WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.759 We're studying the Old Testament book of Leviticus, and here is what we have learned. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:15.199 The Bible is a meta-narrative, one big story of God's rescue of us and Jesus, even in strange books like Leviticus. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:15.919 So we've learned that. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:17.359 Number two, here's what we've learned. 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:26.640 The Old Testament, generally teaching the Old Covenant of law, leads us to the New Testament, generally teaching the new covenant of grace. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:27.280 We've learned that. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:32.079 Number three, Leviticus helps the New Testament book of Hebrews come alive. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:38.880 So we've been saying that as we've been studying Leviticus, that Hebrews is almost like a commentary on Leviticus. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:40.159 Last one, number four. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:47.600 Leviticus gives us a lens to gaze all the more at the loveliness of Jesus. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:51.039 Hopefully, we're gonna do that and see that again today. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:52.399 It gives us a lens. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.439 Eight years ago, I went fly fishing for the first time. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:01.280 A mentor couple of ours took us on the Roaring Fork in Colorado. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.959 Here's a picture of Christy catching her first little rainbow trout. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:07.439 A woman holding a trout. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:09.040 There's nothing more attractive. 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:11.760 I mean, that that'll do it. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:13.599 That seals it for me. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.599 I've talked about this before because that day actually changed my life. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:18.719 That's what I've talked about before. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:19.439 I keep talking about. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:21.920 I fell in love with the river. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:24.560 I fell in love with a tight line and a trap on the end of it. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:27.680 I fell in love with that, but I couldn't see anything on that day. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:29.200 On that day, I could- I couldn't see anything. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:33.840 Meaning I I couldn't see under the surface of the water. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:40.159 All day the guide would point out a fish tucked behind a rock, and he'd go, Oh, there's a 14-inch rainbow. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:41.040 Oh, look at him. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:42.959 He's got big shoulders, he's right behind the rock. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:44.719 And I'd be what like where? 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:46.239 Like what where are you looking? 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.480 And I kept that kept happening over and over again. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:55.599 And so I quickly learned that he knew what to look for, like what shapes and what shadows and that kind of thing, what movement. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:04.719 And then second, I picked up on the fact that he had on a really good pair of polarized sunglasses. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:05.359 Right? 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:08.319 This is the difference between polarized and non-polarized, by the way. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:10.879 If you think it's just like snobbery, it's not snobbery. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.680 Uh non-polarized on the right, this is how you would see the water. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:19.199 You put on a pair of polarized sunglasses, and this is how you would see the water there, the picture of the left. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:21.039 I was seeing glare. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:26.719 But because he had a lens, he was seeing something totally different. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:27.199 Right? 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:29.039 And so I needed to nerd out a little bit. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:30.639 I see that picture, I'm like, I need to nerd out. 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:31.759 Like, what is going on here? 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:38.159 So here's a nerd out picture of what polarized lens does just to prove to you that you should spend the money. 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:43.759 Uh so polarized reduces fragmentation and glare. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:48.479 We read Leviticus and we get a lot of glare. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:49.120 Right? 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.000 And it's the glare of misunderstanding. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:56.400 And when we have that, we we can't see it. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.800 So we need better context. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:02.000 Context is like a lens that we get to put on. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:06.000 And when we put on that context, suddenly Leviticus comes alive. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:09.199 And then when Leviticus comes alive, then Hebrews comes alive. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:13.840 When Hebrews comes alive, then Jesus becomes all the more lovely. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:18.159 Now let's remember the structure of Leviticus before we jump into our passage. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:25.039 Leviticus chapters 1 through 16 take us one place, and then chapters 17 through 27 take us somewhere else. 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:25.759 Here's what I mean. 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:27.759 Here's the structure up on the screens. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:33.120 And we are here in chapter 12 and 15, so we're in that section, instructions for purity. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:36.479 We've done chapters 1 through 7, the rituals, the five sacrifices. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:38.400 We talked about the priest in 8 through 10. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:41.919 We're working our way to the Day of Atonement. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:45.919 That is the pinnacle of the book of Leviticus. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:50.159 And today we will look at chapters 12 and 15. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:57.439 We're gonna look at chapters 12 and 15 as to contemplate our bodily fluids. