(Luke) 48 - Palm Sunday-Luke19 — Ed Miller

Before we look at the text, let me make this observation about the Gospels as a whole. You know, it's amazing, we sort of read these things, la la la, but it's amazing how little we have on the life of Christ.

You know, we have a little bit at the record of his birth and circumcision, and then we jump 12 years and we have one little story when he was 12 years old, and then we jump 30 years, or we'll tell he's 30 years old, from 12 to 30, and then it begins when he was at his baptism, when he was 30 years old, and then we have 3 1⁄2 years, most of the Gospel record is on the 3 1⁄2 years.

But really, the big record, the emphasis, is not on the 3 1⁄2 years. For example, we're in chapter 19, ever since chapter 9 of Luke, we've been in the last six months of his life. Not 3 1⁄2 years, just the last six months.

Do you realize, if you added Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, add it all up together, one third of all of that is the last week in the life of the Lord Jesus. So we see where God has put his emphasis. It's all on the cross and the end, and that he has come to be the salvation of the earth.

The Gospel Focuses on Christ’s Passion Week

So the closer we get to the cross, the more the blessings become profound, and God bears his heart, and so we need to look very carefully at every incident in this Passion Week. Now I say that, but then what I mean is, every incident Luke records, there are things that others record Luke doesn't.

We're going to stick to the Gospel of Luke. And so we begin this morning that section we've called the Victory of the Son of All Mankind, Jesus is the Savior. Now this final week begins with two events, we'll not have time to look at both of them this morning.

Now one is Palm Sunday, when he enters Jerusalem, and the other is the cleansing of the Temple. Luke sort of leaves out the cursing of the fig tree, that comes in between. So we won't look at that, we'll just look at these two foundational things, the coming in and then the cleansing of the Temple.

And that will lay the foundation for the five events that Luke stresses that will follow. I'll call attention to that as we go along. I'm going to ask you to look at Luke 19 beginning at verse 29, or 28.

After he said these things, he was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he approached Bethpage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples saying, go into the village ahead of you.

There, as you enter, you'll find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, you shall say, the Lord has need of it. And so those who were sent away went and found it just as he had told them.

As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, why are you untying the colt? And they said, the Lord has need of it. They brought it to Jesus and threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it.

And as he was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all of the miracles which they had seen, shouting, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven, glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said, teacher, rebuke your disciples. But Jesus answered, I tell you, if these became silent, the stones would cry out. When he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it.

Saying, if you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace. But now they've been hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side.

They will level you to the ground and your children within you. They will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation. Oh, visit me with thy salvation.

First week open. How does it begin? The church has sort of called this through the years, the triumphal on Sunday. I believe the record answers the question, who is this to the cross? Who is this savior of all mankind?

What revelation of Jesus is given in this opening story? This story blends together the double revelation. This is sort of the paradox that was so confusing to the prophets. The theologians call it the cross and the crown.

Both are true, bringing together his humility and then his glory. The humiliation, the exaltation, the rejection, the acceptance, the suffering and the glory. It's hard to put together in your mind. We sort of read it now because we've seen it and we can slap on what we have known.

But for them, the altar of agony and the crown of glory seemed like a contradiction. How can both be true? How can he suffer and reign? It doesn't make sense. In fact, you get a little light on this in 1 Peter 1 and verse 10 and 11.

1 Peter 1, 10 and 11 says, as to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come made careful searches and inquiries seeking to know the person that the spirit of Christ that was in them indicated when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.

In other words, 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11 says that God inspired the prophets, they wrote it down, then they scratched their heads and studied their own writings. And they said, what does that mean? They wrote it down, but they didn't understand because it talked in a puzzling way.

I heard an illustration one time that helped me grasp it a little better. Have you been to a place where you have seen mountain peaks? You see a mountain and then you see another mountain peak. If you're at a distance, sometimes you don't know that there are two mountains because that all blends together.

Let's just say on the first mountain peak there was a cross and on the second mountain peak there was a great crown. Well, you could be at a vantage point where they blended together and you could see the cross and the crown and you wouldn't see the valley in between until you got there.

