Joseph Prince - The Beauty of Our Servant King

Are you ready for God's Word? Yes? Last week we touched on Zacchaeus, remember that, and the city of Jericho. The city that's cursed. I wanna continue with the teaching, but I just wanna show you how this is back to back. The reason why we wanna see this is because we wanna see the Lord Jesus Christ and may the Holy Spirit open our eyes today that we can see Jesus in his beauty, glory, and excellency, amen? To see him is to be transformed, amen. To see him is to receive life, and when Moses in the wilderness, the children of Israel were bitten by the snakes, God told him to raise up the bronze snake, amen. A picture of Jesus on the cross. Many years after that, Jesus would tell Nicodemus on a lonely night for Nicodemus that, even as Moses lift up the serpent, the Son of Man must be lifted up on the cross.

That's how we are saved. And all those Israelites who were bitten by the snake, as they look at the bronze snake, a picture of Jesus on the cross, they were healed. The Bible says: "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith". One look at him and you live. One look at him and you are healed. One look at him. Oh, to look at the lovely one in whom there is no shadow of turning. When you look at Jesus, you see how beautiful he is. You see how wonderful this person is. You know, when he is strong, he's not brash. When he's weak or when he's... it seems like, rather, when he's tender, he's not weak. He has enthusiasm without fanaticism, amen?

He has convictions but not, you know, fanaticism. He has holiness but not Pharisaism, not this holier-than-thou attitude. Jesus is altogether lovely. To look at him is to rest. To look at men, even the best amongst us, is to disappoint each other, amen. So when the author of Hebrews, he wrote about all the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, he says: "Looking unto Jesus". Look up that Greek word. It means looking away from everybody else, unto Jesus. So every time we come to the house of God, we wanna see Jesus, amen? One look at him and your depression flees. One look at him, amen, and your chains crumble, amen. He's altogether lovely. There's not one characteristic that preponderates, that is greater than the other. Everything about him is holy. You know, when some of us, we are known to be... oh, this guy is quite severe, he is quite hard. Another person is known as very gentle but to the point of weakness. Jesus is altogether lovely. Steel and velvet, servant king, amen, hallelujah.

So today, I want us look at Jesus and, while we are looking at him, I'm believing that you're gonna receive your miracle. You're gonna receive your healing. You're gonna receive that breakthrough, amen? I cannot make it happen, but Jesus is the one that does it, amen? None of us, in and of ourselves, can actually make things happen. And for that, we'd have a clear, clear picture. The Lord gave men the law first, before he sent his Son. Why? Because we are such creatures of pride. You know, we boast about what we can do, amen? So God gave us the law, and God says, "Do your best. Do your best. Do your best to save yourself. Do your best to come to my standard, amen. Do your best".

And men tried. For 1500 years they were under the law, and men could not, amen. Then God sent his Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible says: "When the fullness of time was come," 1500 years after the Lord Jesus came, and Jesus was full of grace and truth. He came and brought grace, amen? The law condemns the best of us; grace saves the worst of us. Even under law, David failed, miserably, amen? He committed adultery and murder, amen. But under grace, God saves the worst of us. And that's why he sent his Son at the right time. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus, amen.

So we look at Luke 18, and we have a picture in Luke 18 and 19, say, "18 and 19". The reason the Holy Spirit put them together, they are not in chronological order of events. If you want a good idea of events in the Bible, in terms of its chronological order, look at the Gospel of Mark. It is in chronological order. But in Luke 18 you have the rich young ruler. But at the end of the story of the rich young ruler, we have the story of a blind man that is not named. But today, we're gonna look at him. After that, comes Zacchaeus's story. The blind man is in Jericho. It took place in Jericho. And then after that, is Luke 19, we saw last week, Zacchaeus, also in Jericho, amen? But why did God put 18 and 19 side by side, is because over here you have the rich young ruler who boasted in his own efforts. He says, "What must I do", notice the emphasis, "do". "What must I do to inherit eternal life"?

