Part 1: The Ransom

Well, good morning. Good morning to everybody here joining us live in the auditorium and also want to say good morning to everybody joining us over in venue. The venue service joins us live for the sermon part of the service and also everybody watching on Facebook live wherever you are. It is just great to have you here. My name is Radee, I'm one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church and grab your message notes that look like this. They're tucked inside the bulletins you were handed when you came in. You can also download the PDF online so you can follow along with a message as we begin a brand new series today called The Light in the Darkness, The Journey to the Cross in the Gospel of Mark.

Let's talk about the cross. What a fascinating symbol the cross is. Even today, 2,000 years after the events that it symbolizes, the cross is still magnetic to people. The cross still draws people in and captures people's imaginations all over the planet. There's just something about it. People wear it and it's the subject of so much drama and movies and music and art of all kinds. People from Michelangelo to Rembrandt to Salvador Dali have been attracted to the cross as a subject for their creativity and their genius for centuries.

In fact, I just read yesterday that next weekend the Smithsonian is opening a brand new exhibit on the art of black Americans and perhaps not surprisingly the cross is everywhere in the art of black Americans and of course it has been the symbol of our faith. Think about it. The cross has been the symbol of the Christian faith across cultures, across centuries, across all languages, across all generations, across all Christian denominations. It has been kind of our brand for millennia now.

But I have to say as we dive into a series all about the stories leading up to the cross, I gotta be honest, maybe for some people here the whole cross image is kind of a problem. Do you ever ask why is the cross the symbol of Christianity? Why didn't we get something nicer like the other religions got? Like a lotus blossom, right? Or a star or the moon or something cool like that. How did we wind up with a Roman instrument of torture? How in the world did that get to be our brand that is so unlikely?

In fact, let me go even further. Do you ever wonder why did Jesus have to die on the cross anyway? And maybe all you ever heard was the Sunday School answer, "Jesus had to die because he had to pay for our sins." Period. Don't ask any more questions. And secretly you thought, okay, what kind of a God would come up with a system that would require the death of his one and only son? How bloodthirsty is that? Why couldn't God, God's God, he can do anything, right? Why couldn't he just say, "I forgive you?" Right? I mean, what does the cross even really mean? I've never had it explained to me.

Well, we're gonna dive into all those questions in this series as we tell the story of Jesus going to the cross. And this is gonna expand your mind as you learn not—here's what's unique about this series—you're gonna learn not some theologians answer to all those questions. You are going to hear Jesus Christ's own answers to all those questions. And this is gonna recharge your soul. If your Christianity has kind of been on cruise control, you've been kind of feeling blah as we tell the story of Jesus' life leading up to the cross. This is gonna spark your imagination like it has sparked the imagination of all those artistic geniuses all throughout the centuries. You're gonna be even more drawn to what it represents.

And as each week—we're gonna do this every single week until Easter—tell the story another part of the story. It's gonna build and build until when we get to Easter. You're just gonna like erupt with joy because we've been building and building and building up to it. And you know in doing this we are part of an ancient Christian tradition called Lent, which is for the 40 days leading up to Easter you do a daily reflection on the cross and you do some personal business with God.

Now to help you do that, to help us all together stay on track for the next 40 days, we have daily meditations. Flip your message notes over and look at the back. You'll see how we wrote written daily meditations for Lent that tie into the sermon for every single day for the next 40 days. And you can also text as it says there in the byline, you can text to join our daily video devos. These are all designed to tie together. I think it's going to be a powerful 40 days. If you stick with us, if you can't make it live, then join us every week on Facebook live because it is going to build to something amazing. I think God's going to do a work in our individual lives and spiritually in our lives as a church.

So let's dive straight in. This morning the prologue to the plot. This is almost kind of the crawl at the beginning of a Star Wars movie that sets up the drama. This is the foreshadowing of the crucifixion. Check this out. At least three times in the Gospel of Mark. And the Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They're the four books of the Bible that tell the story of Jesus's life. Okay. And Mark's Gospel is the shortest and experts say it was probably written the earliest. It's very tight, kind of moves from one thing to another really, really quickly.

