Who Do You Say That I Am? "The Son of Glory"

If we've never met, my name's Josh, and I'm glad that you chose to be with us today. Before we get into the message, I want to give you a quick update on our Christmas offering. If you don't know, every year at Christmas time, we receive a Christmas offering that is above and beyond our regular generosity and all of it. Every dime goes out these doors to local and global impact. And this year we set a goal to raise $100,000.

And you guys, so graciously and so generous, gave just a hair shy of $125,000.

Now, already since the first of the year, we've had the pleasure and privilege to give away over $50,000. Locally, we've given away $31,000 so far. We gave that away to a few different ministries and partnerships. One is rock Solid Families. They provide biblical life, family and marriage coaching in West Harrison and Lawrenceburg.

We also partnered with two organizations that are housed right here on this campus that were birthed out of the Whitewater family, the Life center and the Community Pantry. The Life center serves 13 zip codes between Hamilton and Dearborn counties, offering emergency assistance, they resource referrals, mentoring and spiritual guidance to people who need it most. The Community Pantry exists to alleviate hunger, and they do that very well. In 2025, 7720 people got the opportunity to shop in our food pantry, which is fantastic. So many of you filled up those blue bags that we receive once a month with the items that go on those shelves.

But they also operate a mobile pantry for those who can't travel. They serve seniors in local centers and provide provided over 2,200 lunches for picnics in the parking lot last summer. And they help feed students through the backpack Club even when school is out. So we're super grateful for them. And I just wanted to share a quick story.

A few weeks ago, there was an unfortunate situation at Bridgetown Middle School and they evacuated the school because of a threat. And we are the place that they bring all those students. When they have an evacuation, their parents come get them. And our Life center folks and Community Pantry folks, they saw a bunch of students here that were here during lunchtime and they were like, well, we'll just bring them food. And so they wheeled out food.

And it was just a beautiful opportunity for us to love on some people in our community and for that great partnership to happen.

And the rest of the Christmas offering that we've given away so far was given away globally. We've given away $20,000 globally. That money has gone to two key helped to purchase land in Southeast Asia with their partners there. And they're going to build a building on that, that land that will be a community and business center where they can help make their ministry more self sustaining and they can connect with the community there. And we've also got a new partnership with TCM International.

They equip church leaders in more than 50 countries across the world with higher education. And then all the rest of the Christmas offering will be given away as opportunities and new partnerships and need arises. Throughout the year, we'll partner with people who share the gospel, restore what's broken, and raise up leaders who make disciples that make disciples. But the Christmas offering is not our only generosity locally and globally. We have actually set aside in our regular budget 6.5% of our budget, 165,000 doll for local and global impact, with a commitment to increase that to 10% of our whole budget in the next three years.

This matters so deeply to us and I'm so grateful that we are a church that believes that we have been blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. So I just want to thank you all for your generosity. That's what makes this possible. We're so grateful for you and grateful for a community that that is so generous. If you're not yet part of our giving community, I want to invite you to be a part of it.

Because it's an act of worship and generosity that says whatever we have is God's and we just want to give it away with joy. And so if you'd like to be a part of our giving community, whether that's $10 or that's regular monthly tithing, there were three ways on the screen that you could connect with that and be a part of it. But before we get into the message today, I just want to say a prayer of gratitude and ask God to step in and meet us here today. God, thank you. Thank you.

Everything we have is yours. And I pray that you will help us to be a generous people, but not just give things away, but give things away towards your kingdom. And so we pray that you will take all of this that we have been so blessed to be able to give away and that you'll multiply it, that you will take those seeds and help them to grow into an eternal harvest. That's way more than what we could have done just with money. I pray that you will continue to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others.

And I pray that you'll meet us here today, Holy Spirit, that you will pour out your gift of preaching through me, and that you will give us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we can receive exactly what you have in mind today. In Jesus name, Amen.

