Don't Miss What Holy Week Is Preparing You For

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Hey, I sing like never before ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, I worship Your holiness, let's go ♪ ♪ Sing, bless the Lord, oh, my soul, oh, my soul ♪

♪ I worship His holiness, I sing like never before ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, I worship Your holiness, let's go ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, I worship Your holiness, let's go ♪ ♪ I worship Your holiness, I sing like never before ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, I worship Your holiness, let's go ♪ ♪ The end draws near and my time, it has come ♪ ♪ But still my soul will sing Your praise unending, yeah ♪ ♪ 10,000 years, yeah, forevermore, forevermore ♪ ♪ Forevermore, forevermore, forevermore, forevermore ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ I worship His holiness, I sing like never before ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, I worship Your holiness, let's go ♪ ♪ Oh, bless the Lord, oh, my soul, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ I worship His holiness, I sing like never before ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, I worship Your holiness, let's go ♪ ♪ I worship Your holiness, yes, I worship Your holiness ♪ Come on, give Him praise in this place today. As we continue worshiping together, will you join with me as we read our call to worship out of Psalm 118? Will you say these verses with me this morning, church? Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing.

It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God and He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will give thanks to you. You are my God and I will extol you. O give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. This is the word of the Lord. And we all say, let's continue singing together, all right? In the darkness we were waiting Without hope and without light Till from heaven You came running There was mercy in Your eyes To fulfill the law and prophets To a virgin came the Word From a throne of endless glory To a cradle in the dirt Can we sing this all together this morning? We sing praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ One in praise God is near ♪ ♪ Three in one in God above we're majesty ♪ ♪ All praise for ever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Of kings ♪

♪ To reveal the kingdom coming ♪ ♪ And to reconcile the lost ♪ ♪ To redeem the whole creation ♪ ♪ You did not despise the cross ♪ ♪ For even in your suffering ♪ ♪ You sought to the other side ♪ ♪ Knowing this was our salvation ♪ ♪ Jesus for our sake you died ♪ Oh, thank you Lord. Let the people of God sing today. Sing praise the Father, praise the Son, and praise the Spirit. Three in one in God above we're majesty. ♪ Majesty ♪ ♪ All praise for ever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ In the morning that you rose ♪ ♪ All of heaven held its breath ♪ ♪ Till that stone was moved for good ♪ ♪ For the Lamb that conquered death ♪ ♪ And the tempers from their tombs ♪ ♪ And the angels stood in awe ♪ ♪ For the souls of all who come to the Father ♪ Yes, amen. ♪ And the church of Christ was born ♪ ♪ And then the Spirit lit the flame ♪ ♪ And now this gospel to the world has come on me ♪ ♪ And now the flames rise up in His name ♪ ♪ In His freedom I am free ♪ ♪ Oh, my love of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Who was resurrected today ♪

♪ Praise the Lord and praise the Son ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Spirit, free and whole ♪ ♪ Oh, God of glory, Lord, just below ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Lord and praise the Son ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Spirit, free and whole ♪ ♪ Oh, God of glory, Lord, just below ♪ ♪ Oh, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Oh, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Oh, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise God from whom blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him, all creatures, hear me, Lord ♪ ♪ Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ Sing that together again today. ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him, all creatures, hear me, Lord ♪ ♪ Hear me, Lord ♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Sometimes I fall to my knees and pray. Come Jesus, come. Let today be the day. Sometimes I feel like I'm gonna break. But I'm holding on to a hope that won't fade. Come on, sing it with me. Come Jesus, come.

We've been waiting so long for the day you return to heal every hurt and right every wrong. We need you right now. Come and turn this around. For deep down we know this world isn't home. So come Jesus, come. There'll be no war and there'll be no change. When Jesus comes, let today be the day. You come for the weak and the strong, just the same. And all will believe in the power of His name. Come on, sing it out. Oh, come Jesus, come. We've been waiting so long. We've been waiting so long for the day you return to heal every hurt and right every wrong. We need you right now. Come and turn this around. Deep down I know this world isn't home. Come Jesus, come. Come Jesus, come. One day you'll come. And we'll stand face to face. Hallelujah. Come and lay it all down. Because listen to this. You never know, it might be today. But time is right now. There's no need to wait. Your past will be washed. Hallelujah.

By rivers of grace. Oh, come Jesus, come. We've been waiting so long for the day you return to heal every hurt and right every wrong. We need you right now. Come and turn this around Deep down I know This world isn't wrong Come Jesus, come Come Jesus, come Come Jesus, come Come Jesus, come Hallelujah Give Him thanks today Worthy are you Father There's a day coming When the old will pass away Every wrong will be made right No darkness in the night The sun will light the way There's a King coming The one who conquered death and grave No more pain and no more sorrow This hope for tomorrow Is our hope for today He who was, He who is He who was, He who is He who is to come Christ the Son of Man singing Hiding on the clouds of heaven above

And every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah There's only one worthy Of all glory and confidence All wealth and all honor Strength, wisdom and power To the Lamb before slain He who is to come Christ the Son of Man Hiding on the clouds With the crown upon His head And every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands Hallelujah, Hallelujah He who is to come Christ the Son of Man Hiding on the clouds With the crown upon His head And every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah And He's surely coming Oh, can you feel it too? All this tension growing stronger