And in Mark's Gospel, Jesus at least three times predicts his own death. Before he's ever even threatened. He tells his disciples, "Guys, guys, guys, here's the way it's gonna go down. I'm gonna die." Now imagine being one of them. I really want you to feel the tension that they must have felt and the confusion that they must have felt. I want you to feel the suspense mounting, to feel the force of this. And so what I'm gonna do first is I'm gonna read all three of those passages, one chapter after another. Then we're gonna look at the last one in detail. They're there in the notes. They're gonna be on the screen too starting in Mark chapter 8 verse 31.

Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man—and Son of Man was kind of like his code name for himself. And I'll show you why in just a minute—must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the teachers of the law and that he must be killed. Oh, and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this. It wasn't, he was not like, they knew he wasn't telling a parable. He was speaking plainly about this.

Then again in chapter 9 verse 31 he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him and after three days he will rise." And then just in case the disciples missed it or we readers missed it, Jesus repeats it again in chapter 10, three chapters in a row. It says they were on their way up to Jerusalem and Jerusalem is the capital city. That's where all the power players, the Jewish temple leadership and the Roman government, are kind of circling each other warily, kind of like two alpha dogs, kind of like fighting for control of this city. It's a political hotbed and it is where Jesus is going to be crucified.

They're on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading away. Now I want to stop right there because this right there is such an important phrase because it shows us that Jesus was never dragged into Jerusalem by his enemies and he was never swept into Jerusalem by an enthusiastic crowd and he was never pushed into Jerusalem by passionate pilgrims heading up there for the Passover. He himself was walking ahead of his entire entourage. He was leading the way. He was intentional. His death is no accident. He knows what is about to happen. In fact, he is setting it into motion. Very, very important and that's why the disciples were astonished and the crowd that was following, those that followed were what? They were afraid.

Why were they astonished and afraid about Jesus going up to Jerusalem? Millions of people went up to Jerusalem every year. Well they're astonished and afraid because they know by proclaiming himself the Son of Man. He is using a word from the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, that meant the Messiah. God's ultimate King. He's declaring himself the new King. Now other people have done that before Jesus and you know what happened to every single one of them? They know if you go up to Jerusalem where all the political power players are and you claim to be another king, one thing happens. You get disappeared. You get deep-sixed. You get axed and so they're going, "Why is he going up to..." This is why in John chapter 11 when Jesus tells his disciples, "Guys we're gonna go up to Jerusalem." Thomas who was one of his best friends and another one of the disciples, remember what he says? It says he turned to the other disciples and said, "Let's go die with him." Let's go die because they knew if he goes up they're talking like this. They're gonna kill him.

Watch what's next. Again he took the twelve aside and he told them what was going to happen to him. "We're going to go up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and then hand him over to the..." Who? Gentiles. And Gentile is the Jewish word for anybody who is not a Jew. The Gentiles who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him, and three days later he will rise. And then there's a little disagreement that comes up we're gonna look at later and skipping over to verse 45 he gets back to his point and he says, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a what? As a ransom for many."

This is such a rich passage. Three things I want to look at as we kick off the series just to kind of lay the foundation for how crucial this was to Christ's ministry. Let's talk about the precision of Christ's death. That's on page one of your notes and then the prophecies about Christ's death on page two and the purpose behind Christ's death on page three and I'm really gonna focus in on that last point. First, the precision of what Jesus says here about his death and this is super important. Show you why. Jesus reveals his own death will be first intentional, not some tragic accident. He means for it to happen. In another scripture he says, "I lay down my own life. Nobody takes it from me."

And then second, his condemnation will be universal and here's what I mean. He says he will be rejected by both Jews and Gentiles and those two groups cover everybody. His rejection is universal. Why is this so important? Well a couple of reasons but first and listen carefully to this. Every single friend that I have who is Jewish and I mean every single one has told me that at some point maybe on the school playground, maybe at work, maybe in some extended family gathering, maybe at some church, some Christian or at least somebody who claimed to be a Christian looked at them and called them a Christ killer. Ugly, bigoted and as you can see here totally unbiblical thing to say because first Jesus himself says my death was my intention. I laid down my own life. Nobody took it from me and second he says the conspiracy was actually universal. They were all implicated. The corrupt temple leadership instigated and then according to Jesus's own words, who were the ones who actually tortured and killed him? The Gentiles.

