So, we say that we are a family of servant missionaries,
right? And that's our identity, that's who God
has made us because of who he is and what he's
done. And so, we as a people, individually and
corporately, need to live our life on mission.
And so, one of the ways that I've attempted to
do this is, for myself in person, is I coach
track. And so this week I was down in Homer on
a track meet. And one of the habits that I've
gotten into is to really just pray. I was praying
on the way down. I was praying, you know, even
during that time, Lord, give me opportunities
to be a radiant reflection of you, to shine Jesus.
And, you know, the Lord, the Holy Spirit, will
you do something? And so that was my prayer.
And, man, we had a long day of kids and I was
tired. And I had this long drive back from Homer
last night. And one of the guys that I was working
with was a former athlete who was there helping
run the meet. And he comes up to me. And it's
somebody that I had actually had the opportunity
to share Jesus with. And we baptized him here
two years ago. And he hasn't really walked a
whole lot with the Lord. I mean, on and off.
But he said to me, he says, hey, can I ride back
with you? You know, all the flesh in Caleb went,
oh, no, man, I need that quiet time. And I'm
going to listen to this audio book. And so I'm
thinking. Don't be selfish. I like him. I really
do. I wanted to hang out with him. But I was
just tired. You know how we get that way? And
I felt the Holy Spirit say, suck it up, buttercup.
He's riding with you. And so I said, yeah, of
course. And we got in the truck, and he opened
up his heart from Homer to Anchorage. And God
worked in that moment. And I felt like, I was
like thinking about it. We were, as we hit Russian
River, I was like, all right, this whole conversation
is going to be all about Jesus because that's
what the Lord has opened that door. And so we
just began to talk about the Lord and just in
the future, his future and what God was wanting
to do in his life. And, you know, I thought,
I was driving into Anchorage. I thought, thank
you, Lord, for not missing that opportunity.
in my own selfishness that's exactly where it
would have gone I felt and God just kind of said
see you've been asking me and I gave it so I
just wanted to share share it not because I I
had nothing to do with this I just wanted to
be you know we say that we want to be obedient
to the Lord we want to serve him but we ask the
Lord hey give me an opportunity and then one
comes some has always come when you're not really
ready right And that's exactly what happened.
So I wanted to share that, not to show that I
did something awesome, but it's just a reminder
to me that God uses us as we lay ourselves before
him. So like I said, it has nothing to do with
where we're going to go today. But let's start
off with prayer. If you don't have one of those
Bibles, those blue Bibles, they're free. Grab
one in the back there. It's the Gospel of John.
That's where we're at. But let's pray together,
and then we'll just jump into this. Lord, as
we come before you, starting with myself, I pray
that you will, by your spirit, bring to life
this text for us. Personally in our own life,
maybe corporately in our church or in our gospel
communities. Lord, you've reminded me. It's been
a really good heart check for me personally,
and I pray that it will continue to be that,
but it will also be that way for us as a church.
This is a powerful text, and it's a part of Scripture
that I'm so glad is there because it reminds
me of where I need to be putting my focus, where
the attention needs to be. So I pray as we open
it, unpack it today, that you will speak to us.
In your name, amen. All right, so we're in our
journey through John, and John chapter 20, verse
31, tells us the purpose of this book. And we're
going to be there a long time, and I'll probably
come back to this verse multiple times throughout
our journey in John. But John chapter 20, verse
30 and 31 give us this snapshot of why this book
exists and what John is up to. And he says this,
verse 20, or verse 30. Jesus performed many other
signs in the presence of his disciples that are
not written in this book. But these that are
written are so that you may believe that Jesus
is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing,
you may have life in his name. Underline life.
That's really important. In his name. See, your
view of God, my view of God affects every aspect
of your life whether you believe it or not. I
mean, you can have a really small view of God
and it will ripple into the rest of your life.
If you have a real small view of God, you'll
have a really big view of yourself. And it's
kind of like that scale, right? So when my view
of God gets bigger, actually get a smaller view
of myself because I see him for who he really
is and I see who I am. And so John starts off
this gospel by telling us that Jesus is God.
He wants us to see the really big view of God
because it really helps us balance because we
naturally move God out of the way in our life.
