WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:00.479 Good morning. 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.600 My name is Matt Armstrong. 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:09.199 I'm one of the associate pastors here at Redeemer, and it's my privilege to get to bring the scriptures to you this morning. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:13.759 As Ref said, today is Palm Sunday, the week, the Sunday before Easter. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:24.079 It's that time of year when we remember Jesus' triumphal entry, and it stands in stark contrast to just a week later. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:32.320 This crowd that gathered the day that Jesus came to Jerusalem, praising him with the words we sang this morning, Hosanna in the highest. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:37.200 And a fair number of them just a few days later were crying, crucify him. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:46.240 This is the tension of the world that we live in, a tension between sorrow and praise, hope and despair. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:58.240 It's a tension that we feel even this morning, with loss in our own church, within the Teague family, but in countless numbers of stories in our community. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:05.760 But the beauty of our faith, the beauty of Christianity and our God is that He is the God who meets us. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:10.239 He is not afraid to step into our sorrow. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:14.319 And whenever he does, he brings hope and renewal. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:18.959 And that is our hope this morning, this Palm Sunday. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:26.319 Last Sunday, just a week ago, I went with my daughter to see the movie Dune Part 2. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:30.480 It's an epic. 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:33.359 I went to see it in IMAX, which is awesome. 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:38.239 I haven't been to an IMAX theater since they only showed nature documentaries. 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:41.920 If you're my age, now they show real movies. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.560 And it's amazing. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:55.680 And being there in this cinematic feast, recommended by Sam Rapp, our local movie critic and theologian. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.719 I was reminded how much I love a good story. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:10.080 Especially in that IMAX theater, it was easy to be swept away into this grand narrative, this incredible story. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:19.759 Whether it's uh Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or The Matrix or a good Marvel movie, I love a good story. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:32.879 Now, whether it's a big, epic, sweeping story or it's a small, intimate, personal story, any good story moves the heart. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.120 I think stories are like tuning forks. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:38.800 You know what a tuning fork is? 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:45.039 You you kind of tap it on the end of something in it and it sends out this invisible frequency. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:52.000 And when that frequency resonates with the deep desires in your own heart, we are moved. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:03:04.240 I was taught a few years ago this saying that I find myself repeating often, which is, when tears come, heaven draws near. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:13.520 The things that draw us to tears are the things that connect with the deep desires of our hearts. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:22.319 And when we're moved by a story, whether it's a movie or a novel or a comic book or a song, the tears flow. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:29.759 Courage is unleashed, joy erupts, grief is released. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:34.400 And I think this is because we were made for stories. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:48.800 We were made to live in a story by God, the God who, when he tells us who we are, tells us about himself, how we're to understand ourselves and the world and him, he tells us a story. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:51.280 The Bible is a story. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:55.840 It's a story that begins before creation and it ends at the end of time. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:03.280 And it's filled with hundreds and thousands of tiny, intimate, personal stories. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:09.199 And as Christians, we realize that we have been taken up into that story. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:11.280 We are part of that story. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:15.439 It was here before us, it will be here after us. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:17.920 God tells us stories. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.040 When Jesus taught, he taught in parables, he taught in stories. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.279 Stories are incredibly meaningful. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:26.560 I love the way Flannery O'Connor talks about stories. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:31.439 She said, a story is a way to say something that can't be said in any other way. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:38.319 It takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:43.360 You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.000 I think she's exactly right. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:57.759 In the book of Philippians, Paul presents us with two narratives, two stories, and he invites us to live into one of them, in essence, to choose between the two of them. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:59.519 That brings us to point one. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:02.639 Point one is story number one, the story of glory. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:12.959 Paul sees, uh says that he first lived his life according to what we're gonna call a story of glory. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:16.079 He lived his life in the service of his own glory. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:20.879 He told a story, he lived his life on like a stairway up. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:25.920 He was seeking to ascend the story, uh, the stairway of glory. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:28.560 Listen to Philippians 3, 4 through 6. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:33.040 And you can see we're gonna start at the top and then we're gonna jump to the bottom and read to the top. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:34.720 Notice the shape of the story. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:40.079 If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more, he says. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:54.879 I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:56.560 Blameless. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:07.360 To these first four stairs, steps on this stairway upwards are the identity he was given by birth as an Israelite, right? 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:08.720 Circumcised on the eighth day. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:10.319 That's what a faithful Israelite did. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:14.720 He was born into the people of God, of all the peoples of the earth, the chosen people. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:18.560 And within the nation of Israel, he was of the tribe of Benjamin. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:19.759 This was a warrior tribe. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:22.240 They were proud of their heritage. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:29.839 The first king of Israel, Saul, was of the tribe of Benjamin, and the apostle Paul was given the birth name of Saul. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:32.720 He was named after the king. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.959 He summarizes and says, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:46.319 Every step up the stairway, his glory grows, and the ring, the circle of people included shrinks. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:53.120 The next three steps are Paul's personal achievements. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:07:05.759 He says, as to the law of Pharisee, the Pharisees were an elite group of Israelite men who studied diligently to earn that rank. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:14.399 But more than simply a Pharisee, he sent, he went out in his zeal to persecute this emerging church that followed Jesus. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:20.560 And then under the righteousness of the law, he says, blameless. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:27.120 He was at the top of his game. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:45.839 What he's describing here is the natural disposition of the human, sinful, fallen heart that seeks to climb the stairway of success in order to prove its worth, in order to justify our existence. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.000 Now, we all do this. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:52.560 We look for ways to take pride in the tiniest of things. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.600 One of those things is where we went to school. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:04.160 I noticed moving back to Marietta after living down in the city for a number of years where nobody really seemed to care where you went to school. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:08.639 It was much more diverse schooling-wise where people were from. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:12.000 When I came to Marietta, I noticed a distinct difference. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:13.680 Now, one is not better than another. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:17.120 It just was easy for me to notice coming in from the outside. 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:24.399 And you know, I've known that UGA fans are obnoxious all my life. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:30.879 But once you guys won the national championship, I mean, good night. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:37.360 It is kind of over for me being a Georgia Tech graduate. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:46.159 Now, what I also found out when I came up here, when people would find out that I graduated from Georgia Tech almost to a person, I would get something like this. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:57.200 I just simply wanted to receive, you know. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:02.720 I'm not going to open my mouth and change your mind about how smart I am. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:06.960 You know, I'll just receive that glory, right? 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:13.519 I mean, when you receive glory for something either that you've achieved or something that you just have by the nature of your birth, right? 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:14.799 It's intoxicating. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:18.399 You like that honor, you like that praise. 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:22.960 Now, now about that obnoxious comment, I apologize. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:32.000 Uh, but I feel like I can say that because I grew up a Florida fan, University of Florida, go gators, and I think Steve Spurrier is amazing. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:39.440 Now I'm dating myself, but um no one is more obnoxious than Steve Spurrier or an age-old University of Florida fan. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:40.960 So it takes one to know one. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:42.720 So you're welcome. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:43.360 All right. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:45.440 So what here's the question for us. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.000 For you, what do you boast in? 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:51.039 What's your stairway? 00:09:51.759 --> 00:10:00.320 What is it about yourself, your heritage, your background, your blood, your your personal achievements that you receive glory from and you hang on to? 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:04.639 Maybe it's your education, your salary, maybe it's your follower count. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:06.720 Teenagers, I'm talking to you. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:07.200 Right? 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:08.799 I don't even know what TikTok is. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:11.039 Apparently, it's gonna be banned in the United States. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:13.519 But I have teenagers. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:20.960 They tell me about follower counts and how the algorithm, you gotta work it because sometimes not enough people see it. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:29.279 There are apps that tell you how many people have newly subscribed to you or whatever, followed you, and how many people you've lost today. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.799 I think they should name that app Torture. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:33.440 Right? 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:34.720 Torture the app. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:38.159 How many people, how many followers have I gained or lost today? 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:38.879 TikTok. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:44.399 Maybe it's your title at work, the car you drive, maybe it's your kids, parents, right? 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:50.159 Maybe you gain glory from your kids, either their academic success or their athletic success. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:55.600 Maybe it's your good looks, your country club membership, maybe it's your marriage. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:58.960 Have you ever thought that a good marriage could be an idol? 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:01.360 Something that you receive glory from. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:03.039 Again, this is something that we all do. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:09.039 We do it instinctively, being born in sin, apart from God. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.679 This flesh that Paul speaks of is our ancient allergy to God. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:21.120 It's the natural bent of a sinful heart away from God towards self-sufficiency and evil. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:34.399 The problem, though, that we've all experienced, I can safely assume, is that when we fail to move up the stairway of glory, it feels like death. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:42.320 Whether you grow stagnant on a particular step or you actually get knocked backwards, it feels horrible. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:48.320 Can you think of a time recently or maybe in your past where you were knocked down a few rungs? 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:50.480 How that felt. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.039 Maybe your marriage failed. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:56.559 A boyfriend or a girlfriend dumped you. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:59.519 Maybe you lost a job. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.200 Maybe you were turned down for a job after an interview. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:04.799 You didn't make the team. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:07.600 Can't afford the country club membership anymore. 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:13.600 Maybe your kids didn't turn out the way you hoped and prayed over many years. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:19.679 When we get knocked down, when we move backwards down the stairway of glory, it feels like failure. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:22.799 It feels like worthlessness. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:24.240 We feel needy. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:26.000 Anybody like feeling needy? 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:26.639 Anyone? 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:27.120 No? 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:29.039 I didn't think so. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:32.639 We move down the stairway of glory. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:42.480 Surprisingly, though, this is where Paul tells us that when we move down, when we move backwards, we're actually starting to move in the right direction. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:44.159 This leads us to point two. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:47.679 Story number two, the story of Jesus. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:53.919 In chapter two, in our sermon passage today, Paul tells us an alternative story. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:58.000 Now notice the shape of this story as I read it again. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:08.159 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:12.559 But he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:26.639 Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:32.960 Now these two stories that Paul has presented to us could not be more different. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:40.559 Jesus' story is humble, it's hidden, it's full of love. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:45.679 Paul the Pharisee's story is proud and boastful and full of hate. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:56.960 Jesus slowly disappears as he heads down this stairway until he disappears in death. 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:05.519 While Paul steadily, Paul's path steadily expands upward with his own glory. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:10.080 Paul instructs the Philippians at this point. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:15.679 He says, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:25.679 He's telling us, he's inviting us to step out of the story of glory, where most of us find ourselves, and to step into the story of Jesus. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:32.799 This is why Paul says elsewhere, imitate me as I imitate Christ. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:44.960 Jesus not only came and died for our sins and rose for our justification, he is our Savior and King, but he is also telling a story with his life. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:54.960 And Paul invites us into that story, and he says, Your story, your life can bear Jesus' story too. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:15:03.759 See, Paul's message here between Philippians 2 and 3 is very similar to the story that the author of Ecclesiastes that Russ referenced last week. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:06.960 This is what Solomon was talking about in that book. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.120 This is the point of the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:27.120 Solomon is saying, I have the wealth and the ability to actually see if I can find life, if we can find life and fulfillment and satisfaction through material things, through wealth, through sex, through power. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:28.799 And guess what? 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:35.919 When I got there, when I got to the pinnacle of all of those things, what I discovered is that they are all vapor. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.279 A chasing after the wind. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:42.639 And so he says, look, I went there so you don't have to. 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:44.320 Take my advice. 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:47.440 Don't look for life and dead things. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.840 And this is exactly Paul's message in Philippians chapter 3. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:54.240 He says, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:01.200 Yet when I met Jesus, I realized that all that stuff was just empty garbage. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:11.919 Now, after tasting the life that Jesus gives, I'm willing to lose everything this world has to offer in order to hold on to it. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:14.639 He is the pearl of great price. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:18.320 He is the treasure buried in the field. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:26.720 And that brings us to our third and final point that the stairway to heaven is down and then up. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:34.480 Beloved, this is why the Lord often leads us into seasons of suffering and loss. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:46.240 When we feel out of control, when the world doesn't make sense to us anymore, when we go back to doing those things that we used to do, that used to bring us joy or enjoyment, right? 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:48.720 Even spiritual things, good things. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.639 And they don't seem to work any longer. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:58.960 This is what the ancients of our faith call the dark night of the soul. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:05.279 And I was telling someone about this who was going through a very difficult time, and they said, that's kind of a misnomer. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:07.359 I mean, one night, that's not very long. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:08.319 Well, no. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:10.640 This is a long night. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:17.039 This is a season of darkness when the light seems to go out. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:25.839 And the question we all ask when we enter the dark night of the soul, and we tend to repeat and ask again and again through that season is why? 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:28.079 Why is this happening? 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:29.680 Lord, what is going on? 