So what a blot on Christian history is prejudice against the Jews and as some sort of a local representative anyway as a Christian I beg forgiveness from my Jewish brothers and sisters for how they've been treated. Just horrible from every angle and we especially need to state that clearly today as we start to go into the passion narratives. Now watch this. Jesus says it won't be a mob that does all this. It will be judicial when he uses the term condemn him to death. That's a legal term that indicates he will be tried and executed as part of a trial and it will be brutal. He says the Gentiles, the Romans, will mock, spit, flog, kill, but saving the good news for last thank you Jesus it will be not final. It'll be followed by resurrection and not at some uncertain time in the future like all the rest of us but he says precisely in how many days? Three days.

Now question, how did he know all this? Page two. How did Jesus know all the details about his own death? Now kind of the simple answer is well he was the son of God right? He had powers. Couldn't he see into the future? Well of course he was the son of God but you know my theory he knew the prophecies about the Christ's death. Jesus knew what the Hebrew scriptures said about the Messiah. In other words what I'm arguing is absolutely he was the son of God and had powers but you don't have to argue that he could see into the future to understand how he knew all these details about his death because they were all plainly written down for anybody who wanted to see them.

This is gonna blow some minds in this room right now in fact I have a friend Dave Burns who actually became a Christ follower after seeing what I'm about to show you. This is so remarkable. The Hebrew scriptures what some people call the Old Testament were all written down centuries before Jesus was even born okay and they speak of this mysterious figure to come called the Son of Man or the Messiah which means the anointed one the king and by the way do you know what the Greek word for Messiah is? Somebody said it Christ. So Christ was not Jesus's last name and H was not his middle initial all right? Jesus Christ means Jesus Messiah Jesus son of man that's what Jesus Christ means all right and there were hundreds of prophecies about this Messiah figure and and when he showed up what would happen to him and how he would die and Jesus knew he was this person that's why he calls himself the Son of Man I am that person and and he knew all of these prophecies and this is how he knew in detail what was going to happen to him and I just put a few of these in your notes there's hundreds I just put a few I won't go through these in detail but look at your notes look at some of these his exact death cry was predicted Psalm 22 verse 1 says my God my God why have you forsaken me do you ever wonder why Jesus said this when he's hanging there on the cross?

I had a college professor who said you know Jesus became an atheist while he was dying I said what are you talking about he goes well he had a crisis of faith my God why have you forsaken me? You ever wonder why he said that? When Jesus yells this from the cross he is not having some crisis of faith you know what's happening it's remarkable he is shouting out the title to a song that the disciples would have all known the lyrics to it was very very familiar to every Jew at the time you know how somebody all they have to do is like say one line of a song and then you just start singing the whole rest of the song this is what would have happened with this song he's saying the first line of Psalm 22 the Psalms were songs in the Hebrew scriptures and they were known in those days not by their numbers today we know them by their numbers Psalm 23 right in those days Psalm 23 wasn't called Psalm 23 not the numbers came later you know what it was called the Lord is my shepherd because that was the first line that was the title well Psalm 22 was known by its first line my God my God why have you forsaken me now why would he call out the title to a song to evoke the rest of its lyrics while he's dying on the cross he is directing his disciples there because he knows they will begin to see details about his death that were foretold in incredible detail and this is going to comfort them because they will suddenly see oh this is not some tragic accident it's all been planned you see what are you talking about let's just rock it through some of these this one isn't in your notes but in Psalm 22 16 it says this Jesus is you know when he died on the cross Jesus his hands and feet were pierced right when he was crucified well verse 16 says they pierced my hands and my feet even though there was no such thing as crucifixion a thousand years before Christ when this was written but still it's precisely foretold you know how Jesus's clothing was divided by lot the soldiers gambled for his clothes well verse 18 predicts they divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment you know how Jesus was mocked as he died they yelled at him oh you trust in God so now let God deliver you that's what they said verse 7 and 8 predicts all who see me mock me they hurl insults shaking their heads he trusts in the Lord let the Lord rescue him you know how his heart burst and poured out like water when a Roman thrust a spear into his side verse 14 of Psalm 22 predicts I am poured out like water all my bones are out of joint my heart has turned to wax it has melted within me and there's way more read it for yourself precise details foretold a thousand years before it happened this is why he's drawing their attention to this it's goosebump time let me just give you one more chapter of the Bible that's a forest of these predictions about the Messiah's death Isaiah 53 it says things like he will be placed in a rich man's grave verse 9 he was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death and he was that happened when a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea put Jesus body in his own grave but it also says his death will not be final verse 11 of Isaiah 53 after he has suffered he has seen the he will see the light of life and be satisfied this and other verses about the Messiah is how Jesus knew he will rise again and he even knew why he had to die because Isaiah 53 verse 5 says his death will bring peace and healing it says he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed everything from the details about the cross to the kind of grave he had to his resurrection to the whole point of the whole thing it's all foretold centuries before Jesus was ever born.

