WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:07.120 So the past few months we had been going through the book of Acts, and we got all the way up to Paul's conversion for the summer. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:08.480 We're gonna break from the book of Acts. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:11.359 We're gonna be going through a handful of parables, parables of grace. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:17.839 We'll be doing that all through the summer, and then most likely head back into Acts when we're back in August or September. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:21.120 So every morning I usually listen to a different podcast of some sort. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:24.640 Usually these podcasts are some sort of interview type show. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:28.239 And inevitably at some point, most of these podcasts ask this question. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:33.840 They ask, what do you think the difference is between religion and spirituality? 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.479 What do you think the difference is between religion and spirituality? 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:42.399 And they hymn and they haw a little bit, and each person has a little bit of their own definition, a commentary on this. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:53.520 But more and more people, what I'm noticing, perhaps you're noticing this, more and more people are saying something like they are spiritual, but they are not religious. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:01:06.879 And I think it's probably people's way, I'm guessing, probably people's way of saying that religion has in some way to them felt stifling or wounded them or felt judgmental toward them. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:07.920 And so, you know what? 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.480 I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:15.280 Now, for a definition, religion is a set of beliefs around the supernatural. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:20.000 That's what religion is, by definition, a set of beliefs around the supernatural. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:34.640 But Jesus' attitude toward religious people and religious systems in the New Testament takes it a step further, and he says religion's also the system by which you use those beliefs to please God. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:37.519 Now, spirituality is a little bit different. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:50.079 Usually people define spirituality as more personal, your personal connect with God, and this seems to be a little more subjective and seems to be a little bit more just about whatever that path may be for you. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:58.480 Ten years ago, Tim Keller, the author of the pastor, he wrote an article based on the content of this book called Suspicion and Faith by Merald Westfall. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.519 Now, I'm not studious enough to have read the book, but I read the article. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:06.079 I got the article down, and so I got the gist of the article, I got the gist of the book because of that. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:08.479 And Westphal, in that book, he writes this. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.599 He writes about three different criticisms of religion. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:12.639 And he says, you know what? 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:22.479 Sigmund Freud came out, Freud said religion was just a way, religion, it's just a way for guilt-ridden people to cleanse themselves. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:30.960 They invented a God so that the guilt they feel, they could get rid of it and they could sort of force God to bless them. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:32.240 That's what Freud said. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:42.000 Karl Marx came along and he said, well, religion's really a way that people have created one class of people to oppress another class of people. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.759 Maybe you've seen these things. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:47.840 Nietzsche comes along, Nietzsche's still very popular, this thought today. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:54.479 And he says, Well, anyone who has a claim for truth is just a power play. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:56.240 That's all it is. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.599 Any claim of truth is a power play. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:01.439 Which is ironic. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:10.560 Because by saying any claim of truth is a power play is in fact a claim of truth, which is in fact a power play. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:12.719 So he's doing the very thing he's criticizing. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:15.759 So all these flows, these thoughts are, they're floating around us, right? 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:23.439 Maybe you've seen these things, maybe you actually resonate with one of those, and you go, oh, like, oh, I've seen that, maybe I do that, or I've been around that. 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:35.919 And we can easily become defensive against these types of critiques of God and faith, but that book suggests that we should actually listen to them. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:42.080 We should actually listen to Freud and Marx and Nietzsche and go, what are they saying? 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.560 What are they reacting to? 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:50.319 And that, yes, in fact, religion does create issues of self-righteousness. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.840 Religion does create issues of exclusion. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:58.240 Religion does create issues of power dynamics. 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:03.199 And some of you have walked out on relationships because of this. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:05.439 Some of you walked out on church because of this. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:09.120 Some of you felt like maybe you have to walk out on faith because of this. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:12.879 Do you remember the warden from Shawshank Redemption? 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:18.560 You've had 24 years to see the movie, so I'm not feeling bad about ruining anything in this moment. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:19.680 It's been 24 years. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:20.959 I looked it up. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:24.720 So he's this upright Christian man. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:26.639 Well, upright. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:29.199 Let's put that in little quotation marks, right? 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:30.399 He's an upright Christian. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:31.920 He has a Bible on his desk, right? 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:33.680 Because that's what Christian businessmen do. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:34.319 That's the sign. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:36.399 You know, if you have a Bible on the desk, you're good to go. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:38.000 He has a big Bible on his desk. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:40.319 Every once in a while he'll read a verse. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:46.720 He has this air of arrogance about him, self-righteousness about him. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:49.279 Because he is doing what is right. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:50.639 So he thinks. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:56.800 And he has everybody else pegged, he has everybody else figured out, he has it all figured out. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:59.279 Everybody else is bad, but he is right. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.480 He knows it, he gets it, they don't. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:09.839 All of these prisoners, if only they could be like him, is what he thinks. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:10.480 Right? 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:20.319 And you watch the movie and he just reeks of self-righteousness and arrogance and judgment and exclusion, this idea of like us versus them. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:22.560 I am good, they are bad. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:24.800 And then you remember the story. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:31.600 Andy, the main character of the movie, a prisoner, he starts to keep the guy's books, and slowly you realize, oh, this guy's running a money racket. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:33.439 This guy's the worst of them all. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:39.439 Not only is he arrogant and he's judgmental and he's horrible to these prisoners, he's actually a criminal. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:40.639 He is them. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:43.040 And I love several scenes in Shawshake. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:49.199 One of my favorite scenes is when Andy sneaks in the office, he locks the door, he gets the record player, you remember it? 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:53.680 And he plays the opera music out loud for all the prisoners. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:59.120 It's just this, it's like this moment of beauty and relief for people who are bound. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:12.000 But my favorite scene is this scene where Andy steals the warden's shoes and he walks back to his cell with the warden's shoes on, these shiny shoes. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:16.399 He's been shining them like every day throughout the movie, right? 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:21.040 And it's this symbol, it's this beautiful symbol of you know what? 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:22.560 We're the same. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:24.959 I can wear these shoes too. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:30.720 And this warden, he knows nothing of his own sinfulness. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:34.160 He knows nothing of grace for his sinfulness. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:43.759 So when the tide turns, right, when that swing occurs from self-righteousness to actually seeing his sinfulness, he can't handle it. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:56.000 See, all of that religious stuff, merit, works, righteousness, self-righteousness, exclusion, judgment, power plays, all of it ultimately comes back on you. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:58.879 It comes back and condemns you. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:04.639 All right, now that I have you incredibly joyful this morning, let's read the text. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:12.480 And once again, Jesus is being quite anti-religious in this text against the religious system at the time. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:16.959 Matthew 17, 24 through 27, I'll reread what Sam read for us. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:24.879 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachmatages went up to Peter and said, Does your teacher, talking about Jesus, does your teacher not pay the tax? 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:26.000 He said, Yes. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:31.439 And when he entered, when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, What do you think, Simon? 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:35.759 From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax from their sons or from others? 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:40.399 And when he said, From others, Jesus said to him, Then the sons are free. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:49.040 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:52.399 Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:54.560 Okay, this is a strange story. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:56.079 It's a parable. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:57.600 Some people would call it a miracle. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:07:59.040 Some people would say it's not a miracle. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:00.639 Some people would say it's literal and it's a miracle. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:02.879 Some people would say it's not literal and a miracle. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:06.000 Some people would say that Jesus is being absurd here. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:07.279 It's figurative. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:09.120 Now you can believe either way on that. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.240 The real question here is what does it mean? 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:14.240 What does this mean for religion? 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:16.000 What does this mean for faith? 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:21.279 So we have these guys, these temple tax collectors, they're collecting this temple tax. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:24.800 And they're asking Peter, hey, is your teacher? 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:27.360 Does he pay the temple tax? 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:36.879 Now, this temple tax was for all adult males to pay to the temple, to the religious system, and this was a tax known as ransom for your lives. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.120 It's a good way to raise money, right? 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:40.720 You gotta give to the temple. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:46.159 If you give to the temple, you have paid the ransom for your life. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:48.480 And Peter says, of course. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:49.120 Yes. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:53.519 And the wording here is just like really kind of like quick response. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:54.159 Right? 00:08:54.480 --> 00:09:00.240 The feeling is that Peter desires to make Jesus respectable in the eyes of these religious people. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:04.399 You see, Peter still cares about religion at this point. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:10.000 Peter comes home, back to the house threat, he enters, and Jesus says, Hey, what do you think? 