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Thanks for taking time to chat with a friend. My name is Drew. I'm the pastor here at Hope Heights. It's a thrill to have you here with us. Very, very thankful that you're here with us. And this is me in eighth grade. Look at that. I recently. My wife loves this picture of me. Well, she thinks it's funny to have up in our house. And I. Yesterday I took a picture of this so that I could share this with all of you. These are not. These are random. These aren't. These are nothing. They're just pictures from a newspaper article. But this is actually me. Just yesterday I took this picture to show to you and in sending it to some friends, realize it says valuable player and not most valuable player, which sums up maybe youth sports perfectly. And realizing every kid got this. And I forgot for many years thought I got a most valuable player picture and I just got a valuable player. Cause I was a valuable player. Look at that stare down. I showed this to the Mulaney boys last night. And Keller Mulaney said, that is not you. And I said, it is me. And he said, there is no way I will ever believe that it's you. It is though. That is me. In 1994, five whenever that would have been ish middle school, I was a baseball player. And I was a pretty good baseball player, actually. I would say of all the sports I ever played and of all the seasons of my life, that would been the season when I was pretty good at a sport, probably the best. That would have been the peak of my sporting career. And I had a moment where I actually got in the newspaper. So our local newspaper wrote articles about whatever was happening and youth sports. And because of that week, I was highlighted in the middle school Kiwanis baseball because I had a game where I pitched a no hitter and I. And I hit a grand slam. Which when you're in. That is a big deal, right? When you're. I was the. I think I was more than just a valuable player. And we. My dad has an article still at our house somewhere for many, many years. It was taped to the mirror that was in my bedroom. There's this little article, zulke hits grand slam and pitches no hitter. And my response to that article as a kid, I was really proud that it was how cool is it not just to pitch a no hitter, but to hit a grand slam. But also it said a lot about where I was at in my life. And I think it really says when you think about what you're like as a middle Schooler. There's probably things that you found that have changed, but I would guess that it's maybe a little painful because maybe there's parts of you that you're like, I'm not a whole lot different than middle school Drew at times. Well, because here's what happens. I saw that article. I went, that's. That's cool. And my. One of my first responses was, I looked at my mom and I said, they didn't mention that I went four for four and I had a triple as well. Like they should. People should know that. They should also know that was my fourth home run of the season and we've only had four games. Like, that's a pretty big deal that I'm hitting a home run in every single game. Somebody should let people know that. And so I actually brought the article to school and showed friends, and I made sure they all knew that I also went 4 for 4 and hit a triple and also had hit a home run in every game. I wanted to make sure everyone knew, like, every thing and how awesome I really was and how, like, there's no way we would have won that game if it weren't for me. It kind of ruined it. I mean, if you can imagine if you've been that person or been around that person, I really thought, like, this shows, and I needed to show that I am the person who's on their way to the Baseball hall of Fame. I was expecting a phone call at any point from the brewers to sign me so that they could have me when I was old enough to play. I was sure I was the most valuable player. That experience, right? That thing that happens when I should go, how cool. Never again in my life did I pitch a no hitter and hit a grand slam. Like, that doesn't. I don't know if there's anything that happens like that again in my life in the same night, in the same moment. But even that happens. People acknowledge it. I get celebrated in our local paper. How cool. My mom is so proud of it. She cuts it out and shows me. And some of my first response, even within me, and then to actually verbalize it, was like, well, they didn't say this. And I need people to know that there's even more. There's, like, a need for people to know that I need more glory or something better. It's a very normal person response. It's a thing that I still feel that old man, grown up. Drew still feels it's important that people know the work I did. It's important That I can get some approval from that it's important I get the credit. What is going on there? It's important maybe sometimes that I just have the upper hand, that like, people know that I'm the best on the team. Even though that even showed that that night I probably was one of the better players, but still I'm for sure the best. Maybe I just need someone to like, I need to be positioned in a way so that later I can be looked at as the best. If something comes up, I want to make sure I'm picked first. I just like want to make sure I get that glory. I don't know what was going on in middle school, Drew. I don't remember that moment other than I remember being upset that they didn't mention I went 4 for 4 and got a triple. But I do remember that feeling, and I still know that feeling very much. Today we're going to have moments. We've had these already. We're in the book of Mark very much so. The disciples who are with Jesus, following Jesus, have witnessed so many miracles, ones we don't even, we don't even get to know about in the Book of Mark. We just, in the gospel, get to hear some of the things that happen. They get to see all of the things that are happening around Jesus and they have the same things happen to them. I think today Mark's going to help us understand a little bit. What