And because he boasted in his doing, the Lord gave him the commandments again. The Lord says, "You know the commandments. You shall honor your father and mother, don't steal, don't murder," amen. And he says, "All this I have kept from my youth up". The Bible says the Lord looked at him, loved him, and the Lord said, "One thing you lack..." And always remember this: Every time you boast in your doing, the Lord will say, "One thing you lack". The law was designed to show us our imperfections, our sins, amen. It's not given to us for us to keep. It's for us to, it's like a mirror. The Lord shows you your flaws perfectly. The law is very, very unforgiving. You know, the mirror is very unforgiving also, right, amen? Especially the bright one, you switch on the light, you know? "Ohh, man"! You prefer the one in a shady room, maybe, amen? But it is inaccurately... sorry, irreversibly, all right, unbendingly true.

That's the problem with the law. The law is perfect, and the law doesn't bend. If the law bends over for anybody, it's no more the law. So, those who believe in grace have the utmost respect for the law. We are giving the law its rightful place. Can I have a good "Amen"? So the rich young ruler says, "What must I do to inherit eternal life"? The answer to be saved, "What must I do to be saved"? If he had said that, "Lord, what can I do, Lord, to be saved"? If he had said that, the Lord says, "Believe on me," amen? But he wants to do to inherit, to earn it. And the laws, he gave him the law, and the Bible says he boasted he'd kept all this, and then the Lord says, "One thing you lack: Sell all you have and give to the poor".

I wanna let you know that he's the only man Jesus said, "Sell all you have and give to the poor". Somehow people have this idea that Jesus said that to everybody. He never said that to everybody. He said that to only one person: the rich young ruler. "Sell all you have and give to the poor, and come and follow me". And what happened? The man walked away, sad, all right? Left Jesus, turned his back, went down the road, sad; you know, hardly able to give one shekel or one dollar. Notice every time you boast in the law, the Lord will tell you, "One thing you lack". And that was the first commandment, by the way: "You shall have no other gods before me," not even money, amen?

The next chapter, Luke 19, you have Zacchaeus, another rich man, and he's a tax collector and he's looked upon with disdain and scorned by his own people because he's raising taxes for the Romans, amen? So, and also we know that he cheated people and he over-extended his authority and all that to get more money in. And the people didn't like him. When Jesus came by Jericho, the people actually tried to push him aside. He was small in stature, they bullied him, they refused to let him come to the front. He was the most hindered and yet the Bible says he climbed a tree and looked at Jesus. One look at Jesus. Jesus looked up, no laws given, no commandments given. Jesus looked at him and he's, "Zakkai," his Hebrew name. "Zakkai, come down". And Zakkai in Hebrew means acquitted.

Today, in Israeli courts, when someone is acquitted, the judge lays down the gavel and he says, "Zakkai". That means you are acquitted. Jesus looked up at the man. He didn't even do anything yet. Jesus looked up, just one look of grace, amen, because he looked to Jesus for salvation. He must be self-condemned, he must be, you know, having a lot of inner turmoil, perhaps, prior to all this, and Jesus looked up and said, "Zakkai," in other words, "You're acquitted". And then, the scandal of grace start. How many know there's a scandal to grace, amen? Jesus says, "Come down. I must eat at your house". "I must eat at your house because you have looked to me". "Because you have looked to me, I must eat at your house," amen? At the end of that dinner and, by the way, the people were whispering: "He's gone to eat with a sinner".

And the scandal of grace started. And they were whispering among themselves and all that. You know, we forget many a times that some people, their sins are more pronounced, you know, we look at this person, "Oh, that kind of lifestyle. Look at her, you know, she live, her lifestyle is like that. She starts to work in the evening and all that". Or that kind of thing. We look at people and we judge them. We measure sins, compared to ourselves. God doesn't do that. We're all dead spiritually, amen. Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. Jesus came to make dead people live. You need to be born again. We're all cut off from God. "There are many miracles that Jesus did," the Bible tells us in the Gospel of John, "of which it's recorded every one of them, I suppose that even the world cannot contain the books," the Bible says.

