WEBVTT 00:00:04.969 --> 00:00:09.949 Howdy Colossians 1 verses 13 and 14 God has delivered 00:00:09.949 --> 00:00:11.990 us from the domain of darkness and transferred 00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:15.269 us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom 00:00:15.269 --> 00:00:19.089 we have redemption the forgiveness of sins Colossians 00:00:19.089 --> 00:00:25.170 1 13 and 14 I love a good story Marvel movies 00:00:25.170 --> 00:00:28.760 are totally my game All right, that is my bag. 00:00:29.019 --> 00:00:30.280 I don't know if we're allowed to say that anymore. 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:32.539 Is that still popular, right? Okay, yeah, thank 00:00:32.539 --> 00:00:37.060 you. But yeah, from Iron Man and Captain America 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:39.659 and all of the Hulks at the very, very beginning, 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:43.640 I was already hooked. It was amazing. All the 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:46.740 Avengers movies, well, let's not acknowledge 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:49.240 the second one, but all the other ones, amazing. 00:00:49.899 --> 00:00:53.600 And I love that for years I have had a continuing 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:56.659 storyline. built on itself. Any wonder that I 00:00:56.659 --> 00:01:00.280 like Doctor Who? But also trilogies, oh my goodness, 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:02.880 like how many years that I had to wait but Back 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:04.760 to the Future finally got its second and third 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:08.200 movies. That was my childhood right there. An 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:12.109 extended series. Nine years later and we finally 00:01:12.109 --> 00:01:15.670 get to the conclusion of stranger things. Oh 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:19.409 my goodness I am all over that for sure that 00:01:19.409 --> 00:01:22.609 the actors are weird, but I love the story And 00:01:22.609 --> 00:01:25.569 you know with all of this is that it's really 00:01:25.569 --> 00:01:28.950 when you get to invest in it and see what happens 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:32.219 I still remember watching how I met your mother 00:01:32.219 --> 00:01:34.959 for the first time and wondering, where has this 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:38.040 been all my life? Why did I not see this before 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:42.000 some of my very dumb mistakes? Because stories, 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.939 they end up pulling you in because we see ourselves 00:01:44.939 --> 00:01:48.780 in them. We see who we are and we understand 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:53.180 ourselves better. I may be okay telling stories 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:55.640 in a sermon because I've prepped for it, but 00:01:55.640 --> 00:01:57.659 I wish I were better at telling them off the 00:01:57.659 --> 00:02:02.390 cuff. One of the things that I find fascinating 00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:05.250 about entering the story though, I mean, when 00:02:05.250 --> 00:02:09.110 you really get into it, when you focus long enough 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:12.789 on any one character, as long as you're looking 00:02:12.789 --> 00:02:15.750 at them long enough, something in you begins 00:02:15.750 --> 00:02:19.750 to root for them. Even the worst ones. Even the 00:02:19.750 --> 00:02:22.650 ones that you would never trust to water your 00:02:22.650 --> 00:02:25.689 plants. And that's saying something from the 00:02:25.689 --> 00:02:28.719 guy with the black thumb. You know, you spend 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:31.740 enough time with any character, and your heart 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:34.759 starts whispering, come on, maybe this is the 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:37.860 moment that they can turn it around. No matter 00:02:37.860 --> 00:02:41.719 how flawed, how broken, how wildly unqualified 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:44.639 that they are to be any sort of hero in the story, 00:02:45.219 --> 00:02:48.939 once you pay attention, you start wanting redemption 00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:54.280 for them. And that's how we see this man named 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:58.960 Dismas. What a name right? I think his parents 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.539 didn't like him It sounds either like a precious 00:03:01.539 --> 00:03:03.960 metal or someone who definitely owes you money 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:06.520 I mean one or the other and he's never gonna 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:08.240 pay you back. You know, he's never gonna pay 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.060 you back But he's not really a great character. 00:03:12.539 --> 00:03:15.860 He's just not if you were choosing teams You 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:18.159 wouldn't pick him You would hope you could just 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:19.840 pretend you didn't even see him in the crowd. 