Good morning, church. Morning. My name is Dustin Ashley. I'm the director of student ministries here at King's Cross. I'm also a pastoral assistant here at the church. And I consider it a great privilege to open up the word of God with you this morning. I want to say something uh to maybe the non-Christians in the room that are with us this morning. This is a good and safe place for you to be. Um we're glad you're here. And if you have any questions about anything that comes up today, please grab the person who you came with or uh one of the pastors or me, I'd love to speak with you. I'm going to pray one more time and we're going to get into the text. Lord, you're good and you're faithful and your steadfast love endures forever. Lord, I pray this morning that we would remember and know more fully the grace you've extended to us in Christ and that the word who was made flesh would more fully root himself in our hearts and that we would look more like him as we go out into our weeks. Help us even now in Christ's name. Amen. We all love stories. It's how we're made. Maybe you're thinking, "I'm not a reader." So, how can you say that? Stories permeate human experience. Think for a minute. Most of us have a family with a family history. And part of my family habit is to tell and retell memorable stories. These stories are historical, surely, but their retelling reminds us about who we are and how we came to be. Stories are everywhere from songs to sports. It's no surprise we are drawn to stories because we are a part of the greatest story ever told by God himself. This story is long and requires patience, but it's packed with heartache, suspense, drama, triumph, tragedy, grace, and redemption. But we come to our Bible in a year plan and we groan and sigh and our eyes gloss over with familiarity and we we miss not only the depth of these stories but also fail to ask the fundamental question. Why did God give us this story? I want you to imagine a scene 2,300 years ago. Alexander the Great had essentially taken over the no the known world including the nation of Israel. and a couple of Israelites are gathered around the fire one evening. They're a father and a son and and they get to talking. In a quiet moment when the conversation lulls, the son looks up to the stars. He's 13 or 14 and the young man after thinking to himself for a moment says, "Fear not, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward shall be very great. Look toward heaven and number the stars. If you are able to number them, so shall your offspring be. And the son says to his father, God did that, didn't he? And the father says to him, "Yes, and more than that, my son. He said also to Abraham, I am the Lord who brought you out from of the Calaldanss to give you this land to possess. You know, this very land on which we sit." He did that, too. And the son, a bit puzzled, remarks, "Well, kind of right. Greece is on top of us. I don't really remember him saying that." And the father responds, "In one way, you're right. Our fathers messed it up." The son, his face downcast, says, "But we've ruined it. We are to be slaves to Greece or or whoever from now on and never see God's promises fulfilled. And the father jumping to his feet exclaims, "Not so, never. We can't thwart the plans and promises of God. He promised more." The son now rallying, remembering the law. And the prophet says, "Right, right. The Messiah, the one to come." Yes, says his father now pacing back and forth. Consider Moses in Genesis 3:15. And the Lord says to Satan, "I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." And later, Israel says to Judah in Genesis 49:10, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples." The young man, his wheels now turning right. Right? The lion king from Judah. And you remember also Balam in the wilderness who talks about him. He says to Baoch, "I see him now, but not now. I see him but not now. I behold him but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel." His father responds, "Go on. Where else? What about the Psalms and the prophets?" The young man, thinking for a moment, begins to smile. There's much more more than I can tell. Samuel rec records the words of the Lord to King David. I will raise up your offspring after you shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And the second psalm says, 'The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And his father responds, "Yes, yes indeed." And we could give many more texts, but the point is this. God's purposes are not thwarted. Even though when you look around and wonder what he is up to and how he will keep his promises, know this. His Messiah will come and put everything right. Amen says the young man. And once more they look up to the stars, wonder at the works of God, and take hope and courage from the story he has told them about himself. Now, that si scenario was completely made up for clarity in case you were wondering. But it helps to situate ourselves when we come to Mark's gospel. Why? Because Mark's gospel is a continuation of the story of God. The same one that our fictional father and son were telling each other. All of this story, as you will see throughout the remainder of the gospel, this is a part of the bigger story of God. After the book of Malachi was written, God was still working and moving, but he didn't write to his people for 400 years. The people of God are waiting and longing to see the fulfillment of his promises while the kings of the earth toss them back and forth. 