Have you ever watched a movie or read a novel and you're several chapters or maybe even hour into the movie and it still is just a little bit scattered. Like you've met these characters, but you're not sure why they're there. You've got these side storylines of feel like maybe they're not part of the story. You've heard conversations that don't quite make sense yet and scenes that feel important, but you don't know why, but you're invested and you just kind of follow along and you still don't see how it fits together until there's this reveal moment, like this turn, where all of the things kind of snap into place and all these disconnected details and characters and strange events, so strange anymore. Suddenly they're clues, they're threads to keep pulling at.

And now you see the bigger picture. And once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. And you almost want to start the whole thing over so you can go back and look for all the little things that you missed along the way. I can see so many of you nodding along. You get this.

It's not because the story changed. It's because your understanding of the story has changed. It's because you changed. Today we're going to talk about a moment like that in Scripture. We've been walking through the Gospel of Mark together, confronting ourselves with this question, who do you say that I am?

We've watched Jesus teach with authority, walk on water, cast out demons, heal the sick. We've heard bold confessions from guys like Peter, and we've heard confusing predictions, these cryptic messages. We've seen these flashes of power. And we've also heard him speak plainly about suffering. And still the disciples, all the pieces are still disjointed.

Now, as we walk through it, we have an advantage that the disciples didn't have. We know about the cross. We know about the empty tomb. We've got the whole New Testament. We're reading this story from the other side of the resurrection, which means we can already see connections that they couldn't see.

And still, even for us, this moment that we're about to read about has the power to stretch and reframe our understanding of Jesus. But I don't want us to miss that. The disciples are living this in real time. There's constant misunderstanding and confusion. The pieces still feel disconnected to them.

But it's not because they're not trying. It's not because they're actually that dumb. It's because they haven't hit this moment yet. For them, it will come after the resurrection. They're still filtering everything through their expectations of what the Messiah should be and what kind of kingdom the Messiah should bring.

And their assumptions are limiting what they can see. Last week we looked at a scene just before this pivotal scene where Jesus tells his disciples, if you want to take part in the glory that's coming, then you will also need to take part in the suffering that's coming. If you want to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. And then he gives us this cryptic sentence at the beginning of chapter nine, Chapter nine, verse one. And Jesus said to them, truly, I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.

Now, this can trip a lot of people up. It sure sounds like Jesus is saying that he's going to come back the second time during the lifetime of some of his disciples there. Now, if this is true, then either Jesus came back and somehow we missed it, or he's a failed prophet and this is the proof. But I think there's a third option. I think something totally different is happening.

I think he's actually saying something else entirely. But what? Well, I think we get a clue in a really abnormal phrase for Mark that shows up in the next verse. Here's what he says. Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain to be alone.

Now, you probably missed the really abnormal phrase, but if you've been here through this whole series so far, what is Mark's favorite word to describe time?

Immediately. Immediately. He uses that word constantly 40 some times through the gospel. But this time it's six days later or after six days. See, I think Mark is showing us that the fulfillment of the promise that some of them will not taste death before they see the kingdom come in power.

I think it happens six days later in this next story as Jesus gives only some of them, Peter, James and John, a peek into the power of the kingdom. Let's read this story starting in chapter nine, verse one. After six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them and they appeared, or there appeared to them.

Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. For he did not know what to say. For they were terrified.

And a cloud overshadowed them. And a voice came out of the cloud. This is my beloved son. Listen to him. And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them, but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. This is a very thick section here. There are so many things to look at. Hundreds of details.

Dead guys are showing up. Jesus is glowing. God speaks. There's a cloud. Peter wants to set up a campsite.

The dead guys disappear. And after all that, Jesus is like, yeah, don't say anything about this until I rise from the dead. Now, I've read this story lots of times over the year, over the years, and I'm not sure, honestly, that I could have ever been able to tell you what it means or why it matters. It's just kind of a cool moment. But as I've studied it more closely these last two weeks, I think that this weird little scene is the aha moment where everything before it and everything after it all kind of snaps into place and makes sense.