And that's sort of what happened. The prophets, when they wrote in the same verse, they would talk about the suffering and then they'd talk about his everlasting reign. And they didn't know that there would be a great church age, a great valley in between.

They just saw those things and they were together and they couldn't understand that. It was confusing. I say that to indicate that this triumphal entry is like that. But he's on a donkey and you get the blending of the glorious and the humble and the weak.

And so what I'd like to do this morning is sort of illustrate. I know the church calls this the triumphal entry prize, but in some ways it's a non-triumphal entry. It's unveiled, it's covered, it's through a glass darkly, but if you look carefully, you can see both.

You can see the glory and you can see the humility. And so what I'd like to do is mention several ways it is a triumphal entry, though it's veiled and then how it's a non-triumphal entry. And I just trust the Lord will guide us as we go along.

Jesus as Lord of the Universe

Let me mention three ways this was a triumphal entry. This is one of those stories, you know, that God has put in Matthew, Luke, and John. Give us the story of palm. I think the first way this is a picture, a veiled picture of a triumphal entry is because it presents our Lord Jesus as the Lord, capital O, capital R, capital D, the Lord of the universe.

It's sort of a surprise. You wouldn't expect it. He's on his way to the cross and verse 30, go into the village ahead of you. As you enter, you'll find a coat tied on which no one's ever yet sat. Michael Oseen reminded me that this is his last command before he enters Jerusalem.

And he just says, go down and you're going to find this coat. And when you find it, untie it, bring it here in case the owners are there. And they ask you, then just say, you know, the Lord has need of it.

Bring it to me. The Lord has need of it. The Lord seemed to anticipate that the owners would question that. Imagine you've got a donkey tied to your tree. It's your donkey and it's your tree. And then some guy comes along, who knows how many disciples, and they just start untying it.

He said, hello, what are you doing untying my donkey? What if the owners never showed up? Let's say the owners didn't show up. Do you think they still would have untied it and taken it away? Why isn't that stealing?

You know, that's their donkey. And the disciples just go down there and go into their yard, untie the donkey. Evidently, it was tied pretty close to the house, maybe not on a tree, maybe on the door. Matthew hints, is it possible for me to steal this wall, these glasses, this tie?

I can't steal that. Couldn't steal that donkey? It was his. It was his. He's the Lord of the universe. And in a veiled way, we begin to see him. Now, he didn't always use the prerogative of that lordship, but it was always his.

All things belong to him. He's the Lord of the universe. In the margin of the American Standard, in verse 33, it says, its owners came. Literally, but you got to notice, it's little L-O-R-D. We're Lord, but he's Lord, capital L-O-R-D.

The Lord has need of it. The final week of the ministry of our Lord Jesus begins with this great picture, the Lord of the universe. I'm not an artist, but I get some things in my head. I wish some artist would picture riding in on the donkey.

What in the world is that strange picture? And it was just a glorious thing. Now, let me quote a couple of verses from the New Testament in this connection. Colossians 1, 16, in him were all things created.

In the heavens, upon the earth, whether visible or invisible, thrones or dominions, principalities or powers. Psalm 24, 1, the earth is the Lord. Psalm 50, I have to laugh every time I read Psalm 50, verse 10.

He said, every beast of the field is mine. I know every bird of the mountain and everything that moves on the field is mine. If I were hungry, God said, I don't need you. Everything's mine. Everything belongs to me.

How many things, you look over a great field. How many things are moving in that field? God said, I own everything that moves in the field. It's all mine. So every moment he was on the earth, he was Lord of the universe.

But now he's exercising this Lordship. Man is the Lord. Little L, we don't own it, but we don't own it. When my little granddaughter was taken to heaven, 1994, Jesus came without permission. I had my granddaughter, the silver cord.

You know, hey, what right do you have to take my granddaughter? And of course the answer is the Lord has need of it. He doesn't need permission, but he gives an explanation. And the explanation he gives is a resting place for faith.

It has to do with his redemptive purposes. I think one thing we learned from this is that God needs to teach us to hold things like this. But if we learn to hold things like this, at any moment, God could come into our life, whether it's our house or our car or our clothes or our books or our family.

