Who the Bible Leads us to | Christian Castro

This week, guest speaker Pastor Christian Castro shared a message on Palm Sunday and how easy it is to be around Jesus—and still miss Him. In Mark 11, the crowd celebrated Him, knew the Scriptures, and showed passion, yet didn’t truly understand who He was.

We saw that the Bible isn’t just leading us to information, but to a person—Jesus. Not a version we create, but the real King who often challenges our expectations.

The invitation is simple: slow down and actually know Him. Because faith isn’t just about knowing about Jesus—it’s about having a real relationship with Him. If that’s where you are, this message is for you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The Bible ever helped up. That's why we are experiencing how to read the Bible, making it accessible for you today. Two things you need to know. The first thing is that we are studying the book of Mark together. The Bible reading link will be down below. And what you'll also find down below is Easter and the Easter service. With all that said, let's jump in.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

All right. Good morning, Create Church. Such a pleasure to be here with y'all on Palm Sunday. And as you can see, I wore my Palm Sunday shirt just to be here with you guys. Hey, uh, let me ask you this question. Have you ever acted so quickly that you made a wrong choice? Yeah, right? Like everybody's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we all have made that mistake. Uh we just act in the moment and we get excited and we make a decision, and then it's like, oh, that was not a good decision. Let me share a story with you. This is personal. So I have three sons, uh, three boys, 19, uh, 21, 19, and 16, and they're tall, they're strong. Uh, and there's a tradition that we have at home that we go to the Del Mar fair once a year. So every year we go to the fair uh and we already have it all figured out. We're like, okay, we're gonna hit all the free stuff, then we're gonna eat all the junk food, and then we're gonna watch some shows. It's gonna be a great day, and then we can go home. And so we went and we were excited, the music's spumping, like every all the colors. Uh, we're already like stimulated by all of that. And so we go to the Toyota booth. We are Toyota guys, we all have Toyotas. Uh, and so we went and they had some free merch and they had t-shirts and they're welcoming us, we're checking out the new car. So this lady comes to us and she's like, Hey, I have free tickets, they're free. Would you like some? And I'm like, They're free. She's like, Yeah, if it's free, it's for me. Yes, like, yes, right. Uh, so she's super excited. I didn't even ask what the free tickets are. She's like, these are expensive tickets, but I've got some for your family. Um, and it's a laser show, and it's gonna be like all these lasers, my so cool. She's like, can we take a photo of you guys? I'm like, sure. So here they took a photo of us holding the tickets because it was a big deal to get these free tickets. So yeah, like we're posing for the photo as you can see. And she said, the only thing is that the show is at 6 p.m., so you guys have to hang out. I'm like, okay, no problem. So we hang out throughout the day, and then we're excited about the show. So we're like, okay, let's go to the show. So we go to the line and we're lining up and we're talking, we're excited, and all of a sudden I look around, I'm like, guys, have you noticed something? And they're like, Yeah. And I'm like, everyone in line was a girl around 12 and 14 year old. We were like the only grown man there. And I'm like, there's something wrong here, you know. What kind of show is this? So then this lady comes passing out the 3D glasses, and she's like, Oh, here you go, sweetie, here you go. And she's like, and she laughs at us. Like, what's good? She's like, Would you want some too? And I'm like, sure, you know, and she's like, okay, here you go. So we go inside, and here is a video of the show. So the show was actually a look like Taylor Swift singing to a bunch of young women that are dancing, and we're like, what kind of show do we get ourselves into? As we're standing in the back, I told the boys, let's get out before they call the cops on us. What are these creepers doing here, right? So we left as quick as we could. But I share this story with you because sometimes it's so easy to be caught up in the moment and make decisions without really thinking through it, pausing, and and making a good decision. So if we had asked more questions about what the show was about, and if they had said, oh, it's a Taylor Swift show, we would like, hey, give it to some family that really are going to appreciate this, but we didn't do that. It's one thing for us to rush through and and be uh, you know, like just distracted by all the things that are going on in life, but it's another thing to do the same with Jesus. And that's what Palm Sunday is all about. That's what I want to share with you guys today. Um, so we we live in this world of quick reactions, right? So everything is quick, quick opinions, quick takes, quick emotions, quick posts. Um, have you ever like received a text and then you are on the go, you're like driving or at work or something, and you read through and you're like, oh my goodness, you get so angry at that text, and then you get so angry at