It's just a sign He's getting closer He's hiding on the clouds And the story has been written We know, we all know how it ends ♪ Christ the Son of Man ♪ ♪ Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head ♪ ♪ In every hour of sin with the last scars in His hands ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, we sing of the mystery man ♪ ♪ The mystery man, Christ the Son of Man ♪ ♪ Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head ♪ ♪ In every hour of sin with the last scars in His hands ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, we sing of the mystery man ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, we sing of the mystery man ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, we sing of the mystery man ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, we sing of the mystery man ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, we sing of the mystery man ♪ Hallelujah. Hallelujah to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Hallelujah to the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end, you are Lord, the first and the last, in you we put our trust. Lord as your people, we long, we look forward to the day in which you return to right every wrong, to heal everybody. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord for what you have promised to complete. But Lord, we stand here today in the middle, waiting Lord, we stand here today in the middle hoping, we stand here in the middle Lord, hurting. But Lord, we know that you are ever present

to feel every need, to hear every prayer and Lord today we say thank you. All the breath in our lungs, all that we hope to be, this life that we live is dedicated to you and only you. And so God be praised, God be honored, God be glorified in this house today. In Jesus name, all God's people said, amen, amen. Would you clap your hands together? Hallelujah. Why don't you do this? Greet those who are seated next to you, we'll keep things moving this morning. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Well, good morning church family. So good to worship with you this morning and hey, it's great for me to be back. I had the privilege of spending my spring break with an incredible group of people from our churches on a mission trip to George, South Africa. I wanna shout out Hope Family Church in George. I know so many of you are watching us right now. It was a powerful time together last week but even though we were halfway across the globe, we still heard about what happened at Church on the Move last weekend with the prayer services, powerful things. So I'm so glad so many of you got to participate last weekend but we've got another great weekend ahead. If you're new to Church on the Move,

my name is Priscilla, I'm up here with my friend Corey and we just wanna take a moment to welcome anyone who may be here for the first time. So if that's you, we're so glad that you're with us. In fact, we have a couple of next steps we wanna invite you to take. If you are with us for the first time, we really are glad you're here. So glad that we wanna send you a free gift. If you would just text the word new to 23101, let us know that you're here. We're gonna send you a Chick-fil-A gift card. Have some Chick-fil-A on us this weekend. Maybe you wanna know more about who we are as a church or how you might get involved. We have a gathering that we do every month called Next Move. It's actually happening this weekend right after our 1130 service in the Next Steps room. Let us know that you're coming by texting the word next to 23101. Our team will be there. Pastor Witt will be there. We would love to connect with you. That's right. Hopefully we'll see you in Next Move a little bit later today. But today is also Palm Sunday, which kicks off Holy Week for us at Church on the Move. And during Holy Week, we take the time to remember

Jesus' final days leading up to the cross. And as a church family, it's a time for us to intentionally slow down and really spend some time praying and fasting this week. So there are two things I wanna encourage you to do. First, if you haven't already, grab a Holy Week guide on your way out. It'll help you to navigate what fasting can look like and how to intentionally spend time with God throughout this week. And also, we are gonna have a prayer room open all throughout the week where we wanna encourage you to come and participate in that. It doesn't matter if you're coming alone or maybe you wanna bring your family, your small group, or maybe the team that you serve with. We just wanted to create some space for you to come and spend some time in prayer. So that room will be open Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. And then Friday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. And really, that's in our next steps room. That leads up to our Good Friday and Easter services. Well, this Friday is Good Friday, and we will take time to remember the significance of our Lord's death and His burial. We're gonna meet together at 5 and at 6.30. We'll worship together. We'll read through scripture. We'll take communion.

We would love for you to join us. And then on Saturday and Sunday, we will celebrate that He is risen. On Saturday, we'll have services at 4 and 5.30, and then on Sunday, our regular service times at 8.30, 10, and 11.30. Would you come and join us all week long in the prayer room on Good Friday and, of course, Easter weekend? That's right. It's gonna be a really powerful week together. Well, before we hear from Pastor Witt, we wanna take a moment right now to honor God with our giving. And maybe you're new to the church and you're really curious about why we give. Well, we believe as the family of God that everything that we have in our lives, including our resources, is a gift from God. And one of the ways that we honor Him is by bringing a portion of our income back to Him, knowing that we are actively participating in the mission of God and helping to advance the gospel. And if you wanna consider giving with us today, we have a couple of really easy ways for you to do that. If you can't prepare to give electronically, you can text the word GIVE to 23101. Maybe you wanna give by cash or check. There's an envelope in the seat back in front of you and drop boxes at all of our exits.

And there's also a generosity card in the seat back in front of you that tells you more about how and why we give. Thank you so much for your generosity, for being a generous church. Let's take a moment to pray together before we hear the word. Father, thank you for the gift that it is to be able to gather together, to pray, to worship, and now to hear your word. Would you help us to be attentive to you? Nothing else. We give you this time and this moment, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Good morning, Church on the Move. Good to see everybody this weekend. If you're new around here, my name is Whit, and I'm the pastor here. We're glad that you're worshiping with us this weekend. Real quick, I wanna let you know where we're going the week after next week. Obviously, we all know next weekend is Easter, but the week after that, we're starting a new series called The Life of Abraham. I don't know, a year or so, a couple years, we'll take a few weeks, and we'll kind of study through, journey through the life of a character in scripture. And we learn something from watching how they followed God, and that's what we're gonna do with Abraham after Easter. And I really can think of no one better to do this with

