Hey, guys. How are you doing?

Someone stole my table. Thank you,

dear. Thanks, honey.

Oopsie. God is so faithful. Whoa. This

got high.

I'm not going to ask who was standing next to it. I'm

so excited about this week. I'm so encouraged as the Lord has been taking

me down this pathway headed toward Easter. Hey,

I have an announcement. I want to share something with you. In

April, we set aside just for the month, Pursuit.

Men's ministry rests and bloom. Women's ministry

rests for a little bit. We love that the ladies can get ministered

to and that the men can, but we take April, and we want to

offer an opportunity for the couples in the house. So,

couples in the house. Do you like to play crazy bridge?

Do you know what crazy bridge is? It doesn't matter

because half the people who played last time didn't know either.

So marriage crazy bridge night. Saturday, April 18.

It'll be over in the fellowship hall. You will have

a blast. You just will. Last time,

it was packed out, and there was definite demand to do this

again. So I invite the couples to be a part of that. It's gonna be

really good. And if I'm not mistaken, what I just heard

Krista say is that I. I have

two opportunities next week to get candy. Is that what you

guys heard? I'm pretty sure I didn't hear an age limit. Did you guys hear

an age limit? I didn't hear one. Mm. Mm. No. I see all the

kids standing on the side going, why?

This week, the Lord has taken me some of the coolest places.

Pastor Kevin texted me this week, and he said, how are you doing? And I

said, you know what? I feel like I am

completely broken, but so happy to be so.

Because of where the Lord has taken me, I feel like what he's given us

this week. You know what? I have been through a lot of palm

Sundays in my life, and I have walked through

this a lot. But for some reason, man,

this year just hits different. This year just

hits different. As I began to study out said, lord, what do you want?

How do you want to do this? What do you want to share? And

I felt like he just. The Holy Spirit just said, I want to take you.

I want you to walk it with me. This is the last week.

We are commemorating the last week of Jesus

walking on planet Earth before his resurrection.

And we are commemorating everything that he walked through.

And I think sometimes we just skip over it and we don't think

about everything that he actually did. Did I just lose

that?

My lovely Assistant. Thank you, honey.

You know, I've been driving him nuts for what, 43 years now.

See how resilient he is? Such a

good guy. But we are going to. I felt like this is where the Lord

would have us go. I had written down eight days that changed the world

from shouts to silence. Because I

can't do this in just seven days or in just

six days because of what happened on that

one day. And so

we're going to dive into that today, all right? We're going to jump up and

we're going to sing. We're going to sing this passage of

scripture. Everybody just pick your own key. Would you stand with

me?

Oh, my goodness. Pastor Kevin, if he were here, he would tell you

all to sing with gusto. I'm just saying, take every bit of caffeine in your

system and let's go. Six days before the

Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where

Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

Here, a dinner was given in Jesus honor.

Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining

at the table with him. Then Mary took about a

pint of Pure Nard, an expensive perfume.

She poured it on Jesus feet and wiped his feet with

her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of

the perfume. Now we're going to skip down to. I think it is verse

12. The next day, the great crowd that

had come for the festival heard that Jesus.

They took palm branches and went out to meet him,

shouting hosanna. Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of

Israel. Father God, I thank you so much for your word. Oh, my

goodness. Lord, I thank you so much for your word.

Thank you for sending your Word, sending your

son. Thank you for leaving this written word that we can grab hold of.

And Holy Spirit, I'm asking that you would just pervade this spirit.

I pray for teachable hearts. I pray, Lord, that we would lean in to

everything. Let us take this journey with you through

this week. Father God, I thank you for your faithfulness. Let my

stuff fall in your stand in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. So here's what I believe the Lord would have me do. And so what

I would like to do with you today, if you would. I'm going to take

you into the rooms. I'm going to take you into the spaces.

I want us to take each day, and I want us to see. Now

here's the thing, guys. When I was young, if I

had a dental appointment. Let's just put that out there. My

mother would not tell me until the day of my dental

appointment, because I was a miserable human. I was

not kind to my siblings. I was shut down.

And I would struggle with anxiety and fear and all of these

things. So my mother got to where

she would pick me up at school the day of

getting. Having a dental appointment, and she would not tell me where we

were going until we pulled into that office.