does it look like? How do we become people? How does God make us people who I'd say can enjoy fully joy, peace, a life that isn't one where when we are celebrated or when we hear news that there isn't a response that later we say, man, why do they need everyone to know the four for four and a triple? Why do they need to make that about me? Why even like, what is my purpose, my mission, all those. I think today we're going to be reminded of why Jesus came. And I'm hoping that it will encourage us to be, remind us what it looks like to actually walk with Jesus and what it looks like. Jesus will remind us what it looks like to be part of the kingdom of God. And it's not necessarily about seeing who can become the best 8th grade baseball player. It is a very, very different look. And so let me, let me just get us going here. This is a longer passage. Today we're actually gonna go through kind of three different parts, three different segments of this story that happens in Mark. And so I'm not gonna read the whole thing together. I'm just gonna walk us through it as we go today rather than read the whole thing. And so we're in Mark 10 if you want to hop in there with us. And we just got to see the story of the rich young ruler. And we got to see the story of Jesus holding a young child. Remember, they bring a child to him and people say, don't bring kids to Jesus. Like they just don't value the children that way. And he says, no, no, no, come. And he holds the children. Remember this? It's an incredible story. And then right after that, this young man comes to him and says, I've done everything. What can I do to inherit the kingdom of God? And Jesus says, there's just one thing you lack. I need you to take all that, the possessions you have and give them away. And he decides to leave. He actually decides to not stay with Jesus, but to walk away. Walks away gloomy, sad, disheartened, because he's holding on to something that he decides is bigger and more important than Jesus. And then Jesus does something he's done a few times already in Mark, but as they're walking to Jerusalem, he tells them what's about to happen one more time. And that's where we're at now in Mark. And we're going to read a few accounts now of the disciples interacting with Jesus. And then we're going to get one more of these incredible miracles as we interact with someone that they walk by before we get to the real kind of passion story, the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem and those days as he's in Jerusalem up to his death and resurrection. So there are last kind of accounts of the general Gospel stories of Jesus interacting with people and healing people. And today we're going to end with a really cool story of Jesus healing people. But first we get to this one. So this is mark 10. We start at 32. We're just going to look at this little part right here. Let me read it to us. And they were on the road. Now you remember this part of Mark. We started moving towards Jerusalem and Jesus is now going to tell us why. And we were moving on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed. And those who followed were afraid. And taking the 12 again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, see, we're going to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they'll mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he will rise. So they're walking to Jerusalem. We know on this side of the story what's gonna happen, right? We know. And Jesus actually just tells them what's gonna happen. Jesus is moving towards Jerusalem and this is where he's gonna be arrested, where he's gonna be put on trial, where he's gonna be killed and then he's gonna raise from the dead. This is the kind of pinnacle of the whole story, right? The whole gospel story that we know he's coming, the Son of Man. Jesus is coming to rescue people. He's coming to be the sacrifice for all people. And he tells them here as they follow him to Jerusalem. This thing you notice here, it's actually interesting. In the beginning it says they were amazed and they were afraid. It's kind of an interesting thing to be, right? To be amazed or in wonder of something and also to be afraid of something. I think this, as I read this, it seemed that the thing he describes after it would cause me to be both of those things. Amazed at the Son of Man. That God himself would come to earth and then come and rescue God's people in this way by being tortured and killed and even allowing people who are not the people of God, like the enemies of God, the Gentiles, with how they would view them, to take him and kill him and then he'd raise from the dead. This is amazing and also really scary. Why are we walking to Jerusalem? We could probably go somewhere else. Jesus, I saw signs, a few of them. We could go like anywhere else and not have this maybe happen. But he is leading them this way to this place for this purpose. This happens. Actually, he mentions this in Mark 8:1 and 9:1, and those are shorter accounts. He says that we're going to go this way because the Son of Man has come to rescue the people, right? He's gonna. He's come to die. Remember after the ascension, he says, the Son of Man has come to die. And they say, what do you mean by that? And then again he says it, what do you mean by that? The one time Peter tells Jesus, rebukes him and says, no, no, no. In 8:1 Peter says, no, Jesus, you can't do that. And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. Like he's so serious about this mission, he has to do this. He tells Peter, no, you're talking like the enemy now. I have to do this. And the next time they just continue to be confused but this time he gives a lot of details, very specifically about how hard this is going to be. His betrayal, his mocking, his flogging, his killing, the spitting on him. I mean, that's got to be scary. And they're following him there. It's helpful even here to see. We're going to end our passages today by hearing the same language of following, but in a different way. And so