WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.200 It is the second Sunday of Advent, leading us up to Christmas. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.280 So we have this reading from Matthew 3. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:09.759 John the Baptist comes on the scene. 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:11.759 We see at the beginning of the New Testament. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.839 It's been 400 years of silence in terms of somebody speaking for God. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:19.920 Now remember, these people didn't have the Bible. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.039 So God's people were dependent on prophets speaking to them for God. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:26.719 And there's been silence. 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:28.399 There's been nothing. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:34.880 But people kept on living, they're farming and hunting and tending their home and just life. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:39.600 And then out of nowhere, 400 years of silence, nothing. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:43.359 And then into that silence comes this wild man. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:49.759 Incredibly intense, fiery wilderness guy, John the Baptist. 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:53.520 He's wearing leather, camel hair. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:54.960 He eats bugs. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:59.119 He eats honey, and people are flocking to him. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:00.560 He's like a rock star. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:02.320 He's a preacher rock star. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:05.280 Everyone wants to hear him preach. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:08.879 Everyone wants to be baptized by him in the river. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:10.400 This is the guy. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:15.120 But he's saying something quite different than other religious leaders at the time. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:21.280 So let's reread and break down and make some sense of this passage and make some sense of John. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:23.519 Matthew 3, 1 through 6. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:29.359 In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:39.359 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said the voice of the one caring crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:46.079 Now John wore garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:51.120 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:56.560 And they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:07.120 So point number one is it's relieving to finally admit we need help from beyond ourselves. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:14.800 Now that's humbling on one side, but it's incredibly relieving to get honest about that. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:19.680 When we refuse that honesty, it's exhausting. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:21.599 It's sort of like this grasping, right? 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:22.479 We've all done it. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:29.360 It's like you're grasping for something to make you feel forgiven, or grasping for something to make you feel worthy. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.400 Nothing seems to work, nothing quite gives us peace or satisfies us, right? 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:40.319 You win one national championship, and 36 hours later you need another. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:47.919 You get one raise, and you know, a few days later you just need another one. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:52.319 I own two pairs, I I've counted for y'all. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:03:01.439 I own two pairs of leather boots, uh, leather dress shoes, rain boots, hiking boots, two casual sneakers, three running shoes. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:17.039 But you know, I'm pretty sure, like I'm pretty confident that the the gray on cloud monsters, I have the blue ones, I already have the blue ones, but the gray ones, they would really satisfy the longing of my soul. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:19.360 Y'all know what I'm talking about. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.360 I have the blue ones, but it's the gray one. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:24.400 The gray ones will surely do it. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:32.639 I can't seem to find a source of comfort or peace in the world. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:34.319 I try really hard. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:35.919 You probably do as well. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:40.639 And I can be a real mess, and I can cause a real mess. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:45.439 Another way to say that is I'm a sinner in need of grace. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:48.560 And John says repent. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.319 Which I know could be a word that has a lot of baggage. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:56.319 If you've been around churches or sporting events. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.039 It really just means become honest. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:09.280 Be honest with God about your need and the ways you're discovering that you are messier than you thought. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:11.039 Flawed, more sinful. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.560 And it's not just an action, it's actually in our hearts. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:24.800 Two weeks ago, our family was at the Georgia game, and we're taking a picture on the bridge, and they're up on the bridge, like every Saturday of a game day, probably most other stadiums around the country. 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:29.360 There were a few preacher men with bullhorns and signs. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.480 And they are preaching away, they are yelling at us. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:36.160 I thought I was a Christian. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:36.800 I don't know. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:40.399 I thought I was a good Christian, abiding in the Lord, loved by God. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:43.600 Apparently, I'm not, according to them. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:45.759 And they're just yelling. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:49.519 Um, they're shaming people, they're condemning people. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:56.879 And uh most people are not uh just suddenly repenting on their knees. 00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:01.120 Um, most people are ignoring them, laughing. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:09.360 Uh two guys were standing beside them mocking them, which I sadly sinfully thought was funny. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:19.600 I've yet to see anger or condemnation produce lasting results. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:22.560 It doesn't. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:27.040 Um, it definitely does not produce heart results. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:34.079 Yet, John the Baptist, he sounds a little bit like those preachers on the bridge. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:36.480 So, what do we make of that? 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:38.959 What do we make of John the Baptist? 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:40.879 How do we understand John? 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:51.360 Well, John stands in between the Old Testament and New Testament, he's sort of in between this Old Covenant and New Covenant, how the law is taking us to the gospel. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:54.079 So we have to understand John and his context. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:06:00.560 John doesn't have the full picture, he doesn't have the Bible, he is an Old Testament prophet. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:13.600 He knows a Messiah is coming, he knows it's Jesus, but he doesn't have Jesus' life, he doesn't have Jesus' teaching or death or resurrection, he doesn't have the letters of the New Testament, he certainly doesn't have Paul explaining Jesus to us. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:27.199 So he knows this Jesus is coming, of he can't even be worthy to hold the sandals of, yet he has the tone of an Old Testament prophet of law and wrath. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:31.120 And in this way, John the Baptist doesn't hold the full picture. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:43.040 But John the Baptist drives us to Jesus, and what we have the gift of is we have the gift that Paul helps us understand Jesus. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:44.959 It's amazing. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:51.759 And Paul says that God's kindness leads us to repentance. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:07:03.839 A little bit different than John, and yet it's John that takes us to Jesus, and then Paul explains Jesus to us, and we start to see the redemptive arc of the scriptures. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:11.600 The word repentance is the word metanoia, meaning a change of mind, entering a better course of life. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:17.360 Now, maybe you repented out of fear, done that before. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:19.519 We don't have to. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:27.199 Our repentance is actually created by God's kindness to draw you to his heart and his path for you. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:34.480 So we are so loved by God, so loved by God that we can become honest about who we are. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:44.079 We're so sufficiently forgiven and sufficiently righteous in Christ's word for us, we can actually be honest that we're not perfect and we are sinners in need of God's grace. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.720 And there's the beginning of a transformation. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:51.120 We've been saying our great transformation, we've been saying it for the past month or so. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:57.120 Our beginning of transformation is this transition from I got this to I need help, right? 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:01.199 Like I got this is this tight dripping on life. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:12.079 And I need help is when we begin to release and understand we need help from beyond ourselves with a whole bunch of life, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:20.240 One of our favorite sentences around our church about repentance comes from Pastor Professor Jack Miller. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:21.120 He's now past. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:27.040 His legacy out of his teaching goes Tim Keller, Scotty Smith, Dan Allender. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:30.079 I mean, this is a grandfather of gospel. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:41.279 Repentance is our ongoing calling to collapse on Jesus, acknowledging our need and receiving his supply. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:56.159 This is why our ongoing Christian practices, whether it be Bible study or quiet time or prayer or meditation or silence or whatever it is, how you have expression of Christian faith, is not for God's love. 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:07.200 It's about our need, an ongoing collapse into the sufficiency of Jesus, the already lavish love of God for us, that we're already loved. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:18.639 Now that enables our hearts to be incredibly healed and healing and live an ongoing confession and gratitude without having to revert back into shame or fear. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:26.720 Point number two, repentance is a turning into Jesus' welcome, care, and sufficiency. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.840 See, at the time in the Jewish religion, you had to cleanse yourself before you came into the temple. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:35.919 So you had to bathe yourself in these baths they had all around the temple. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:41.120 Immerse yourself, go under the water, go under the water enough, make sure you do it all the way. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:42.799 You do it, your work. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:45.600 And then you can come into the presence of God. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:52.240 So purify yourself by what you do, and then you can come into the presence of God. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:59.279 And John says into that context, you need an immersion of repentance. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:01.759 You need a surrender. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.720 An honesty that nothing you do is enough. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:09.200 You actually are a sinner in need of God's grace and provision. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:12.720 This brings us into verse 7. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:22.159 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:28.159 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:33.840 For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:43.840 Point number three is this we don't have to use our pedigree or performance to be loved, accepted, or forgiven by God. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:52.000 You don't have to use your family legacy, you don't have to use any of your pedigree, your moralistic record. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:56.879 You don't have to use your performance of how good you are, how good you're going to maintain it to be today. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:02.960 See, John blasts the Pharisees for this sort of thinking and way of faith, but it's easy to do. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.039 It's easy to revert to. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.200 Well, we're called to die to self. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.320 Die of that toil and the weariness of self-justification. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.320 And that's in the world and that's in religion both. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:29.840 I mean, the gospel is the good news that Jesus really is enough for you. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:37.279 That God really did provide for all the forgiveness you ever need and all the righteousness you ever need. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:39.840 So it's free. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:40.480 You're free. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:41.759 You're free. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:48.639 And in that freedom, there's going to be incredible healing and incredible transformation to come that will come from the heart. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:53.360 Pastor Tim Keller writes this about repentance. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.720 I've read this probably every time I preach on repentance. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:00.960 Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our own. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:05.440 So it is not traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.879 In religion, we repent less and less often. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:15.279 But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel, the more and more often we will be repenting. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:22.639 And though, of course, there's always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there's ultimately a sweetness. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:27.200 This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.600 Two years ago, we planted some camellias along our driveway. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:32.960 Here's a picture of the camellias. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:34.480 I took it this week. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:38.159 They arrived, they were not blooming when they arrived. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.039 We put them in the ground. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:43.679 The entire first year they didn't bloom. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:44.879 They just sat there. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:45.679 Nothing. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:49.840 We went through the first season they should bloom, late fall, early winter, nothing. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:51.039 We've got nothing. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.720 And then the most amazing thing happened this year. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:56.879 They started to bloom. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.200 I mean, they bloom like crazy. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:05.360 I mean, they're just flowering and the flowers fall off, and another bloom comes up, and they're just blooming and blooming and blooming. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:09.039 So an entire season, no blooms. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:11.759 And then everything changed. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:14.879 I'm not a master gardener. 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:15.759 Some of you are. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:18.320 You got your real license for that. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:20.960 I'm not a master gardener. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:26.559 But I think this has something to do with rooting in. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:28.799 Being rooted. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:34.879 See, our calling is not to obsess on our fruit. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:44.399 Our calling is to gaze on Jesus, to live an ongoing collapse into Jesus. 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:52.000 And rooting into that, deepening ourselves into the wealth of identity we have as a children of God. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:56.240 And the most amazing thing will happen. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.399 We will bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:02.799 Fruit will come. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:04.879 This brings us to verse 10. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:08.080 Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:13.679 Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:18.000 John seems to be thinking about an afterlife here. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:20.799 People who refuse to repent. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:32.399 This idea of fire in the scriptures is a way to say the refusal of the grace of God is a welcoming of the disintegration of the soul. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:34.960 That's turmoil. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:37.440 That's hell. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:38.320 It's horrible. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.759 That disintegration of the soul, the separating of it. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:53.039 And yet a life moving in the grace of God is the integrating of the heart and the soul into the wholeness of who you were created to be. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:00.639 Verse 11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:02.320 See, John's on to something. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:07.679 Whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:18.080 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.240 Now, verse 12, without the preceding verses, would be haunting. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:26.399 Like it's not a life verse. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:26.879 Okay? 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.120 No life verse here with verse 12. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:36.159 You need a lot of context, a lot of redemptive arc of the scriptures for verse 12 not to just destroy us. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:41.200 I mean, we could be sent into all sorts of insecurity and anxiousness and fear. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:42.000 Am I in? 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:42.799 Am I out? 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:44.320 Am I gonna burn in the fire? 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:46.000 Am I not gonna burn in the fire? 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:47.120 Am I good enough? 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:48.639 Am I enough? 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:52.559 Insecurity is a horrible way to live. 00:15:53.440 --> 00:16:02.399 But remember, John is leading us to Jesus, and to Jesus' teaching and life and the full sufficiency of his work for us. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:09.440 And Paul helps us understand all of that and brings us such a security of how full the gospel is for us. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:17.440 And that we are loved and secured, like we say in our communion liturgy, not by any work that we have done for him, but by his work for us. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:23.600 I love the quote by theologian Fred Craddock on this passage. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:35.840 He says, when repentance, and this is a quote that's coming around the context of this whole passage, when repentance and forgiveness are available, judgment is good news. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:40.720 The primary aim is to save the wheat, not to burn the chaff. 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:47.360 God's heart is to save, to welcome, to forgive, to love, to redeem. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:53.600 In Jesus, God is welcoming lavishly, arms wide open. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.879 And it's not when you get your act together, it's just right now. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:01.279 Maybe last week you heard about the Thanksgiving miracle. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:02.639 Did you remember the Thanksgiving miracle? 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:05.599 Maybe you had a Thanksgiving miracle, but this is the Thanksgiving miracle. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.079 Carnival Cruise line, you'll see that. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:14.079 A 28-year-old man, he was at the Carnival Cruise Bar at 11 p.m. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:19.680 I'm sure that's quite the scene, the Carnival Cruise Bar at 11 p.m. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:26.319 The man leaves the bar at about 11 to go use the restroom, never comes back. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.839 His friends and family, they head to their rooms. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.279 The next morning they wake up, guys, the guy's still out to come back. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:36.960 They search the whole ship. 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:39.119 He's nowhere. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.240 At 2.30 p.m. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:44.240 they call the Coast Guard. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:46.400 We lost one. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:49.039 He fell overboard. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:51.359 He's out in the ocean. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:54.160 He's been out in the ocean from 11 p.m. 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:56.480 to now it's 2.30 p.m. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:58.000 the next day. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:01.119 Something like that? 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:06.400 I mean, no, no life jacket, no boat, nothing. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:09.279 I mean, he is helpless. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:11.359 Imagine that night. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:20.319 A boat takes off from Venice, Florida, a helicopter from New Orleans, two planes, one leaves from clear water, another one from Mobile. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:26.640 All for this one helpless, needy, no hope, this guy. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.039 200 mile search. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.160 I mean, this is a needle in the haystack. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:38.640 And they find the guy six hours later. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:42.400 Here's an incredibly horrible picture of it. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.160 Really bad. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.480 I think my child drew that in kindergarten at one point. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:53.599 He's barely bobbing up and down in the water. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:56.559 And you think he's probably in the water for 15 hours. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:04.640 I mean, what an image of needing help and having no hope unless somebody comes for you. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.240 Yeah, I know that you've felt that way. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:11.920 At least I have. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.799 It's easy to feel helpless. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:16.640 It's easy to feel like you're drowning. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.960 If you're not feeling that way right now, praise God. 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:21.119 But it might be like next Tuesday, okay? 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.680 Just next Tuesday morning, you'll feel this way. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:28.240 You've been exhausted, you've been beat down, you've been broken. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:31.359 But there is hope. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.759 That God is for you and He's with you. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:37.759 And He's not giving up on you. 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:46.079 And to that, this morning, we pray the historic colic prayer for this second Advent Sunday. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:48.960 And you can just listen as I read it. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:53.519 And maybe you want to open your hands in a prayer posture if you desire. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:54.240 You don't have to. 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:55.759 That could be weird to you. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:57.359 But you're welcome to. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:07.039 Merciful God who sent your messengers, the prophets, to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:24.000 Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:25.200 Amen. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:26.400 Let's pray together. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:34.720 Heavenly Father, thank you that your grace is sufficient for our mess, for our brokenness, for our sin. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:41.519 Thank you that you are enough for the judgment due to us because we are imperfect and we are sinners. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:45.680 That in Jesus we have all the forgiveness we need, all the righteousness. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:55.039 And that all the judgment do our sin, for full justice to be known in this world, Jesus is enough for us. 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.000 We thank you for this. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:20:59.759 Help us to trust even more. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:01.440 Help us to heed the prophets. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.000 Let John drive us to Jesus. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:10.240 And to know in Jesus this lavish welcome, full provision and sufficiency. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:14.000 All the forgiveness we need and all the righteousness we need. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:15.680 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:16.480 Amen.