Now that's like Twilight Zone level stuff right can you imagine Jesus reading an ancient scripture details about how he was about to die cue the creepy theme music right but so what honestly what does it have to do with you and me today how can that help me get through the day? Well think of this it proves to you that what happened on the cross wasn't some tragic misunderstanding it was part of a plan meticulously prepared by God to reach you and this is where we get to page 3 the purpose of his death what was the purpose of Christ's death if you don't get anything else get this in fact look up here for a second if you've been sort of slowly drifting off for most of this message and I know how easy that can be it happens to me all the time when Adrian's doing announcements you just kind of don't pay attention anymore if you've been going how can I get a screen that size into my living room and you've been distracted if you if you're watching on venue or on Facebook live and you've been making yourself coffee distracted by the kids the donuts or whatever just I just need you for the next couple of minutes just to focus in because this is the most important thing that we are going to say this morning.

I'm gonna circle back to the questions I asked in the intro because a lot of these people especially these days struggle with the whole idea of Jesus death on the cross being some kind of a payment for us in fact maybe this is why you are not a Christian you love the teachings of Jesus but this has never been explained satisfactorily to you what was the purpose of his death why did he even have to die right? I mean I get the whole thing of God coming to earth why didn't quite can you just show us how to love people and then skip the death part and ascend straight into the clouds and like the last thing he says before he leaves oh one more thing you're all forgiven gotta go why didn't it happen that way why did he have to die and in such a bloody way why?

Well forget what I think and forget what some Sunday school teacher told you what did Jesus say about why he had to die that's what I'm interested in. Well remember verse 45 this is probably one of the most important verses in the gospel so I want to put it on screen and have us all read it out loud together the words of Jesus right here we go for even the Son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many he came to give his life as a ransom specifically a ransom now in English we don't even use the word ransom anymore unless referring to to kidnappers demanding a ransom for somebody that they kidnapped right that's not what it means in this cultural context from 2,000 years ago the Bible was the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language and the word used here for ransom in Greek is the word Lutron which specifically means to buy the freedom of a slave or a prisoner.

See back in those days the most common reason people became slaves or were put in prison was because they owed a debt that they could not pay in fact I want to show you an old Roman carving of some slaves who were in slavery because of debt they owed chains around their necks working off there if you couldn't pay off your debt you had to work off your debt as a slave or as a prisoner. Now of course once in a while a very kind person usually like a very kind relative who was rich would pay off your debt for you so that you could go free and this is the imagery that Jesus Christ is painting by using this word he's saying that we you and me we look like that that this is a picture of our souls that at some level we are slaves we are in prison and he has come to pay off our debt so that we can be absolutely free and I think deep down this image resonates with most people because did you know that most people in most cultures in most religions all over the world all throughout human history have some kind of concept of sin debt for the bad things that they do?

Now they may call it another name besides sin they may call it karma karmic debt but here's the idea there's a kind of cosmic scale up in heaven or some place and I gotta rack up some good karma got to do some good deeds so that they outweigh my bad deeds maybe I can augment that by like sacrificing a goat or something like that but I gotta I gotta do something right cuz I'm in sin debt I'm in karmic debt of course if you think about it for just a second the problem is while we're doing good things we're also doing bad things so it's kind of like we can never catch up because there's always a new debt and it feels hopeless how could we ever pay that debt off?