400 years. And you read these words. Verse one, the beginning of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God. What? The Christ, which is just another word for Messiah. Good news indeed. Tell me about this Jesus. Who is this Jesus? What does he like? What did he do? Are you sure he's the Messiah? And Mark, again, it's all historical, but he's also a wonderful storyteller. This story lives. It really happened. But it's given to us so beautifully. He's going to tell us the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, who is the son of God. That's what the whole of this gospel is about. But remember, too, Mark's gospel is God's story. beginning to end, the Bible is about the gospel of God's Messiah. But now we know his name. It's Jesus. Mark is about Jesus. It's not about you or me or the circumstances of our lives. Now, don't get this twisted. It absolutely impacts our lives in direct and immediate ways as we will see. But don't make this story about you when you read it. When the storm Jesus the Messiah comes becomes an allegory for your conflict at work or family trouble or some problem you have, you cut yourself off from the very grace that the scriptures are meant to supply us with in the spirit's hands. This story is about Jesus, not me or you. Have you heard this story about Jesus? Friend, our big idea from the text today. Jesus Christ is the promised son of God who conquers Satan. One more time. Jesus Christ is the promised son of God who conquers Satan. Look with me to the text. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Christ. At the beginning of the gospel, verse one, of Jesus Christ, the son of God, Mark's account, unlike the other gospel accounts, jumps right into the action. Verse one, the beginning of the gospel, the evangel, the good news of Jesus. Mark's story begins at the beginning of Jesus's min ministry, not with his birth like in Matthew and Luke, or with his eternality like John. We get right into those three years when Jesus is fulfilling his earthly ministry. And why is Jesus good news? Well, first, he's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's God's anointed one. The one that was foretold from the beginning of the story that our fictional Israelites were rehashing a moment ago. He's the snake crusher from Genesis 3:15. He's the lion king from Genesis 49:10. He is the star of Jacob from Numbers 24:17. He's the son of David who will reign forever from 2 Samuel 7:13. He's the son of the Lord who will inherit the nations from Psalm 27. Mark is shouting from the very beginning, here he is. Here he is. This is the hero of God's story. God's king has come and his name is Jesus. This name Jesus Christ drips with salvific grace. Can you taste it? It sparkles with the promises of God fulfilled. Can you see it? Shouldn't the name Jesus call something in your heart? Does your heart burn within you? Or have you forgotten your first love? Do you know the promises of God? Do you believe they all find their yes and amen in Jesus? And the Holy Spirit writing his history through Mark is keen to do what he's always been doing. Shine the spotlight as bright as he can on Jesus. Have you heard this story about Jesus, friend? Lean in and listen again. Notice too, he is the son of God. Wait, wait, wait. God has a son. Indeed, he does. But what does that mean? Well, he didn't come into being the son the way we come into being the son of our fathers. No, he has forever been the son of the father, eternally begotten, of the same being with him. Why is this important? Why are you bringing this up? In him, the greatest possible hope for fallen humanity has arrived. The promises of God are being fulfilled. We see the yes and amen in Jesus. God has taken to himself flesh. If he hadn't, we could not be saved. Humanity earned death by their evil. Only a man could undo that evil through good. The sun has come down, been made low, condescended, that we might know God, that we might see God, that we might be with God forever. So, first, Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Second, Jesus was promised. Look with me back to the text, verse two. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way." The voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight." Mark quotes the prophets to show that Jesus and his forerunner, John the Baptist, were promised by God. What we have here are prophecies from a couple of places. The first reference, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, is from Malachi 3:1. The second reference, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths, is found in Isaiah 43. And a few quick thoughts before you accuse Mark of plagiarizing or something. Rather than writing off these ancient brothers as confused or ignorant or deceptive, we should check ourselves and ask if we're being unfair. ancient style standards were different. So, it's unreasonable to expect Mark to use MLA or Chicago style when he's writing his gospel, even if you're familiar with those. Nobody operated that way in the ancient world. It's anacronistic to use a $10 word. Mark's point is that the prophets together testify to John's coming and the Messiah's coming as a part of God's story of redemption. Remarkable and gracious, isn't it? God gives promises that he keeps that we can cling to and yet they are rarely kept in a way we expect or anticipate. He answers prayers but never answers them as we imagine. Have you ever prayed for opportunities to share your faith? My answered prayer walked up in the middle of a bad day I was having. I was at the gym. Music was blaring and I was cranky. Taboo. This man that walks up is incredibly socially challenging for a number of reasons. But he sought me out. Here he comes because he doesn't have any real friends. And his dad had just died. God was answering the prayer I prayed, but I didn't like how he was answering it. By his grace, I realized and was able to share the hope that I have with him and pray for him. You can trust the plot twists come on Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. when you least expect them. But remember, it's God's story, not ours. God, the author of the greatest story, should not hand his pen over to us. We'd ruin the story. That's verse four. John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and Jerusalem were going out to him to being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel<unk>s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Through the references to prophecies, Mark connects his story and the characters in it to the one God is telling. Now, here comes this John fell in the wilderness. Folks everywhere are flocking to him, confessing their sins, and he's giving them baths, just dunking them. Little bit strange, right? I think our familiarity with these stories, again, our eyes gloss over and we miss what's going on. Even weirder, when we get this little bit of information, he's wearing some camel hair and a leather belt. All right, sounds itchy and smelly, but you do you. And to get fueled up for a long day of preaching and baptizing, he has a bowl of locust with some honey drizzled on top. I don't know if that meets the Whole 30 keto standards, but some of you do. It sounds delicious, right? A description this specific and strange should make us wonder, why is Mark telling us this? Because it's important to the story. As it turns out, there was another man in the scriptures who dressed almost exactly like this. The prophet Elijah. This same Elijah in 2 Kings 18, we see him dressed this way. If you know the story of God, he's the one who predicted droughts, raised a widow's son from the dead, confronted Ahab, squared off with the prophets of Baal, called down fire from heaven, and avoided death entirely when the Lord took him to heaven. So, if John the Baptist were a basketball player, he's dawned the number 23 Chicago Bulls jersey. Sorry, LeBron fans, but he's put on the GOAT's jersey and aligned himself with him. And it doesn't matter the context, right? That sort of action provokes a response from people. So, John's a prophet. He's got the calling and he's got the uniform of a prophet. And like prophets in the Old Testament, he preaches and he preached. Verse seven, after me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. The folks there were probably looking around thinking, well, who is this fella going on about? We haven't really seen or heard from a prophet in four centuries. You seem like kind of a big deal, John. But John, as a true prophet in the order of Elijah, is interested in making much of Yahweh, not himself. He wants to tell God's story and he has a fresh word for the people of God. A mighty one comes and he brings a new baptism and a new spirit with him. I and the rest of you are not worthy of him, but he comes nonetheless. Mighty, worthy. Might this be God's Messiah? Might this be the foretold king? Yes. But this Messiah, this king fits no one's expectations. For while he is the snake crushing lion king who would establish his kingdom and reign forever, there is more to it than that. God's story gives us more pictures of him than merely a triumphant victor through the prophets. We see this contrast beautifully in Isaiah. Consider Isaiah 9:6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Here we see him high and lifted up as king, consistent with the scriptures we've considered so far. And yet later that same prophet says of him in 53:3, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. King of the earth, but man of sorrows. How can this be? Isaiah 53:7, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before it sheerers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Wait, now rather than being lifted up as a king, he's lifted up as a sacrifice. The government is upon his shoulder, yet he opens not his mouth. Have you heard this story about Jesus? Friend, lean in and listen again. God's ways are not our ways. The Lord Jesus was promised by the prophets, but the mind and ways of God are greater than our mind and ways. And John mentions a new baptism and a new spirit. John's jersey may look like Elijah's, but his words sound an awful lot like Ezekiel's. The Lord says to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:25-27, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. and I'll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Yahweh will cleanse his people and give them his spirit. And if you're reading Mark for the first time, although Jesus's name hasn't shown up since verse one, you have to be guessing who's about to show up, right? God's hero is coming. For thousands of years, the people of God waited on him. Here's my question to you. Can you wait on him? Can you wait on him in singleness and in marriage? Can you wait on him in infertility, in miscarriage, and in parenting? Can you wait on him in depression and in fear and in anxiety? Can you wait on him in pain, in suffering, in loneliness? Can you say with the psalmist, "My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning." more than watchmen for the morning. Can you wait on him? Can you trust him when he doesn't answer your prayer the first or the second or the 77th time? There are thousands of years between the promise of Genesis 3:15 and when Christ is born. Do you know the story well enough to believe on his goodness when you can't see it and can't feel it? When it seems like the night will never end and morning will never come. Can you wait on him? He came then. He will come again and he will come to you even now by this very same spirit he promised to us. So first, Jesus is the Christ. Second, he's the promised one. Third, he is the son of God. Verse N, in those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Here's the hero. Here's the one Mark said the good news is about. Here is the Christ. Wait, he's from Nazareth of Galilee. Mark, you said all of Judea and Jerusalem were coming out back in verse 5. That's really where he's from. And wait, he was baptized by John instead of baptizing John. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where's the debater of this age? For the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger than men. God's Christ, the Messiah, the promised one, who is mightier than John the Baptist, wearing his Elijah jersey and will baptize people with the Holy Spirit, came from Nazareth of Galilee. the snake crushing lion king of the nations from where? Talk about a plot twist. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? A a poor little country village? It's kind of like the president being from Eden, North Carolina or something like that. My sister-in-law's from Eden. I love her. I love you if you're from Eden. That's not a shot at Eden. Shouldn't the hero of God's story come from somewhere prominent and important the according to our expectations? And why was he baptized? He's God's hero. Shouldn't he be the one doing all the baptizing? Maybe if our God was a god of this world. Maybe if he was a prince of the power of the air. Maybe if his ways were like our ways. But he is not. And his story is not one we would write. Have you heard this story about Jesus? Friend, verse 10. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased. After he is baptized, there is this beautiful glimpse into the godhead. We see the spirits present with the son and hear the father's voice. And as the remainder of this gospel will testify, this Jesus, this Christ, this son of the Lord is himself God. This is how the promised one can fulfill the promises Yahweh has made. He is himself Yahweh, the one who was in the beginning. And Jesus being truly God and truly man is displayed in this moment. Jesus is truly a man. He was born of a woman and grew up in a small town. He receives the sign of repentance on behalf of the people of God as a part of his messianic mission. He is truly a man, not because he himself needed to repent of anything, but Jesus is truly God. Let me ask you this. Where else in the scriptures have we seen the spirit hovering over the waters like a dove? Where else have we heard God speak over the waters? Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said in Genesis 1, it was God and God alone creating. In Mark 1, it's God and God alone recreating. God is keeping his promises. But wonder of wonders, he has made himself a man. He has taken to himself flesh. He's written himself into his very own story. Have you heard this story about Jesus, friend? And when he rises from the water, what does he see? The heavens being torn open and the spirit of God descending. The reunion of God and humanity is taking place. Our first father and mother sinned and separated us from God. But this one, this Jesus, this new man, he's making it right. He's making all things new. Mark's language here alludes to a prayer for mercy prayed by Isaiah. Listen to this in Isaiah 63:15. Look down from heaven and see from your holy and beautiful habitation. You, oh Lord, are our father, our redeemer, from of old is your name, that you, Lord, would rend the heavens and come down that the mountains might quake at your presence. From of old, no one has heard or perceived by ear. No eye has seen a God besides you who acts for those who wait on him. Looks like Mark is pointing us to Isaiah to suggest God is answering this prayer. Isaiah prayed it 700 years before. But God acts for those who wait for him. Look how God responds. Our father has torn open the heavens and come down to deal with our sin problem to show us his face and redeem us. As we work through this gospel, we will see more of God's heart revealed in Jesus's ministry. We cannot fathom the lengths he has gone to to save a people for himself. And Jesus, the son of God, who is beloved and pleasing to the father, in him, humanity is reunited with God. Here Jesus is doing the reunion work of his ministry that will culminate in the cross. And because of him, when you look to him in faith and repentance with a heart that throws itself on his mercy, so too the spirit descends on you, and the father will say of you, "This is my beloved son. With you I am well pleased." In Christ, this is ours. church. In this story, the hero slays the dragon of our evil and gives us the treasure he has himself earned. But here's the catch. Only God can slay that dragon. And only a man could rightly give us the treasure. All other stories fall short, but this one is true. And friends, it is the very best. But our sins aren't the only villains in the story. There's another dragon the Lord Christ slays. Jesus first is the Christ. Second, he is the promised one. Third, he is the son of God. And fourth, he is the conqueror of Satan. Verse 12, this the spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him. One observation from verse 12. Notice this happened immediately. Mark uses this word to draw our attention to things in his gospel. It appeared back up in verse 10 as well. But it catches our attention here because it's repeated. The word can be temporal. It can communicate something like quickness. But more often in this gospel, it operates like a look at this when it comes to a dramatic event. So often Mark is giving you like a bold or an underline in his story. So, we want to pay close attention to what follows. The spirit throws Jesus out into the wilderness and he's there for 40 days. 40 is an important number in God's story if you know it. Moses stayed on Mount Si with God for 40 days. Elijah wandered in the wilderness to Mount Horeb for 40 days. Both of these 40-day periods were vital. And this one is, too. And like any man in the wilderness, temptation's come. The agent of temptation is named Satan. So the recreation, hear me on this, the recreation of salvation and redemption is coming. The hero of that recreation, Jesus, is here. And the ancient villain and tempter is here as well. Jesus takes humanity with all its hungers, with all its pains, fears, sorrows, and in this humble and lowly state repel Satan. Not just one, not just two, not just three days, but 40 days. A lot of us struggle to consistently pray for a few minutes. Jesus is rebuffing Satan for 40 days. The text mentioned he was with the wild animals, pointing out he was utterly alone with regard to human company. You think the devil didn't know who he was tempting? You really think he held something back? Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted far better than you do. So go to him with your temptations. And this promised one, this son of God, this Jesus Christ stands the test. Emmanuel, God with us, conquers Satan. And the angels come and are ministering to him. Have you heard this story about Jesus? Friend, where Israel failed in the wilderness, Jesus succeeds. Without sin, he passes the test and demonstrates his supremacy over Satan. The new Adam, the true Israel, the hero of this story. The king is here. Jesus is the winner, and the church is on his team. Luther had it right when he wrote some 500 years ago, "The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fail him." So I return to the question that Mark's gospel asks. Who is this Jesus? What is he like? What did he do? Jesus Christ is the promised son of God who conquers Satan. Jesus Christ, the son of God. History turns on that name. Yeah. Kingdoms stand and fall by that name. Every every knee will bow before that name. How do you respond to that name? What does Jesus say about how you should respond to that name? Verse 14. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel." Repent and believe, he says. In God's story, the good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand. God's son has come near to establish his kingdom, and it culminates in the cross. the greatest plot twist ever devised. When the living God died to kill death, he didn't owe us anything. He didn't need anything from us. We weren't so lovely that he couldn't do without us. And yet, the command is clear. Repent and believe. To believe is to trust yourself entirely to him. To have faith that he is who he claims to be and capable of making good on his promises. It's proclaiming him your savior and your great high priest. To repent is to turn from your wickedness and self-love. To turn towards the life Christ lived and cause you to live with him in obedience. It's to pick up your cross. It's proclaiming him your king and your lord. And nobody is worthy of him. Not you or me. Not the most righteous, good, moral person you've ever met. None are worthy. know not one. Yet he commands us to repent and believe unworthy as we are and remain based on who he is and what he has done. There's no neutral ground. To defer is to deny. You must answer the question for yourself. Who is Jesus? He cannot be merely a good moral teacher. His words here and elsewhere don't leave you with that option. to borrow from CS Lewis, he's either a lunatic, he's a liar, or he is Lord of all. Throw yourself on him. Repent and believe. But for Christians, we so we don't stop repenting and believing after we're saved. Our conversion is the beginning of a life characterized by ongoing repentance and faith, of constant obedience and trust. Do you believe his grace and and lordship extends to all of your life? Is he in your meals, in your sleep schedule, in your phone, in your jobs? I've had so many conversations the past few weeks where brothers and sisters are wrestling with the question, who is in control of my life? I'm anxious and dismayed because things aren't going how I think they should, how I think is best. In this moment of trial, we fall into the trap of self-love. You and I either we think we're better a better author than God is or we don't know how his story goes and believe it to be true. We want to love ourselves, our egos, our comforts, our vision of the way life should be. And we forget of just how good and wonderful he is at his work. We would make ourselves the hero and center of the story. And there's only an unhappy ending for that story. We often reap the wages of sin in the death we experience relationally and spiritually when we make ourselves God. For believers, this death is not ultimate, but we miss the fullness of joy that Christ offers. Christ is Lord of all. If we embrace the gospel truth through faith with the Spirit's help, peace awaits. You don't ever graduate past the gospel of grace, of repentance and faith. Romans 1:16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. That's for the whole of your Christian life, beginning to end. It's folly and death to think you can mature past the gospel. The gospel grows with you. It's the very power of God for salvation. God wrote a story about Jesus the Christ and it's all about him and has everything to do with you and me. Have you heard this story about Jesus, friend? It's an old story, a beautiful story. And we, the church, should tell the story today and every day until he brings it to its end. Can you sing sing with the the old hymnwriter? I love to tell the story will be my theme in glory to tell the old old story of Jesus and his love. There's no one like Jesus. Repent and believe. Turn from yourself and your sin and throw yourself upon the only name that will stand forever. Perhaps even for the first time now. God's story is not over. his Messiah will come and put everything to right. Let me pray for us. God, you're good. Thank you for your