notice that here it's kind of bookended by this following. They're on the road going up, and Jesus was. Is walking and they're following him. And they're following him, afraid and amazed. He's sharing that they're moving towards this thing where he's going to suffer a lot, but he's moving them into a pretty intense situation and also what he's about to do to rescue them from sin and death. I don't normally share illustrations that are, like, from movies, especially, like, war movies in this way, but of all of the illustrations, this one actually feels like it almost. It fits because of, like, how violent Jesus is response here is to them. And it makes me think of the beginning. Have you seen Saving Private Ryan? It's a really intense beginning. The whole movie is intense. But the opening scene of this is the scene where they're running on Omaha Beach. And the captain, Miller, I believe in the movie, he, like, leads them on and he has this kind of confidence. And they're all just so scared and there's some kind of excitement, and he leads them into this terrible, terrible battle scene. They say it's, like, supposed to be one of the best depictions of war in movies. It's. It's so brutal. It makes me think of this scene as Jesus is marching them towards Jerusalem to this, like, one of the worst things in history, this moment where people, we're going to kill Jesus, the God, the perfect one, the one who's come to rescue us. It feels like this moment where he's like this captain who's leading his people into battle to take on the enemy. And Jesus is not people, but the real enemy. And so he marches them forward. So this is this real kind of intense moment. Mark, for the first time, we hear a lot of details about what's gonna happen. It's pretty violent. It's pretty intense. You'd have to wonder, like, what are they thinking? What are they feeling? They're going, whoa. You wonder if they go, like, are they going to say, jesus, you shouldn't do this. We could go somewhere else or we could help you, or we'll stop them. Or, this is a lot. And then they respond differently than I would expect. But similarly, then we've seen them respond. So we get the story, really, of just James and John here. But the other disciples will hop in soon enough. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come up to him and they say to him, what do you think? They say, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you. It's like. Like, if your kid walks up to you and says that, you're like, no, there's whatever you can ask me. I know why you're asking that. You can't eat that. We're not staying up that late, or we're not buying that. I want you to do whatever we ask of you. It's an interesting thing to ask after he just shared what he was going to do. And he said to them, what do you want for me to do for you? And they said to him, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. They're aware of, like, you're glorious. You're marching into kind of battle. You're going to, like, take on the enemy. You wonder, maybe they're thinking, maybe he's speaking metaphorically, like, I'm going to go in and into Jerusalem and take back over so the Jews can again control Jerusalem. Maybe he's not literally speaking, like, he. He's gonna actually be killed and flogged and spit on. Maybe he's just saying, like, that's what it's gonna be like. And then after three days of battle, I'll be victorious and I'll be on my throne. And they're saying, hey, I wanna be. Do they understand, like, what's really happening? But their response is, we also want the glory. Can you bring us with you? Hey, will you give us whatever we want? What do you want? We want the glory with you. Jesus says, you do not know what you're asking. You are able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized. He asked them, do you understand the cup I'm about to drink? These are referring to language that refers to the cup of suffering that I'm about to suffer, the baptism I'm about to baptize. Remember, baptism is a symbol for us of his death and his resurrection. Are you asking, you'd also like to take the suffering and the death that's coming. They said to him, we are able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you'll be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but is for those whom it has been prepared. And when the 10 heard it, they, they began to be indignant at James and John. So the other disciples heard that they were asking for the glory. Some people interpret this as they are upset, maybe that, hey, God, you shouldn't ask Jesus for that right now. Maybe they're upset. Maybe in a way you even feel as you're reading this passage, hey, why would you be asking Jesus to sit at your right and left hand right now? He just shared with us that we're going to Jerusalem and he's going to be hurt and spit on and killed. This is terrible. What a time to ask if you can sit in glory with him. Generally, though, it seems that they are like, why didn't we ask first? Hey, if they get some glory, we've been here too. Can we hop in too on this? Can we get in on this glory? Can we get a bunch of chairs up there with you? And we can all sit in glory again? Like, we've seen this, right? They're missing it. We miss it. They're missing, like, what's the, what's really going on here? And Jesus said to them to him and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles, lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So there's kind of jarring timing of this that they asked to be in glory with him. Their response seems to be like, we'd like to be known or seen as well. There seems to be some kind of heart that's similar to an eighth grade drew after he's hit his grand slam. It's like, I also, I need to make sure people know. I also want a taste of that. I also have been maybe following you around. And what do I get out of this? Maybe you've had this feeling when you're. I've talked to, like, someone who I have an uncle who I found out inherited money. And we were chatting after that, and he was sharing how