because Abraham is the kind of prototype of what it looks like to follow God. He was called a friend of God, and we're gonna dig into that together. Abraham wasn't a perfect guy. You're gonna find that he had, made a lot of mistakes in his life, made some bad decisions, but learned to walk with the Lord as many of us are doing in our lives right now. So that's gonna start the week after Easter, and we'll take several weeks and kind of study that out with Abraham. So I wanna invite you to join us after Easter weekend for this series. If you have a Bible today, I want you to grab it. We're gonna be looking at 1 Thessalonians chapters four and five. We'll look at the end of chapter four and the beginning of chapter five. We've got a lot to cover today, so I'm gonna just jump right in. If you don't have a Bible, the words are on the screen. I will begin reading in 1 Thessalonians four, starting in verse 13. This is Paul writing, and he writes this. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself would descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then, we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief, for you are children of the light, children of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. This is the word of the Lord, and we all said, thanks be to God. Well, it's Palm Sunday weekend, and that's a significant weekend in church history. It's a significant weekend in redemptive history. If you're new to Christianity or new to the faith, or perhaps you just forgot what is Palm Sunday weekend, what does it point to? It's the weekend where we remember Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back of a colt or a little donkey. Do you remember this story? Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the back of this little donkey and the people are waving their palm branches, and they're crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's actually a quotation from Psalm 118, and we'll look at that a little deeper here in a minute. But the question I wanna ask is why is this so significant?

It's a significant story, no doubt, because it appears in all four Gospels. There are very few stories of Jesus, not even his birth, appears in all four Gospels, but all four Gospel writers saw fit to include the triumphal entry, Jesus' arrival to Jerusalem. They included it in their Gospel. Why? Why does it matter? Why should it matter for us? And to answer that question, I think we need to spend a little time kind of developing out the context. What's happening? What was happening in that time? Clearly there are things going on that we don't relate to. So in order to understand it, we have to kind of go back and sort of take on, best we can, a little bit of a first century mindset. What was going on in that time? Well, the people in Jesus' time had eager expectation for a king, but not just any king, a divine king, a messiah. Now they had this expectation because there had been all sorts of hints throughout the Old Testament that God was going to send a ruler, a leader, a king whose kingdom would never end. Now the term messiah doesn't appear in the Old Testament, yet we know it's a very biblical idea.

Jesus himself went by the moniker Jesus Christ, Christ just being the Greek rendition of the Hebrew term messiah. Christ is not Jesus' last name. It's a title. It means he is messiah. That's the idea. And messiah was this kind of prophetic figure, this one who was going to come to save God's people from their oppression and oppressors. The first idea of this shows up all the way back in the beginning. In Genesis chapter three, do you remember? In Genesis three, what happens there? It's the fall. This is where Adam and Eve sin. And God shows up and begins to pronounce judgment. Here's what's going to happen as a result of your sin. He speaks to the man, he speaks to the woman, and he speaks to the serpent. And I want you to notice what he says to the serpent, this supernatural being in the garden who tempted Adam and Eve into sin. He says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. Now this is interesting that God says he will put enmity between the offspring or those who follow the serpent and the offspring of this woman. It's interesting he doesn't say the offspring of a man.

We know that Jesus isn't the offspring of a man. He is born of a virgin. He's the product of the Holy Spirit and Mary. That's the idea. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. In other words, you're going to injure him, but he's going to end you. That's the idea. And here from the very beginning, we get this idea that God. would send someone to deliver his people. The idea gets taken a little further in Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15. Moses told the people, hey, the Lord your God will raise up for you another prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him you shall listen. When he shows up, pay attention. And so this idea began to build that God was going to send some kind of unique leader. It really began to crystallize in the time of David. After David had ascended to the throne and really all of his enemies, he had victory over, he was now living in a time of peace, and he was looking at the possibility of building a temple for the Lord, though the Lord told him not to build a temple for him. And God sent the prophet Nathan to David, and this prophecy is what was given by Nathan to David. He says, when your days are fulfilled

and you lie down with your fathers, in other words, David, when you die, I'm going to raise up your offspring, someone out of you, out of your line, I'm going to raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body, and look at this, I will establish his kingdom. So now we start to get the idea that this ruler's not just going to be a prophet, he's going to be a king, he's going to be some kind of divine king. Now this takes even another step forward in Daniel's vision of the one like a son of man in Daniel 7. Daniel 7's a fascinating chapter, where these empires, that's what's represented by these kind of beasts made up of different animals, they're all brought before the ancient of days, and they're judged. And then one is brought forward who is like a son of man. Do you remember that Jesus called himself the son of man? Look at this, Daniel 7. Daniel writes this, I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. And his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed. Now by the time of Jesus, expectations were high. In fact, people thought that Messiah was so near, they were ready for his arrival. So much so, that any prominent figure who showed up in Israel at the time had to address the question of whether or not they were claiming to be the Messiah. We know this because that's what happened to John the Baptist. You remember John began preaching in the wilderness and baptizing, well they came out to him and they said, are you the Messiah? And he said, I'm not. I am not the Messiah, there is one coming after me though, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. So here's the idea, they were looking for this divine king who would restore the fortunes of Israel and put them back in their rightful place. They were looking for deliverance from Rome. See, Israel's glory days were long gone, way in the rear view mirror. David had been dead for nearly 1,000 years at the time of Christ. And yet this prophecy had not yet been fulfilled. They had been conquered time and time again. They'd gone from being what they were supposed to be, a light to the nations, to becoming a laughing stock,

a backwater, a place that nobody really wanted to go. And they were eager to have their kingdom restored to them, their rightful place among the nations, leading the nations, and they were looking for a king who would do that because God had promised to bring that king. So when Jesus shows up and begins performing these mighty miracles, people start speculating that this must be the one. He's got to be the Messiah, except Jesus always deflected those questions that he would never come out and openly say, yes, that's me. In John chapter five, after the feeding of the 5,000, John records this interesting detail, that the crowd of people who was surrounding Jesus after that miracle sought to take him by force against his will and make him their king, and he slipped away from them. In other words, he wasn't going to be made king on their terms. But now, as he's entering Jerusalem, the final week of his life, it is Passover week, he is now seeming to openly declare, I am your king and your messiah. He is fulfilling messianic prophecy. This is why the people are so excited and why they're shouting these quotations from Psalm 118. In fact, we read this earlier today. Let's look at it again.