But the Bible records for us three raising of the dead at different stages. One is the girl who just died, Jairus's daughter, that I mentioned just now. She just died. Jesus raised her from the dead. And the second one is the widow of Nain's son who died probably a few hours. On the same day Jesus raised him from the dead, a few hours. And the last one is Lazarus who has been dead for 4 days already. And Jesus says, "Remove the stone," and Lazarus's sister was very concerned and said, "Lord, by this time he stinks. He's been dead 4 days already". Sometimes, you know, we judge people based on the stink. We judge people based on the manifestation, what we sense, what we feel, and how we see them, and their sins are more pronounced. But you know what? Jairus's daughter was dead only a few hours, but dead is dead, amen?

And we're all dead. Some of us, we are dead and we are proper dead. Some of us, we are rich dead, you know? And when Jesus comes on the scene, let me tell you this. Remember, we came into this world naked, and the Bible says we'll leave this world naked. You can prop it up, you know, "But, Pastor Prince, I'll have you know I have all these financial statements to my name," and all that, or you can be a poor man with plenty of money. True wealth is not measured by that. It's measured by "Do you have the Lord Jesus in your life? Are you born again? Have you been raised from the dead"? You can go to the mortuary and you have a guy only in his singlet, or you know, he died topless in the street, homeless man. Another man is dressed in a $1000 suit. But you know something? Both are dead, amen. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Can I have a good "Amen"?

So, notice Luke 18 and 19: Jesus gave the law to the rich young ruler who boasted in his doing. He can hardly give up one dollar. Jesus gave grace to Zacchaeus. No laws given. At the end of the dinner, Zacchaeus stood up and says, "Half my goods, I give to the poor. And if I have cheated anybody, I'll repay them fourfold". And Jesus smiled and said, "Salvation has come to this house," amen? So, again, what caused one man to be stingy, caused another man to be generous? What is it? Law restricts, grace opens up your heart, opens up your house, makes you generous, amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.

So that is a lesson that God wants us to learn in putting all this story aside. But there's another story there that is seldom mentioned, and it's actually the story of the blind man, and it's also side by side with Zacchaeus's story. You have this, Luke 18: The blind man that Jesus healed, it says: "Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, and there was a man called Zacchaeus".

Today, I wanna talk about the man who was blind in Jericho. I'm going in reverse. Can you see that? Last week, I touched on Zacchaeus, now we look at the blind man. I'm not gonna use Luke 18. I'm gonna use the account of Mark, Mark's account, because Mark's account gave us his name, yet not his name. We'll see in a while's time, okay? By the way, look up here, people. There are four Gospels, amen. Just like the story of Winston Churchill, for example, you can have a book on Winston Churchill in terms of Churchill, the statesman, amen? Churchill, the witty man, you know, a book full of his quotes. Churchill, the family man. Different books, but different aspects of one man.

So we have four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and they all point out to the Lord Jesus Christ in his different glories, amen. In his different roles, so to speak, his divine role. In Matthew, he is portrayed as the King of the Jews, amen, and it's a book written primarily to the Jews. So whereas the parables of Jesus in the other books describe as the kingdom of God, kingdom of God, in Matthew it's always the kingdom of heaven, because the Jewish people don't use the name of God freely, amen? So they substitute by kingdom of heaven. You find that only in the unique Gospel of Matthew. He's there as the King. And is Jesus's genealogy there? Yes, the very first chapter says Adam begat so-and-so and so-and-so, all the way down, all right, to Jesus Christ. And then we have the Gospel of Mark after that.

Now, Mark is the Gospel of Jesus as the divine servant, amen? The divine servant. And it was written by one of the disciples of the Lord, of course, Mark. Gospel of Mark. And Mark was known as a man who failed miserably in the book of Acts. He followed the apostle Paul around for his missionary journey and, halfway through, he gave up. He was homesick or whatever. He went back and left the apostle Paul high and dry, you know, without assisting him. So Paul, next time, says, "I'm not gonna use him anymore," you know, but later on, Paul changed his mind and Paul used him. But it was to this man who failed miserably that the Lord gave this Gospel of Mark to, amen?