he had just purchased some things he's always wanted. And he was like, yeah, and I'm just feeling so generous and I'm like, hey, how could I? I remember I was in college and I was like, is there a way I could hint that I have tuition that's due? Like, one of my first responses, I'm 20 years old and, like, is there a way I could help you understand that I, too, could. Would like some stuff? I did not ask him, would you do anything I ask of you? But I did mention, oh, man, that'd be fun. Oh, but I gotta go back to college and then pay my tuition, which is due, which I bet you could help with. You feel that there's, like, this thing where it turns back on me and it turns to my glory or what I need or what I want. It's a very normal thing for our hearts to turn to. There's kind of two things that happen here. And then. And Jesus response then we see at the end, right, is that he says, this isn't how it works. In our kingdom, though, there is a place where people lord over. Even use the word Lord here, which I think is really interesting. Lords over people, they actually want to take control. They want to be better. They want to have the glory, and they take their authority over people. And then he says a really interesting phrase in 43, but it shall not be so among you. He says, but that's not how we work. He says, yeah, James and John, we could be people who go in, and we could find a way to get the glory and to be in charge and to control, and we could just do the same thing that we've seen happen over and over and over, right? We could find a way to come in. He is Jesus. He is God. I could just take over Jerusalem and we could rule and we could lord it over all of them. But not so with us. In fact, in our kingdom, it's upside down. Or maybe that kingdom's upside down. We're right side up. We are servants to all. In fact, the Son of Man, God himself comes, and you'd think if the King of kings walks in, then he's the first that should be served. He says, the Son of Man comes, not you're standing with him, not to be served, but actually to serve you. And actually to serve you so much that he's willing to give his life as a ransom, to trade his life so that you could have a life and many others could have a life. It's a very different thing. It's very different than a life of lording things over people to get things. And in fact, you walk in the room and you say, I'm giving myself so that they can be free rather than I've come in and they should now serve me. It's hard though. Cause that feels so baked into me in my sin, in my brokenness, that how can I get stuff from this? And we see in James and John, cause they're just like us. And we see these two different ways. It's response, right? We see, grant us that we could sit at your right hand. We want people to see us. We want to be like the Gentiles. It's what they've known. I think it's what they've grown up with. It's maybe the only system they kind of even know exists. This system that we see Jesus refer to, right? It's the same system I lived in in eighth grade. It's the same way I find myself in my flesh today is so different than what we see. Jesus saying, the kingdom of God looks like it shall not be like this among you though, because the kingdom of God is so different. And I'm showing you, I'm not just acting it out, I'm living it out in God's kingdom. This is how it works. I'm actually as God willing to come and give my life so others could serve my friend. I shared this before here, but for me it's such a vivid illustration in my life. Many years ago, my friend John gave me a wooden spoon and he said to me, we are called in this verse. It had this verse, this Mark 10. 45 written on it. He said, we are people who are not people of the fork or people of the knife, people who stab or people come to cut. But we are people who have come to serve, just like the one we serve and follow. And so he gave a group of us wooden spoons with this passage on them and little holes in them, and we tied them to our backpacks at camp. This is many years ago when I worked at camp and I carried that wooden spoon around for years at camp. And every day I looked at that spoon and it reminded me that not so among you, Drew. You're not here to lord over. I'd sit in a circle with a group of sixth grade boys and they were very difficult at times to be around. And all I wanted to do was yell at them and lord over them and be like, you guys just stop for one second and do the thing we're supposed to do. And that spoon reminded me over and over again that I am a part of Christ's kingdom and not so among me. I'm called to be A spoon. And not to be a knife to cut or to stab, right? Because I'm part of Jesus kingdom and not just anyone's kingdom. So I find myself in this place. And maybe you find yourself in this place. I find myself as eighth grade Drew, many, many times in other ways, too. And I think, come on, how do I get out of this? And I think my first response is, you just got to figure it out. You just got to do better. You just gotta. You can do this, Drew. Stop doing that. Just stop telling people that you went four for four and you got a triple. And what's really cool, Mark here sets up the book of Mark. He writes Mark. Not just randomly, but he writes it so we can see how Jesus resolves this and he does it for us with the story and the last story of how he heals someone. These stories go together. Originally we were going to do these stories separate, actually. And then as I'm reading through these, I'm like, these stories are actually, I think Mark wants us to read these stories together. So think of what we just read. We just read Jesus sharing what he's going to do in Jerusalem. We see here a story of his disciples who are close to him, who've been around him. And their response to him is, I want people to see me and Jesus saying, that's not how it is in our kingdom. And then they're about to meet a man on the road. As they continue to walk towards Jerusalem, they're going to run into a man on the road. And he's going to be a man who's