We put ourselves, our agendas. our desires in
front of god that's what we do in our sinful
broken nature and so we need to be reminded all
the time like who's the authority who's who's
really god and john wants our view of jesus just
to grow bigger and bigger that's what this book
really does for us it constantly is pushing a
bigger view of jesus and so One of the things
you'll see in John is this multiple signs, they
call them signs, or miracles. And every time
you see a miracle, it's to reveal the glory of
God. So we always oftentimes see miracles and
go, boy, I wish we could experience those today.
Well, John is telling us when those existed,
the purpose of those, and he says, you know,
there was a lot more that happened. We're not
even writing down in this book. But the ones
that are there, I'm highlighting those so that
you see how big and how glorious God is. It's
not even that much about the person that's being
healed or whatever it is happening. It's about
the glory of God, although those are important,
right? So last week, we saw the first of Jesus'
signs. Jesus is at this wedding celebration.
And he turns water into amazing wine. And it's
the softest, gentlest little sign. Because a
lot of the other ones he does are kind of like,
whoa, you just healed somebody of leprosy or
whatever it is. He starts off with a party. And
I love this. Because he starts off saying that
Jesus is the greater joy. He brings joy to our
life. If we begin to fix our eyes on Jesus, other
things... Other joys of this world, not that
they're not important, but they are lesser. And
Jesus says, I'm the greater joy. And that's how
he starts off in John after that. And now Jesus
tells us right after that celebration that we
looked at last week, he tells us about another
celebration, and that's the Passover. Jesus highlights
all three of the Passovers in John. And they're
really, they're like. They're like really critical
moments in the three years of Jesus' ministry.
Every time there's a Passover, it's a pretty
important point. In fact, Jesus' crucifixion
and resurrection come during the Passover. So
it's a really important time. And so John highlights
those. And what he wants us to see in these verses
today is another angle of Jesus. So as we think
about this story we're looking at, remember last
week. the angle we had of Jesus, because he kind
of puts those two angles together to help broaden
our view of who this Jesus is. And so if you
think about, you know, as you're reflecting about
last week, the week of Cana, the wedding in Cana,
and now we have this totally different story
about Jesus, and the whole point is to put Jesus
at the center. He's at the center. And I think
for me this week, as I keep asking myself, is
Jesus really at the center, Caleb, of your life?
At the wedding feast, he's a party maker, right?
Tim Keller says at the wedding feast, Jesus is
a party maker. At the Passover, he's now a party
pooper. It's opposite. Jesus at the wedding feast
acts quietly, kind of behind the scenes. But
then at the Passover, we're going to see that
Jesus goes public. It's very dramatic. It's the
opposite of what we see in the wedding feast.
Jesus at the wedding adds to your life. At the
Passover, he throws out of your life. He brings
joy at the wedding, and he disturbs at the Passover.
And both views of Jesus are really important.
Look at verse 13. The Jewish Passover was near.
And so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem's
kind of on this hill. And so when it says he
goes up, it literally means he goes up onto this
rise. Okay? The Jewish people, the Passover was
a huge deal. It was a very big deal for the nation.
Like the wedding celebration. Passover was a
week -long event. And one thing I love about
the Jewish culture, especially in the Bible days,
is they really liked celebrations. They liked
to party. They weren't an individualistic society.
They were very communal in the way they operated.
And so when they did things, they actually had
a really good week of celebration. And it involved
feasts and all that. And everything had meaning
to it, right? And so you see this. And so even
this... Passover, the Jewish tradition required
that the month before, it would take a whole
month of preparation to get ready for this one
event. This is once a year celebration to remember
your redemption. How God redeemed you as a person.
How he redeemed a nation. Freedom from bondage
and slavery. by god over pharaoh in egypt that's
what it was looking backwards over the time when
god made them into something big and and he said
i want you to celebrate this every year and i
think this is really important it's really important
for you and i to have our eyes off of our current
situation and looking back to what god has done
and he says i want you to do that but i want
you to remember how i rescued you as a people
and so people would come from from all over Jerusalem.
It estimates, now you just, I was trying to think
of, how do I put this into perspective? Think
about Seward. You ever been to Seward? Can you
imagine a million people converging? Now, I know
the 4th of July is a pretty big event at Seward,
but Jerusalem is not a big community. It's probably
similar to the size. A million people will come
from outside into this one place. And the first
place you would go to was at the center of the
town, which was the temple. The temple was the
place where God dwelt. And so they would all
come like a pilgrimage for an entire week and
celebrate. But the first place you would go would
be... to the place where God dwelt. And there
was where you got to meet with God. And it was
the holy place. It was the center of their worship.