I know that's because

I could not handle what was impending. In her

wisdom, she removed from me the fear, the anxiety,

the dread of knowing what was coming. Guys, Jesus didn't have

a buffer. He knew what was coming

the whole time. He knew what was coming. He knew what

his mission was. He knew what was going to be asked of him,

and he knew what it would cost to complete it. And so as we

enter in to this week with him, understand

that he went in knowing full well,

knowing full well what the cost would be.

And I could not start with the triumphal entry.

As much as I would have liked to have started with the triumphal entry, I

couldn't because on Saturday,

which would have been marked by yesterday, he was

anointed. He was anointed because God

leaves nothing undone. And so yesterday we would

have marked the anointing in that upper room. In

that upper room when Mary. Let's just. Just go there with me

for just a minute, okay? And I know that a thousand dances

have been done to this. I know that skits have been done to this, but

I just want you to go for a moment with me into that room,

starting out. Scripture says

Lazarus was sitting at that table. That would have been

enough. That would have been enough. Days before,

Lazarus had been raised from the dead. And Jesus walks into this room, and

there's his friend Mary and his friend Martha, and

there's Lazarus sitting at the table and. And the disciples

are there. And, you know, it had to, like,

smell like food because we know Martha's been doing what Martha does.

And so bread was probably baking, and there was probably lamb that was

cooking, and the fragrances were in the air. And the rooms

would have been dimmed because they would have probably had the clay pots and

the lights, and the table would have been low, and the cushions would have

been for them to recline while they ate.

And the conversations would have been going on. The

disciples would have probably been arguing over who was the greatest.

And the people were probably going, did you see when he

did that? Did you. Can you believe that Lazarus is here? There's probably so

many conversations taking place in the room, and they've settled.

And in comes Mary. And Mary's

carrying this jar of fragrant oil.

And she walks in and she goes to

Jesus. And I mean, honestly, I'm sure they didn't know what Mary was gonna

do because they didn't know what she was gonna do last time when

she sat at his feet, which was only something a disciple

could do when she sat at his feet. But this time she

goes over and she takes this jar and she

shatters it. And this nard, this nard that probably came from

India, it was probably about 300 denarii. It wasn't.

It was a treasure. And she breaks

it. She breaks it and she pours it on him, and

she pours it on his feet. And Scripture says that the

fragrance filled the room. The

fragrance filled the room.

And then she leans over and she does the most unheard

of thing. She takes her hair

and she begins to dry his feet. She begins to

wipe his feet. Guys, there had to be

silence for just a moment.

Mouths had to hang open for just a moment. On this

Saturday. On this Saturday is this anointing. But you know

what? Just like with any other form of worship, when somebody does

something unexpected, you're going to have two kinds of people in the room. You're going

to have people who get it, and you're going to have people who judge it.

May we be the former, not the latter. She

did something extravagant. She did something

extravagant for him. And

Judas, the only one in the room that says, oh,

that could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

Do we really think that that's what Judas wanted?

But the fragrance filled the room. Because

you know what? I don't think Mary knew. I don't think

Mary knew what was getting ready to happen, but Mary

knew that something was getting ready to happen. And there

are times in your life where you may not know why God is asking you

to do something. Do it. Do it. When that

unction comes up in your spirit and you sense the Holy Spirit saying,

do this, and you don't really know why, be a Mary.

Break the jar. Do what he called you to do. And

Jesus says, no, no, keep. It's fine, stop.

What she has done, she has done for my burial.

And, guys, can I tell you what I believe? I believe the

fragrance of that oil. The fragrance. See, you don't just rub

oil off. Oil gets in your pores, it

gets in your skin, it gets in your clothes, it gets in the cells

in your hair. And there's every possibility that when Jesus

was the road headed Toward Golgotha. There's

every possibility that the fragrance of worship still

cling to him. There's every

possibility. Because, see, I don't believe that God

left the scent of death on his Son. I believe he

anointed him for the days that were coming,

the days that Jesus knew were coming.

Anointed on that Saturday. And see, that's the thing about

worship, guys. Worship is rarely convenient. It

is often misunderstood, and it is always

costly. Take your treasure and

pour it out. That was yesterday, guys. That what yesterday

would have commemorated. So Jesus has been anointed to

head into the week that has been ordained for him

that he knew was coming.

And so we are going to enter now into today.

Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday.

I love this. I love this. My favorite part of this. I mean, all of

it's beautiful. But you gotta picture it. Now. We're in

Jerusalem, and the crowd is probably masked

out three or four times, at least the number of people that are normally there,

because they are coming for Passover.