usually not the one they'd stop to see. In fact, he's a man who many people just passed by and they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. So imagine they're walking all together. They're still following him. They're still going to Jerusalem. That's still the plan. They might still be discussing who gets to sit at Jesus right and left hand. He still may be trying to explain to them, in our kingdom, it is not about who gets the glory. It's actually understanding that we're all going to suffer, but that one day we'll get to be in his glory. And they see a man who is blind, who's begging. He probably spends most of his day sitting on the side of the road asking people for money, for anything, because he's lacking. He can't provide for himself. He Only can get things if people give it to him. He actually looks a lot like the kids that we looked at a few weeks ago. He looks a lot like a person who's lacking, who needs everyone else to help him, who has very little to offer. Culturally, he'd be very similar to a child. And they go like, we don't need to let this guy bother us. He's not really worth it. He's not even a valuable player. He's maybe just a player, right? There's beggars on the side of the road begging, and they're trying to walk to Jerusalem so that the son of man, the king of kings, can do the thing he has to do and save the world and rescue everyone and give his life as a ransom. And this guy hears that Jesus is there. And when he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out. So he can't see that it's Jesus, but he hears that it's Jesus, and he says, jesus, son of David. Which is a phrase you would say to the Messiah. He says, not just good teacher, like we heard the rich young ruler say, or good rabbi or holy man or healer. He says, jesus, the Messiah, anointed one. The one who's coming, who has come to rescue us, right? He says, have mercy on me. Show me mercy. Show me grace. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And people's response. Many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. Feels a lot like when we saw the kids. Feels a lot like the moment where kids came up to Jesus and they said, get. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Get away. It's okay. Go over there and play. Jesus has got important things to do. And this man, much like that, lacking, needing others for help, seeming invaluable to them, says, jesus, I need you. And they say, hey, be quiet. Jesus is walking to Jerusalem. He's talking to us. And so he cries out even more. He's not listening to them. Jesus is right there. He says, son of David, have mercy on me. He cries out again. And now Jesus stops and he says, call him. Just like the story of the kids. Jesus says, get him over here. Call him. And they called him the blind man, saying to him, take heart. Get up. He's calling you. Jesus says, I want him to actually come close to me. And then Mark tells us something that helps us indicate that he's maybe aware of what's happening. He throws off his cloak and he sprang up and he came to Jesus. He uses some interesting words here. He says, throws off his Cloak. His cloak would have been what he would have used for, like, warmth. It also would have been used when he would have collected stuff in. It's sort of like maybe one of his only possessions. Some historians said the cloak would have probably been other than the. Literally the sandals, if he had sandals. And maybe the, like, tunic he was wearing might have been his only possession that he had. And in a very opposite of the rich man just literally left the one thing he owned and decided to run, didn't need to throw his cloak off. But in a very. I'm going to give away the one thing I have to run to. Jesus and then uses the word sprang up, which isn't just. He doesn't just say he got up and walked to Jesus. He sprang. It's a. It's a word that means what we use the word for, right? He jumps up. There's excitement in it, there's joy in it. There. There's a. In just one sentence, Mark can portray the blind man, I think knows what's about to happen. He goes, Jesus says, come to me. And he goes, everything's about to change. I don't need my cloak. I'm about to be a changed man. I'm about to have a new life. I mean, he's running into the. The newness of a new life. I. A few years ago, got to officiate a wedding and there was a moment where the bride, like, she got down really fast to the. Like her and her dad got down really fast to the. To the groom. And the music was still went for a while. And after they had a certain song, they wanted, like, the whole thing to play. And afterwards she was like, I'm so sorry. Once I saw him, I couldn't. I, like, kind of just started running with my dad because I couldn't like, wait to see my groom, which is like the cool. Like, that's the coolest thing ever. Of course, that's what it feels like, right? It feels like he sees Jesus and he can't. I don't need this cloak anymore. I gotta run to him. Jesus says to him, what do you want from me? What do you want me to do for you? Do you remember he had just said that to James and John? Same phrase, same words. Seemed very different, though different contexts. And the blind man said to him, rabbi, let me recover my sight or let me see. And Jesus said to him, go your way. Your faith has made you well. And immediately. This word Mark loves to use. In that moment, he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. That's the end of our part of Mark before Jesus walks into Jerusalem and rescues the world. What we get is this story that feels like a condensed version of all the stories we've been reading in Mark. A story of someone who is considered not valuable player to the people who in fact even disciples of Jesus say, hey, he doesn't necessarily have time for this. And Jesus says, no, come to me. A person who throws off everything they have and runs to Jesus, knowing that Jesus is going to give them sight. A person who can't see him. And Jesus allows him to see him. Remember this, this was a few months