The most important place on earth. And when you
would come to the temple, you would start off
by paying your taxes and getting, bringing, either
you would bring a sacrifice or you would buy
a sacrifice because then the sacrifice was kind
of the center point, right? You and God were
going to get right with each other. This is before
Jesus became our lamb. And so they would come,
and the sacrificial system that God had put in
place would require that you would bring this
unblemished animal, like a baby lamb. Not a baby,
but a one -year -old lamb. Perfect. It's your
best. You only brought your best. Or you would,
if you were coming from a long ways, you would...
bring money to buy the very best. And then that
very best, you would take that lamb, and that
lamb would become your representative. It would
represent you. And upon that lamb, all of your
sin would be laid. Everything. Everything in
those dark thoughts of your brain, all the things,
deeds you've done, all that sin would be laid
upon that lamb. And it's graphic. This would
be happening over and over and over. And they
would take that lamb and they'd slit its throat.
And out of its throat would flow blood. And it
was a representation of the payment for your
sin. And it was meant to leave an impression
that it costs something. Your sin costs something.
It's that lamb would have to pay. the price for
your sin, for my sin. Everybody held the deal
with God on a very personal level. Heavy, but
also it was a picture forward of the celebration
of what God had done, that he had made a way
for them to be made right. And the Passover was
a very holy, very sacred event that focused on
the worship of God, our Redeemer. Okay. So when
Jesus comes to Jerusalem, he's doing exactly
the same. Where does he go first? To the temple.
That's where everybody went first. And then they
would celebrate. So Jesus goes to the temple,
and this is what he finds. Look at verse 14.
And in the temple, he found people selling oxen,
sheep, and doves. And he also found the money
changers sitting there. Now, this seems weird,
because it is. Here's the problem. When Jesus
arrives, the temple doesn't look like a place
of worship, a place where God dwells. It looks
like a business or a market. And it's not that
these things, we won't even go into the fact
that there was, yeah, there's probably, they
were skimming off the top. It's really the place
at first. Because... There was a system for you.
You were traveling from a long ways. You brought
your money. You had to first take Roman money
and turn it into Jewish currency. And there was
a whole lot of things that went on with that.
And Jesus is not confronting that. But you had
to buy the sacrifice. But it's inside the temple.
Inside the temple, he finds the money changers.
He finds that they're using The system that God
had put in for his worship to defraud God's people.
Uh -oh. See, God had put a system in place and
they had moved away from that. And there are
a few things that we see going on here. from
the other gospels, because the gospels address
this. Some people think this event is the same
as the end of the gospel. Others think there's
two different clearings of the temple. I actually
kind of lean that way, thinking that he's done
it twice because there's some differences. Either
way, it doesn't matter. It's the same kind of
approach. But here's what we know. Number one,
that Jesus sees self -centered worshipers. He
walks in and goes, what is going on in the house?
Matthew chapter 21 verse 13 says, he said to
them, it is written, my house shall be a house
of prayer. But you're making it a den of thieves.
See, it's not that Jesus is anti -business or
anti -making money. It's the fact that they were
taking advantage of the system for their own
gain. Who was front and center? They were. And
that really bothers Jesus. And the second thing
we see is it's also where they were conducting
business. They were in the court of the Gentiles.
Now, the temple is different. Like in the outer
court is where the Gentiles could come in. If
you're Jewish, you can go to the inner courts.
But the Gentiles, that's where they would come
to meet God. And where did they set up shop?
It was in that outer court. Livestock. money
changers, everything, business was there. No
longer a place for the Gentiles to come and to
worship God. And it had made a place of worship,
a place of commerce. And the focus was not on
God anymore, it was on themselves. And you know,
I was really kind of thinking, this is how it
goes with my life. I don't... One day you decide,
I have no more God. I just want to focus on Caleb.
It's a drift, isn't it? You just kind of drift.
And before you know it, you're focusing again
back on yourself and not on God. And so the shift
had happened. Think about who Jesus is as you
look at this next part. John tells us really
importantly in chapter 1 who Jesus is. And now
think about that as we read this verse 15. So
Jesus goes in, he sees this situation, the setting.