So the Gospel of Mark is a servant who failed terribly, writing about the divine servant who never failed. And in the Gospel of Mark, there is no genealogy because you don't ask a servant about his pedigree. Then we come to the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke is written for all men, actually, because in there you find that phrase, "The Son of Man". Jesus, showing his manhood more than in any other Gospel. Each Gospel emphasized his kingship, but the Gospel of Luke emphasized his manhood. And that's why many of the stories of Christmas and things like that come from either Matthew or Luke. Where we have both, we have genealogy, amen? And Luke was a physician, so there are fine touches there. Luke will note that the man with the withered hand, it was his right hand. And right hand is the hand that you use for your work, amen?

So only a doctor can notice things like that, but all the words of the Gospels are Spirit-inspired, God-breathed. Then we have the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is the Gospel, what we call the highest exaltation of Jesus because it typifies Jesus as God come in human flesh, amen? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us". And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, hallelujah. So notice, no pedigree. No genealogy. It begins with "He was with God and he is God," amen? So we look at the Gospel of Mark to see this account of this unnamed blind beggar to see Jesus, and from seeing the Lord in this story, you're gonna receive your impartation from the Lord, even as the Word goes forth, praise God.

Go to Mark 10: "'For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.' Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging". So we are given his name here, yet it is not his name. I'll tell you why. Now, let's start with verse 45. Notice there's no coincidence in the Bible. It starts with verse 45. The Son of Man, Jesus, describing himself: "I do not come to be served. I came to serve, and to give my life a ransom for many".

Now, how many believe that the Lord is ever-ready every day, amen, to serve you? We have this impression, a religious impression, that the Lord is there for us to serve. The Lord is there for us to pour on. The Lord is there for us to give to. The Lord is there for... let me tell you this. We act like we are full. We act like we are rich. We act like we have everything. No, friend, he has everything. He is rich. He is the full one. He is the complete one, amen. We come empty and we receive from him. What can we give unless we first receive? So when he comes to us, he wants us to take this humble attitude, and what's the attitude? To learn to be like a child to receive. He says: "I did not come to be served. I came to serve". But will you allow him to serve you?

So that's how the story opens up and then it says: "Then Jesus and his entourage that followed", there was a great multitude that followed Jesus because they were on their way to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. This will be the final week for Jesus, this coming week, and he's on his way to the cross, and next week, he'll be on the cross. So imagine, he went through the city of the curse, the city of Jericho, and before that he says, "I came not to be served, but to serve". You think about it. If the Lord wants to be served, do you know he has myriads of angels, compared to us? Do you know angels don't get tired serving him? Their voices don't get raspy, they don't sing, "Halle..." They can sing "Hallelujah" forever, amen?

I mean, they are greater than Spiderman, than Iron Man, than any other man that, you know, Marvel Comics can come up with, you know? I mean, they don't get tired. If God just wants to be served, he has myriads of angels to serve him. But the Lord made man last. He made everything on this earth, and he made man last. Why? God made man to receive everything that he has made and created and provided, so that man becomes the beneficiary. And all God wants for man's part is to be thankful to him, amen, worship him, and praise him, amen? The problem is that, you know, we think that sometime we put ourself in the place of God and we judge God. We see ourself as a critic of the Bible. No, friend, the Bible judges us. We cannot judge the Bible. We are no judge of God. God judges us. But the thing is that this wonderful God, who is also a judge, because what... I mean, if God is not a judge, if God's Word is not final, if it's not righteous, if it's not holy, this whole universe will crumble.

If man sin and God says, "You know what? Boys will be boys. Just sweep everything under the carpet," then God is not God. How can God just forgive without a proper foundation of righteousness, amen? God cannot just presumptuously just bypass the laws and then just forgive you. There must be a righteous foundation. God cannot extend love. He is love. The Bible says God is love. But God cannot extend love at the expense of righteousness and holiness, amen. And wrong must be rectified. Sin must be punished, but God didn't want you to be punished, so God sent his Son and he became a man so that he have a body to die with. He was born to die. He's the only baby born to die.