The people are selling things. The stalls are open. The

streets are full. It is busy. It is busy

in the streets of Jerusalem. And then this noise starts. But we're not going to

get to the noise just yet. We see this picture taking place, and

it's Jesus talking to two of his disciples. And he tells

them, he says, guys, I need you to go get this donkey. You're going to

find this donkey on the outskirts of town. You're going to tell that guy you're

going to bring me that donkey. And the

disciples go, and they get that donkey and they bring it to Jesus.

They bring it to him. It wasn't a small thing, guys.

There was a reason. Because Palm Sunday was

not just a celebration. Palm Sunday was

a declaration. It was a declaration because look

here, they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks on it, and he

sat on it. And many of the people spread their cloaks on the road.

Before that happened. Before that happened, when

they brought their. The donkey to Jesus,

the disciples. I don't know how many times I've read this

and just not paid attention. The disciples

took off their cloaks, took off their robes, and

they put it on the donkey to create a place for

Jesus to sit. They saddled the donkey

with their own robes. Why is that important? Why is that important or

why is this important that they would throw cloaks? Because that's what they

did when a new king was crowned.

When a new king was crowned and they would parade him in on his

horses, with his chariots, with Everything. The people would line

the streets and they would take off their cloaks because the

cloaks were, in essence, they spoke to who you were,

what you did. The covering that you had, some of the cloaks were

marked. And so when they took off their cloaks and threw it down, they were

saying, this is not my covering anymore. You are.

This is not who I am anymore

because of who you are. And the people

began to shout Hosanna. Do you know what that means? Lord,

save us, Lord, save us.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. He's sitting on

this colt. Why? Why? Because he was fulfilling,

purposely fulfilling prophecy. Zechariah,

Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion. Shout, daughter Jerusalem.

See, your king comes to you righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal

of a donkey. Hundreds of years before,

the prophecy had gone forth. This king that we're talking about,

this king that we're talking about, when you see him coming in,

when you see him riding in on a lowly colt, you can know,

daughter of Zion, your king has arrived. And so there was a

declaration in this. And the people shouting, blessed is he

who comes in the name of the Lord. Can

you even imagine what that felt like? Can you

even imagine Saturday, anointed,

covered with oil, blessed, prepared, second

day, the shouts, the people celebrating,

declaring, I'm no longer who I was because you are now

king. Sad part

is that same city that would cry out,

hosanna, save us, Lord, save us.

Blessed is this king of Israel. That same city would

soon, within days, within hours, begin to cry, give us

Barabbas. Crucify him.

Holy Monday. Coming off of

the triumphal entry. Listen, guys,

when I've got something impending,

I can make all the excuses in the world to go hide somewhere.

I can decide. I just really need to rest up so that I can face

what this is. Nope. Jesus went in. Jesus went

in. He had one week to finish what had been started, and he wasn't going

to leave anything undone. And so what we're getting ready to see is that

he goes in to. He sees the fig

tree. He and the disciples are leaving, and they're going into town. And

he sees the fig tree, and he's hungry. And it's a beautiful fig

tree. It has lots of leaves. And he goes over and he reaches in

to get something to eat, and there's no fruit on the fig

tree. And then he does this thing that sometimes you can stand back and

go, well, that was a little bit harsh because he curses the Fig tree.

We are done, done with this fig tree. But see,

what we don't understand is that the fig tree represented Israel. The

fig tree was about a place that Jesus loved.

A people that Jesus loved that had the appearance of fruit.

They had the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the robes and the temples

and the things that they had. It looked like they had everything together.

But the fruit or the lack of thereof was on Jesus

heart. Even in this last day when he's walking this out,

he is drawing people back to God. He is pointing them back

and going, listen, it doesn't matter what it looks like. It matters if there is

fruit. And so

he goes a little further. It's already one of those days. You ever

just had one of those days? And he goes further and he goes into the

temple. He goes into the temple. And guys, this is the passage of

scripture that everyone loves to talk about. It's like, well, Jesus flipped the

tables. Jesus was righteous.

And isn't it funny how the one instance he can

talk about love and love one another and you are the most amazing

everything for 66 books we know about the love of

Jesus. And the same people who want to tell us he turned the

table can't quote John 3:16. So for God

so loved the world that he gave his only begotten

Son, that whosoever believeth in him would not perish,

but would have everlasting. God didn't send his son

into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him

might be saved. If you want to quote one, quote that

one, quote that one. But he goes in and here's the

thing. We get mad because our rights are violated. We get

upset cause somebody does something and we don't deserve it. Jesus didn't turn the

tables because he was upset that they did something to him. This was not about

Jesus. This was about his father. This was about his father.