Well what Jesus is saying is that the whole point of the cross is that God loves you so much that he paid that debt for you permanently on a cosmic level so that you can just focus on a relationship with him and forget about all the debt stuff and by the way you still do good deeds but now they're not tainted anymore by some mixed motive I hope God notices and burns off some of my bad karma now your good deeds are just done out of gratitude and out of a pure motive but now again you might say okay all right that's a beautiful picture our debt has been paid but still why couldn't God have just snapped his fingers and made that happen in fact here's an argument for you the Bible says God is love right that is so beautiful God is love and if God is really a loving God then how in the world did he come up with a system where Jesus Christ had to go through all this suffering and death how is that loving?

Well I can't summarize it all here and we're gonna be working our way through this with the narrative with the story but here is the beginning of an answer for you to meditate on and build on during this series the Bible does say God is love and so let's think about this for a second what do we know about love real love real love well there's three things we know about love at least real love is always personal right always personal like for example this last Wednesday was Valentine's Day if you're married or if you're in a relationship you're not gonna like just text them Wednesday night right like type heart emoji and then hit send and then maybe add a text later along the lines of you know there did my Valentine's duty send that there I'm done I'm done done if you want your relationship to survive you better not have done this right you don't do it by this you don't just send some long distance message you make it personal you show up you go out you give a gift.

Well God is love and God wants a love relationship with you so he didn't just stay in heaven and shout hey love you man love you send a heart emojis your way he made it personal he showed up he went out he gave a gift because he knew another poem wouldn't do another preacher wouldn't do another prophet wouldn't do at some point love has to be personal and so he came personally somebody once said love must be shown to be known and that's true in your relationship with your wife kids your husband right you you don't look at them and go you are loved and then go your way you show it by definition love has to be personal and there is no greater love possible there's no greater love possible than when someone gives their life for you that's how personal he made it that's real love.

And second real love is always sacrificial right it's always sacrificial all real love relationships are going to cost you something sooner or later in fact think of anybody that you love right now maybe it's a spouse or maybe think of think of like some of your best friends or think of your kids right now you got that person in your mind you know what at some point they are going to be needy they're gonna need from you they're gonna need your time they're gonna need your energy they're gonna maybe even need some of your research they're gonna be needy at some point they're gonna be needy now I don't wish that on you in fact if you ever find somebody who is so low maintenance that they are never needy become their friend immediately I just want to recommend that to you because they don't come along very often in real life every relationship is gonna have those moments where some of your time your energy is gonna have to be sacrificed to help them if you love them all real love has a sacrificial element.

Now it goes even deeper when there is a debt to be paid like imagine this let's say I have a very rare very expensive original Tiffany lamp in my living room now I actually went online yesterday and found a picture of this one online it is currently on eBay on sale this one right here for $8,000 it's on sale come on it's a good deal by the way I found out did some research and I found out that the original Tiffany lamps and I don't know exactly what that means like they were all made by mr. Tiffany or something I don't know what that means but they go from a low of $4,000 to a high of two million all right so let's say I got one of these in my living room and you're my friend and I invite you over one night and you break my lamp now let's say you don't just do it because you're clumsy let's say you do it on purpose let's say we get into some kind of an argument you grab the lamp and you lift it up and I said no you don't you go yes I do and you throw it at my feet and it breaks.

Now I can look at you and say I forgive you even though honestly right now even just thinking about that I'm kind of mad at you for breaking my lamp and I don't even own a lamp but I can say I forgive you right I can say that but but for things to really be made right again for things to really be made whole again someone's got to pay to fix that lamp that's justice the wrong is made right now I can make you pay for it or I can say don't worry about it I'm gonna cover it I can pay for it but someone's got to pay to fix it.

Well when we humans sinned rebelled against God ancestrally the Bible says something broke the world the way God made the world to run broke and it brought disease and death and disaster and worst of all it brought distance between us and God and through Jesus death on the cross God is saying not only hey man I forgive you he's saying and I'm paying to make it right again I'm not gonna force you to pay because we owe him our lives and on the cross he bore the cosmic price tag all on his shoulders so that one day he says the whole world will be put right again.