So God sent him and on that cross he was not murdered. Jesus says, "No man take my life from me. I lay down my life". And that's why when they came to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane, he spoke one word: the name of God in the burning bush. When Moses asked him, "What is your name"? He says, "I am, that I am". And when they came to arrest Jesus in the Garden, they said, "We seek Jesus of Nazareth," and he stepped up and says, "I am," and all the soldiers brandishing staves and swords, they all fell backwards. And he waited for them to get up to arrest him. He could have run off. He could have put them on their backs for a long, long, long, long time. No, friend, no one can take his life. He laid down his life because he loved us.

There must be a... that penalty must be paid, so there must be a substitute, and he came to be our substitute. He allowed himself to be bound. Never did a centurion see a man lie down on the cross to be crucified, as he saw that day, amen? And when Jesus hung on that cross, God took your sins and my sins, laid on the sinless Jesus. He knew no sin, he did no sin. In him is no sin. And he bore all our sins, and God unleashed the full force of his divine retribution and punishment and judgment against all sins, but in the body of Jesus Christ. And Jesus absorbed all of God's anger and judgment for all our sins, that he was bearing on our behalf until there's nothing left, and Jesus shouted, "Finished".

So today, God cannot punish you for the same sins that he punished Jesus for if you take Jesus as your Savior, as your substitute, and God designed it to be so, so that today, God has a righteous foundation to forgive you. God is not merciful in forgiving you. He is merciful in sending his Son, all right, thinking about predicament and sending his Son. But God is righteous in making you righteous today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What a gospel. What a gospel. This is not religion. This is reality. This is relationship, amen, with the God of heaven. Hallelujah.

Okay, so he didn't come to be served, he came to serve. You know, after God gave the big ten, the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 20, in case you're wondering where the Ten Commandments appear, they appear in Exodus 20. Let me show you Exodus 21. "Now these are the judgments which you shall set," before the children of Israel, "before them: if you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve 6 years; in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing". Why after in Exodus 20 God talks about the Ten Commandments for the very first time at Mount Sinai. God gave the Ten Commandments. In the very next chapter, God told Moses, "Moses, write down these laws about a Hebrew servant".

Why talk about buying a Hebrew servant? Because God is not thinking about buying a Hebrew servant per say, he's thinking about his Son who will come and be a servant to us. Let me tell you this law, okay? Let me describe this law. If you buy a Hebrew servant, he will serve you only for six years. In the seventh year, you must set him free. It's called the year of the release. Seven times seven is the Year of Jubilee, complete release for all debts and restoration of lands and everything. So in the seventh year, he must go free. Now, if he came in, at the time you buy him he has a wife, when he goes out in the seventh year, he goes out with his wife. However, if the master gave him the wife, he came in by himself, the master gave him a wife, and now he has children, in the seventh year he can go out free, but his wife and his children will remain behind.

Okay, hear me now. However, if the servant says, the servant says this, if the servant says, "I love my master..." So obviously, God has in mind himself as the good Master. Come on. All right? So this man, he love his master. You know, this is the heart, you're hearing the heart talk of a servant. Most of us don't like their master. But he's, "'I love my master, and I love my wife, and I love my children. I will not go out free.' Then his master will bring him to the judges". The word there is God, is the word Elohim. "He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master will pierce his year with," a sharp instrument, "an awl; and he will serve him forever".

So what's all this about? Right after the Ten Commandments, God talk about this servant because Jesus will come as a servant. Now, listen carefully. He's going to come and serve us. He came full of blessings, full of grace and truth, healing in one hand, provision in the other hand. He came to bless us, we who are poor and needy, we who cover ourself even in plenty of money but so poor in and of ourselves. He came with blessings, and he never, you know, took the little. And then nowhere in the Gospel does it say he took the boy's five loaves, ate it, and say, "Boy, here's one loaf back for you, all right? What I do now you don't understand, but one day you'll understand".