There's a lot going on here. So let's start to break it down. First, again, Jesus takes only three of the 12 disciples. Peter, James, and John. He does this a few different times in the Gospels.

One was when there was a little girl who was dead, and he raised her from the dead. And he took Peter, James, and John into the room and closed the door and let them see it. And he said then, hey, don't tell anybody about this, okay? The second time, that's a key time that Jesus separates them from the others, is in the Garden of Gethsemane. The night before he's to be crucified.

He takes them on a little further to pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Now, we don't know why Jesus sets these three apart from the others. I assume it has something to do with their leadership capacity. Maybe he's preparing them for something that's coming ahead. But it's something to note.

So Luke tells us that Jesus invited them here, this time to the mountain to pray. And in the middle of what must have been an incredible prayer session. Mark says Jesus is transfigured. Now, the heading in your Bible probably says the transfiguration. What on earth is a transfiguration?

Well, the Greek word here is metamorpho. Literally, meta is change and morpho is form. Jesus literally changes form. But this word has another layer to it because it doesn't mean that something changed into something new. Actually, it means that it changed form into the thing that it internally was already.

Which is really interesting to me. This is the only moment in the Bible while Jesus is still alive in human form that he kind of peels back the mask of humanity to reveal that he is divinity clothed in humanity. Mark then says that Jesus clothes became radiant, intensely white, like no one on earth could bleach them. Now they don't have bleach at this point in time. This is a pretty modern translation.

The Greek actually says cleaner than any launderer could make them. Now, I gotta say, the other Mark, Matthew, and Luke, they also share this story, and they have way better descriptions of what Jesus clothes look like. Better than your laundry could make them. Matthew says his clothes are as bright as the sun. Like, yeah, yeah, that's good.

Luke says his clothes were dazzling white. Mark's like, your mom couldn't get them this clean.

But this is divinity, divine, glory, language. Jesus is glowing. And if you know your Old Testament well, that might ring a little bell. You remember when Moses went up the mountain to spend time with God and he came back down and he was glowing. The people were afraid of him because he's been in the presence of God.

He's glowing. But Moses glows like, glow in the dark stuff. Glows like, you got to put it out in the light. And it soaks up some light, and it reflects that light for a short period of time until it all wears off. But Jesus does not glow like glow in the dark stuff.

Jesus glows like the source of light.

Jesus isn't putting off absorbed light. He is the light. In the book of Revelation, it describes the new heaven and the new earth. And it says, there is no need for a sun or a lamp. Why?

Because the lamb Jesus, his glory is the light for the city. So Jesus is glowing, and then two dead guys show up, Moses and Elijah. I don't know how everyone knew who they were. I mean, maybe Moses had the ten Commandments. Maybe Elijah had a name tag on.

I don't know. But we might read these names and think, oh, yeah, I know those guys from the Old Testament, but these guys aren't just two characters from the Old Testament. These guys are the main characters from the Old Testament. Every Jewish kid asked for a Moses jersey for his birthday, okay? They all had a poster of Elijah on their wall.

These guys being there means something. Moses is the law. Moses is Sinai. He's the Exodus. He's the Covenant.

He's the mediator who stood between God and man. He's the one who walked into Pharaoh's court and set a nation free. He's the one who raised the and God parted the waters and they walked through on dry ground. He's the one who went up the mountain into the cloud and came down with his face glowing because he'd been in the presence of God. And Elijah.

Elijah is the prophets. He's the bold one who called down fire on a mountaintop. With the prophets of baal, he confronted corrupt kings, he called Israel back. When they wandered, he became the symbol of prophetic restoration. Malachi says in his prophecy that Elijah is going to be the one that comes before Jesus, comes back before the Messiah.

If you want to summarize the entire Old Testament into two words, it's the Law and the prophets. That's Moses and Elijah. And now they're standing on a mountain with Jesus. But this is not the first time that either of them has stood on a mountain in the presence of God. You might remember Moses asked God, can I see you?