ago. We read the story of them not seeing him totally. It looked like they were trees at first and then they could totally see him. And this picture of how we kind of see Jesus, we kind of partially see who he is and who God is, and then we can fully see who he is. All these stories Mark kind of puts together, we get to see this moment that happens. And he goes, this is what it looks like. And I love. He ends like this. He sees and then what does he do? He says, I'm going to follow Jesus. He joins the group and from there I guess he walks with them to Jerusalem. He decides to take the cup and take the baptism with them. He decides to continue on the way with Jesus, doesn't need his cloak anymore, doesn't need people to tell him where to go. He just gets to follow Jesus. It's really a cool story. Very different story than the last one we just saw, right? This one, he cries out, have mercy on me. Instead of, can I have a seat in your glory? Can I get a seat too? Can I get a place where people maybe could see me? He says, I need your mercy. I need to. Can you help me see? And Jesus makes him. Well, makes me think of the movie Rudy. If you know the old movie Rudy. I love this movie is sweet because in Rudy, Rudy doesn't. He's a football player, wants to play in the football team, isn't really a good football player. He gets to be around them all he wants to do. He knows he's never going to be the best. He knows he maybe shouldn't even be really playing, but they allow him to play, you know, like just a little bit. He just. All he wants to do is just be around, just be on the field. Like it's. He's not looking for the glory. He's looking just to get to be around everyone. Which I think this is what Bartimaeus. He goes, I just want to be with you. I just want to walk with you on the road. I just want to follow you. I just want to get to be there close to you. Because you're the one who's gonna give me sight. You're the one who's gonna get to show me where to go. I don't need the glory. I just need you. And so what does it look like to be changed? I think it looks like us saying, recognizing God, I need you, mercy, I can't see. I'm broken, I'm sinful. I need your mercy. I can't see. And Jesus saying, I can heal you rather than Jesus, I want to be seen. Make me seen. Bring me glory. It's a different thing. There are two different positions that we put ourselves in practically as a follower of Jesus. There's this cross diagram. I've shown this before, but I think it's really helpful in this situation. I think it's maybe a little bit of what's happening here. If not, it's at least what happens in my life in this moment. It's this diagram. So the idea is, as we go through time, there's this moment of we call conversion, the church. This moment where you say, yes, your eye is open, you go, oh, there's Jesus. And as we live our life, we continue as we're reading scripture, as we're praying, as we're around the people of God, as we have people speaking in our lives, as the Spirit of God is moving in us, the Holy Spirit, we continue to do two things. These are very general, right? But we understand God's holiness and who God is. The top is kind of who God is. And the longer you live, the more you're like, whoa. All these things you learn about who God is and how incredible God is and how holy God is and what God is asking of us and all he's done. And at the same time, you're essentially learning more about who you are and who people are. And in that, you tend to learn generally, right? Understanding of sinfulness, of brokenness. And in people, that's real general, right? But in that, then if we continue doing that and we continue looking to the Word and continue praying and the Spirit moving us, then the cross of Christ, essentially just the gospel, gets bigger and bigger. So when I sit down with someone who's like 90, and I'm talking to them about faith, and I say, man, it's been a tough week at my house cause of this and this. And they go, and, you know, isn't it just so Good, though, that, like, the Lord is right there with your kids and that you're not God and God's got your kids. And I'm like, oh, that's spoken from a person who's 90 who, like, had kids, has watched them grow up, has great grandkids, and has seen God faithfully follow their kids and be with their kids and has seen themselves, like, fail over and over as a parent and God still faithfully be with their kids, right? And me, as someone who hasn't had that time, maybe hasn't understood how incredible God is and how he meets us in our deepest sinfulness and in his greatest goodness, right? So you don't see, like, over time, you just see more and more how incredible God is. You think every day, oh, I can't know more about who God is or how incredible he is or how big the gospel is or how much it applies to my life. And then as you. Every year, every minute, you go, oh, again and again and again, it gets bigger, right? The issue, though, at least I have in my life, sometimes that understanding of that gospel doesn't get bigger. I don't continue to grow in who God is and understanding who God is. And sometimes it's really kind of the size it was when I first just understood who God was. And my understanding of my sinfulness maybe I'm experiencing, but I don't fill it in with what God says about what it is. I don't understand what God thinks, what Scripture thinks, what the Spirit is telling me about where my sinfulness comes. And then you have to fill in. I have to fill in those spots, right? Of what that might look like. And so this just diagram, right? It's just to help us think about it. Maybe it's helpful, maybe not. But. So if we don't continue over time to allow God to grow in our understanding of who he is and who we are, and we just keep relying on the same thing. It'd be like. It reminds me of when I went to, like, a conference in college, and there was, like, one thing that really hit me. If I just only listened over and over to that one speaker and that one thing over and over again. There'd be a lot of stuff