the person. I can't believe that they said this, they said that, and you're already thinking through how you're gonna respond to the text. Then when you take time to actually read the text, you're like, oh, I skimmed a couple of words. It's nothing that that person was saying. This is actually a very pleasant text, you know. I don't know that has happened to you, but I'm like, thank you, Jesus, you know, like that, that I didn't react in uh situations like that. But but that's that's us in our culture. We don't slow down, we react. We react. And the danger is that we can do the same thing with Jesus because maybe you grew up in church. You're like, oh, I grew up around this, you know, like it's become very familiar. I grew up about you know, like with around Jesus. Um, I've heard about Jesus, I know a lot about Jesus. I went to Sunday school, you know. I I I've heard some um sermons online, I've heard about Jesus. Sometimes we even sing about Jesus, right? Jesus, like your name is great, and we sing about Jesus, and we even say that we believe in Jesus. Like, I believe in Jesus, but the question is, do you actually know him? It's one thing for us to be here and for us to be in the moment of like, oh, this is great. And have you ever been in that situation where you're singing and you feel something like the goosebumps, right? You're like, Jesus is really here in this place, right? But you know what, to tell you the truth, sometimes I have listened to Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga music that also gave me the goosebums. It's like so, so we like we have like, is it really Jesus, or is it just kind of like going through all the emotions that is going on around us? And that's what makes Palm Sunday so powerful. Because Palm Sunday was a big party, big festivity. So in Palm Sunday is when Jesus, for the very first time, publicly announces that he is the Messiah. Up to this point, Jesus is like, hey, don't say anything. He's telling his disciples, stay quiet, don't tell anybody that I am the son of God, that I am the Messiah. But now he's like, the time has come, I'm going to make a big announcement, and so let's have a big party, right? And and in the midst of everything, people actually missed the real Jesus. And I love the Gospel of Mark. We are in this series called um uh reading the Bible, right? Something like that. It's I know it's about the Bible. Uh how to read the Bible, how to read the Bible. That's the series. And today we're going to see how the Bible leads to Jesus, to the Gospel of Mark, as we are going through. And this week, you probably have read Mark 11 through 14. Uh, I'm gonna focus on only the Palm Sunday, which is uh chapter 11 of Mark 1 through 11. And I love the Gospel of Mark because Mark goes straight to the point. Uh he he like takes all the details away and he's like, This is who Jesus is, get to know him. And and he does the same thing when it comes to Palm Sunday. So um the Bible, I want you to know as we dive into the passage that the Bible is not just giving us the story for information. No, the Bible is giving us the story because it's leading us to the person of Jesus. So as we read this, don't try to think like, oh, I'm learning some new information. No, read this like pointing to Jesus. Let me get to know Jesus better. So this is how it goes, verse one. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. Let me pause here, because there's a detail that is important, which is he says, uh, it's a it's it's a colt that no one has ever ever ridden. And I'm I'm from Brazil, so actually when I was in middle school, I had a donkey pet. I I had a like a donkey as a pet. Uh, and that donkey was wild. That like crazy, crazy, crazy. I would never have sat on it or or ridden it. And one time, as I was walking near it, it turned and he kicked me really hard on my leg. That's when I told my dad, like, Dad, let's get rid of it. I don't want this donkey as a pet. Give me a dog or a cat or something normal, please. Right? Um, so um the the interesting thing here is Jesus could have ridden on a war horse because he is the king of kings, but he decided to ride on a donkey, and I'll tell you more about that. But the reason why he's like, make sure that no one has ridden on the donkey because that donkey has not been tamed, has not been trained, and that shows the power of Jesus over natural things to be able to in the moment ride the donkey, and the donkey is completely submitted to Jesus' power. It's a little detail, but it's so good because Jesus is like, I want you to get to know me. I want you to get to know me. I'm not like other kings. All right, so he says, If anyone asks you, why are you doing this? say, the Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly. They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, What are you doing, untying that colt? They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches and they had cut in the fields, and those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David. Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since he was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. This is God's word. And there are three things that I want to share with you today, based on this passage, three things that the Bible leads us to. So if you like to take notes, this is your chance to write this now, fill in the blank, or write on your journal. Here's the first thing I want to share with you that the Bible leads us to the real King, not our version of Him. The Bible leads us to the real King, not our version of Him. So Jesus is approaching Jerusalem and He does something very intentional. It wasn't by accident, but he had it all planned out, and he's like, this is something that is intentional. The fact that he told his disciples to go get a donkey and he rides into the city on the donkey, and that might feel like a little random, but it's not because Jesus was right there and then fulfilling prophecy. What is a prophecy? A prophecy is a prediction, but it's more than that when it's a prophetic word in the Bible. Because in the Old Testament, when someone prophesied, someone gave a prediction in God's name, it was certain to happen. So it's not like we predict the weather, like, oh yeah, tomorrow's gonna be sunny and all of a sudden it's pouring rain. Not like that. If in the Old Testament the prophet said this is going to happen, then it was going to happen because it was from God. So that's a prophecy. And did you know that Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies about the Messiah from the Old Testament? Just to give you an idea, like He fulfilled 300 predictions, 300 prophecies. What are the odds that 300 prophecies would be fulfilled in one person? And that just showed everyone that Jesus truly was the Messiah. And here is one of them in Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9. The Bible is leading us toward this king, and then it tells us that in Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, the prophet said, See your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly riding on a what? A donkey. Jesus was fulfilling prophecy right there before their eyes. And I don't want you to miss this. I don't want you to miss the point that Jesus is saying, I am the king that you have been waiting for. That's what he was telling everyone. He's like, I am he, I am the Messiah, I am the king that you have been waiting for, but I'm not the kind of king that you expected. That's different. He was like, I'm not the kind of king that you expected. Perhaps you expected me to come on a war horse, but no, I'm coming on a donkey because I'm fulfilling the prophecy. Maybe you were expecting that I was gonna be a king that comes with power, with an army to take over. Maybe you thought I was gonna be the king to overthrow Rome, who is ruling over you, and to give the power back to the Jews. Or like maybe you thought that I was the king who was going to come with immediate change. Like today, you know, Palm Sunday, I'm coming in. Tomorrow on Monday, it's gonna be a new government, and we will be in charge. And Jesus is like, that's not the kind of king that I am. I am a humble king who rode on a donkey, who is now at this time moving toward suffering, not a throne. He's like, I'm the king who is now on his way to the cross, not a throne, to be sentenced to death as a criminal, even though I've never committed a crime. And and this is where the tension starts, right here. Because I don't want to blame the people. They had scriptures, they knew scriptures. That's why they should they were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of our Lord, because they were quoting scripture, they knew scripture, they but they had the wrong expectations about scripture, and so before we judge them, I want you to realize that you and I we do the same thing. We do the same thing. We're like, oh yeah, like we want Jesus, but we want a Jesus who fixes our problem quickly, right? Like, so we don't want like it's not even like the prime Amazon Jesus today delivery. No, we want like the same day Jesus, even better, we want the expected 5 to 8 p.m. Jesus today, and if I have to pay a couple of bucks, I'll do it, but it has to be today. That's the kind of Jesus that I want, right? I want the Jesus that will make my life easier, and that's interesting because if you've been a Christian long enough, you know that when you become a Christian, life doesn't get any easier. Actually, good news for you, it gets worse. Because when you say, I'm gonna follow Jesus, and you begin to devote your life to Jesus, the devil gets mad and he's like, Oh no, I lost one from my team, so I'm gonna do everything that I can to distract you, to destroy you, right? And then all of a sudden you're fighting this war that you didn't have to fight before, and you're like, I thought this was gonna be easier. It's like Jesus, like, well, not with the real Jesus. Sometimes we want a Jesus that will fit into our plans, that a Jesus that's gonna help us build the life that we already want. It's like, oh Jesus, I want you into my life, but here's my agenda. This is what I want you to do in my life. And for those of you that don't know, so I was the pastor of this church right here before we turned it over to create church. And we moved into this campus in 2019, um, and we were just as excited and happy as you guys are excited and happy as you move into this campus, right? So we're like, oh, this is amazing, this is awesome. And so we came up with a vision, 2020 vision, and we went all for it. So we had signs, we had, you know, like the team was ready, we built some leadership, this is gonna be incredible. We had all our metrics that we wanted to meet, we had our goals, and we're like, let's go for it. And then you know what