And he said, you can't see my face or you'll die. But I will tuck you into the cleft of the rock and I will pass by and you can see my back. Elijah was in a cave, and God came by, and he heard the whisper of God after the wind and the earthquake and the fire. And now these two, who have gotten to experience God's glory in part, are standing on another mountain in the presence of the one who is the fullness of God. Glory.

And Mark says, they're talking with Jesus. Well, what do these three guys talk about? I want to be a fly on that wall. Luke gives us the detail that Moses, Elijah and Jesus are talking about his departure. The departure of Jesus.

The word there for departure is his Exodus. Whoa, this rings another bell, doesn't it? Moses was the one who brought Israel out of captivity in the Exodus, the first Exodus. Now Moses is discussing an even greater exodus of God's people out of slavery to sin and death. The first Exodus required the blood of a lamb.

Jesus is the greater sacrificial lamb. Do you see this massive convergence that's happening? And these are just some of the details.

This isn't a biblical cameo. This is God giving us a peek into something that really matters. It's the gigantic plan that he put into place, like we talked about last week before the creation of the world, that he would be the kind of God to reveal himself to his creation as a self giving, self sacrificing savior. And right in the middle of all this, awesome, Peter opens his mouth and honestly, it's a little embarrassing. He's standing in the middle of the most significant theological convergence in human history.

And he says, rabbi, it is good that we are here.

Mark even gives us the commentary. He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Peter, seriously, man, if you don't know what to say, don't keep talking.

But he comes up with the idea, I'll build a tent for each one of you. And we can sit around the campfire and tell stories, and we can drag this out for as long as possible. This is amazing. Let's do this right. And then the cloud comes and covers everything up.

Like the cloud that came and covered up Sinai when God's presence showed up, like the cloud that filled the tabernacle when God's presence showed up, like the cloud that filled the temple when God's presence showed up. The cloud that is God's presence is thick around them. And from that cloud comes a voice. And it says something that just keeps connecting the dots. This is my beloved son.

Listen to him. And it reminds us of at least two things. A similar moment at Jesus baptism where God says this. And then nearly a direct quote from Deuteronomy chapter 18, where Moses says that one day an even greater prophet than himself is coming. Deuteronomy 18:15.

Moses says, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. And then just three verses later, God himself says, I will raise up for them a prophet like you, Moses, from among their fellow Israelites. And I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything.

I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. It's like God up on this mountain gets a gigantic neon arrow out that's flashing bright light. And God's like, this is him. This is the guy.

Don't miss this. And they didn't. And as the cloud clears, Moses is gone. Elijah is gone. Only Jesus is left.

Even this has meaning. God's showing us that everyone before Jesus, as important as they seem to be as necessary as they were to the story. They're just scaffolding. It's all just preparation and setup for Jesus. You've heard me say so many times, Jesus is the main character, period.

From COVID to cover of the Bible, Jesus is the main character character. And the transfiguration is the moment where all the threads tighten and the big picture snaps into focus. The law, the prophets, the glory, the Exodus, the covenant, the promise of a greater Moses, and so many other things all converging in one incredible scene. It's the kind of moment that makes you want to go back and start from the beginning and see all the things that you missed. And I believe all this is the fulfillment of what Jesus said six days earlier.

Some of you standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power. I think Peter actually confirms this. Later, in First Peter, chapter one, he says, for we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father. When the voice came to him from the majestic glory saying, this is my son, whom I love.

With him, I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. It seems to me that Peter, in hindsight, recognized this is exactly the moment that he got to see the kingdom come in power. He just couldn't see it in the moment. Well, back on the mountain, Peter, James, and John have this incredible, literally mountaintop experience that just abruptly turns off.

They head back down the mountain, and Jesus tells him not to tell anyone what happened until he's raised from the dead. Mark says they kept the matters to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. I don't know, guys. Maybe it means he's going to rise from the dead.

But they still don't get it. And I just imagine if I'm there, I know what I'm thinking. I'm thinking, wait a second. I thought this was it. I thought this was the moment.