At any moment, the Lord has need of it. Well, that's yours. Take it away. And the Lord wants us to learn at least that much. So we don't want to read this la, la, la. We come to the last week in the life of Christ.

And if it weren't for this, you'd be saying, who's in charge here? But you see right at the beginning, who's in control. There are going to be many events here. And you wonder if man's ruling or Satan's ruling.

They're going to take him and tie him and carry him away and falsely accuse him and whip him and beat him. Has he lost control? He's in charge of everything. And it's just pictured here. Go down and untie that donkey.

You don't need permission. It's mine. I can't steal it. It already belongs to me. Who is the Lord? He's the king of angels and of men. He's the Lord. There's a second revelation of Christ that hints that this was a triumphal entry.

Christ the Miracle Worker

Not only that he's the Lord of all, but he's being praised here as a miracle worker. Notice verse 37. As soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen.

Luke doesn't mention the fact that they waved the palm branches. You get that in the other gospel. But you can see on the level of earth. This is a time of great acceptance. External out the red carpet.

They were singing and cheering and palms in his way and they're throwing their clothes so that he could walk over their clothes singing Hosanna to the son of David. Hosanna. You know, for years I missed that word Hosanna.

I thought that meant praise God. They weren't saying praise the Lord is a word that means save now. That's what it means. Save now. And they were expecting Jesus didn't like this idea of a foreign government coming in and and usurping all this authority.

And God had promised when Messiah comes, he's going to raise up the kingdom again. And they thought that that was what was going to happen at that time. But I suppose the many who were praising him that were those he had healed in the last three and a half years, the blind, the deaf, the hall, the lame, those that had been raised from the dead, those were who were family and friends of those who were healed.

In that sense, it's a triumphal entry. They're praising the miracle worker singing and shouting. Now, it looks like the songs that they were singing that they understood what was going on, you know, in Zechariah nine and verse nine, 500 years before this day, the prophet wrote these words, Zechariah nine, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy king coming to thee.

He's just and endowed with salvation, lowly, riding upon an ass, even the colt, the foal of an ass. 400 years before, you think as he came in, they said, hey, look at Jesus. Remember what Zechariah said?

He prophesied this was going to happen. And then they started quoting Psalm 118, which was a messianic Psalm. And they said, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Do you think they understood that?

Well, see, John chapter 12, which records the Palm Sunday, listen to John 12. These things that disciples did not understand at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered these things were written of him.

It wasn't until after his resurrection, they'd catch on. He's riding this donkey. They didn't say, oh, look, here comes Messiah. Here comes our king. They quoted a messianic Psalm, but they didn't know that.

They were just caught up in the emotion. They were just carried along. They were like they were in a dream. They were being impelled by an inward necessity to do this. And then later they looked back and they said, whoa, that was prophesied.

We fulfilled idea at the time. They just moved from event to event, were caught up in it, but they did not know they were doing that. Who is this coming from Jerusalem? He's the Lord of the universe. Who is this coming from Jerusalem?

I'll tell you who it is. He's the mighty miracle worker. You know what's amazing thing? He's a miracle worker, but he never worked a miracle for himself. He never lifted up a finger in his own defense.

Worked miracles for everybody else, but not for himself. They weren't only praising him for past miracles. As I said, his glory is veiled, but it's here. He was doing present miracles. Look at his omniscience.

He said, go into the village, verse 30, and you'll find a cult. How'd he know that? How'd he know that would be there? He said, and it'll be tied up, written on it. See, if you look carefully, he's the Lord of the universe.

He's the mighty miracle who did miracles and is doing them right now. He's omniscient. And then I love verse 30, this cult on which no one has ever sat. And then verse 35, they put Jesus on it. I don't know when you read the Bible, if you use your sanctified imagination, but I do.

I try to picture all this. How would you like to sit on a donkey on which no one has ever sat? Do you know, we just sort of read that. He tamed that donkey. He broke it. I don't picture him in the Palm Sunday going in like a cowboy and a bunking bronco and being thrown up and down.