And so when he flipped the tables, he didn't go, oh, I

am so upset. I'm so offended at you. It was

my Father's house will be a house of prayer,

but you've made it a den of thieves and robbers. He

wasn't indignant on his own behalf. He was

indignant because his father and the mission of the

house of his Father had been violated.

On Monday, tomorrow. This is the question I

want you to ponder now, guys, I have a handout for you in the back

as you leave. If you want to know what Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, just

focuses. I have it for you. I'm not Expecting you to actually

remember everything, because I don't. Anyway, on

Monday, are we fruitful

or are we simply managing the appearance of

fruitfulness? Are we fruitful?

Tomorrow, when you wake up, let the Lord check your fruit

to see. Lord, am I just walking around with a bunch of leaves, or

am I providing something by your help that will

nourish people in the kingdom? And the

second, do we carry in our hearts a deep reverence for what

is holy and sacred to the Lord? Because

the first question I asked you had everything to do with the fig tree.

Do we have fruit that is consistent with righteousness? That's what we're looking at on

Monday. And the second thing, do we carry in our hearts a deep reverence?

Is there enough love for what is holy and

sacred to the Lord that you would be indignant

on his behalf or just on your own?

Holy and sacred to the Lord? Do you even know what is holy

and sacred to the Lord any more? We have dumbed down in.

I feel like we have dumbed down in our churches sometimes some of the

things. We stop talking about holiness. We stop talking about

sacred things. And there are still things that are sacred, and there are still

things that are holy. And you want to know what the big one is?

You. You are a holy

nation. You are a priesthood.

And according to the Bible that I read, you are

holy to the Lord. You are holy to the

Lord. Are you living a life that has the

testimony that would show forth that you know

that you are holy to the Lord? You don't take holy

things in some places, you

yourself are holy to the Lord.

On Monday, do we carry in our hearts a deep reverence for what is

holy and sacred to the Lord. And now we're going to move to Pastor

Justin's favorite day, Holy Tuesday.

Holy Tuesday, guys.

Jesus would have been completely justified to go, I'm going to go sit

under that cursed fig tree for the next few days, and I'm just going to

rest up for the weekend that is coming. But no, he was gonna finish the

work. And what we see in this is that Jesus

begins to teach. He begins to teach

everything. He begins to. He confronts the Pharisees. The

Pharisees and Sadducees try to trip him up.

If I'm married to a woman and I die, if my brother

marries this woman and then somebody

who's gonna be her husband in heaven, do you

really care? But anyway, they were trying to trip him up, and

he just goes, he's so wise. And he says,

God is the God of the Living, not of the dead.

God is the God of the living. Let's focus here. And then,

you know, they come in and they go, okay, what about we

give this to Caesar? Or do we give this to God? Or do we do

this or do this? And he says, whose picture is on the coin?

He says, give to Caesar what is Caesar? And unto God what is God's? Over

and over and over, on this Tuesday, Jesus the

teacher, arises. Everything he wanted to tell them, he tells

them. He tells the leaders. He tells the crowds. He tells everyone.

And then we see him move into this intimate time with just the

disciples. Jesus left the temple and was

walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its

buildings. Do you see all these things? He asked.

Truly, I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another.

Every one will be thrown down. As

Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him

privately. Tell us, they said.

Tell us, they said. Can you imagine this

moment? Jesus is right there. They've listened to him teach

to everyone. They've listened to him confront the leaders.

They've listened to everything over these days. Saturday,

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

There's this moment between him and these guys

that he loves. And he says. They say, tell us.

And you know what Jesus begins to do? He begins to tell them about

the end times. And he says, don't let yourself be deceived.

Don't let yourself be deceived. And he begins to charge them. He says, when you

see this, when you see that, he says, there will be wars, and there

will be rumors of wars. Sound familiar?

But the end does not yet come. If you want to know what

Jesus says about these days, the days you're living in right

now. Matthew 24. Get in there and stay there for a while. Because

wouldn't you want to know what he told his disciples to look for?

Matthew 24. It's on the sheet of paper. Get in there.

It will alleviate some of the stresses and the anxieties that the world

and the news and the things you see, it will alleviate some of

that. Because we need to shift our hope into knowing that it is God

who is in control. And Jesus sitting on that Mount of Olives.