Jesus was glowing, Elijah was there, Moses was there, a voice from heaven. This is amazing. This is the moment that Jesus grabs a sword and takes over the world and he gets a big throne and we get little thrones. This is going to be amazing.

Instead, Jesus says, you don't need to tell anybody about this. And they came off the mountain, back down to normal life. And Mark snaps quickly to the next scene. And I think he does this very much on purpose. They go to find the other disciples.

There's a large crowd gathered, and there they find the other disciples are arguing with the scribes, the teachers of the law. They've gone so quickly from this mountaintop miraculous moment down to a moment of human pettiness. And Mark puts these back to back on purpose. Jesus walks up on the large crowd and the argument, and he says, hey, what are you boys arguing about? Nobody responds.

The scribes don't respond. The disciples don't respond. They're like children caught mid disobedience. When mom walks in, all the confidence and all the noise is kind of sucked out of the room.

They've been so wrapped up in proving their point that they didn't even know Jesus showed up.

And in that awkward silence of no answer, something else totally off to the side becomes the center of the scene. A desperate father comes forward and says, teacher, I brought you my son. His son has been possessed by a demon. The disciples have actually tried to cast out this demon, and they were unable to do it. And while there's certainly a whole sermon maybe to be preached about why they couldn't do it and what's going on there, I think the key element of this story can easily get lost in the details of a botched exorcism.

If we are only paying attention to the mechanics of that thing, I think we can miss what Mark is actually trying to show us. Notice what Jesus is focused on. It's not the argument. He's not focused even on the failed exorcism. He's focused completely on being present with this Father.

Chapter 9, verse 21. Jesus asked the boy's father, how long has he been like this? From childhood, he answered. It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us if you can, said Jesus, Everything is possible for one who believes.

Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. No surprise. What the disciples couldn't do, Jesus can. He commands the demon out of the boy and tells it to go away and never come back.

Now, we've seen Jesus cast out demons lots of times, but this time I think there's something deeper in a lesson for us to see. I want to zoom out on this scene for a moment and notice two very different pictures on one side of the scene. There are the religious leaders, the scribes who have studied the law their whole lives, and the disciples who have spent the last three years face to face with Jesus being taught everything that he wants them to know. Both of them think that they know God better than the other, and they're arguing about who's more right, who's more educated, who knows God better. And on the other side of the scene is a boy tormented by evil and a desperate, broken dad who has a little bit of faith but openly and humbly admits that there's still part of him that doesn't believe yet.

And those of you who are parents, you know there is no hurt like watching your kids hurt.

And notice which direction Jesus moves. Instead of establishing who's right or righteous or knows God better, he moves in compassion and patience and grace and love toward the broken, weak, hurting, and knowingly helpless man who's desperately come to him. And I want to pause on the scene and ask us to be introspective here. Which character am I in this story? Which character are you in this story?

Some of us are the arguing disciples, man. We love Jesus. We know scripture. We've been spending time with him for years. But somewhere along the way, all of our energy is shifted toward defending and debating and critiquing and judging and looking down our nose at everyone.

We're quick to tell everyone else why they're wrong, because they're not focused on the thing that matters most to us. And if they would just focus on the thing that matters most to us, then they would be more like Jesus, because we know Jesus is like us.

Some of us are arguing, disciples, and maybe the invitation for us today is to stop arguing and start noticing.

They didn't notice the hurting man. They didn't notice Jesus showed up. Maybe it means laying down the need to win and asking ourselves, am I more concerned about my thing about being right than I am the person in front of me? And if that's you, then maybe obedience today looks like humility or apologizing or repentance, or like stepping into someone's pain instead of just standing at a distance, throwing rocks at it and analyzing it. But some of us are more like the scribes.

We know the Bible. We can connect the threads. We understand theology. We love to be the ones with all the answers. But we're standing constantly at this nice, clean, safe distance from real suffering, real people, real mess.