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:23.319 If you were casting a movie, he would probably 00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:26.479 be thug number three, the one who gets knocked 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:28.759 out before the opening credits even finish rolling. 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:32.300 Whatever shady things he's done in his life, 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:34.659 they're not the sort of things you brag about 00:03:34.659 --> 00:03:37.280 at Thanksgiving dinner, and that's even with 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:41.139 your Uncle Jim. And yet, the longer we start 00:03:41.139 --> 00:03:44.979 watching the thug, the criminal, paying attention 00:03:44.979 --> 00:03:49.400 to him, Something in us can't help but hope for 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:52.740 him to make something of himself. Even though 00:03:52.740 --> 00:03:56.080 his story is headed toward disaster, even though 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:59.419 nothing good seems likely to come of him, even 00:03:59.419 --> 00:04:01.740 though he's corrupt, compromised, and honestly 00:04:01.740 --> 00:04:05.139 undeserving, something in us keeps whispering, 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:08.520 yeah, but maybe, maybe there's still a chance. 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:12.819 Maybe grace will find him. Because when you enter 00:04:12.819 --> 00:04:16.610 a story deeply enough, Redemption stops being 00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:20.769 a plot twist and starts being a longing inside 00:04:20.769 --> 00:04:24.730 of the audience. The audience is hoping for the 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:28.529 redemption story. And if we're honest, we want 00:04:28.529 --> 00:04:32.470 redemption, but not just for the criminal. We 00:04:32.470 --> 00:04:35.230 want it for ourselves as well, because there's 00:04:35.230 --> 00:04:39.850 a little part of us that gets the criminal. It's 00:04:39.850 --> 00:04:41.750 not really about wanting to be in the kingdom 00:04:41.750 --> 00:04:46.470 of God. expecting forgiveness to be in our own 00:04:46.470 --> 00:04:51.829 dark world. We want it on our terms. We want 00:04:51.829 --> 00:04:54.589 it to redeem us without us needing to change 00:04:54.589 --> 00:04:59.029 anything. I'd love some redemption here. Just 00:04:59.029 --> 00:05:03.350 don't expect any change. Colossians 1, 15 through 00:05:03.350 --> 00:05:07.089 16. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, 00:05:07.910 --> 00:05:10.589 the firstborn of all creation, for by him all 00:05:10.589 --> 00:05:13.240 things were created. All things were created 00:05:13.240 --> 00:05:16.860 through him and for him. And maybe that's the 00:05:16.860 --> 00:05:20.379 strange twist of all this. We don't ever actually 00:05:20.379 --> 00:05:22.439 want the perfect hero. Let's just be honest. 00:05:22.540 --> 00:05:25.879 We don't want the perfect one. We want the one 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:29.800 who limps the way that we limp. The one who says 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:32.500 the wrong words that we say. The one who panics 00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:34.560 at the wrong moments. The one who snaps at the 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.000 wrong people. The one who breaks promises. The 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:40.740 one who gets caught. Because deep down we know 00:05:40.740 --> 00:05:45.160 that we would have gotten caught too. We understand 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:48.879 them. We kind of feel bad for them. It's like 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.939 when the flawless hero walks onto the screen 00:05:51.939 --> 00:05:55.300 and we think, well, must be exhausting being 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:58.720 that perfect all the time. There's this one actor. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:01.279 It's like every time you see him in a movie, 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:04.420 you know he's always going to lose the girl. 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:10.470 He's too good. He's way too pretty. The guy who 00:06:10.470 --> 00:06:13.769 plays Cyclops in the X -Men, oh my gosh, come 00:06:13.769 --> 00:06:17.050 on, he seems like a nice guy. But then, you know, 00:06:17.209 --> 00:06:19.970 we hate it. We don't want the girl to choose 00:06:19.970 --> 00:06:22.709 the good guy. We make up in our heads reasons 00:06:22.709 --> 00:06:25.310 why that good guy deserves to be ignored and 00:06:25.310 --> 00:06:29.189 rejected. But then the camera cuts to the side. 00:06:29.829 --> 00:06:32.949 The character who's sweating, confused, and frankly, 00:06:33.290 --> 00:06:37.709 morally reprehensible. Exactly. And suddenly 00:06:37.709 --> 00:06:41.600 we're like, there he is. That's my guy. The one 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:43.879 who clearly has nothing redeeming about him. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:46.600 The one who actually makes everything worse and 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:49.120 makes me feel better about myself. That's the 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:53.879 guy for me, but hey, at least he's honest. Dismisses 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:57.439 that guy. A man who is something of a mystery, 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:00.699 except we know he deserves to be punished as 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:05.259 a criminal because he is one. And Jesus, well, 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:09.000 well he's Jesus. Come on. Does anybody really 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:12.500 want to root for the perfect person? Does anyone 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:16.100 really want to pay attention to Jesus as a person? 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:20.000 As someone to connect with? As a savior, yes, 00:07:20.259 --> 00:07:23.259 absolutely. But do you really want to connect 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:27.560 with Jesus as a human being? Yes, he's human, 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:29.740 but do you really want to think of him that way? 00:07:30.709 --> 00:07:33.730 Colossians keep shouting at us. You don't understand. 00:07:33.750 --> 00:07:36.449 He's the image of the invisible God. He's the 00:07:36.449 --> 00:07:40.089 firstborn. That's the guy to be like. Follow 00:07:40.089 --> 00:07:46.310 him, please. Let's be honest. When Paul says, 00:07:46.529 --> 00:07:49.050 in him all things hold together, blah, blah, 00:07:49.089 --> 00:07:51.550 blah, blah, blah. Most of us hear it like a refrigerator 00:07:51.550 --> 00:07:55.170 magnet or a stitched pillow at Hobby Lobby, the 00:07:55.170 --> 00:07:58.430 Jesus store. you know frankly you're like oh 00:07:58.430 --> 00:08:00.550 that's pretty that's some good stitch work on 00:08:00.550 --> 00:08:04.610 there it doesn't quite hit doesn't really connect 00:08:04.610 --> 00:08:07.269 doesn't mean anything you're just kind of like 00:08:07.269 --> 00:08:09.470 well put it right behind you know my hip because 00:08:09.470 --> 00:08:12.370 you know my lumbar is sore because we're far 00:08:12.370 --> 00:08:15.810 more aware at a time when it says in him all 00:08:15.810 --> 00:08:17.689 things hold together frankly we're just a little 00:08:17.689 --> 00:08:20.430 bit more aware of how things are coming apart 00:08:20.430 --> 00:08:24.410 for us so we gravitate toward the character who's 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:28.790 coming apart too The more we watch Jesus, the 00:08:28.790 --> 00:08:32.669 more we admire Him. But the more we watch dismiss, 00:08:33.570 --> 00:08:37.850 the more we understand Him. And nine times out 00:08:37.850 --> 00:08:40.330 of ten, the person you understand is the one 00:08:40.330 --> 00:08:43.970 you root for. He gives us a place to hide our 00:08:43.970 --> 00:08:48.350 hope. If that guy could be saved, then maybe 00:08:48.350 --> 00:08:53.269 someone like me could too. Colossians 1, 17 through 00:08:53.269 --> 00:08:57.379 18. Jesus is before all things, and in Him all 00:08:57.379 --> 00:08:59.860 things hold together, and He is the head of the 00:08:59.860 --> 00:09:03.840 body, the church. But you see, here's the tension. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:08.259 Colossians, it insists that Jesus is the one 00:09:08.259 --> 00:09:11.600 who holds reality itself together. You remember 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.620 like the word is moving on the waters at creation 00:09:14.620 --> 00:09:18.279 and all, yet we keep trying to rewrite the story. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:22.779 We complain that the stories turn out exactly 00:09:22.779 --> 00:09:25.740 the way that they were designed. We say, well, 00:09:25.740 --> 00:09:27.820 I didn't want that to happen as if the universe 00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:33.200 owed us a gentler episode. We watch the blonde 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:36.220 dragon lady descending into darkness, and then 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:39.139 we're angry when she suffers for it in the eighth 00:09:39.139 --> 00:09:43.299 season. We watch nine seasons of a sitcom, watch 00:09:43.299 --> 00:09:45.620 two characters fall in love exactly as the writers 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:48.970 set up in episode one, And then we roll our eyes 00:09:48.970 --> 00:09:50.529 when they get together at the end and say, oh, 00:09:50.529 --> 00:09:56.590 that was terrible. We want our version that makes 00:09:56.590 --> 00:09:58.789 us feel better about ourselves and our expectations. 00:09:59.929 --> 00:10:03.389 We want our own story arc. We want our own ending. 