Psalm 118, verses 25 and 26. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Now, a couple of notes about Psalm 118, and you should read it this week. It's a fascinating psalm. Couple things you should know. One, by the time of Jesus, it was a psalm that was read or recited or sung specifically during the Passover week. Now, that's exactly when this is all taking place. Jesus is entering Jerusalem a week before the Passover, and he's showing up on the back of a colt, coming in as they're crying out Hosanna. Hosanna in Hebrew literally means save us now. It's a summation of verse 25 here of Psalm 118, and this psalm would have been on the lips of all the people. In fact, it was a liturgical psalm, meaning it was one that was used in the congregation like this, where when we get done reading scripture, I'll say this is the word of the Lord, and you respond with thanks be to God. Well, there were certain call and responses out of this psalm that the leader who would, maybe the priest would put out a certain verse from this psalm, and the people would respond that great is the Lord, his mercy, and his mercy endures forever.

That's the idea. They would go back and forth like this, and they would sing and recite this song in the congregation of all the people gathered for Passover. Well, they're quoting this psalm in relationship to Jesus. Save us, they would cry Hosanna, to the son of David. This is all messianic language. They're believing him to be their messiah, their deliverer and king. Well, he was, but not like they thought. They thought he was coming to overthrow Rome. In fact, his disciples believed that right up to the end, after the crucifixion, and even after the resurrection. Read in Acts 1, just before Jesus ascends into heaven, his disciples ask him one final question. You know what it is? Lord, at this time, will you restore the kingdom to Israel? In other words, when are you gonna do something about Rome? What they didn't realize was that they had a worse oppressor than Rome. It was sin, and death, and the devil. That's who he came to deal with, but they missed it. But here they're crying out Hosanna. What they thought was that he was going to rise up and take power, and that Israel would overthrow Rome, and that the glory of the kingdom of David would return again to the land of Israel. What they missed was verse 27. The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.

By the way, this light shining upon us is a reference to number six. It's the blessing that we say at the end of our services. May he make his face to shine upon you. Same idea here, but look at this. Bind the festal, this word here could be translated festival. Some of your translations will have that word. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords. And what are we talking about here? This is a reference to Passover. See, there was a Passover lamb. You know this story. A spotless, perfect lamb. There would have been thousands, hundreds of thousands of these lambs slaughtered on Passover every year. It was part of the Jewish tradition, had been for well over 1,000 years they had done this. And what they would do is they would slaughter this lamb and put its blood on their doorpost. This goes all the way back to Egypt when God delivered his people from their oppressors. Here it says, bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. They were expecting a king who would slaughter his enemies. What they didn't expect was a king who would allow himself to be slaughtered by his enemies. He came to deal with a deeper problem, and this is fascinating. He's riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey

on the very day when the Passover lambs were brought into the city in preparation to be slaughtered later that week. He's acting all of this out. They're excited. He's coming, he's here. But the same crowd who would cry Hosanna early in the week would cry crucify him later in the week. Why? Because he did not meet their expectations. Now, Palm Sunday is when we look back on Jesus' first coming, his arrival. Bible into Jerusalem. He shows up openly now as a king. Do you remember, by the way, the inscription that hung above his head as he hung on the cross? Do you remember what Pilate wrote? He wrote, King of the Jews. And the Jewish leaders went to Pilate and said, don't put that up there. Put that he said he was King of the Jews. And how did Pilate respond? What I have written, I have written. He was crucified for being King of the Jews, and that's exactly what he was, but he was more than that. He was more than King of the Jews. He was the King of kings and the Lord of lords. They just didn't see it.

Now we look back and we remember this on Palm Sunday, but here's the key. You might go, what does any of this have to do with those verses from 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 that you read at the beginning of this? Well, here's what. We don't just look back, but we look forward. Here's what's interesting. That just after his arrival, his first coming into Jerusalem openly as King and Messiah, do you know what Jesus began to do? He began to predict and prophesy and speak about his second coming. Look at all the parables that Jesus told. There are many he told about his second coming. They all come on the other side. They're all told in the final week of his life, on the other side of the triumphal entry. In other words, as soon as he showed up the first time, he said, now let me tell you how to be prepared for my second coming. I think this is something that we miss a lot in the church these days. We sing about the cross, we sing about the resurrection, but we forget that part of our gospel is not just Christ crucified, not just Christ risen, but also Christ coming again. He is going to return, and I've seen to it that we at Church on the Move sing about this and remember this because it's part of our gospel,

part of our good news, and I wanna show you how you, as we're looking back and reflecting on Jesus' first coming this week, we're going to reflect also on his second coming and look at how we can live our lives prepared and ready because that's what we're instructed to do. I love this. Here's how we get this wrong so often in the church. Two things. One, we either ignore the second coming altogether and we just focus on dying and going to heaven. I would challenge you to find any verses in the New Testament about dying and going to heaven. You won't find them. They're not really there because that's not the focus of the New Testament. What the focus of the New Testament is on, the second coming of Christ. So one, we either ignore it, or two, we become obsessed with it and we try to figure out the exact day that Jesus is gonna come back. How many of you are tired of all the stupid predictions that never come true and you watch them come and go? Every time someone makes a prediction and people ask me, what do you think about it? I just say, I'll see you the day after because it happens every single time. I'm not convinced. Jesus said, nobody knows the day or the hour. Why do we spend our time looking for that day?

