brisbane next

October. I travel all over the place. Even when I was in Lima, I would use illustrations that I've used here in sermons and all over the place.

And sometimes you have to be careful about that, obviously. The point is, if I look back at the clock and it's going very slowly,

I may tell a very full version of the story. I may add some items to it.

But if the clock's going real fast, and I don't have much time, I might really shrink it down and just get to the main point of the story, get it in there, and move on.

It all depends on the situation I'm in. This isn't exactly rocket science.

We all have been in this situation. We all know how that works. However, the idea that an incident in Jesus' life would have happened twice with the same guy and the same gal.

I mean, the poor kid died twice? I mean, you would think, okay, let's say she did.

Don't you think maybe the mourners would have gotten the idea after the first time? Oh, Jesus is coming again? We're not going to bother.

We remember what happened last time. You know, I mean, it struck me as just so obvious, but this fellow was like, no, why couldn't this be two different incidents?

So, it's a complete difference between looking at a parable, which would have been used multiple times, and certain events in Jesus' life and in his ministry.

Unfortunately, sometimes people will miss the distinction between the two and end up, I think, introducing some unnecessary complications in the process.

So, I think these are two different stories, but they have the same point.

The only difference being that in Luke 19, there is a judgment theme of the people of Israel beyond what is found in Matthew.

Maybe Jesus didn't include it in his telling in Matthew, that Matthew relates to us, because of other parables that already included it.

I don't know what the reasons would be, but there is a judgment theme, because it's only found in two places. It's found in verse 14, but his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us.

And then, it is really not picked up on or expanded upon until verse 27, but as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.

So, two things. Let's first look at the judgment theme, and then we can look at the parable of the pounds as it's found in both

Matthew and Luke. This is one of the texts that people like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris and so on and so forth, the new atheists who are so extremely popular, and they even get a little uptick this time of the year from the far left media that wants to express its disgust at any public expression of religion at all.

You've probably been hearing about stories this time of year, and every year it gets a little bit more, people registering offense at anything that has to do with religion in public life.

There was a bank, I think in Texas, that's a local businessman. I mean, the bank didn't even pay to do this.

A local businessman donated decorations for the lobby of their bank, and someone registered offense with the bank as they took it down.

Well, there was such an outcry, and this is Texas, by the way, and everyone's armed there. There was such an outcry that they hastily reversed themselves and at their own cost, put it back up because I think they were afraid that they were going to be the only bank with one customer left in the city after that particular thing happened.

Now, they would have been given the keys to the city and made honorary members of the Board of Trustees of Berkeley if it had happened there, obviously, but this is

Texas, and there's a huge gap between those two particular locations. But the point being, there is this detestation among secularists of any type of religious expression.

And the new atheists, who are given a lot of media play around this time of year, any time of the year, but especially this time of year, really go to Luke chapter 19, and you need to be aware of this.

You need to be aware that especially verse 27 is one of the new atheists' favorite verses because what they do, and it is interesting, someone like Christopher Hitchens, how many of you have never heard

Christopher Hitchens speak? Okay, all right. That gives me a possible future

Bible study theme. Christopher Hitchens is an American citizen.

He's British -born, grew up in England, but moved over here and professes a great love for the

United States. But he is a secular humanist, a naturalistic materialist, an atheist, wrote the book,

God is Not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything. And he is an inveterate hater of the

Christian faith, even though he has been recently diagnosed, only back in July, I believe, with advanced esophageal cancer.

Between his chemotherapy treatments, he is back on the debating track, continuing to spread the gospel of unbelief, shall we say.

And because of his British accent, people just seem to think that everything he says is brilliant.

He is a very bright man, there's no question about that. And he happens to be rather conservative politically, and so he has an in amongst some news sources that we might actually be more used to accessing.

And he, interestingly enough, is right about a number of things he says.

For example, he criticizes a lot of evangelicals who have this, well, the

Old Testament God is rather wrathful, but I'm glad we have Jesus in the New Testament, where all is sweet and sweetness and light.

And he says straightforward, I don't know what, I almost break into a

British accent when I quote him, I don't know what book you're reading. He says, there's no difference between the

God of the Old Testament, the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is wrathful, and yet he shows love to those whom he chooses to show love to.

And the God of the New Testament is wrathful as well, but he shows love to whom he chooses to show love to.

What are you people reading? Why can't you read your own text? And he'll go to a text like Luke 19, 27, and he says, you want to talk about a

Jesus who's all sweetness and light? Well, then explain to me how a Jesus who's all sweetness and light can say, but as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.

He says, whether you think this is Jesus or God the Father, it doesn't matter. Where is all the sweetness and light?