I'd miss about other parts of life, and I would just have to fill in with other things. And so what we do then is we fill in those gaps with other things like religion, moralism, legalism, pride, right? We just go like, oh, okay, I have to fill those kind of chunks in. And if we just continue to experience Sinfulness and brokenness. And we don't see that God actually bridges those that even in, like, the darkest parts, when I go, whoa, I am broken today, I can't believe the thing I'm just thinking about or experiencing. And if I don't believe God can actually meet me in that place, then I start feeling shame or insecurity or despair in that place. If I don't understand God can actually be there. If I don't get, like, Jesus himself has experienced that depth of suffering and sin and sin, like, experience sin in the way of, like, been in the world as a human, then I miss that, right? If I just keep thinking, like, okay, Jesus died on a cross for my sins. That's good. I get to go to heaven one day, and then I move on with life and not continue growing. And I think why I'm sharing this is because I think there might be some of this happening. In the passage, we see disciples who were Jesus and going, this is cool. He healed people. I think he might be the Son of Man, are not continuing to see the breadth of how he's the king of kings, of all parts of life and all things. And so then they start going, that's cool that you're. That I would like to be, like, a big deal, though, in Jerusalem. And so they start creating these, like, systems to make themselves a big deal. It's been helpful for me to consider sometimes, like, when things are really go awry for me, like, I think maybe I'm not considering how God bridges these things. Ultimately, this is what we talk about sometimes. The gospel simply is that we're more loved than we know or more sinful than we know. This is right. This is the. As we. This is those two things kind of in parallel. Here's how it might play out. If you think of like, a gospel center, as the cross grows in your life, we'd respond differently to things. These are just actually from us seeing. Seeing them right on a mark. We might respond in a gospel centered as the. As we continue to grow in understanding the gospel, Lord, that I might see, Lord, help me recover my sight. That would be like understanding, I am broken, I am sinful, and I need you. Because now I'm understanding that you can rescue me, that you're holy, that you're a redeemer. As like it grows, you realize I'm sinful and I need you. But if you don't understand that, then you might think, lord, that others might see me. I need you to make me. I might just see you as Like a little cross. And what you're here to do is just assist me in making myself bigger. Grant us to sit at your right and left hand. Or even we hear back in the past. Remember the mother who came to Jesus. Even the crumbs of your grace were enough for her. Or maybe me centered. You might think I just deserve more. I'm just going to use you to get more in a Gospel centered, I need you. I can't fix myself. Me centered. I just need a little help. I can handle the rest. Gospel centered, make me a servant. Me centered, make me great. My identity is secure in Christ or my identity can be threatened. This is. Man, this is a tough one for me. Times I feel really threatened, and then Christ can hold me. I want to know and follow you more. I think I've learned enough. I think I'll move on. This can be really helpful. One of the ways I thought about this week, I had the opportunity to have lunch with David Hirsch. Who? David Hirsch. You know, he plays bass and keyboards. Him and Angie are like, actually trained jazz musicians in our church. They're awesome. If you ever want to just talk about, like, jazz, you should just ask them and they'll talk about cool stuff. But I had lunch with him and I had this idea. So I was like, hey, I want to do a. I want to have this sermon illustration idea that I don't know if it'll work, but I'm going to do something to you, and I need you to try this. So we had lunch this week, and I said, hey, David, a friend sent me this video, and I just want you to react to it, and I think how you react to it's going to help me understand something. So I'm going to show you the video first. So friend sent me this video, sent Drew this video this week. We good, Jared? If I play this. All right, All right. You guys have probably heard that, right? Have you heard that little tune? It's like one of the most popular, like, most licensed, actually pieces of music ever. Those aren't actually accountants. Those are, like, well known jazz musicians. I thought they sent it to me because they thought, I think it was funny that there was, like, guys in the 50s dressed up in suits playing jazz. But I knew that it was. I knew enough that knew those aren't probably accountants, like, on a video. And so I sat at Los Cactus with David and I played that and I played no joke, one second of it. He goes, oh, that's take five. It's Dave Brubeck. That's not real jazz. And I went, oh, really? And then I got a good 10 minutes of what real jazz was. Who all four of these guys are all the different bands they played in. Why this is jazz. But really it's just like introduction jazz to get people interested in jazz. Why the second seven minutes of this is actually gets into real jazz, the. This other stuff and then there's some other stuff and then some arpeggio stuff. You gotta ask him about it. It's incredible. And I was like, that's. How do you know that? And he was like, well, I studied for a lot of years. I went to school for this. I still play it. I actually met some guys who studied under one of the guys here. And then I used to play piano with a guy whose uncle is one of the guys cousin. And I play in the style of, you know. And I was like, this is so cool. And I was like, exactly what I hoped for. I couldn't do that. And I couldn't do that in one second. And it's perfect, right? This was literally a TikTok video that a friend saw sent to