happened in 2020 around this time, right? COVID happened, and here we were. This campus was empty because we couldn't meet here. And I'm like, Jesus, what happened? I gave you the plan, you know, like you were supposed to do this, you're supposed to help us grow this church and grow this campus here. Um, and it's interesting because we always try to tell Jesus what to do based on what we want. But Jesus doesn't come to fit into your life, he comes to redefine your life. That's the difference. He doesn't come to just fit into what you already have going on. No, he comes to redefine, he comes to mess it all up, but make it better. Make your plans into godly plans, make make your good plans into godly plans. And if you are only open to the version of Jesus that makes sense to you, then you're gonna miss the real Jesus. So the question isn't just like, do you believe in Jesus? Because you might say, Yeah, I believe in Jesus, but the question is, do you know the real Jesus? Or do you only know your version of him? Do you know the real Jesus? If you say, Oh, I believe in Jesus, but I cannot forgive soul and soul, do you really know Jesus? Oh, I believe in Jesus, but I'm not generous. Like, do you really know Jesus who gave everything because he believed that you were his treasure? Oh, I believe in Jesus, but you know, I'm rude to my spouse. It's like, do you know the real Jesus who is filled with loving kindness? Do you do you really know him? And because the Bible is not leading us to a customized Savior, right? Like, it's not a customized Jesus, no, no, no, then you can't just add Jesus to your life. You can't, like, oh, Jesus is one of the accessories that I add to my life. He's an add-on. No, no, no. You have to allow Jesus to come and shatter your life. Like, God, if there's anything in me that is not pleasing to you, Jesus, if there's anything in me that doesn't belong to you, will you just break it apart, tear it down, and make me new? That's the real Jesus. So the Bible is not leading us to a random person. No, the Bible is leading us to a real king who is the king of kings and the lord of lords. That's Jesus. And here's the second thing I want to share with you. The Bible then leads us to a relationship with Jesus, not just information about him. And you might think, like, the Bible has a lot of information, and so that's the goal of the Bible, is to give me information about Jesus. No, actually, the goal of the Bible is to lead you into a relationship with Jesus where you get to know Jesus on a very personal level. In our story of Palm Sunday, Jesus is entering the city, and the people that are greeting Jesus on the way into the city, they're not from Jerusalem, they came from different towns because they heard about this Messiah, about this king who has come, and so they come to celebrate, they come to welcome him. We call it the triumphal entry, right? So they're throwing their vests on the ground and and they're waving branches and they're shouting, Hosanna, which means save us. So they're like, Save us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And again, they know their Bible, they have information because when they shouted, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, they were quoting scripture, they memorized that part of scripture and they were shouting out what they had learned, the information that they had in their heads. It comes from Psalm 118, verse 25 and 26. That's what they were shouting. They were quoting scripture. Psalm 118 says, Lord, save us. In Hebrew, that save us is Hashiah Na, which means Hosanna, which is save us. So they were shouting, Hoshia Nah. And so then in Palm Son, they're like, Hosannah. They're they're they're just shouting, Lord, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So again, think about this. They know scripture, they're saying the right things, they are passionate, they are expressive, right? Like, I want to see how many of you are going to actually come and put down your jackets or your vests down on the ground today for Jesus to meet us here, right? Like they were overly expressive and passionate, and yet they were missing him. They were missing him. Because Hosanna means save us now. And so they're like, yes, we want salvation. Who wants salvation? Yeah, save us now. But they wanted salvation on their own terms. They wanted a king to save them by fixing their political situation. They wanted a king by saving them by meeting their expectations. They wanted a king that would save them by giving them and doing what they wanted. And it's so good to see that Jesus, when he doesn't do that for them, by the end of the week, the same people that are shouting, Hosanna, save us, they are the same people that are going to be shouting, crucify him. So they have like this expectation of this king and like save us. But we we want you to save us in this way. And then Jesus doesn't do it in less than a week. They turn on Jesus, and the ones that were welcoming him now are like, yeah, kill him, murder him, execute him, crucify him. He didn't do what we expected him to do because they didn't know him. They didn't actually know Jesus. Or let me say, they actually didn't want Jesus, they wanted what Jesus could do for them. That's the problem. They're like, Jesus, we want you to do this for us. You didn't do it, we don't want you. So they didn't want the real Jesus. And I remember this one guy came to Christ and he was on fire. Have you ever met that person? You're like who comes to Christ to get baptized, they start serving in all ministries. They are there at church, they're the first ones to arrive, they're the last ones to arrive, they're on fire for Jesus, right? They're like, oh, and I was like, this is awesome. I love this guy, you know. Like, so three months into it, and he's volunteering, he's doing all these things at the church. He comes to me, he says, Pastor Christian, I'm done. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, Yeah, I gave Jesus a try, but it didn't work for me. I'm like, wait, you gave Jesus a try and it didn't, what do you mean it didn't work for you? He's like, Yeah, like I tried, I tried really hard, you know, but I wanted to find a job, I still haven't found a job. I wanted a wife, I still haven't found a wife. It just didn't work for me. And I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait a second, wait a second. I'm like, first of all, if you uh if you need a job, you actually need to put applications out there and go for interviews. Not gonna make sense when your mom is at church. You're like, you do need to get a job, right? Second of all, if you want to buy first, you need to take a shower and put on some deodorant. Let's start with them, right? Okay, and then make sure that you wash your clothes too, all right? So so don't don't tell me you gave it a try, it didn't work for you. But don't we all do that? Because then all of a sudden, when we shout save us, do we really mean the cross? Because his salvation was much greater than anything that he could do for us. Because what he did for us is he eradicated evil and sin, so that in his work and his life and his death and resurrection, we would one day be free, completely free from evil and sin. It's just that we want that Jesus off right now, right now. Um, Max Luceto, he's a pastor and writer, and he has a quote that I really like. It says, um, if our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a what? A savior. That's what we need. We need to be free from evil and sin. And that's what Jesus came to do. So let me ask you this: do you want Jesus today, or do you want what Jesus can do for you? You gotta make a choice. This is where it hits us. Because you and I, we can know Bible verses, we can understand theology. We're like, oh yeah, my view of the um times is I'm a premillennial or post-millennial or a millennial or whatever. Or, like, yeah, I go to church. I go to church every Sunday. Look at me, you know. I'm this week, I'm gonna go an extra day. Good Friday. On Friday, I'm gonna go. Look, that's extra. I get a bonus, I get a star, Jesus. Right? Like, you can even feel something during worship and still completely miss and not know the real Jesus. You can have information about him without having a relationship with him, and those two are not the same thing. So the Bible is not just trying to inform us about Jesus, it's actually inviting us into a relationship with him. So it's not just about like knowing all the facts about Jesus, but actually knowing him, getting to know who Jesus is, to walk with Jesus, to trust Jesus when things are not looking good in your life, to follow Jesus when Jesus asks you to do something that's gonna take you out of your comfort zone, and it's gonna be very challenging to do to say, Yes, here I am, send me. So the question is not like how much do you know about Jesus, but do you actually know Jesus? And some of you today, maybe in your relationship with Jesus, you have grown stale and you came to church today, and you're like, Well, that's just the thing we do, but I haven't really felt the presence of Jesus, I haven't really heard the voice of Jesus. I feel so distant, I feel so cold in my relationship with Jesus, and you know what it is that you need? You need an encounter with Jesus today. That's all you need. You need an encounter with him. You need to feel his presence, you need to feel his embrace, you need to hear his voice, you need to see his face. And today's the day. Today we're gonna give you space, we're gonna create some room here for you to do that. That's what Palm Sunday is all about. So today I encourage you that you will grow closer to him in your relationship with him. Are you ready? Yes? That was like that was not a rhetorical question. Um let me share this story with you. So at one point in my ministry, everything was going amazing. The church was growing, we had financial sustainability, we were like exceeding our metrics and all those things, and like, man, we were it. We were like the church, right? So we're like, oh, this is awesome, this is amazing. And then I came to realize something about me the fact that Jesus had become my co-worker. Let me explain to you. So it would be like on a Sunday like this, it would be, oh man, we've got the greeting team ready to go. Everybody looks beautiful, they all have teeth when they smile to our new guests, right? Like, okay, we got that covered. We have amazing coffee, the best coffee in town. We have a killer worship team. Our worship rocks the house every Sunday. And so I'm like, oh, we're ready, we're ready. We all work so hard. Jesus, are you going to do your part today? You know, like, by the way, we have our six-month review coming up. I've got some things to tell you, Jesus. Like, there were a couple of