We're fluent in doctrine. But we're uncomfortable caring for real hurting people. And maybe our next step is not to learn something new, but to move closer, to find an actual hurting person, to enter the messy situation, to risk getting our shoes dirty. The true kingdom isn't proven in arguments. Jesus said, you know what matters most?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. The kingdom is demonstrated in love.

Maybe today you're more like the Father though. In this scene you're tired. Oh, you're tired. And you've been carrying something that feels way too heavy for way too long. And maybe you believe, but it's mixed.

Your faith isn't strong, it's just kind of barely hanging on. And the invitation for you is to stop going to everyone and everything else, trying to let them fix you and just calm, take it to Jesus. In absolute desperation to approach the throne of grace with the confidence that Jesus does not require perfect people or perfect faith. Maybe your next step isn't to strengthen your belief, it's just to come as you are with the belief that you have and say, I believe. Help my unbelief.

Because I'm fully convinced that Jesus still leans into that confession today.

I think Mark is showing us in these back to back scenes something very important that we cannot miss. That the mountaintop is never intended to be the destination. It's purpose is revelation and preparation. So that the glory that we've seen, whatever glory we have seen, the truths that we have learned, the clarity God has given us in our own mountaintop moments, they might not be as explosive and incredible as these guys, but whatever it is for us, he's given us those not as invitations to build a tent, but as an invitation to walk back down the mountain with a new perspective. They're meant to reshape how we move toward real hurting people that God places in our path.

And sometimes the mountaintop light blinds us from the valley reality. But this is how we seek first, the Kingdom Church. The world does not need more religious debates. It does not need more brilliant Christians who can argue others into the dust and win the day. The Internet is full of them and Jesus has not come back yet.

Don't hear me saying that we shouldn't be a people of the Word. If you've been here for more than 10 seconds, you know we are a people of the Word. The Word is in us and we are in the Word. This is how it must be if we're going to take Jesus seriously. I'm not downplaying that at all.

We should be the greatest students of all of this. But what the world needs more than knowledge and sharp arguments is men and women and students and kids who have seen his glory on the mountaintop and carry his heart down into Reality. This is what mark showing us here. And you know what it looks like? It looks like Jesus.

I love these words from Paul in Philippians 2, starting in verse 1. Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility. Value others above yourselves, Not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, divinity wrapped in humanity, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. Being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Next week we're going to talk about this servant king. The King, the king that showed up, shed his glory from heaven, came to this earth.

And he says, I did not come to be served. I came to serve. I came to be a ransom for many to give up whatever it cost. Jesus is the main character church. And there's no more beautiful, more perfect picture of who he is and what he came for than the cross and Jesus.

Words keep echoing and echoing and echoing. If you have eyes to see, I'm right here. If you have ears to hear, I'm talking, listen. And if you want to be my disciple, you must not. Hey, you'll be a better one.

It might work out. Must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Because that's who he is. That's who he is.

If you didn't get a communion cup on your way in, raise your hand. Our team would love to bring you one.

Jesus is the only one who knew all along that the path that he was on was leading straight to the cross.

And he knew that we would be like the scribes and like the disciples. We would argue and bicker and pride would be in the way. He knew every sin that we would ever commit in our lives. He knew the brokenness, the darkness inside of us. He knew again, we talked about last week.

He knew before the creation of the world. And he said, yeah, I know you're worth it.

What, what do you even say to.

And maybe that's the one thing you needed to hear today.

He chose the cross for you, for me. Even us.

His body was brutalized and broken, ripped for us. And this little wafer represents his body given for us. It's the thing that he gave to his disciples. He broke the bread and gave it to them and said, this is my body given for you. And as we eat it, we remember that he said, yeah, I know you're worth it.

And this represents his blood, man, poured, poured out for us. And as we drink it, we remember and we hear the whisper I know, I know you're worth it. Remember.

Oh Jesus, help us to see you as you are.

Come heal us once again from our blindness and our deafness, from our sickness, from the evil that's inside of us and help us, God, to see. Just open our eyes to see the hurting and the broken and the weary and the needy around us.

And help us to drop the arrogance and the pride and the act and step into the mess.