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:59.759 That is not what you expected. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:00.960 That is not what you said. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:04.000 I came for like fifth grade celebration or something. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.000 What is going on? 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:08.000 But this is Leviticus. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.080 Okay, Leviticus 12, 1 through 8. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:12.879 Just kind of buckle up, just prepare yourself, hang with me. 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:14.800 Leviticus 12, 1 through 8. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:23.439 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:27.040 And at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:30.800 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:35.920 Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:43.120 She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purifying are completed. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:52.399 But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation, and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days. 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:53.360 Amen? 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:54.639 Okay. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.160 Men, you're not left out. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:04:59.680 You're not left out. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:01.279 Chapter 15, 1 through 6. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:10.399 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:11.439 Do you need to giggle? 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:12.399 Anyone need to giggle? 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:12.639 No. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:13.519 Okay, verse 3. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:23.759 And this is the law of his uncleanness for a discharge, whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:29.920 Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:35.519 And anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in the water and be unclean until the evening. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:43.759 And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:50.399 Bodily fluid, discharge, this was not in Jesus' calling, my devotion. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.639 I've read Jesus Calling several times. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:53.759 This didn't come up. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:54.959 It wasn't in there. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:59.839 Wasn't in my Max Lucata Grip of Grace book that I read in high school. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:02.240 Not a popular sermon series title. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:03.759 Hadn't seen that banner in front of a church. 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:06.720 You know, Discharge in Jesus, Visitors Sunday. 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:09.600 Just you're welcome to come and check out our church. 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:11.759 We're gonna talk about bodily fluids. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:13.839 So, like what? 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:14.560 Like what? 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:15.519 Like why? 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:17.120 Why in the world? 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:21.199 And why why would I why would I do this? 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:21.600 Right? 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:23.920 Like, why would I even preach on it even if it's in there? 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.480 Like we've all just been skipping this passage our whole lives. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:28.079 So what's going on? 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:36.720 Well, can you imagine living thousands of years ago and there's no modern science? 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:41.600 There's uh you don't know how anything in your body really works. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:46.639 It just works, you know, cause and effect, but you don't really know how it works. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:54.959 And then in all that ignorance, you begin to receive some instructions and insight on how to live. 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:00.319 So a little Bible study tip, like how to read the Bible. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:06.639 We should first ask, what did this mean to the original audience in their context? 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:08.000 That's the first question. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:16.000 The second question, but then we ask, how does this fit into the meta-narrative of Jesus' rescue of people from sin and self-righteousness? 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:19.040 Now that might require a bit of study, that might take a little bit of effort. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:28.319 And then finally, we ask, the question we usually skip to what does this mean to me today in Marietta? 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:33.600 Now, as we approach our passage, let's let's remember Adam and Eve, Genesis 2, 24. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:35.920 This is the beginning, the beginning of humanity. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:44.079 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:53.839 So we begin with with what we already knew, and that is that God created sex, and God created sex pleasurable for the utmost enjoyment in marriage. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:54.639 Amen? 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:57.199 Okay, somebody's excited. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:01.360 That husband is like, let's we can go home right now. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:03.040 Let's just go on home. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:04.079 That is amen. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:06.800 Like, that is amen for women, that is amen for men. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:08.399 This is good news. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:10.560 Now, back to our passage. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:11.920 Here's what we learned. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:17.360 Point number one God shows his care for his people by giving guidelines for living. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:27.680 Leviticus 12 says impurity is caused by childbirth, which just seems odd, especially considering what we just read. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.920 Because we're commanded to have sex and create cute little cuddly babies. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:34.799 So why is the mom impure? 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:36.720 Like unclean. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.759 Why did she have to go through a purification process? 