He says, after this, making a whip out of cords,
he drove everyone out of the temple with their
sheep and their oxen. He also poured over the
money -changing coins and overturned their tables.
He told those who were selling doves, get these
things out of here. Stop turning my house, my
father's house, into a marketplace. Okay, can
you picture this scene? You've got to use your
imagination in this scene. Jesus is red -hot
with anger. He's red -hot with anger. There's
nothing gentle about this Jesus. He reaches down.
He sees what's going on. He reaches down. Somehow
he weaves together. And there's all sorts of
theories about this. Here's the point. He makes
a whip. And he knows how to use it. So he quickly
puts this together. And you can just kind of
picture this scene where the whip begins to crack
and the livestock go crazy and the tables are
being flipped over. And many go... things are
going all over the floor and the chaos is in
there and he's driving people out. Jesus goes
fight club on the temple, in the temple. I mean,
this is one of the coolest, at least for me,
it's one of the coolest scenes of what I think
of Jesus. Now let me ask you a question. What
do you think about this Jesus? This is not your
normal picture of Jesus. Flowing robes and blonde
hair. Whatever painting you have the image of
Jesus. What do you think when you think about
this image of Jesus? What do you think? Huh?
Strong. Yeah. Don't mess with him. Fierce. Does
this kind of shatter your little view of Jesus?
I think in a North American church, we don't
generally think of Jesus this way. This might
just shatter. I mean, Jesus is, don't get me
wrong, he is gentle and loving. He's caring and
compassionate. But he's not really domesticated.
This is a different view of Jesus. What causes
Jesus to have this righteous anger? It was the
religious irreverence of the Jews. toward God
the Father. It bothered him. It angered him.
See, to glorify God is to make sure that he was
the center of your life. That he is the most
weighty thing in your life. And that was the
purpose of the temple. To say, God, you are at
the center of my life. you are what's at the
center of our community you're the center of
how i make decisions god you get all the glory
you know what glory means weight heavy it's it's
the weightiest thing in your life and he says
you guys are not doing that and that just bothers
jesus one of the commentators said this there's
Therefore, the sin of the money changers and
the religious authorities lay in the fact that
while they would loudly proclaim the holiness
and otherness of God, like they're good at giving
it nice words. That's what he says. They deny
it in practice. See, our Lord's whip deposes
everything that distracts from the communication
of God's glory, especially in worship. Another
way of saying this is, what really got after
Jesus? was that they were given lip service to
Jesus, but really, they were putting themselves
at the center. So, and I think what's going on
with them is that their view of God got smaller.
And their view of their agendas got bigger. It
was about them having a small view of God, that
this is, it was about, deflating God and his
ways and inflating you and your ways, this makes
Jesus angry. Okay. Let me not like to talk about
Jesus this way. This is what's here. It's right
in God's word. This is how he operates. The ultimate
source of Jesus' anger, though, before you get
thinking like he's ticked off, his ultimate source
of his anger? was love. A love for God. Many
times our anger is driven from, because when
we get angry, it's because it's driven from a
love for ourselves. Isn't it? Fighting in your
marriage, fighting in your workplace, not getting
along with each other, that's because we're selfish.
What bothers Jesus, what makes Jesus angry, This
is love for God. That's a different kind of anger.
So as the disciples were watching all of this
happen, and the Spirit brought Psalm 69, verse
9, to their minds of one of them. And it says
this in verse 17. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, zeal for your house will
consume me. And they're like, ah, I've seen this
about Jesus. Heard about this. Zeal. See, the
Greek word for consume means to be eaten up.
The Hebrew word for it is in a flame. So Jesus
is consumed with this zeal for the glory of God
in his house. He's just eaten up. He's just overtaken
because the glory of God is that big a deal.
Jesus was consumed. The zeal for the glory of
God. Now the Jewish leaders now in their selfishness
confront Jesus. Let's just look at verse 18.
So the Jews replied to him, what sign will you
show us for doing these things? This is almost
comical if you start to understand. What did
they ask you? What sign? Give us a sign. Like,
you know, they want to know, like, really, whose
authority do you have to do all this stuff? And
they demanded that Jesus justify himself. Now,
their question really ignores whether Jesus was
just in doing it. Now, who was supposed to take
care of the temple? Religious leaders. Whose
job was it to make sure that that outer court
was there to give glory to God in the inner courts?
