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This is your daily reminder. God has not run

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out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome

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to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. Today

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is Tuesday, March the 10th, and we are reading

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today in the book of Luke chapter 22 specifically.

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There is a lot of text in Luke 22, so I want

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to encourage you, read the whole thing. Read

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it slowly today. It's a story. It's the storyline

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of Jesus in the last couple of... hours of his

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life, literally. It gives us the date at the

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beginning of Luke 22. It says it's the time for

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Passover is come. Here it is. It's the day. And

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there's a plot to kill Jesus. Now, in this text,

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I hope and pray you read the whole thing today.

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I'm going to bring out just a couple of thoughts,

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and then I'm going to tell you where I feel like

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the Lord is speaking to me today to challenge

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me and to challenge all of our listeners to the

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New Mercies podcast. We are jumping in. to a

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scene that is taking place. There's a plot to

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kill Jesus. So then what happens? It talks about

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this man named Judas and how he is in on this

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plot. He is going to be the tool used to arrest

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Jesus and to have him betrayed. He is the one

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that is going to be the betrayer. So here's how

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Luke 22, as it flows, begins with this plot to

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kill Jesus. It dates it for us. Then the person

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of Judas and what he's going to get involved

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with. Then he talks to Peter and John, these

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two disciples. And he tells them, he says, hey,

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I need you to go and prepare the place that we're

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going to take Passover together. So he gives

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them very unique instructions. Just to kind of

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give you a little overview of it, it's verses

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7 down through verse number 14 or 13 or 14. And

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here's what happens. Jesus says, hey, listen,

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I want you to go and find a guy carrying a jar

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of water in the city. Follow him to his house.

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ask the master of that house, hey, where's the

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room that you've prepared for the teacher? And

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they're going to lead you to a room. It's an

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upper room in this house. You can get it there

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from the outside stairs. Most likely, this was

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probably the place in the book of Acts where

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we see the believers gathering. The church began

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probably in this upper room that was prepared

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for Jesus. Now, it's kind of strange because

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you think, why would they go in and find a guy

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with a water jar and what's going on? Well, In

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the southeast corner of Jerusalem, the oldest

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part of the city was where the original city

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of David was. It's where the water supply came

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in. The oldest, most ancient water supply came

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into Jerusalem in that place. And most of the

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time, it was females' jobs. It was the woman's

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job to carry the water from one place to another.

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So a man carrying a water jar would have been

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a signal. That would have been unusual. And so

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Jesus says, hey, go find a guy carrying water.

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Most of the time when Jesus is doing something,

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It's a little bit unusual, right? It's a little

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bit unique. And so I read that today and I saw

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it and I think, okay, here's what's happening.

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He's getting his disciples together, go and prepare

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the place for us to meet, to have Passover together,

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to have a feast together. Then the Lord calls

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his disciples together. They go meet there. They

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have the Passover feast. They have the Jewish

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Seder, as they will say in our culture today.

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So they have Passover together. He institutes

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the Passover that we're supposed to take communion.

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The Lord's Supper is instituted this moment.

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Then we see a couple of things happen. So all

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this is happening really at a table, right? This

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is him having supper with his disciples, and

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he's now saying towards the end of the supper,

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there's one of you that's going to betray me.

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He's here at this table right now. Can you imagine

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everybody, as they're trying to figure out what's

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going on, they're saying, who is it that's going

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to do this? They're looking around, trying to

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find a guilty face, and everybody is trying to

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come to their own defense, right? Well, it's

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not going to be me. I would never deny Jesus.

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I would never betray Jesus. Jesus, what are you

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talking about? I would never betray you, Lord.

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You're the greatest. Why would I betray you?

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I want to read how this scene takes place. So

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I kind of categorize this scene as what's happening

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at the table. And then there's something that

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happens in a garden next. And then if you keep

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reading, you can see the progression of the way

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it all goes. But I want to read just a couple

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of verses to you. found down in Luke 22, beginning

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at verse 24. So here's what's happened. They

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began to question one another in verse 23. Who

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could it be that's going to betray Jesus? Then

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in verse 24, it says this, a dispute also arose

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among them as to which of them was to be regarded

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as the greatest. And he said, the kings of the

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Gentiles exercise lordship over them in those

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authority over them are called benefactors. but

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not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among

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you become as the youngest and the leader as

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the one who serves. I want to stop right there.

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Jesus has already dealt with this before. If

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you go back in the book of Luke to chapter 9,

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you can see this question gets asked. You can

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also see it in the book of Matthew, specifically

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in chapter 18. The disciples say, which one of

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us is the greatest? Now, here we are again, and

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the disciples are asking the same question. It's

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a dispute that arises. strife happens at the

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table. They've just instituted the Lord's Supper.