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:47.440 See, the purification was necessary because the loss of blood, and this gives us point number two. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:48.960 Keep hanging with me, I'm gonna make a point here. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:56.240 Point number two, to the ancients, losing blood was of supreme consequence because blood represented life. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:00.559 Birth was painful and dangerous. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:01.840 I mean, women, amen. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:04.000 Like you know that, you're like, yeah, that's true. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:05.519 Painful and dangerous. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.360 Now, imagine it with no drugs. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:09.120 Some of you did that, right? 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.440 Now, imagine it with no antibiotics or no hospital. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:18.960 These people knew that blood, if blood was lost, life got fragile. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:20.240 They knew that. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:23.600 But there was no post-birth medical care. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:27.600 Can you imagine that childbirth? 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:35.519 After the birth of all three of our little girls, we were just big chilling at Piedmont Hospital. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:37.600 There we are at the birth of Greta. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:39.919 Uh, we're hanging out, man. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:42.480 I mean, like, I'm grabbing Starbucks across the street. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:47.919 My mom has the two older ones, the nurse is watching the baby while we're taking naps, we're watching Oprah. 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.960 I mean, we are having like this is like this is a vacation. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.399 Like, we we can stay in a, we'll stay another day, it's not a big deal. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:02.879 And everything was clean, and everything was designed for Christie to rest. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:09.519 The system was set up for Christy, for the mother to be replenished. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:17.200 So here comes this Leviticus 12 and these Levitical rules, and we get all judgy, right? 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:19.440 We get all judgy immediately. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:28.000 But in their context, at their time, to the ancients, I mean, God was caring for these mamas. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:34.240 This was about replenishing the mother. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:45.759 Leviticus 12 rules are a protective measure to enable the mother to fully recover before resuming an active life in the community. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:48.480 This is about care to moms. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:50.000 That has nothing to do with sinfulness. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:51.600 This is nothing to do with sinfulness. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:55.919 This is a ceremonial uncleanness for the care of the mom. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.320 God in the Bible, they're caring for women, caring for the mamas. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:06.960 It's not limitation, it's not condemnation, it's care in their context. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:13.919 Now, point number three, God does not take away all pain and hurt, but cares for us in our pain and hurt. 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:20.639 Here's how we see this in chapter 15 about bodily discharge, short-term discharge, ongoing discharge. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:24.000 Can you believe we're saying discharge so many times in a sermon? 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:30.080 The text of chapter 15 is very interesting because it's medical language. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:37.679 Most likely some sort of disease is involved here, but they know nothing about exactly how disease is transferred. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:43.919 They don't know about bacteria, they don't know about viruses, but then God begins to help them. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:52.879 Now, the help is not in that the disease goes away, the help is insight, wisdom, and care in the pain and the hurt. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:12:03.440 In their context, as strange as chapter 12 and 15 are, in their context, God is caring for these people in the most practical way. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:10.159 Now, by the time of Jesus, these rules and these traditions had become a burden. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:19.759 Religious leaders weaponized these rules to control people's behaviors, to keep power over them, and to begin to deem who's holy and who's unholy. 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:22.080 This wasn't about ceremonial uncleanness anymore. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:25.679 This was about what you are, your core identity. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:33.759 The rules ceased to be about caring for the vulnerable and giving them a path back into communal life. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.559 So then Jesus shows up. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:38.799 He's got a few things to say about this. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:42.399 Mark 20, Matthew 23, 1 through 4. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:55.200 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, the scribes and the Pharisees, then on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do, for they preach but do not practice. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:56.720 And here it is, verse 4. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:05.279 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:22.159 Now imagine a devout Jew at the time, familiar with Leviticus 12, terrified to be unclean, to be cut off from the community, to be deemed unholy, terrified, if you are clean, to touch somebody who's been deemed unclean. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:24.399 Imagine the mount of terror. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:33.279 And then we get a story where Jesus is walking through a crowd, and there's a woman who's been bleeding for 12 years. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:40.000 That touches him and he stops to move closer to her. 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:43.200 Mark 5, 24 through 34. 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:46.960 This is from the message translation, it's more of a storytelling translation. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:53.120 Jesus went with him, the whole crowd tagging along, pushing and jostling him. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:57.919 A woman who had suffered a condition of hemorrhaging for 12 years. 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:07.279 A long succession of physicians had treated her and treated her badly, taking all her money and leaving her worse off than before, had heard about Jesus. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:07.919 Right? 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.879 So imagine this woman, 12 years. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:15.600 Think about Leviticus 12 being weaponized against her. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.960 Not being a rule for her care and her replenishing back into community. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:26.320 But weaponized against her that she's unclean, unclean to be unholy, they're saying. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:27.360 She's unholy. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:33.840 And so she's broken, she's beat down, she's been taken advantage of, she's lonely, she's at the end of her rope. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:35.120 The story continues. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.000 She slipped in from behind and touched his robe. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:42.960 She was thinking to herself, if I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:46.480 At the moment she did it, the flow of blood dried up. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:50.960 She could feel the change and knew her plague was over and done with. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:54.960 At the same moment, Jesus felt energy discharging from him. 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:57.840 Now that's kind of an interesting word choice, isn't it? 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:03.039 The translator, Eugene Peterson, he was an Old Testament Hebrew scholar. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:06.480 He would have known Leviticus 12 really well. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:14.000 I don't know if Peterson was drawing a connection between all this, but it's interesting given the woman's condition. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:22.799 And what we know is that we need life in the places of our hurt. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:25.200 We all do. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:26.960 Whatever our hurt is. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:29.679 The story continues. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:33.919 Jesus turned around to the crowd and asked, Who touched my robe? 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:36.720 His disciples said, What are you talking about? 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:40.320 With this crowd pushing and jostling you, you're asking to touch me? 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:41.919 Dozens have touched you. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.559 But he went on asking, looking around to see who had done it. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:56.320 The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing that she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before him, and gave him the whole story. 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:02.960 And Jesus said to her, Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you're healed and whole. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:06.639 Live well, live blessed, be healed of your plague. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:09.279 Nobody else would have stopped. 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:11.519 People would have avoided her. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:13.840 Religious people definitely would have avoided her. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:16.960 But Jesus looks at her and what does he call her? 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:19.200 Daughter. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.519 He doesn't just heal her physical illness. 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:25.600 We may never experience that. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:29.440 He restores her dignity. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:33.440 He gives her an identity, a daughter. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:38.080 He deems her clean as a child of the heavenly father. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:40.799 This is point number four. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:47.519 Jesus enabled unclean people to draw near to God by him making them clean. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:55.360 Not by their work and their record and their ability, but by his work and his record. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:59.279 Our sin is put upon the cross, his righteousness is given to us. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:03.279 This week this brought up a few growth and grace questions for me. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:04.720 Three different ones. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:16.079 Number one, in what ways do we live under the burden of rules as to be loved rather than faith in Christ that we are already loved? 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:22.319 Number two, in what ways do we feel shame or unacceptable to God? 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:32.720 And lastly, how might we allow the love of Christ to transform our addiction to merit or our imprisonment to shame? 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:40.799 The commentary on this Leviticus passage quoted the great hymn, O for a thousand tongues, which we sang. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:50.319 He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoners free, his blood can make the fowls clean, his blood availed for me. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:54.480 Let me read that again and more as a blessing over you. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.799 He breaks the power of your sin. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:02.240 He sets you free. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:06.480 His blood can make even you clean. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:09.279 His blood availed for me. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:10.480 Let's pray to God. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:31.200 Heavenly Father, thank you that you care for us in the most practical ways thousands of years ago, in the ancient times, and today in our life, in Marietta in 2024, that you care about the most practical things in our lives. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:36.559 You don't take away all the hurt and the pain, but you care for us in it. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:42.319 Would we experience a great sense of your presence in our hurt and our pain and our shame? 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:49.599 Would we see how you've come to set us free to be your children, to walk through this broken world? 00:18:52.079 --> 00:19:01.519 Would you see would we see all the more the freedom and the growth and grace we can have in Jesus that you are enough for us? 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:03.440 In Christ's name we pray. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:04.240 Amen.