At least there must be one example where he made someone poor, okay, then I'll believe. But no, throughout the Bible he's always, he takes the little and enriches it, multiplies it. Took that boy's five loaves and two fish, blesses it, and he multiplies. He never look at a sick person and said, "Come over here". All right? Or a healthy person rather in his hearty health, you know, rosy cheek, and all that, and he says, "Come here. You look too healthy. Now, receive some leprosy," all right? "I'm teaching you a lesson called patience. You don't understand now. One day you'll understand". Nowhere in the Gospels do you find it. And Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. At least there should be one example. No. He's always going about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.

So, by the way, little becomes much in his hands. Amen? There are times because of my preparation, and all that, for Sunday, I will prepare, and then sometimes I feel like I still want to spend more time, and time is late. I only got few hours left. I will tell the Lord, "For my sleep tonight, Lord, even though it's a few hours, bless it, Lord". And God can make with his blessing little becomes much. You can sleep for 9 hours and wake up with a headache. It's not the quantity, it's the quality, y'all. It's the blessing that maketh rich. Can I have a good amen? Whatever you put in Jesus's hands multiplies, plus your brain. You put your brain there and tell God, "Take my brain, Lord," it multiplies. Amen?

Put your life, put your family, put your children in his hands, amen, and he multiplies. But I got to warn you first. Don't put in his hand whatever you don't want multiplied, that you don't want blessed. He'll always bless it. He will always bless it and multiplies it. Can I have a good amen? Say, "Lord, I got a small brain, Lord. I put it in your hands, Lord". And he will multiply it. Can I have a good amen? He can multiply time. Sometimes 24 hours seems like so fast. Sometime 24 hours seems to drag. It's the blessing of the Lord. Okay, so another thing is this. We know that in heaven today, so it's like Jesus saying, "I don't want... I love my Father..."

Now, he came as a human being, right? He came as a man. Amen? That means in a position of a servant, okay? And he says, "I love my Father, I love my wife, the church," all of us make up the church, "I love my children, the sons of God, amen, the children of God. I will not go out free". In other words, I believe this happened probably in the conversation that he had in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was praying, and the Father says to him, "Do you want to come back? If you come back, you won't have to die on the cross and this whole world, all right, will just go straight to a lostness, Christless eternity". Amen.

So, I believe he made the choice. "No. I love you, Father, and I love the church that's to come, amen, and I love these children of God. No. I will remain. I won't go out free". He refused to go back. That's what I believe that's meant when he says, "Not my will", in the Garden, "Not my will, but your will be done". And the Bible says he will serve him forever. And this one thing, one gesture is that the servant will be pierced in his ear, all right, so that they will know that he's a willing servant, not an obliged, obligated servant but a willing servant.

Do you know that there's a prophecy of this in Psalms that says this? That, "Sacrifice and", Jesus is talking to the Father. "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened". This word in the Hebrew, "open", is the same word as pierce. "My ears you have pierced". "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me," Jesus says. And this entire passage is repeated in the book of Hebrews chapter 10 of Jesus Christ our Lord. Friend, don't just exist, live. Amen. And everything that God gives you... God loves you, you know? And God gives you children, for example. You know why God gives you children? We think we are raising them. Actually, God gave them to us because they are raising us. God gave them to us so that our character can be developed. That's really where God's going to bring you to be conformed to the image of his Son.

Many a times, a mother knows this. A little baby can demand so much time the mother says, "Oh, just to have a little time to myself, just a little time to watch TV, just to rest for a while". And while she goes down there, "Yee". She goes down there. Now, she has a choice. She can just leave the baby somewhere, forget having a baby or things like that instead of sacrificing, but because she wants to sacrifice, she learns about love. She learns about God kind of love. You look at that tiny baby, and the baby don't have to do anything for you. The baby poops whatever he does, the baby eats, the baby demands, the baby cries. Amen. And you're serving the baby all the time, and then all of a sudden you have a glimpse of how much God loves you. You don't have to do anything to earn his love. You poop, and I'm referring spiritually, amen, and he still loves you. He doesn't say, "Wow, so smelly, dirty," throw the baby out.