00:10:04.909 --> 00:10:08.470 And when the ending is different, the anger wells 00:10:08.470 --> 00:10:11.850 up. And that's exactly what happens with the 00:10:11.850 --> 00:10:15.330 man we keep trailing through the shadows, Dismas, 00:10:16.330 --> 00:10:19.600 the one who did what we do, the one who ignored 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.879 what God had designed people to do. He took the 00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:25.740 storyline that built on God's design and said, 00:10:25.899 --> 00:10:30.580 no thanks, I'll improvise. The one who stole, 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:36.320 maimed, killed. But even when we try to scribble 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:39.600 all over the script and add all of our notes 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:43.240 in red, thinking that we are the next Robert 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:48.740 Downey Jr. We try to ruin the original story. 00:10:49.740 --> 00:10:53.559 The author doesn't abandon the story. The author 00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:57.679 doesn't abandon us. See, Dismas doesn't know 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:00.840 it yet, but as much as he tried to escape a story 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:03.039 that God would have originally wanted for him, 00:11:03.059 --> 00:11:05.559 God is about to sweep him up into a redemption 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:10.460 that we never could have imagined. Colossians 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:14.259 1, 19 and 20. For in Jesus all the fullness of 00:11:14.259 --> 00:11:18.220 God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile 00:11:18.220 --> 00:11:21.860 to himself all things Making peace by the blood 00:11:21.860 --> 00:11:25.159 of his cross And this is where the whole thing 00:11:25.159 --> 00:11:29.980 cuts open if God's story only worked when characters 00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:33.240 behaved properly and Followed the right person. 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:35.299 We wouldn't have a story. We wouldn't even have 00:11:35.299 --> 00:11:40.940 a pamphlet We'd have a very very short blurb 00:11:41.769 --> 00:11:44.250 Because the fullness of God, it doesn't show 00:11:44.250 --> 00:11:47.350 up only in the scenes where everything is tidy 00:11:47.350 --> 00:11:51.250 and fits what it's supposed to do. It shows up 00:11:51.250 --> 00:11:56.509 right when the story derails and derails spectacularly. 00:11:57.269 --> 00:12:00.450 Look at the cast around Jesus. Disciples who 00:12:00.450 --> 00:12:02.690 blurt out the wrong answer at the wrong time. 00:12:03.289 --> 00:12:05.549 Followers who can't stay awake through a prayer 00:12:05.549 --> 00:12:09.279 meeting. A betrayer who thinks the perfect moment 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:12.220 to hand Jesus over is the exact moment that Jesus 00:12:12.220 --> 00:12:15.519 has finally revealed who he really is. Thanks, 00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:19.639 Judas. If this were a movie, the same audience 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:22.480 that was so excited to see all of those characters 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:25.460 mess up and ruin things would still be yelling, 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:27.759 what were you doing? He was getting to the good 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:32.980 part. He was so close to making everything finally 00:12:32.980 --> 00:12:40.409 work. And then it gets worse. As Jesus is betrayed, 00:12:40.570 --> 00:12:42.909 as his story is ruined by the characters we were 00:12:42.909 --> 00:12:46.509 originally excited to see, the ones whose character 00:12:46.509 --> 00:12:50.149 flaws were just like ours, even while we didn't 00:12:50.149 --> 00:12:54.970 want to admit it. Two thieves appear on the hill 00:12:54.970 --> 00:12:59.049 with Jesus, about to be executed for crimes they 00:12:59.049 --> 00:13:03.509 really did commit. And just to be clear, these 00:13:03.509 --> 00:13:08.090 are two criminals. We get those pictures of the 00:13:08.090 --> 00:13:10.990 three crosses, and we see two people up there. 00:13:11.289 --> 00:13:15.909 These are not two cute commentators for the story 00:13:15.909 --> 00:13:20.129 of Jesus. These are not Statler and Waldorf in 00:13:20.129 --> 00:13:23.029 the Muppets heckling Jesus from some pretend 00:13:23.029 --> 00:13:27.529 balcony. These are not charming old men making 00:13:27.529 --> 00:13:30.269 snarky commentary. These are hardened criminals, 00:13:31.309 --> 00:13:34.980 genuinely dangerous and genuinely guilty. And 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:38.480 that's the point. These were not actors sitting 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:41.120 around the casting table discussing who was going 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:43.779 to play each part, making an amazing story that 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:46.919 would win the Academy Award. These were people 00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:49.799 taking the beauty of God's world and destroying 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:55.080 it, betraying it, ruining it. But the fullness 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:58.080 of God means that while their sinful rebellion 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:02.190 was never how it should have been, God would 00:14:02.190 --> 00:14:05.509 still step into the ruined story and find a way 00:14:05.509 --> 00:14:08.970 to redeem it. God says you broke the narrative. 