I love what Keller said. Tim Keller said it like this. He said, the point of the Bible's teaching on the second coming of Christ is not to help us find that great day. It's not how we'll find the great day, but how that great day will find us. Will you be ready when he comes? That's the focus of what Jesus had to say to us. So let's spend some time reflecting on that through the words of the Apostle Paul here in 1 Thessalonians chapters four and five. Three thoughts I'm gonna take the next 18 minutes or so to try to unpack with you as quickly as I can. I think this will be helpful to you today. Here's the first one. Number one is this, put your hope in the right place. How can I be ready? How am I to live prepared and ready for the arrival, the coming of the king? He came once, he will come again. How do I do that? Paul tells us here. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep. Now he's writing about believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, who have died. And he says, we don't want you to be uninformed about those who have died that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

A couple of quick just side notes. One, Paul here is not prohibiting grief for Christians. He doesn't say that you may not grieve, period. He doesn't say that. He says that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. Christians grieve. We feel and experience sorrow. The right way to respond to loss and death is to grieve and to experience sorrow. We just don't experience it the same way everyone else does because we have a certain hope. What is that hope? That Christ is coming again. He will return, that death is defeated and that it will be undone completely. in the end. That's what we remember. Not escape to heaven, but a new heavens and a new earth, new bodies and a new future. That's what we look forward to. Now we're meant to view all of life through this lens. And that's really what Paul is doing here. Paul is doing what Paul always does, which is to remind us, the church, that what it means to be a Christian is to live a life of response. What do I mean by that? Well, as a believer, our lives are meant to be lived in response to what Christ has done,

who he is and what he has accomplished. Now let me unpack this for you by using a helpful illustration that I heard in the last, I don't know, week or so. So there's a secular historian who has been kind of making the case lately, and I think rightly so, that Western civilization, that's the United States and Western Europe, the most influential culture on the planet and has been for some time, has at its core a Judeo-Christian sort of subset of belief. Doesn't mean that everybody in our culture are Christians, but it means we're far more influenced by Christianity, even those that don't believe it at all, than what we realize. That's his point. And he's making the case about how we view life, and specifically how we view religion and how different the way we think about religion is in our time and culture than what people of the past, how they had thought of it. And the way they described it was that we think of religion as an app on our phones. Now you're familiar with how this works because you have a phone with lots of apps on it. Maybe you have only the apps that were on there when you bought the phone,

or maybe you have hundreds of apps on there, but you have apps on your phone, some you use regularly, and some you've probably forgotten that they were even on there in the first place. The idea is that religion sort of functions like an app, and for some people, it's a really important app. Not everybody has it, but some of us do, and some of us use that app a lot. That's how we think of it. It's a part of our lives. We have other apps. We have a calendar, we have apps for managing our money, we have apps for relationships and connecting with people. We have lots of apps, but some of us have that religion app, and some of us think that app is really important. We might wanna use it every day. That's how we think of it. The idea is that it's an app that is just one of the kind of suite of apps that we have on our phone that reflects the kind of spectrum of our lives. That's how we in the West think about religion, and for a lot of people who call themselves Christians, can I just tell you, this is why your Christianity doesn't work. It's because it is just a part of your life. He said the way that the ancient people

thought about their faith and religion is much different. Rather than seeing it as an app or even a very important app, an app you would never want to delete, rather than seeing it as an app on your phone, you need to learn to see it as the operating system through which and by which all the other apps work. In other words, your faith is the lens through which you see everything. Too many people in America who call themselves Christians keep their Christianity in a sort of box that goes along with spiritual decisions and spiritual stuff that they think kind of fits in that box. But conflict resolution need not go in there, and the way I handle my money need not be a part of that sort of faith discussion, and the way that I think about relationships doesn't necessarily have to go in there. In other words, we have a faith that we kind of keep in one part of our lives, but it doesn't necessarily have to affect or impact the rest of our lives. And this is why it doesn't work for a lot of people because it was never meant to function like that. You were never meant to sort of slap Jesus like a bumper sticker onto your already formed life, heading where you're heading, and oh yeah, I'm on team Jesus,

but rather the reality of who he is is meant to shape every single decision that you have, every thought that you have, the way you navigate relationships, the way that you think about sex and marriage and dating, the way that you think about what clothes you're gonna wear, what shows you're going to watch, what music you will listen to ought to be influenced by the reality of who Jesus is. Everything is different because of Christ. That's the idea. And when you begin living like that now, you're beginning to put your hope in the right place. Too many of us, we claim Jesus as Savior and Lord, but our hope is in a preferred future, in the pursuit of happiness, the American dream, having the house, the kids, the picket fence, everything just as we want it, but that's not what it means to be a believer or a follower of Christ. It means to lay all of that down. Doesn't mean you're going to live a boring and miserable life. It just means that Jesus becomes the orienting focus and drive of everything else. He's your hope. He's what you're pursuing. He's what your hopes are set on. He's what your future is aimed at and aligned on. I am following Christ.