Who was it? It was their job. And so, they're
not asking the question, hmm, oh yeah, you're
right. They don't do any self -examination. They're
not saying, no, maybe he was justified in what
he just did. Oh, that's right. We're not supposed
to have stuff going on in here. No. Their authority,
their authority is being challenged by Jesus
and his authority. And their response was not
humility. It was to justify it, right? So Jesus
offers, so what Jesus says, he's so, this is
so funny to me. Look what he says, he says, I'll
offer you a sign. Let's do this, all right? Jesus
answered, destroy this temple and I'll raise
it up in three days. Can you just imagine their
faces when he says that? Just, just temple, just
destroy it. I'll show you. Like, really? Therefore,
the Jews said, this temple took 46 years to build,
and you will raise it up in three days? Jesus
is saying, how bad do you want a sign? Knock
down your temple, and I'll rebuild it. See, Jewish
leaders had already missed the sign, though.
But the disciples got it. That's what's unique
about that verse in front. His disciples see
that the sign is the zeal is authority for the
zeal, for the house. And they've missed it. So
Jesus challenges the religious leader in this
cryptic fashion. He says, here's what Jesus is.
And then John tells us, thankfully, what this
is all about. Even the disciples at this point
don't get it. Obviously, the Jewish leaders don't
get it. Look at verse 21. But he was speaking
about the temple of his body. So when he was
raised from the dead, his disciples remembered
that he had said this. And they believed the
scriptures and the statements Jesus had made.
They went, oh. Remember when he popped off and
made this sarcastic remark to the Jewish leaders
about, I need to tear down your temple. He's
actually referring about himself. He's talking
like this is me. I'm the temple. John said, we
didn't get it at first. But now we realize he
was referring to his body. Now two things about
the temple and Jesus' body. Number one is this.
The temple is where God meets man. God meets
man. jesus is god and through him god has come
to man in a new and unique way and he's just
foreshadowing like yeah the temple that's me
you're gonna you're gonna tear me down john john
chapter 1 verse 14 which we've already read the
word became flesh and dwelt among us and we observed
his glory the glory of the one and only son from
the father full of grace and truth So the temple
is the place that God meets with us. And who
is that temple now? It's Jesus. Second thing
is the temple was where sacrifices for sin was
offered to God. And Jesus, in this situation,
says, I am the ultimate sacrifice. The sacrifice
offered once and for all for all the sins of
the whole world. John chapter 1, verse 29, the
next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and
said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. See, the sign was that after
the Jewish leaders had turned, torn down his
body, he would raise up in three days. He says,
I am that now. The resurrection of Jesus is the
ultimate sign of his authority. What they were
asking is, what authority do you have to tear
down the temple? He says, I am the authority.
And you're going to tear me down, and I'm going
to rise again. I am the authority. So being a
Christian means two, you claim two really big
things about Jesus. Number one, he is your savior.
That he's your savior. That he is the lamb of
God upon which all of our sins are put upon.
Your sin, my sin, is all was placed upon his
back. And he went to the cross. His blood was
shed. It's like that lamb. He did it for you.
He is your savior. That's what it means to say
Jesus is my savior. It means I was a mess. Before
Jesus. I was going straight to the pit of hell
because of my sin. Because of Jesus, my rescuer,
my redeemer. Because of what Jesus did, he passed
over. He made a way for me to know the God of
the universe. He's your savior. And then we say
that he is your Lord. When we do baptism, we
ask this question like, Who is Jesus to you?
Well, he's my Savior. And then we say, he is
my Lord. And this means that he is the authority
of your life. See, we like the first one, don't
we? We like the fact that Jesus is our Savior.
But the Lord one is a lot harder when we really
dig into it. Because it means that he's the authority
of my life. Whatever is the authority in your
life becomes our... priority. Whatever is authority
in your life becomes our priority. That's what
it means to make Jesus Lord of your life. Doesn't
mean you're perfect at it. Doesn't mean you struggle
with it and fall away from it. It just means
that that is what is at the center. That's the
first place you go is to the authority. And you
humbly look and say, I got some work to do. I've
moved Jesus out of being the authority of my
life. I want to be in the authority. And the
question I have been, I want to leave with you
is the question I've been asking myself all week.