It's called the Olivet Discourse. Read it. It is so good

and it is so rich. But on that Tuesday, on that

ordinary Tuesday, during the week leading up to his

crucifixion, he taught the parable of the tenants. He

taught them on stewardship, what belongs to who.

Accountability, spiritual readiness. And then the discourse, teaching

the disciples on the end times. The clock was

ticking. The clock was ticking and he was

moving forward. He knew the time was short and everything important

that was in his spirit was being poured out. Everything.

He wasn't going to leave one thing on the field. He was

going to leave everything out there. He wasn't going to walk away. Not

leaving it all there. And then what? We move out of

the teaching with the disciples and we move into Spy Wednesday.

Spy Wednesday.

Then One of the 12, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

and asked, what are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to

you? So they counted out for him 30 pieces of

silver.

From then on, Judas watched for an opportunity

to hand him over. Can you even

imagine he's one that's walked with you.

You ever been betrayed by a friend? You ever been

hurt and let down by a

friend? But

wasn't even an accident. They didn't even come to him and ask him. It says

he went to them. He

purposely went to them to sell Jesus out for

30 pieces of silverware. And you're thinking, oh, how could somebody,

how could anybody disregard Jesus

for money, for temporary.

But guys, we do it. We do it.

We chase everything except him sometimes. And

even when the conviction of the Lord is there, or God's going, quit working

seven days a week, quit doing this. Spend some time with your family, come

to church. I know you'd rather be. And we go, yeah,

but. Yeah, but

next time that happens, here are the 30 pieces of silver.

Just hear him rattling away over there. Because sometimes

we trade the temporal for the divine and it is not worth.

Is not worth it. He looked for a way. And

then we get to the day. So we've gone. Saturday, the anointing.

Sunday, hallelujah. Monday, the

tables. Tuesday, the teachings. Wednesday,

betrayed by a friend. And then we enter into Thursday, which is

probably the most talked about passage of scripture. It

is where we get the Lord's Supper. And that's where we're going to go right

now. We're going to go into the room with our Lord's Supper. Jesus

knowing full well what was coming. And so they go into that

upper room once again, once again,

expecting one thing. But they go in and Jesus gets

up from the table and he wraps a towel around his waist.

He wraps a towel around his waist and

he begins to go to the disciples one by one,

and he begins to wash their feet. Guys,

that was reserved for the lowest of the low in a servant's house.

That was the Person who was. Had just been hired and was just having to

work their way up the ranks. You got feet today. Anyway,

that's basically what it was. And Jesus

the king who came in riding on a donkey,

wraps a towel around his waist and starts washing the

feet of his disciples. And he

demonstrated to them, this, my brothers, is

what servanthood looks like. It's what

servanthood looks like. And Peter says, no, don't

wash my feet. Don't wash my feet. And Jesus says,

if you will not allow me to serve, then you have no part of me.

And he said, not only my feet, but my head

and my hands. Guys, sometimes

we just need to get in the presence of God and go, all, Lord, all.

My head, my hands, my feet, everything.

God, let it be sanctified and set apart for your

purposes. And so what we see him do is he serves them

food. He serves them the wine and the bread,

knowing full well that one sitting at the table with him

will betray him. He tells them about how they should love one another

and how they should serve one another, because these are his closest,

and this is going to be really his last teaching time. And

so he's telling them the most important things.

He says, one, that here will betray me. And of course, they all start

saying, lord, is it I? Lord, is it I? And he says, the one who's

just dipped the bread in the cup.

And then he looks and he says, go and do what you need to do.

Go and do what you need to do. And we see

the rolling

of time speeding up as Jesus heads into the garden of

Gethsemane. And he begins to travail before

he begins to call out, father, if

it be your will, let this cup pass from me.

Yet not my will, but yours be done. And he

goes out to see if his disciples, if his disciples are waiting

with him and they're asleep. And he says, could you

not tarry one hour? Could you not

tarry one hour? Can you even imagine the anguish he

had to be in in that season? How hard it had to be

that his sweat would become as drops of blood? And,

guys, that's a literal thing. That can actually happen when someone

is in the deepest of distress and grief.

And it happens. They've noted,

doctors have seen it. I've never heard of it before

him. And then we see

the scene. Here comes Judas,

money jangling in his pocket with the

soldiers, and he goes over and he kisses

Jesus, and he betrays him with a

kiss.