And when he becomes the orienting factor, the single factor that determines the way you will decide everything else in your life, now you're really living the Christian life. That's what it means to put your hope in the right place. Number two is this. Stay awake and be sober. Now this is Paul just really riffing off of Jesus' commands because this is Jesus' main command about being ready for his second coming. Stay awake, be sober. Look at what Paul writes. He says this. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord, I want you to pay attention to that phrase. And if you have a Bible, you might underline it. Because you're gonna find as you read through the scriptures and become more familiar with them that this idea of the day, the day of the Lord, the day, that title is referring to a specific day which means the return of Christ when he will come and judge the world and make things right. That's what he's talking about here. It is a specific day set in history. We do not know when it will be. It's in the future. And it's coming and it is certain.

Paul is writing to them about that day. He says you're fully aware that that day will come like a thief in the night. Notice a thief doesn't call you up and tell you when he's gonna show up. He doesn't give you an advance notice. It happens as a surprise. That's why it's like a thief in the night. He says while people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them. As labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. Two ideas here, it will come as a surprise and when it comes, like labor pains, there's no stopping it. You understand how that works. When you go into labor, there's no stopping it. It's going to happen. Right, ladies? That's how it works. Once it begins, it doesn't stop. I feel your pain. I know what you're talking about. And they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake, there's that command, and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night.

And those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober. Having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. How are we to understand and make sense of what Paul's talking about here? Well, John Stott is very helpful here. He writes this. The Bible divides history into two ages or eons. He was a Brit, that's why it's spelled differently than what you're used to. From the Old Testament perspective, they were called the present age, which was evil, and the age to come, which would be the time of the Messiah. So two ages in the scriptures. The present age, which was the evil age before Jesus came. You can kind of divide it up into B.C. and A.D., that's the idea. There was the present age, that was the evil age, and then the age to come, which is the time where we're living in the light of who Jesus is. Moreover, the two ages were sometimes portrayed in terms of the night and the day. The present age was like a long, dark night, but when Messiah came, the sun would rise, the day would break, and the world would be flooded with light. Now let me give you a couple of verses to help you kind of unpack this.

One of these will be really familiar. This is one we read at Christmastime. It's a prophecy about the birth of Christ in Isaiah 9, verse two. Look at what it says. The people who walked in darkness, you know this verse, have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them a light has come. The idea is this is the coming of the Christ, the arrival of the Messiah, who we know to be Jesus of Nazareth. That's the idea. Here's another verse from the New Testament. This is Zechariah prophesying about Jesus in Luke chapter one, verses 78 and 79. He says, because of the tender mercy of our God, look at this, whereby the sunrise shall visit us. He's speaking about Christ, but he refers to him and his arrival as the sunrise that shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. The idea was that before Christ came, people were living in darkness. But when he came, it's like the sun. Sun has risen and light has come. Now this makes sense. They were living in a time where they hoped for the Messiah, but they did not know who he would be.

We know who he is. We're living in a different time with a different revelation, yet there's still this language of light and darkness. How should we understand this? Again, John Stott is helpful. Look at what he writes. At the same time, the old age has not yet come to an end. What does he mean? Christ has come. The light has dawned. The sunrise has happened, but the old age has not yet come to an end. As John, and this here, he's referring to John the Apostle, you know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, that John. As John put it, the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. In other words, the old age is dying, but it's not dead yet. So for the time being, and here's the key idea, this is what you need to keep in mind, the two ages overlap. Light and darkness are right now overlapped. Some people live in the light, some people live in the darkness. That's the idea that Paul is getting at. He's saying, look, you're in Christ. You're no longer in the dark. You are children of light, but there are some people who are still living in the dark.

Unbelievers belong to the old age and are still in the darkness, but those who belong to Jesus Christ have been transferred into the new age. Now Paul talks about this. You could read it, I would recommend it in Colossians chapter one. There's a prayer that he prays there where he talks about we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of light. That's the idea. So only when Christ comes in glory will this present overlap come to an end. In other words, when Christ returns a second time, the old age will end. It will pass away once and for all, and it will be no more. The transition period will be over. The old age will finally vanish, and those who belong to it will be destroyed. It will be too late at that point. The new age will be consummated, and those who belong to it will be fully and finally redeemed. Now this is the way that Jesus frames it over and over and over again. He tells a parable, you can look at it, I think it's in Matthew chapter 25, of 10 virgins.

The idea is that they're waiting for the bridegroom. This is old archaic language, comes from the first century where we might not be able to make sense of all the details, but we can understand this much. Five of them were wise, and five of them were foolish. The five who were wise were prepared for his coming. That is signified by the oil in their lamps. That's how Jesus talks about it. The five who were foolish had let their oil run out, and they turned to the five wise, and they say, let us borrow some of your oil. The bridegroom is coming, and they look at them and say, sorry, you can't borrow my readiness. In other words, you can't turn to the believer next to you on your left and on your right and say, hey, let me borrow some of your preparedness for the return of Christ. You can't borrow their readiness. It's something only you can do for yourself. But make no mistake, Christ will return. Our call is to stay awake, not to fall asleep, and not to allow ourselves to slip into drunkenness. What in the world does that mean? Well, two things here. One, when you're asleep, and one, when you're drunk, you have lost your senses. You're not really aware of what's going on around you. You're not seeing things clearly. You ever had somebody wake you up suddenly,

and it takes you a little while to come to and even recognize sort of what's reality and what your dream was? That's what happens when you come out of darkness and into light, but the warning here is that you, even though you are in light, can fall back into that darkness by allowing yourself to be seduced by the lies of our time. We know who Jesus is. There's no excuse for us. The disciples in Christ's time didn't understand it. It says in John 12, they didn't even understand these things when Jesus, at first, they didn't even get it. But you and I are living in the light of the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords. They wondered, is this him? Could it be the Messiah? Could he be king? We know it was him because we've seen him crucified and risen, and now we can be certain that he will come again. We have no excuse but to be awake and to be sober and not to live our lives filled with distraction. Pleasuring, getting pleasure from things that will fade away and don't matter and don't last. Why live a life that is not filled with meaning and purpose and mission? That's what staying awake and being sober. In other words, don't live your life pursuing stuff