me. And I thought, how funny. And if I watched this and I said, hey, guys, I know a lot about jazz. Watch this video of accountants playing jazz. I'd get a lot of things wrong. It's not accountants, it's actually jazz players. It's from the 50s. It's a very well known piece. We play it all the time in movies to feel sophisticated, cool. It's in a lot of casino y fun heisty movies. It's hated by jazz musicians because it's not real jazz. I'm learning all sorts of things, right? It would be kind of like if I sent someone a video and it was just like, hey, did you see this cool video of this carpenter guy who heals people? And I go like, well, he's not really just a carpenter who's healing people. Do you understand what's happening? Oh, you're here, David. I didn't even see you here. The actual David Hirsch is here. The one and only is here. I am like, it was like a. I love it. I love this about you, man, when you do this. Um, but it made me think so, so much about this in my life. I want to. I want cross the cross to be huge in my life. I want to sit down and I want to get like a verse spoken over me and it, like, unlock all these other things that remind me of the goodness of God and his holiness and remind me of that even in my darkest Brokenness that the cross is big enough for that. And I don't want, like a TikTok little cross that, like, there's some little clips I heard about Jesus and maybe the Bible, and that's enough. I don't want, like, half of a verse to be enough to hold me. Cause it won't. I think that that's what changes us. That's what. If I could go back in time and I could sit with myself, and I could sit down with little Drew. Well, not little Drew. Husky. My mom would call me Husky Drew back in those days. And I would say, hey, man, I know it's really hard. Cause a lot of kids are, like, not nice to you. I know you're like, smart kid who gets teased about being smart. I know that you're really good at this thing. And you want everyone to know you're good at this thing because you feel like you're not good at other things. Like, I so want to sit with him and open Ephesians with him and go, do you know how much you're loved by a heavenly father who, like, lavishes his grace on you? Do you know how much you're wanted by him? Do you know how much he's created you for wonderful things? Do you know how much, like, he knows the. The dark, deep, terrible things you think about or that you do and still loves you deeply? Do you know how much he came to give his life as a ransom even for those things? Oh, I wish I could sit with him and share that so he would know that and could hold on to that, so that he would not feel like he has to go to school and say, do you know I have four for four and a triple? And then nobody cares. That's what I need today. I need each day for that cross to be bigger and bigger so I would know that our God is so big and so good, but he's not so far away from that deep, dark sin that's in me because of the cross that has brought us together. Oh, I want that for myself. Oh, I want that for eighth grade Drew. And I want that for every one of you. I'm going to ask Jordan to come up so we can sing some songs to our good God. This is my prayer for us. That would be people today who would say, lord, have mercy on us. Oh, every day, Lord, show me more of this brokenness in me so that every day I can learn more of your great mercy, of your holiness, of your kindness, of this ransom that you were willing to pay for us. So the cross would get bigger and bigger. Our worship would get bigger and bigger. We'd experience more joy and peace and more would know Him. We're going to move to a time to respond to this good news. A few things to consider. Have you cried out, lord, have mercy on me? That's step one, as we all need that mercy. Consider maybe where you're asking for glory instead of his mercy. Maybe think about who you get to follow Jesus with, who helps you do that. Maybe who gets to experience Christ through your serving this week? Who gets to experience a little bit of that? I think we're all, we've all had enough people lording things over us that we're excited to meet those who stand with us and serve with us. Excited this week for people to experience that with you. We also get to experience a response by singing. Jordan's gonna lead us in some songs. People would love to pray for you. There'd be people in the back of the room who would love to pray for you for anything. Ask them. You don't have to share any details, even just ask for prayer. We respond by giving. God has given us so much. It's his, and so we love to give that back to him. You can do that online or on the app or we have a box at our communion tables. And then lastly, we love to respond by taking communion. It's an opportunity for our whole service to build to this moment where we remember the cup that Jesus took, this cup of suffering in, the juice we drink and the broken bread that we take, that his body was broken, that he was spit on, that he was flogged, that he did die, but he didn't stay dead, that he rose. And so we do that to remember that every single week and remember that good news that continues to help grow that cross in us, to remember that. So I encourage you to do that if you're a follower of Jesus, to do that, do that with others, even pray together. Let me pray for us as we keep worshiping together. Father, thank you for the opportunity to be together. Thank you for your mercy that when we cried out, have mercy, you responded. Thank you for our brother Bartimaeus that many years ago cried out to you, what a great example to us. I pray today we could throw off our cloaks and run to you, spring up to you, knowing, anticipating the love that you have for us, the mercy you have for us. You'd open our eyes, that you would change our hearts, Lord, and that you would use us to serve and love others, that they would too. Know you. We pray, Lord, for our neighbors and our community. And that we'd see more. Know you. We love you, Lord. You're really good to us. Amen.