Peter takes a sword,

takes off someone's ear, and Jesus

takes it and he puts it back, says

Peter, if you're going to live by the sword, you're going to die by the

sword. He was just. He had to teach him. He had to

teach him because he loved him.

And then we know. We know, but we

don't know what happened. In the next

time, skip here.

Good Friday. Good Friday.

It is the culmination of Jesus earthly ministry.

He's getting ready to finish his course in

that. And they take him before

Pilate. Jesus said, my

kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent

my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is

from another place. You are a king then, said

Pilate. Jesus answered, you say that I am a king.

In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to

testify of the truth. Everyone on the side of the truth listens to me.

What is truth? Retorted Pilate. With

this, he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, I find

no basis for a charge against him. But it is

your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at

the time of the Passover. Do you want me to

release the King of the Jews? And they shouted back, no,

not him. No, not him.

Give us Barabbas. Here is your

king, Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, take him away.

Take him away. Crucify him. Shall I crucify your

king? Pilate asked.

We have no king but Caesar, the chief priests answered. And

finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own

cross. He went out to the place of the skull.

There they crucified him. And with him two others.

One on each side and Jesus

the middle. One

on each side and Jesus in the middle. They crucified him,

guys. The veil in the temple

ripped from top to bottom. Ripped from top

to bottom. The ground began to shake. The earthquake. The

skies darkened. Stones began to crack in

half. It says that that tombs opened and those

who were asleep in the Lord began to rise. You think we didn't hear

the voice of God that day? You think we didn't hear the rumbling

of the Father in that moment when his Son was crucified?

All of the voices that had shouted, hosanna, blessed

is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And then had shouted, crucify

him. Now went silent. Now

went silent. And we enter into what

is called Silent Saturday.

Holy Saturday. It is a time between times.

It is interstitial. Living in the space between.

Living in the space between.

Oh, Jesus,

at evening approached, there came a rich man from Armathea named Joseph, who

had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked

for Jesus body. He wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and he

placed it in his own new tomb that he had. He had

cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance

to the tomb and he went away.

And he went away. And

now we see the disciples hidden

and afraid and silent.

Because, see, we have the privilege of knowing on

this side of it while it's taking place. All they knew was

that this Jesus, that they had followed this Jesus had now been

crucified. And they had watched him be placed in a tomb

and a stone had been rolled in and their hope got buried with

him. They didn't know,

they couldn't see it yet on the earth it was

silent. They didn't know

that in the depths that the keys to death, hell and

the grave were being taken. They didn't understand that something

was happening and unto unseen realms that they had no clue.

But they're. They were getting ready to know and see. So

often in life we stand in this place. We stand in this

place in our lives, and we are, every single one of us,

in this season of a silent Saturday where we have the

first coming and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus

Christ and then we have the second coming of Jesus Christ

and we are still standing in the middle of this waiting space.

And we have the opportunity in these moments of

silent Saturday, we get to. We get

to sit with our grief.

We get to take a moment and not rush past the

suffering and dismiss what Jesus did. We get to sit

here and we get to anticipate

knowing what's coming and to sit in that silence. I read

this. It said, silence is the final and most pronounced

expression of what the Bible calls lament. It can

often be loud, particularly at first, but eventually

words will fail, as do our voices, and

then there is only silence.

We experience Holy Saturday, Silent Saturday, knowing how

the story ends and knowing that death will lose its sting.

But it is precisely this knowledge of resurrection that makes

Holy Saturday so important. You see,

biblical hope is not cheery optimism, nor is it Pollyanna ish

ignorance, Biblical hope, resurrection. Hope

flourishes in a Holy Saturday world.

We are in a Holy Saturday world in a Holy

Saturday moment as we lean in anticipation

of what is coming. And so as I was

praying, I said, lord, I don't want to leave with

Holy Saturday. I want the silent Saturday. I want the Holy Saturday in

their spirits, Lord, But What I want is something that the

disciples did not have in that moment because they couldn't see.

We have the hope. We have the promise.

When in the silent Saturday season, we must continually

remind our hearts that Sunday is coming.

Sunday is coming. And Jesus will finish the work.

He will do what he came to do. And so we are going to take

just a moment. I've asked the worship team if you would stand.

Jonathan, take the lights down as low as you can get them,

because I want you to go here with me. Silent Saturday.

Jesus has been placed in the tomb and they've walked away.

I want you to go there.