It wasn't like that. Jesus tamed that donkey in marvelous depth on that donkey because he tamed the nature of that animal. It's sort of a foretaste of all that he knew was coming. When the real triumphal entry comes, when our Lord Jesus comes again, he's going to tame all creation, not just that little donkey.

Isaiah, it says the wolf will dwell with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and fatling together. A little boy will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze.

The young will lie down. The lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the whole of the cobra. The winged child will put his hand in the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy it.

All my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord coming in his real triumphal entry here. Just a little foretaste of that. And not only does that tame donkey picture that, I don't know if you ever thought of yourself as a donkey, but you know, the Bible presents one of the pictures of you.

You say, well, we always say the sheep, the sheep were like the sheep. And surely we are. That's a picture. But there's another one. And guess why? Exactly right. Exactly right. Do you realize that, you know, they had the law in the Old Testament of the first fruit and the law of the first bling that you had, you gave it to the Lord.

You know what God said? It's 1313. Offer lamb. The only thing in the Bible that was ever redeemed by the blood of the lamb. It's a picture. You can see that also in Numbers 22. Remember Balaam's talking donkey?

What a picture that is. Because everything Balaam claimed, the donkey, because he saw the Lord, took a beating because he was redemptive. He's just a picture of us. And how precious is this? If we're a picture of that donkey, has he tamed us?

Has he given us the privilege to carry him before all the people? Oh, it's just a glory. This is in foretaste. This is a miracle worker. And he's still working the miracles, but not for himself. You know that song, I stand amazed in the presence, you know, of Jesus, the Nazarene.

There's one verse. The second verse, I think it is, for me, it was in the garden. He prayed, not my will, but mine. He had no tears for his own grief. Never worked a miracle for himself. There's a third illustration of the triumphant side.

Christ the King of Israel

Not only was he the Lord of the universe and a miracle worker, but he came in as a king. Behold, your king comes to you. Verse 38. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. You know, it's easy to read these facts.

Get the donkey and lead it away. And they put garments on it and they put out their clothes and they spread the palms and so on. It sort of looks like meaningless details. They didn't understand Zechariah, but Jesus did.

100 years before, this was a symbolic act for him. And he said, your king comes in salvation. He knew that. And that's how he came in. And so, who is Jesus? The Lord of the universe. He's a miracle worker.

He's the king of Israel. You almost get the idea the Pharisees were catching on. Because, you know, they tried to shut everybody up. Tone it down. Verse 39 and 40. If he accepted that praise, he'd be accused of blasphemy.

He's making himself God. It's the only time in the Bible record Jesus accepted the blasphemy. And if he let them call him king, that's insurrection. That's going up against the government. And then they said, tell them to hold their peace.

This is blasphemy. This is insurrection. We have no king, only Caesar. And he said, if they don't cry out, these rocks will cry out. In other words, I think he was saying, you guys are so hard. You're the religious leaders.

A stupid stone knows more than you do. They see more than you do. You're so blind. You don't understand it. When you read Palm Sunday to these eyes, it looks like a great day of acceptance. But he was being rejected here.

The Humility and Rejection of the Triumphal Entry

Let me mention before we close a couple of ways. It was a non-triumphal entry. I think the first is illustrated by the fact he was on that humble donkey. You know, when you think about a king coming to reign, you don't usually picture him coming in on something, you know, a stately animal comes to town, a big procession and secret service people in a fancy limousine and a 19 to 19.

That's a triumphal entry. He's not on a donkey. Listen to Revelation. And behold, a white whore is called faithful and true in righteousness. He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire. On his head are many diadems.

He has a name written on him, which no one knows except himself. He's called with a robe dipped in blood. His name is called the word of God. The armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Follow him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations and rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the almighty on his robe, on his thigh.

He has a name written. King of kings. Well, entry is coming again and not on a little donkey. But Luke pictures this Lord of the universe in a non-triumphant way coming in on this humble donkey on his way to the cross.