And he'll go to the judgment passages, and basically, he's picking on, and rightly so, the foolish misconception that many evangelicals have that there is some kind of difference between the

God of the Old Testament and the God of the New. He's right, there isn't. Now, he's wrong about the capriciousness and all the rest of the stuff of God, but he at least can read the text and says, what are you people talking about?

And there is, in Jesus' words here, the citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us.

Well, who are these people? If we apply this primarily to the people of Israel and the rebellion that takes place against not so much the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law that results in Pharisaism.

And remember, Matthew 25, the parallel telling, at least the parable, is after Matthew 23.

And if there is any text in the New Testament that demonstrates that Jesus was willing to, in a very straightforward and clear manner, announce

God's displeasure on religious hypocrisy, it's Matthew 23. If this is in regards to the people of Israel, and if the citizens of this nation are the

Jews and the gifts that have been given, the gifts of grace that have been given to those amongst the people of God that we see in, say,

Simeon and Anna and those remnant few who remain faithful to God's ways, then there would be, in Matthew 24,

Matthew 25, the crucifixion narratives where Jesus is talking about the coming destruction of Jerusalem.

And that those who will be destroyed are not a remnant people.

They are the enemies of God. And that the remnant has turned the

Messiah. The other way to take it is in a more general sense, in regards to the final judgment, certainly

Matthew 25 is a final judgment parable context. And in a more general sense, all of humankind, anyone who has said, we will not have this one to rule over us, which is the very essence of naturalistic materialism, secular humanism, communism, and all false religions that reject the

Lordship of Christ and the revelation of God in Christ, once again, there is the fact of judgment.

Bring them before me. Bring them here and slay them before me. Those are strong words.

Now, to isolate them and do as Hitchens and others does in making these just innocent people who just didn't happen to choose the right religion, that's normally how they present it.

They don't listen to the text. That these are individuals who knew the

Lord, knew of his right to reign over them, and rebelled against his right to reign over them.

Instead, they want to try to turn them into political dissidents or something like that, I suppose. But they skip that part.

So, there is a very strong judgment motif found in those words that cannot be skipped over that Jesus added in his telling of this parable in Luke 19.

Now, moving past that to Matthew 25 and Luke 19, well, let me just mention one other thing.

Notice that he said these things, first of all, because he was near to Jerusalem, which would seem to make the attachment to the people of Israel in the judgment narratives, and because they supposed the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

So, there is something in this parable about the fact of the

Lord giving these pounds to these men, either 10, 5, and 1, or 5, 2, and 1, depending on the telling of the parable.

That is meant to communicate patient endurance and long -suffering.

It is meant to communicate the need to be active in this world, ready for the consummation, but not like Harold Camping's followers today.

Everybody know who Harold Camping is? Who doesn't know who Harold Camping is? Harold Camping is the same group.

Busy folks here. Harold Camping is the head of Family Radio. I think they are still on the air here somewhere.

And he is about 370 years old. Thank you for calling and sharing.

Shall we take the next caller, please? Welcome to Open Forum. Anyway, that took 3 minutes to say, and I said it faster than he does.

So, Harold Camping is, you may remember him back in 1994.

He prophesied the end of the world. I've talked with people, especially back east in New York, who were thoroughly convinced he was right.

I remember talking to one fairly wealthy man who had actually spent money to hire a plane to drag a banner through the air above Jones Beach, which is a major spot during the summer out there on Long Island.

That's where everybody goes to Jones Beach during the summer. Announcing the end of the world was coming in 1994.

Well, in case you're not really up on the date, he missed that one. And of course, came up with explanations.

Now he has a full explanation for it. And now he has an absolute date of May 21st, 2011.

I'm sorry? Oh, I'm sorry. May 21st, 2011 will be the rapture, and October 21st is when the world is gone.

That's it. So, everything else is squished in between the intervening months somehow. He's into numerology and all this stuff.

Anyway, if any of you really are fascinated by such things, I debated the guy last summer on our radio program.

And the first day, he actually did try to respond, and the second day, he just ignored me. I wasn't even there. We'd go back and forth, and he just went on with his presentation, and I would take everything apart he just said, and then he just ignored me and go on with the next point, and I'd take everything apart.

It was sad. But anyway, May 21st, 2011.

So, someone sent me a picture of a huge highway sign, you know, an advertisement sign in the

Houston area where someone had donated the money to, it has the wise men still seek him, and he will return

May 21st, 2011. And here's the URL you can go to to hear about all this stuff. And, you know, those of us who monitor such things have known about this for quite some time, but now the media is really picking up on it.

And so, between now and May 21st, you're going to see it on the news and all the rest of this stuff.