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:12.320 Whom does a king take tax from? 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:17.519 Does a king take tax from his children or from other people? 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:20.559 That's a loaded question. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:26.799 Jesus is saying, Jesus is saying, does he tax his own kids? 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.840 Well, no, a king doesn't tax his own kids. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:32.240 A king taxes foreigners. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:38.879 So he's belittling the temple tax, and thus the religiosity Peter is still connected to. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:42.080 And Jesus is ultimately asking to Peter, do you understand who I am? 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:43.360 Do you understand what I'm doing? 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:44.320 So a few points. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:47.919 Point number one, Jesus dismantles religion. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:55.919 This story is about Jesus distancing himself from the day's religious construct, which was pay. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.039 You pay, earn it. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:02.080 And then be approved by God. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.600 But does a king tax his own son? 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:10.000 I mean, that doesn't even make sense, is Jesus' point. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:11.519 Kings don't tax their children. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:16.879 Jesus is dismantling these religious methods of works, righteousness. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:21.919 Point number two lives of grace and faith are not lives of religion. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:26.000 Imagine you're in an Uno game. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:28.480 So these are our Uno cards, our family's Uno cards. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.840 We are huge Uno fans. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.200 We take them everywhere, you just keep them in Christie's purse. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:38.480 If we're at a restaurant with our kids, you know, there's a moment of waiting. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:41.679 We just break out the deck, we deal it, we play it. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:44.639 If we think, you know, it's gonna be a 15-minute wait, three-card deal. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:48.159 If there's gonna be a longer wait, seven card deal, we make the adjustment, and we play. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:50.159 We play Uno all the time. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:57.679 Now imagine you're playing some Uno with your group of friends, you get dealt your cards, everybody's dealing, you remember the cards, right? 00:10:57.759 --> 00:10:59.360 Like they're colored, different colors. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:00.320 You can tell we've been playing. 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:03.919 There's some blue, there's yellow, there's red, there's green, they're all numbered. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:05.120 It's how the cards work. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:06.639 And then there's the great cards, right? 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:09.759 The black and white cards, the wild cards, those are the ones you really want. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:11.279 It's how the card system works. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:22.480 Now imagine you get dealt your first seven cards, and you get dealt, everybody gets dealt, you get dealt your first seven cards, and the cards you get, all you get is apples, apples cards. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:35.039 And you get Waco, Texas, and you get you get Babe Ruth and Pumping Iron, Hollywood and Babies, and you get these cards. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:38.399 They're pointless in the game, they're not like you're doing anything. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:42.159 I mean, right away you're sort of in some measure of despair. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:55.360 And every time it comes around to your turn, if you can't play a card, and you can't play a card, you don't have a color, or you don't have a number, you don't have a wild card, you don't have a card to play, so you have to draw another card and you draw it, alien abduction. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:56.960 It's not gonna help. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:01.679 Goes around again, you pull another card out, popcorn. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:03.440 Doesn't help. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:07.440 And you just keep drawing cards over and over again. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:11.200 So you're busy and you're at the table. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:15.519 You never leave the game, but you will never win. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:21.840 And you can become delusional and think you're gonna win. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:36.000 Or maybe you recognize the horror of this and you're incredibly frustrated, and you're anxious because it's coming back around to you again, and you're gonna have to draw another card, and you keep getting apples to apples cards for an Uno game, and it's not gonna work. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:41.039 And here's what I can guarantee you will not be a joy to be around. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:44.320 And you will be too frustrated. 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:49.840 You see, religion keeps giving you cards to play. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:53.360 You'll keep getting cards, and you'll still be at the table. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:56.960 But you'll never have the cards to win. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:03.759 So you end up exhausted and anxious or judgmental and prideful if you're in the delusional side of it. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:05.279 But it's a losing game. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.200 It's always a losing game. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.480 But the good news is, is God called the game off. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:16.080 In Jesus, we say, we have the wrong cards. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:18.159 Temple tax is not going to work. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.399 Does a king tax his son? 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:23.440 That doesn't make any sense. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:36.159 I don't have the merit, I don't have the morals, I don't have the motives to be accepted or absolved by God, and yet in Jesus' work for me, it's okay. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:43.600 The game's off because my sin was put upon Jesus and his righteousness was given to me. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:46.720 You see, the temple tax doesn't make sense. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:53.600 The gospel, grace by faith, is a gift, and it's a gift from outside of the cards you hold. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:55.440 It ends the game. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:01.519 Point number three, lives of grace and faith are lives of non-judgmental love and service. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:06.240 Lives of grace and faith are lives of non-judgmental love and service. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:14.159 This is where Jesus is slowly moving this historically religious group of disciples. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:22.240 It's not directly in the text here, but this is where he's moving them to go and love your neighbor, go and make disciples of all people. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:32.480 He's transforming them from the heart out, from dependence and self and religion and law to God's grace to them and the spirit's working in them. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:43.759 And this does not create perfect people, and this does not create a perfect church, but it does move people toward a non-judgmental love and service toward people. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:56.720 And our need to be right or moralize our friends and family begins to be replaced by a desire to love them toward Jesus, ultimately and first. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:12.559 I read a quote this week by a priest and author, Robert Capin, and he wrote this My motives are the same as Christ's, namely to cure my hearers of their excessive fondness for moralism. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:14.720 Last point. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:16.000 Point number four. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:22.639 You have freedom from all religious taxing. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:24.960 You have freedom from religious taxing. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:26.559 That's what Jesus is saying to Peter. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:28.639 Does a king tax his son? 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:31.120 Does a king tax his daughter? 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:33.200 Sons are free. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:34.960 Daughters are free. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.879 And some of you have been paying tax for a long time. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.600 You think you're always in debt to God for something? 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.480 For something in the past, something in the current, some shortcoming that you feel you are? 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:53.840 So you you pay your moral tax, it's moralism, you pay your religious tax, it's religiosity or law. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:58.559 Think maybe I'll be religious enough, maybe I'll be moral enough. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:04.399 Think you can pay your way out of shame or guilt, or you're trying to, and you pay, and you pay, and you pay. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:08.720 And because you're doing this, eventually the people around you pay because you're no joy to be around. 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:12.960 This isn't an easy parable to figure out. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:14.879 Was he literal? 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:20.080 Here at the end of this little story, was Jesus literal? 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:23.759 Did he actually provide the tax for Peter? 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.240 Very possible it'd still be a great story, right? 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:31.279 It's very possible that he provided that and it's a reflection upon him being the provision of the payment. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:32.639 It's very possible. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:36.879 I also like the idea of if he's just being totally absurd. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:49.200 As if to say, if you think you can pay a tax to some temple and all of a sudden be ransomed from your guilt and shame, then like that's about as likely as going to find a fish with a coin in its mouth. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:55.679 Religion for redemption is the same chances as finding a fish with a coin in its mouth. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:02.159 Jesus is saying, ultimately in this story, religion doesn't work. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.000 It never has. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:12.160 Religion is always a ladder that you climb to reach God, and you are always almost there. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:15.920 And also never there. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.240 And religion always says, you are accepted. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.799 You are accepted after. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:25.920 Like after you get your stuff together. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.160 Like after you earn enough. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:30.960 And the gospel is different altogether. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:35.279 It is God's love to you despite everything and anything. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:37.839 The gospel is God's love pursuing you. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:40.000 No ladder for you to climb. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.319 It's God coming toward us. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:47.920 And it is declared and it is secure in his work for us in Jesus. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:53.279 Your acceptance and your absolution is not after, it is before. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:18:06.000 It is before any response by you, anything you do, and a life of response to the gift of grace is not in debt to it, but only gratitude and empowerment by it. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.480 So, my brothers and sisters, the tax game is over. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.519 The religious tax game is over. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:17.279 May you live lives of children of the king, but the sons and the daughters are not taxed. 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:18.640 Let's pray together. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:21.200 God, thank you for your good grace. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:36.640 That you provide the payment, that you provide that coin in the fish's mouth, or perhaps it's just absurdity for us to think that a temple tax would ever be enough for us. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:40.799 Would we hear your words here? 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:44.400 Does a king tax his children? 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:46.240 Of course not. 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:53.119 Would you increase our trust in Jesus that we might know this freedom that you have given us? 00:18:53.279 --> 00:19:03.200 That we are fully accepted, fully absolved by your work for us, and would this create great, great change in our hearts? 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:06.960 And would our lives honor you? 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:08.160 In Jesus' name. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:09.119 Amen.