Simple a donkey surrounded by fishermen. And this is the same one who's going to come on the white horse way. His non-triumphal entry is pictured is in who received him. Did you notice in verse 37, the whole multitude of disciples, the other gospel records say the people, evidently those who've been healed and so on.

But verse 39, not the Pharisees. Verse 47, not the scribe have received him. But the day is coming in the other triumphal entry. We're not just the common people in the oppressed, the dignitaries of the earth.

I'm Tom Sunday. He was a rejected savior being accepted by rejected people. So the scriptures, Philippians, name of Jesus. You will bow Isaiah 45, 23 by myself. I've sworn in the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness.

It shall not return. Every knee shall bow and confess Romans 1411. It is written. We need show back on this day. We need didn't bow. That's still coming up. And this sort of introduces what we're going to look at next time.

There's a third thing that illustrates his non-triumphal entry. And it's in verse 41 and 42. He saw the city and wept again. Don't read that. La la la. When Jesus entered on Palm Sunday, he stopped to weep.

Not as he wept at the grave of Lazarus. This is the Greek word. Ecclesiastes. This is the word for weep, which is loud lamentations. It's a word that describes that the heaving of the bosom, the crying out of soul in agony, loud, loud crying.

I read this statement. There is no stronger word for weep. In any language, the word for weep is the strongest one that you can get. Now picture the desire. Everybody's singing, rejoicing, clapping. Oh, Hosanna.

We love you. Come on in. Be king. And he starts screaming that when we think of Palm Sunday, he starts crying out at the top of his lung, wailing. What is going on in his heart? Let me suggest four things he's weeping about because he's everlastingly the same.

And if he ever wept, he still weeps. And number one, he was weeping because he knew that acceptance was very, the same ones who were saying, Hosanna, turned yellow. Yes, that would yell, crucify him. His blood be upon us and our children.

And that broke. And then he also wept because as we began our study, I pointed out verse 44, that he was closing for the Jewish nation. They had not recognized their time of visitation. He had been there among these miracles and they were rejecting him.

You did not understand. And then the third reason he wept at their blindness, Luke 19, 43 and 44 with Matthew 24, one Matthew 24, one said, and Jesus went out from the temple and was going his way. His disciples came to him and began to show him the buildings and the temple.

You know, the temple of Jerusalem, the Herod had enlarged and beautified this temple. We can't imagine how beautiful this was. We sort of read, not one stone will be left upon another. I always pictured bricks that they're taking bricks off.

You know, they had gold that was overlaid with gold. So that's why they took one stone off the other to scrape off all the gold. That was the idea. And but you get this idea. I thought they were like bricks.

You know, they've done all this archaeological digs, one stone that they dug up from the temple stone was solid stone. And they've got a stone on the south wall that they dug up over 100 tons. We just sort of say, oh, yeah, the stone, not one stone left upon another.

This was an awesome thing. Now, listen, as I quote Josephus, the historian, the temple was ordered with so much gold when the sun shone upon it, it virtually blinded. And they were it was the people would come from all over the earth to see the temple.

And you couldn't look at it when the sun was just so bright. And when the disciples were coming in, they said, hey, Jesus, take a look at those buildings. Do you see that? Do you see those beautiful porticoes?

And look at the courts and look at how brilliant that is. He saw the inside. He's about to go inside and cleanse the time because they were blind. They only saw the outward glory. And he began to weep and to wail because they were so blind.

They come in and they see this, the glory of the temple. And they see all this. Jesus is crying. What did he see? The days will come upon you when your enemies will throw a barricade against you, surround you, have you in on every side, the level you to the ground and your children within you.

They'll not leave one stone. They see the glorious, beautiful Jesus. Do you ever see anything like this? He starts to cry because he doesn't see that. He sees ashes. He sees an army. Forty years almost to the day, Titus, the Roman emperor, came in and destroyed Jerusalem.

And this was literally what he saw. And so he didn't see what we see. And the last thing he wept about, and we'll pick that up next time, was that fact that he not only didn't see what they saw, they saw the outside.

He saw the inside. And the temple was so glorious, like sometimes we are. We got it all fixed up on the outside and it looks so good. But it breaks his heart what's on the inside. And so next time we'll look at that next symbolic event where he goes in for the second time.