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What is happening? How are they arguing? Well,

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they're arguing, if you think it's a natural

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progression for us, Jesus has just said, somebody

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is going to betray me. And so they're like, well,

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it wouldn't be me. Well, I'm not the one. I'm

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not going to betray you. I'm not the one. And

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they say, you know, I'm the closest to him. whoa,

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you're no closer to Jesus than I am. Hang on,

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I'm his favorite. I'm the greatest. You know,

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he's already kind of talked to me a little bit.

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I'm going to be the greatest in the kingdom.

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I'm going to be the greatest. Go back and look,

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and what Jesus says before, he's already addressed

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this once, and he says the greatest, he brings

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a little child over the first time this happens.

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He says the greatest is like this little one.

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Like a childlike faith that just wants to be

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there and be around and be present and be whole

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and just jump in. This is the greatest. The greatest

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are those with this innocent heart, innocent

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mind that just want to be around Jesus. That's

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who the greatest are. And he says again here.

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The greatest of you must be like the youngest.

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What's he saying? He's saying again, it's not

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about how much power and influence you gain.

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It's about your dependency. That's the greatest.

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Don't strive to gain more followers and gain

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more influence. Strive to be what God's called

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you to be. Be humble. And he says the leader

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should be the one who serves. And he keeps going.

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Listen to the next couple of verses. For who

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is the greater? one who reclines at the table

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or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines

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at the table, but I am among you as the one who

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serves? You are those who have stayed with me

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in my trials, and I assign to you as my Father

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assigned to me a kingdom, that you may eat and

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drink at my table in the kingdom and sit on thrones

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judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, we

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talked yesterday and this past week about Luke

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21 and some end times things. There's a couple

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of things that are going on. There are the initial

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things that they will experience through trials

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and sufferings and the kingdom of Jerusalem.

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temple falling and being destroyed. And then

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there's some eschatological viewpoints of what

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God is pointing to in the future, what Jesus

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is talking about that's going to happen thousands

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of years later. Hopefully, prayerfully, I believe

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in our generation, this is when God's going to

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accomplish these things. And as Jesus is telling

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them this, he says, listen, who's the greatest

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and who's the least? You're going to assume the

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one who serves is the lowest, right? Well, I'm

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going to tell you, I'm serving you. Jesus is

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over here breaking the bread, serving it. Jesus

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is pouring the cup and sharing it. Jesus is the

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one serving. He's washed feet. He's serving them.

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He's saying, you all are fighting over who's

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the greatest, and I'm the one serving all of

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you. Maybe take a note here because he says there's

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something great coming for you. There's something

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great that's going to be going on. I've prepared

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for you a place in a kingdom. Here's what's happened.

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The disciples have got a distorted view of what

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the kingdom is. They're assuming Jesus is going

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to take over Rome. They're at the peak of their

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ministry. Everything's going great right now.

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Jesus is having Passover with them, and he's

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sharing about this new covenant. I'm confused.

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What does that mean? Covenant's in his blood.

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There's a lot to happen here. There's some things,

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again, that is... It's talking about eschatological

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things that are happening. There's also some

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soteriological things, meaning like the principles

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of the church and salvation and the way that

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salvation comes and how the church is to respond

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to that. There's a lot that Jesus is unpacking

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here. And the disciples are just in the middle

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of an argument saying, who's the greatest? Who's

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the greatest? My challenge to you today, the

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mercy God showed me today. is I'm not sure if

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you're a person that tries to leverage influence

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or leverage resources or leverage position, but

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here's what I will say today. It's time we serve

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everyone. I was telling my kids just the other

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day, they were talking about what are they supposed

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to do when they grow up? And I said, you know,

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I don't even know what I'm supposed to do when

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I grow up, right? I don't know. None of us really

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know. The question we're supposed to ask, though,

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is not what am I supposed to do? Maybe it's who

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am I supposed to serve? Who am I called to serve?

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Am I called to serve a church? Yes, that's what

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God's called me to do right now. I am serving

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the church body to the best of my abilities and

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the best of my understanding. And every day I'm

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learning more and more how to do that better

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and better. But here's what I believe all of

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us should ask the question, who are we called

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to serve? That's who the greatest is. It's the

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one who serves. Jesus came and served. He's greater

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than all of us. So who are we going to serve

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today? There's a lot more in Luke chapter 22.

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My encouragement to you today, my question to

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you today. is who are you going to serve? It

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may not look like a lot of power and prestige,

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but I promise you this, if God's calling you

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to serve somebody, and if that's how you're obedient

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to him, there's nothing greater in this world.

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Who are you called to serve today?