that doesn't matter. But wake up and live for what really, truly matters. And too many of us are living distracted, meaningless lives. It doesn't mean you can't have hobbies. It doesn't mean you can't do anything but pray and fast and be miserable and think about spiritual things all the time. It just means that the focus of my life ought to be on pursuing Christ, making a difference, and bringing his kingdom wherever I go. In business, in my home, in my relationships, everywhere I go, I ought to be like Jesus about my Father's business. That's what it means to stay awake and to be sober. Number three, and we'll close with this, Paul writes, encourage one another with these words. Now, this is interesting because let's be honest, for so many of us, anytime we talk about the second coming of Christ, it doesn't actually encourage us. It makes us afraid. Now, in some sense, it's right that we should have a certain kind of fear impulse because it reminds us that we ought to get busy. Let me give you an illustration of how that might work. So when I was, I don't know, later teenage years, 16, 17, 18 years old, my parents started taking vacations, just the two of them were little trips, without us. And we got to stay back without a babysitter because we were now old enough to kind of take care

of the house and take care of ourselves. And when my mom and dad would do that, they would always give us chores to do. And the first couple of times that happened, there was something really important Gabe and I didn't understand about my parents that we now know. It's like baked into kind of our family culture. We all understand it. And that is that my parents will never, and I mean never, go on vacation as long as they claim that they are going to go. They say we're gonna be gone for a week, they'll be back in three days. It's just how they do. They get away and they're like, you know what, we'd just rather be at home. And they turn around and come back. Happens every single time. Well, we had been tasked with doing work. And I remember one specific time, my job was to kind of clean out under these pine trees. We had a whole row of pine trees at this long driveway. Pine trees lined the whole driveway. And my job was to clean out under these pine trees. And I hadn't done it. I'd just been procrastinating, which is kind of my, just my M.O. And we get a call, I don't know, my parents must have been an hour or two away, and they are calling us.

This is before the days of cell phones. So they call the house and just say, hey, we're, you know, an hour away. We're gonna be there, here. We didn't expect them, we thought they were coming in a couple days. And guess what I did? I sprang into action. I grabbed the rake and I went out there and feverishly began working with a sense of fear and awe because I knew they were returning. And I did not want to be found unready. And it unsettled me when I heard they're coming back and they're coming back now. I think that's how sometimes some of us feel. We're not ready. We're not prepared. And there's a natural sense of fear and awe that we ought to feel at the Lord's return because that's when we're gonna see him and all cards are gonna be laid on the table. There'll be no more hiding then. You won't be able to hide from him, you won't be able to hide from yourself. But there's another kind of expectation. I want you to consider the kind of expectation that you have when you've been away from home from a long time and you are longing deeply to see the people that you care about and love so much and you can hardly wait to see them.

Sometimes Heather and I will take trips, we'll be away from our family for, I don't know, 10 days maybe and that can feel like an eternity. I long to see them even after just 10 days. I'm waiting to give my kids a hug and to see them again. That's what it is to be with someone, to want to see them again when you have not. Some of you, you have loved ones that have passed on, you long to see them. It will be such a joyous and great day when you are reunited with them face to face, a parent, a child, a brother, a sister, a friend. I want to see them again. There's a longing and expectation for that and that is the promise of the Lord's return that we will see him face to face. That's what really Psalm 118 is about. It's a prophetic psalm of what God will do one day and I want to show you this. Maybe put some verses that you've heard before in a little bit of a different light. Look at what it says. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is a prophecy. What does it mean? It means that Israel. Who has been rejected by the nations, has become a backwater, has become someplace nobody wants to go, an afterthought. It's now going to become the cornerstone. God is going to see to it that they're brought into the center and that all the other nations will be brought to them.

That's the idea. That's what they believed and that's what they were looking forward to. Interestingly, Jesus applied this verse to himself in this very moment. You are going to reject me, Israel, but I will become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. The idea is that they're looking forward to what God will do. They're saying, what a day that will be. What a day it will be when God sets things right. We just sang about it. Every eye will see him with the nail scars in his hands. That's what you're singing about. What a day that will be. Right now, not every eye sees him. Maybe you got a loved one, a friend. I have friends in my life. I have family in my life who do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord. One day they will. I pray by their choice. If they don't, every knee will bow, scripture says, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. One day all will see him. That's what this is talking about. This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous. What a day it will be when all will acknowledge who Christ is. Then I want you to look at the next verse. It's a verse that you no doubt grew up with. You've probably even sung the song, This is the day. This is the day. You know this song? Did you sing it to your kids? That the Lord has made. You know it, right? Sometimes we pray this. I prayed it yesterday. We use it as a kind of thanksgiving to God. This is the day that the Lord has made. Do you know that God didn't make all days just the beautiful ones? He definitely made yesterday, but there were some days earlier this last week God had nothing to do with. There's some days coming this week.