Now why did he do that for us if we broke his stuff? I mean it's our fault we certainly don't deserve that kind of debt forgiveness why would he do that? Well that's our third bullet real love if God is really love real love is always personal and sacrificial and unconditional unconditional. Now look up here and listen very carefully maybe your objection to the idea of Christ dying on the cross isn't so much intellectual as it is psychological maybe you feel like the young man I spoke to earlier this week who said why me I am so unworthy how could God ever love anybody like me that much I am so messed up well that's why he did it because you were helpless and he loves you unconditionally.

I want to show you a news story that went viral last month and it sums up all three of these points about love you might have seen this an Albuquerque cop finds a homeless woman shooting a heroin behind a convenience store and she's pregnant watch what happens next looks like you guys are getting ready to shoot up over here Ryan Holitz a father of four wasn't ready for what he noticed next are you pregnant? Yeah it's not every day that I see a sight like that and it just and it just made me really sad how far along are you my gosh and he goes and you're in your friend why are you gonna be doing that stuff gonna ruin your baby you're gonna kill your baby his words brought crystal to tears how dare you judge me you have no idea how hard this is you have no idea I know what a horrible person I am and I know what a horrible situation I met in that instant the moment changed his entire being changed he just became a human being instead of a police officer a crazy overwhelming idea crept into Ryan's mind realizing that she was desperately wanting someone to adopt a baby I just felt God telling me tell her that you will do it because you can you can and so three weeks later crystal champ gave birth and Ryan Holitz and his wife agreed to adopt the baby they named hope.

I've gotten tired of seeing so many situations where I want to help but can't and in that moment I realized that I had a chance to help hope suffered through withdrawals during weeks of medical treatment but she's gaining weight now and doing well her father and me you love her you know very very much we did not give her up because we didn't want her but crystal remains an addict and admits she's in no place to care for a baby I just want her to be safe and secure and you know being a family and be loved and have a chance you know I am so thankful and blessed and humble that we are allowed to have hope in our family when you think about like what it took for all the stars to align for you to to connect in the back of that no parking lot it's just crazy right it's like profit we'll be there for her and whatever struggles that she has we'll be there and we'll work through it that's what makes me happy that will be there for her.

That is amazing and you see how that is personal very personal and sacrificial and unconditional love right there that baby was helpless and that officer and his wife are giving it love personally sacrificially unconditionally but now do you see that is what God did and not just for the cute innocent babies of the world he did it for the homeless heroin addicts and for all the cops and for all the news reporters and for all the people who ever watched that video and for everybody who ever lived and for people like you.

You know I have had some powerful conversations between services people who said but I feel like I've got such a big sin debt and I've looked people in the face you could just see it's just weighing down their face even after hearing something like this they think but but I got such a I've done so many bad things but you see how God cradles you as tenderly as they cradled hope in his arms of love he loves you that much God is love and that is why that is why he couldn't just shout down from heaven and say hey love you man no heart emoji from up here God's not just a judge God's not just the CEO of the cosmos God is love and so to make it personal he came down and to show how it was costly and sacrificial what higher price could be paid that's what your worth to him and to show it was unconditional what imagine what better way could there be of showing his completely unconditional love than forgiving the very people who were in the act of killing him there is no more striking way to show his love is personal and sacrificial and unconditional.

This is what captured the imaginations of artists and and composers and novelists throughout the centuries and that's the big idea for this whole series God loves me me you so much he paid my debt to set me free and when your imagination is just captured by it and as I pray it will be during the 40 years of this or the 40 days rather the series what happens when you're captured by that is you want to show that kind of love to other people so let's pray that God allows us to capture our hearts as a church and as individuals during this season of life.

Would you bow your heads and pray with me? God thank you and I just want to pray for anybody bound by chains of just shame right now people who feel they could never really be loved by you. I just pray that right now something breaks through and that they would pray Lord thank you that you you love me and that you made it personal and sacrificial and unconditional in some ways that that maybe you'll never fully understand by Christ's death on the cross but as much as I understand I receive it today help me to grow in my understanding help me to turn from my sin and live in freedom and thank you that you paid my rent. God I pray that you would help us to draw near to you through these 40 days as we lead up to Easter change us grow us as individuals and as a church in Jesus name Amen.