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:31.200 What are you doing? 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:33.920 Are you doing anything at all? 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:41.680 And the answer to that question for each and every one of us is deeply personal and deeply specific. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:46.799 And we do well, and it is wisdom not to try to answer that question for others. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:59.200 Because every detail and every specific of your story and your story of loss and suffering has its own particular meaning because the Lord is present in it. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:10.319 But here is the answer, more broadly, that we can derive from the story of Jesus what is God doing in these seasons of suffering and loss? 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:27.680 It's this that God is inviting us down the stairway of suffering in order to take away our idols, our empty cisterns, so that He can feed us with His eternal life. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:46.559 When we when our idols are removed, these things that we feed on, the Old Testament calls them empty cisterns, these places we're going for for life, but that have no life to give, when they're actually taken out of our hands, a hunger grows. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:49.119 A hunger grows for real life. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:53.039 We develop a hunger for Christ. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:56.480 And our faith begins to shift. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:07.039 As we take our questions, as we take our anger and our confusion, as we take it to the Lord, he begins to feed us with himself. 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.079 These things I have taken away. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:17.200 These old habits, these old places of safety I have removed, so that I am all that you have left. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:27.359 And our faith begins to shift, shift from the approval of others, the success we have earned, the wealth that tells us who we are. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.480 We shift to God's approval. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:38.720 The name that God has given us uniquely as a beloved son or daughter, and the rest that He offers us. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:44.000 You see, notice what happens in the rest of our sermon passage. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:44.400 Okay. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:48.319 Remember in verse 8, we ended at the bottom of the stairwell, right? 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:52.400 Where are we? 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:54.640 Okay, we took it out. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:55.279 That's fine. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:56.559 Thank you for editing that. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:04.400 Um we ended with Jesus being um even willing to die, death on the cross. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:06.400 But look where it goes after that. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:24.720 Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him a name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, to the glory of God the Father, uh, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glow. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:26.160 Whatever, you see it. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:27.039 It's there. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:31.599 Note what you need to notice is that it steps going up. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:32.559 There you go. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:34.160 Illustration made. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:36.640 Beloved, this is the story of Jesus. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:43.359 It's a story that descends into death and then it ascends into resurrection life. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:49.519 And it is this story that the Father is inviting you to enter into. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:21:00.160 I had lunch with a pastor friend last week, and we were, you know, discussing the sermon passage, and he made this comment that has stuck with me over the weekend. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:04.319 He said, we often don't want to go down that stairway. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:08.160 The stairway down, the stairway of Jesus. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:10.079 Um, and and I put myself there. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:14.079 Nobody wants to suffer, nobody wants to experience loss. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:17.680 But he said, that is where Jesus is. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:26.079 And so if we want to be with Jesus, we have to follow him down those stairs. 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:40.079 And as we learn from him, as we are weaned from the things of this world, even good things that we were finding life in, and we are filled with his life, we begin to walk in his story. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:42.720 Our lives begin to reflect his story. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:22:05.759 And so, as we who have been ministered to by the Spirit of God in our own sorrows and life, now as we see our brothers and sisters and even non-Christians down in their own personal pit, we emulate Jesus by walking down their stairway and being present with them and their present suffering. 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:11.839 This is the beauty of resurrection life, the beauty of your life imitating Jesus' life. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:14.960 That we receive eternal life. 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:20.720 And then through our imitation, God gives eternal life to others. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:29.759 Beloved, our God leads us into a fellowship of Jesus sufferings so that dying with him, we might also be raised with him. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:36.079 Yes, on the last day, but also every day of our lives. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:44.079 The story invites us to take a different view of suffering and loss, weakness and strength. 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:56.160 And as we walk this final week of Lent, reflecting on our need for Jesus' death and resurrection, may we walk into the story of Jesus. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:57.440 Let's pray. 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:04.000 Our Father and our God, Lord, you alone have the words of eternal life. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:06.160 Where else will we go? 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:15.759 When the waves come and buffet us, when we experience grievous loss, Lord, we have nothing but you. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:22.240 And so we pray, we ask, we cry out to be faithful to your promises, Lord. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.160 Feed us with yourself. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.079 Give us resurrection life. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:32.319 May rivers of living water flow out of our hearts into the glory of the Father. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:34.160 We pray it in Jesus' name. 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:34.960 Amen.