He began his ministry, cleansing the temple. And now he's going to close his ministry and cleanse the temple again. Sometime when the defendant in court, if he can get the jury to cry, he thinks he won, you know, if we can get their sympathy.

Jesus was weeping. He was crying. His tears don't change the fact. The Bible says, well, it happened. We say, your King Kong is just. He's got to just. He doesn't want to. It breaks his heart, but he's still got to do it.

So he cried over their fickleness and he cried over their rejection and he cried. He cried and still cries.

I don't understand that either. But that's a big question. But I don't want to say just like all happiness is an evening or something. Why were they even since they didn't take him seriously and they didn't believe anything did, why would they waste their time?

You see what I'm saying? It's like, it's like, uh, if you don't think something's important, you usually don't spend time following it around. Usually they'll say, I've got other things to do.

Why the Religious Leaders Watched Jesus

Consider this. Our Lord Jesus was very cryptic in his claims. And so they Pharisee had to sneak in and try to snare him in a question or in a word. And he was hiding it for the first time. He was like in your face.

He wasn't hiding it. And that's why they came out. He came out and he was accepting praise and accept. So they came out because now they had it. How do they know about it? Oh, I'm imagine that this was a big event.

I think the whole, the fact that this is the only time in the record where Jesus did not try to hide anything. And I think that brought them out like.

Wasn't he also a threat to them? And I think you've watched over your threats, don't you? Oh yeah. Keep an eye on them.

Yeah. Well, this whole idea where he calls the temple a den of thieves, a den of thieves, that's not where they do their damage. That's where they hide out after the damage is done. And so the temple is their hiding place.

They were covering up their sin. And so they went in there to hide what they were really like, but he was going to expose them. I think in that verse 44, I think that's the end. Where he says, you have, now it's hidden from your eyes.

I think you're right. That's where they were hiding. Hardened. And he said, you missed your visitation and that's why he was broken. Now you're sealed in your blindness. So I think they were hardened.

Christ’s Victory in the Wilderness of Suffering

And both in their teachings stress the wilderness period that we go through in our lives. And while we're in the wilderness at the same time, we have victory because we have Christ. Which is very reassuring.

But you can see that whole theme in this journey that he's making to Jerusalem. He's one week away from his death. He knows he's going to die. He's in the wilderness of his life right now. He's weaving all the truths.

He's probably entering the deepest wilderness of his life and at the same time, he's a king. And in Colossians, it says, grant Christ all the fullness of the deity of his Godhead. He lives above the farm.

And you have been given fullness in Christ and we've been given fullness. It's just so assuring to know that we can see this example of entering Jerusalem and being in the wilderness at the same time being victorious.

You know, we're going through our difficult periods, our decisions right now. Thank you, David, for trying to translate it into something that's like a principle within your own life. It's kind of worth it.

And the fact that you have fallen through, you haven't destroyed anything. And then you get a revelation saying that there was righteous destruction. And you think of what's going on in Europe right now.

I mean, in the name of righteousness, there's horrendous destruction that's going on. It's righteous destruction at such a cost. And yet, is it right to allow that to go on and not try to do anything about it?

We have everything to do. We have to look at it like it's doing good as well. And it's very hard to look at the true ends of the spectrum and find a way to think about what's going on in our own world today.

I find that even the environment is destructuring. The environment and everything. And they didn't try to pull out of this. I have done that on the tennis court match. You know, this is important that this is happening.

And there needs to be assurance. I haven't had that reassurance. But I can't find it right now. Well, I wish I could give you an answer.

Trusting God’s Sovereignty in Tragedy

The only answer I found from my heart wrestling those same questions is that it just brought me closer to the Lord and just to embrace him. I don't understand his ways or what he allows. I got to know he's sovereign and I rest.

But if we try to figure it out, we're going to go slowly.

But he has to, you know, we can't be neutral all the time. Right.

And I'm sure if you go after him, he'll guide each one of us differently. But take your eyes off the events as they're gloomy. We've got to keep them focused on the Lord. You know what I thought about?