Sundays that you didn't show up because nobody was crying. And like, come on, God, if we're working really hard, come on, Jesus, you're like, you gotta join the team here. And it's like, wait a second, Jesus is not my co-worker, Jesus is my king, he's my Lord. What am I doing? And so I had to shift from like, man, Jesus, I just need to fall down at your feet and have an encounter with you. I just need to like surrender in a way that I've never done before, and to say, like, I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for me, and I'm asking you to help me. I want to do this with you. And I think we can do the same thing, whatever uh job we have, or if we are students and go to school, we can just go to work, you know, like and work the best that we can, and then remember, oh yeah, Jesus, you know, like uh you're here too, right? Like take a seat over here. Help me fill out the spreadsheet or whatever. But what if we're like, Jesus, will you go ahead of me today to the office? Will you be there before I get there? Will you like move in that place? Will you touch my co-worker's heart? Will you bless my boss? Will you give him wisdom to lead us, to guide us? Jesus, will you be kind to that coworker who's a hard person that steals my my lunch from the fridge? You know, like will you be with them too? Like, like, do you have that relationship with Jesus of including him in everything that you do, but knowing that he's in charge and he's the Lord and He's the King. Here's the last thing I want to share with you. The Bible leads us to slow down or we'll miss him. Slow down or we'll miss him. Palm Sunday, a lot of noise, a lot of celebration, a lot of energy, but then it ends in such an unexpected way. And I've preached in this passage so many times, and I had never noticed until this time that verse 11, the very last verse that we read, the way that the story ends is Jesus walking into the temple, he looks around, he says nothing, he does nothing, and he says, Let's go, and he leaves. And in my mind, I'm like, Jesus, you just had like the triumphal entry. I'm expecting a speech. I'm expecting like the greatest sermon of all times. I'm expecting, I don't know, you're gonna recognize all the people that made it happen. I don't know. No, Jesus, no speech, no big moment. He was just quiet. Because while everyone else is got up in the moment, Jesus was paying attention. He wasn't reacting, he was observing, he was moving with intention. Yeah, the crowd, they were loud, but they're not attentive. They were excited, but they were not aware. They were present, but they weren't truly seeing. And honestly, that sounds a lot like us. Because every single day we're so busy, we're distracted, we're scrolling, we're moving from one thing to the next thing. I bet you that half of you right now are thinking, what am I gonna eat for lunch today? I see your smile. I wonder why it is then that we feel so distant from Jesus. It's it's hard to encounter someone if you don't slow down for them. And I don't want you to miss Jesus. They didn't miss Jesus because he wasn't there, he was there. They missed him because they were not paying attention. And there's a song where God Himself, he says this, 46 10, he says, be still and know that I am God. When was the last time that you were just still in God's presence? So we want to do that. I'm gonna invite the the band to come up, and and that's the invitation. We're going to slow down right now, we're going to create space, we're going to be still. So I don't want you to be looking on your phone, don't be reading the Bible. I just want you to sit with him right now, and I want you to listen to his voice. So go ahead and close your eyes. Everybody, close your eyes. Just turn off all the distraction right now. Just close your eyes. And I want you to picture yourself in your happy place. Where's your happy place? Go there. Is it warm? Is it breezy? Take a deep breath. Like your happy place. Now Jesus is walking into your happy place with you. How would you greet him? Would you shake his head? Would you give him a hug? Would you kiss him on the cheek? Now Jesus is sitting next to you. Now Jesus about to say something. What he's telling you is about what you do for him, or it's about who you are. Listen to those words. That's what he really thinks about. Let's go ahead and stand right now. Jesus, thank you. You promised that we're two or three are gathered together in your name. You are in the midst of them, and you are here right now. Thank you for speaking to us. We take those words to our hearts, we believe them. We're grateful for them. Lord, I pray for every person here right now. Those who've been working so hard, those who have been trying so hard. I pray that they would hear that your words are words of affirmation to say you are loved, you're accepted for nothing that you do, but because you're my daughter, because you're my son. The life that I lived, I lived for you, and the death that I died was in your place, so you wouldn't have to experience spiritual death, so that in my resurrection you would come back to life and live a life to its fullness, receiving rest from me in Jesus' name. Amen. If you want to come and receive prayer during the song, you're welcome to do so. If you want to come and just spend time on the altar during the song, you're welcome to do so. Let's continue to spend time in the presence of Jesus.