He's had nothing to do with, but on the beautiful days, well, that's the day, right, that the Lord has made. We kind of make this, quite frankly, I don't know, we strip it of its depth. I'm not saying you should never use this psalm and this verse to just praise God for the day that's in front of you, but that's not what this verse means. It's looking forward to the day. There is a day coming. We just sung about it. There is a day coming when Christ will return. That day. This is the day that the Lord has made. What does it mean? He's appointed it in history. He said it. He knows when it is, and that day is coming. This is the day that the Lord has made. Now, what's our response, church? Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is why Paul says encourage one another with these words. Why? Because that's the day he's going to make everything wrong right. You look around at the brokenness, people suffering from insidious disease, young people, 20-something years old, diagnosed with cancer. It's wrong. It's awful. It's evil. People watching their bodies waste away. It's awful. It's evil. Lord, come quickly. Do something about this. Do you know he will? He has promised to. What's with the waving of the palm branches on Palm Sunday? Well, it's actually a reference to Psalm 96. Look at it. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. This is again speaking about the future, the day of the Lord, the new heavens and the new earth, the end of time, not your escape to heaven,

but heaven coming to earth and everything being restored and renewed. Look at how he talks about it. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. In other words, God, there's a new heavens, there's a new earth, and it'll never be touched again. It will be perfect like this for eternity. He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad. Let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exult and everything in it. Then, look at this, shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy. That's why they were waving their palm branches, because they were demonstrating what will one day happen, that creation, like Paul writes in Romans 8, is groaning with expectation to be set free from its subjugation to sin. The idea is that even creation itself knows that this is not how it's supposed to be, and that one day the trees will clap their hands and rejoice at the return of the king when he comes back to make everything right. He will come to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. It's why we... rejoice because he's coming to set things right. Revelation 21 puts it like this. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. By the way, this is talking about us.

The city of God is us. It's you and me, the church, the bride of Christ. And I heard a voice, a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is now with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. This is what we have to look forward to. We live with this hope. How much is this, Trump? Whatever dreams you may have, I'm not telling you that your future, like in this life, doesn't matter at all, but whatever may come, whatever may be given you and whatever may be taken away from you, this is a fixed hope that cannot and will not change. There is a day coming when what has been wrong will be made right. And I look forward to that day. What has been wrong will be made right. And I long for it because I see people who are hurting, who are suffering, who have been so wounded in this life. People have wronged them and hurt them physically, abused them and their souls and they carry those wounds and they long to be set free. I long for them to be set free too. It will happen.

As certain as the sun will rise tomorrow, it will happen. This is why the book ends in this way. The Spirit and the Bride, and let's all say it out loud, church. The Spirit and the Bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. And I love the answer of King Jesus himself when he says, he who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Lord, we are reminded today of the promise and the hope that we have in you. To be reunited with those that have gone before us, to see the brokenness, the evil, the sin, the abuse, death itself abolished forever. But more than all of that, to be brought face to face with our maker and our creator, we look forward to the day when you return to make things right. Lord, this world is broken. It is beyond our repair and capacity to fix it. So we cry out, Lord, as your people have been crying out for a long time, come. Come, Lord Jesus, make things right. Lord, let us live with the expectation

and the certain promise of your coming. Let us live sober and lives that are awake, where we are not asleep, where we are not lulled into deception by the spirit of our age, but that we live lives of purpose and meaning because we know that your promise is certain and true in Jesus' name. Now heads bowed, eyes closed. I can't end a service like this without at least addressing the truth that we saw here, and that is that the age that is right now will come to an end. There is a clock and it is running out. You have only so much time before he returns. It could be today. My call to you is to make things right with Christ before that time comes. And if that's you today and you are convicted because you know I'm not right with Christ, I'm not talking about you made some mistakes in the last week, I'm talking about you have never really given your life to Christ. You're not living for him, you're living for yourself, and you want to surrender to him right now. I'm not gonna have you come forward, but would you be bold enough and honest enough right here, right now to just throw your hand up and say with that's me. I am giving myself over to Jesus once and for all. Where at?

On the front row here, two hands. Great, anybody else say with that's me. I'm saying yes to Christ. All the way at the top there, in the middle here, out in front of me. Yep, awesome. Or I'll say with that's me, I'm saying yes to Jesus today. I'm feeling that conviction and I am responding. Anybody else, I want to pray for you here in just a second. We're gonna close in just a moment. I don't want to miss you. Anybody else? Yep, right back there, I see you. A couple hands, thank you. Anyone else? Up in the risers, great, thank you. Anyone else say, wait, that's me. We're gonna close here in just a second. I don't wanna miss you. Church, let's pray out loud together. Would you pray this with me? Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place. I'm a sinner, I need a Savior. Christ came for me. Lord Jesus, I give you everything. My past, present, future, I belong to you. I bow my knee and I declare, Jesus is Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me, amen. Now look up here at the close of the service,

which will happen in just a second. Our prayer team's coming down front. They'll be right in front of the stage. We have this little book that we created for those of you who are coming to faith in Christ. Maybe you raised your hand today, maybe you didn't. Maybe you just feel like, I think I might be a Christian now, or I'm curious of what it means to become a Christian. That's what this book is all about. It says, what does it mean to be saved? We would love to give this to you. It's down front here with our prayer team. If you raised your hand, just step forward and grab this. Just tell them, hey, I want that book that Pastor Root was talking about. We would love to be able to give this to you. Now if you have a prayer need, maybe you're in the middle of a battle. Maybe you're facing something that's overwhelming to you. We would love to pray with you. Our prayer team's down here for you as well, all right? Stand to your feet. We're gonna close with this blessing out of Numbers chapter six. We say it every week. Most of you know it by now, but we're gonna put it up on the screen so you can say it out loud with me. Here we go. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. I'll see you next week. You're dismissed. Bye. R believe me. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.