I think it's one of the most important questions,
whether you are a Christian or you're not yet.
Is Jesus the authority in your life? Is Jesus
and his ways, his goodness, good news, his way
of operating, is it the authority in our life?
Or have we allowed other things to creep in?
We just allowed them to come in because they
make us very good. And honestly, like, I always
say this, guys, that I don't feel like I can
get up here and preach this unless it's working
me first. So this is the question I have to ask
because, you know, if I'm really honest, I love
Jesus as my Savior. But I don't always like him
as my authority. And that's where the day -by
-day surrendering to the Lord really matters.
Because I'm surrendering to him as authority.
I'm surrendering to him is where I find... my
put, my hope. Because what gets in the way is
me and my brokenness. And I think one of the
reasons we celebrate communion, why God says,
Jesus has put this in place for us, is that we
need to reset our attention on Jesus as our authority.
We're really good at justifying our sin. We're
really good. And he says, you see what I did
for your sin? I went to the cross. I laid my
body down. I became your sacrifice. I was the
one whose blood was shed for you. But I want
you to make me your authority. That's... Because
that's what is right. That's what works. I was
talking with my friend on the drive back last
night. And we were driving in my truck and I
said, you know, talking about seeing our lives
go a different direction than the brokenness
that you grew up in or whatever. And saying,
I want to go different. I want to make a different
path. And I said, you know, I'm driving my Toyota
Tundra. And I said, you know, the person that
knows this Toyota Tundra the best is the one
who made it. I don't know it very well. I just
drive it. I think it would make sense I went
to the one who made it if I really want to know
about it. And Jesus says, I am that authority
in your life. I am the one that knows all about
it. I know you. I know what's best for you. See,
one of the things about, and I'll close with
this, our life as a church, our life as individuals,
needs to be marked by repentance on a regular
basis. What I mean by that is, you acknowledge
your sin, you don't just keep hanging on to it.
You know it's not the best. But I'd rather just
a lyric because it's convenient. It makes sense
mentally to me. But repentance is saying, I see
this way of doing it. I know that I'm not letting
God be authority in my life, that I'm putting
and choosing something else. By the way, where
does that take us? That takes us all the way
back to Genesis, doesn't it? Genesis 3, God said,
don't do this. And we went, ah, but we know better.
But repentance is taking that thing, that sin.
This is what the Pharisees. This is what the
religious leader should have done. They went,
oh, you're right. We have made this place not
what it's supposed to be. And so repentance is
saying, first of all, here's my sin, and I lay
it at your feet, Jesus, and I turn, and I put
my focus, my energy, and my direction on my Savior
as Lord of my life, and I move this way from
it. Friends, this is a daily process for a lot
of us. It is for me. There's a thought goes across
my head that's not right. Okay, my lady, I give
that back to you. I run to the one who is the
authority. We are sinners, but we have been saved
by grace. And we have been saved to give our
attention and our affection to the one who deserves
our authority. Be our authority. This is what
the Jewish leader should have done. Instead,
they hung on to that and eventually crucified
Jesus. So, this morning as the band comes up,
it's simple to me. Where I have to go, where
I think we need to go as a church, and that is
just to search our hearts and say, you can come
up. To search our hearts and to say, like, okay,
what areas is Jesus not the authority in my life?
How can I surrender that to him? Nothing complicated,
nothing magical, emotional here. It's just you
and God, and that's where it starts with me and
you. And we say, as your children, as followers
of Jesus, I know I need to go back to that. So,
if there's sin in your life, right where you
sit, just go get real with it. And say, God,
here it is. And then turn. Don't just keep living
in that sin. Move away from it. And move to Jesus.
Let's pray. We acknowledge this morning, Jesus,
that you are the authority. That you're not only
our Savior, but you are our Lord. And it's only
because of you that we can even approach our
Heavenly Father. And it's because of what you've
done that we can enter in to that intimate relationship
with our God. But we know that our sin and our
selfishness and our self -worship just drives
that away. And so today as we sit here and we...
We begin to lift our voices. Will you help us
identify those areas in our life where we need
to lay them down in repentance and say, Jesus,
I want you because you died for me. Because you
paid the price for me. You are my lamb. Your
body was broken and your blood was shed for me.
And so I lay that down and give it to you and
I pick you up. Today again. As the ultimate authority.
In my life. Amen.