00:14:10.049 --> 00:14:12.990 You mangled the plot. You took the only character 00:14:12.990 --> 00:14:16.090 that was good in this and threw him away for 00:14:16.090 --> 00:14:19.610 the others. But I'm still going to set it right. 00:14:20.490 --> 00:14:25.809 And how does he do it? By letting the only sinless 00:14:25.809 --> 00:14:28.789 character in the narrative carry the consequences 00:14:28.789 --> 00:14:32.279 of everyone else's improvisation. Being blamed 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:35.399 for what he didn't do while others lived according 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:42.820 to a lie Luke 23 To others who were criminals 00:14:42.820 --> 00:14:46.259 were led away to be put to death with him One 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:48.320 of the criminals began to mock him, but the other 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:51.620 rebuked him saying Jesus remember me when you 00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:54.440 come into your kingdom And he said to him today 00:14:54.440 --> 00:14:58.700 you will be with me in paradise And that's what 00:14:58.700 --> 00:15:01.580 we find with the two thieves who were given names 00:15:01.580 --> 00:15:07.200 in early Christian tradition, Gestus and Dismas. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:14.080 Gestus mocks Jesus. Dismas turns to him. And 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:16.980 everything in the story, all of Colossians' cosmic 00:15:16.980 --> 00:15:20.440 claims that all the brokenness and improvisation 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:22.679 and rebellion, when we realized we completely 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:27.039 ignored it, suddenly collapses into a single 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:31.159 moment. The man whose resume is nothing but failure 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:33.840 puts all his hope in the one whose resume is 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:37.580 nothing but faithfulness. The one who deserves 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:46.600 nothing asks for everything. Paradise. And Jesus 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:50.980 gives it. See, that's the scandal of grace, the 00:15:50.980 --> 00:15:54.899 punchline, if you will. The upside down kingdom, 00:15:54.980 --> 00:15:59.169 Paul keeps shouting about In Colossians, the 00:15:59.169 --> 00:16:02.389 worst character gets the keys to the kingdom. 00:16:03.370 --> 00:16:06.470 This isn't something where we try to imagine 00:16:06.470 --> 00:16:09.529 that Dismas up there has gone through all of 00:16:09.529 --> 00:16:14.129 these things where now he's a good guy. He's 00:16:14.129 --> 00:16:20.710 desperate and he knows it. But he turned to the 00:16:20.710 --> 00:16:24.389 one who could finally give him everything. And 00:16:24.389 --> 00:16:29.690 he does. And it's a good thing He does. Because 00:16:29.690 --> 00:16:34.230 that's us. We do not deserve paradise. We did 00:16:34.230 --> 00:16:37.809 not choose the right path. We still don't. We 00:16:37.809 --> 00:16:40.289 did not cling to the right storyline. We threw 00:16:40.289 --> 00:16:42.730 away the only one who ever followed it perfectly. 00:16:43.529 --> 00:16:48.629 And yet, God still hands us the kingdom. Holding 00:16:48.629 --> 00:16:52.149 the keys does not mean we earned them. But we 00:16:52.149 --> 00:16:59.309 still have them anyway. Here is my hope. This 00:16:59.309 --> 00:17:05.710 is my plea to all of you, if you will. Seeing 00:17:05.710 --> 00:17:10.009 that the keys are now in our hands, my hope is 00:17:10.009 --> 00:17:13.569 that we stop trying to rewrite the story to fit 00:17:13.569 --> 00:17:17.710 what we wanted it to be. My hope is that we stop 00:17:17.710 --> 00:17:21.450 insisting on the version that flatters us and 00:17:21.450 --> 00:17:25.359 ignores our biases. My hope is that we would 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.759 stop returning to paths of corruption, self -protection, 00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:33.099 and self -creation. My hope is that we would 00:17:33.099 --> 00:17:37.000 now take the time that we have to say more than 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:41.980 Dismas ever did to say, Lord, change me. Help 00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:46.460 me understand why I chose what was wrong. Before 00:17:46.460 --> 00:17:49.319 I enter your kingdom that I will never deserve, 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:56.539 let me follow you now. I hope so. Because maybe 00:17:56.539 --> 00:18:01.619 in that moment, maybe in that surrender, maybe 00:18:01.619 --> 00:18:05.579 at that cry in the ruins of all that we did, 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:10.279 turning toward the true firstborn, as he is on 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:14.519 the cross for us, maybe that becomes the chapter, 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:17.680 just like Dismas, that stands for all eternity. 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:20.700 And maybe that becomes the chapter where the 00:18:20.700 --> 00:18:24.420 author himself rewrites our ending and the ending 00:18:24.420 --> 00:18:29.460 of all of those we reach forever. Thanks be to 00:18:29.460 --> 00:18:29.599 God.