And on May 22nd, the world's going to be going, ah, you know, once again. And I can tell you right now what

Harold Camping is going to be doing on May 22nd of 2011. I did, by the way, very kindly and generously offer to him to take over his radio program and all of his stations on May 22nd, 2011 to teach all of his followers how to do exegesis.

He did not respond to that offer during the course of our debate. But, anyway,

I can tell you right now, we already see what he's going to do, because he's getting nervous.

He's going to spiritualize it, just like Edward Miller did back in 1844 when he had all the people sitting out on hilltops waiting for the return of Christ on a particular day.

He didn't show up. What did Miller do? Well, they never go, okay, I'm an idiot.

Forget about me. That's not how false prophets work. What they do is they go, you know, it just occurred to me that Jesus did return, but he returned invisibly to the heavenly temple.

And out of that failed Millerite movement in 1844, you've got the Seventh Day Adventist and the

Jehovah's Witnesses. Out of one group, one failed thing, you've got two major false religions. And what

Camping is going to do, and we've already got him on video doing it, is now he's saying, well,

Jesus has already returned and is returning spiritually.

And so he's already planning his escape route. I've come up with a number of ways he could get around it myself already, but he has to come up with his own way.

So, you know, he'll be back on the air on May 22nd, confidently telling everybody that Jesus has returned, the rapture did take place yesterday, it just happened invisibly.

Yes? Oh, he gets that, remember, he's on the air for an hour and a half, two hours every day.

And probably right now he gets that phone call every day. And his response has been to that, anyways, all along.

No, we don't know the hour, but we know that it's going to be

May 21st, so I can't say whether it's noon or 11 or 1 .30 or something like that.

But that was before the new revelation that has come to him. That was before the new revelation that has come to him, because if you would just read all the

Bible, you'd see that in Revelation 12 a book is opened, and that's happened after the church has been destroyed, and he's the one who's been given that understanding.

So, you can't argue with a prophet. I mean, come on, that's just how it works.

So, anyway, it does seem somewhat relevant that this parable is addressed to those who suppose the

Kingdom of God was to appear immediately. And so, we don't want to be like, does anyone remember the last

Jehovah's Witness date? Is anyone old enough to remember? Because I remember it as a kid.

Even I knew the Jehovah's Witnesses were saying the next year was going to be it, because they were, when

I lived in McCannsburg, Pennsylvania, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, there was a

Kingdom Hall directly across from my backyard, right across the street from my backyard. In fact, I remember when my dad taught me to ride a bike, and he told me he was going to hold on.

And I remember, I know, and it's pre -programmed.

And he said he was going to hold on, and I'm going around in circles in the street, and all of a sudden I realize I see my shadow from the sun.

And he ain't holding on, okay? And that's when I knew that parents were not everything you thought they were, okay?

You know, but anyway, that was right out in front of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, right across the street.

Does anyone remember, you have to be at least my age, I guess, to remember the last big prophecy of Jehovah's Witnesses, when

Christ was going to return? Now, that was a guy named Edgar Wisenot, 88

Reasons Why Christ is Returning in 1988. I remember coming out of church one day and finding that on the windshield of my 1972

Buick LeSabre, yeah. Which, that LeSabre will probably survive the rapture, but anyway.

Nobody remembers. 1975. 1975. I remember in 74,

I remember hearing my parents talking about it, and you know, Jehovah's Witnesses around, stuff like that. We had just moved out here, but,

I'm sorry? I guess the

Witnesses weren't quite as big over there, but yeah, 1975. Yeah, 1975.

So, that kind of end times madness stuff, and by the way, since we don't have time for anything more, you know who has more books, cranks out more books, publishes more books about end times and prophecies and messiahs and fulfillment of modern day stuff than Christians do?

The Muslims. If you go to book fairs in the Middle East, you will find row after row of Islamic books about the coming

Mahdi, the 12th Imam, all this kind of stuff. And they make the channel between 20 and 22 and the late great planet

Earth and everything else look like amateurs in comparison to the flood of literature that they crank out about end times prophecies.

It's just, we ain't got nothing on them in any way, shape, or form.

I didn't realize that, but that is part of it. So, we'll actually finally get to maybe an application of the parable next time around, and then after that, outside of the flood of Lazarus, we're right into the triumphal entry.

Which does not mean we'll get anywhere near the resurrection stories by Easter, but we'll be on our way.

Maybe by Easter of 2012 we might be able to do something like that. We've got to get everything in before May 21st of 2011, actually.

You've got the Mayan calendar at work. Yeah, I know, I know. It's something else. Anyway, let's close our time with a word of prayer.

Indeed, O Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, its admonitions to us, they are timely. We do ask that you would cause us to be balanced in our reading of your word, to hear your truth, be with us now as we go into worship.