If a father will not do that, how much more our heavenly Father? So we are cultivating our souls. We realize than... as they are growing up, there are times, "Come play with me, Daddy". And then, daddy knows he's got a game up, a football game coming up on TV, and he wants to spend time, you know, there, but his son is wanting to spend time. Those moments are the times sacrifice is involved, where you lay aside your desire and spend time with him. Let me tell you this. As you do that, not only God develops your character, you learn about God. That child becomes your teacher actually. And God is actually, you know, God is... let me tell you this. To spend time like that, to sacrifice, you will find God with that child more than you're watching TV. And at last these moments will one day go off, you know? They pass all too soon. The TV remains. The child is no more the child.

"Where's the little boy I used to know? Where's the little girl I used to know"? All of a sudden, I mean, I feel like grabbing Jessica and say, "Where is the little girl"? I love her for what she is now, but sometimes you long for the little moments, you know? Where is the little girl? Amen? We think that we are raising them. They are raising us. Anyway. "So Bartimaeus, pastor". Yeah, coming, coming, coming, coming, coming. Okay, let's go to city of Jericho. So remember this. He's not come to be served but to serve. "Now they came to Jericho". By the way, I just didn't tell you this. When the Lord Jesus came to the house of Martha and Mary, remember the two sisters, Martha saw Jesus tired in the natural, all right, and with his disciples.

So she, "I must cook for him". So she went to the kitchen and started cooking, and she was anxious and stressed out while she was doing it, but the sister sat at Jesus's feet, hearing his Word. Soon the older sister came out, Martha, and says, "Lord, don't you care my sister left me alone"? So she blamed the Lord and blamed the sister. "Don't you care my sister left me alone"? And Jesus says, "Martha, Martha, you are troubled and stressed, careful about many things, but Mary has chosen one thing. One thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen that one thing which shall not be taken away from her". Wow. Wow. Sister was troubled and stressed about many things because she didn't do the one thing. What's the one thing? Sit at Jesus's feet and look at him, listen to his Word, which is what all of you are doing right now. And Jesus says, "One thing is needful, which Mary is doing".

Now, in the natural, speaking from our Asian culture, when someone comes to your house, a guest comes to your house, what? You abandon everything and sit down there and listen? Of course, not. Not if until the guest is actually a divine person who came not to be served but to serve. And what happened is that he delights in Mary who is there to receive from him. You see, Martha the older sister, she saw Jesus in the natural as someone needing her ministry, her service, but the younger sister saw beyond the tired exterior, saw beyond that into the real person who Jesus really is, a fullness and inexhaustible supply there really for her to draw from, to drink from. And which sister made Jesus feel like God? Mary made Jesus, and Jesus so pleased with Mary, he says, "No, she will not be taken, the her portion will not be taken away from her".

At the pool in Samaria itself, right, the woman at the well in Samaria, remember the story? She came in the afternoon because she didn't want to hear the gossiping of the women in the early morning when it's cooler. So she come in the afternoon, and Jesus was there waiting for her. And Jesus had been walking for miles. And it's a very long journey, and he was tired. Amen. Don't forget he's 100% God, 100% man. As man, he was tired. And she came. And the disciples went to buy food. And Jesus spoke to her. All together, Jesus's statements are seven perfect statements. I've shared on them before. And by the end, the disciples came back, and Jesus had ministered to the lady. Even though he physically, in the natural he was tired, he ministered to the lady, and the lady went off. And disciples came and said, "Master, we brought some food here. It's Chick-fil-A and burgers and McDonald's. And what do you have, you know"?

And the Lord says, "I have food to eat that you do not know of". And he looks refreshed. He looks some more... he looks reinvigorated, because every time you come to the Lord, is as if when you take from him, the more you take from him, the more he's reinvigorated. It's the opposite of man. The more you take from man, the more tired, depleted the man becomes, but Jesus, the more you take from him, the more he loves it. So David asked the question, "What can I give to God for all the things that he has given to me"? "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me"? Sometimes we feel that way, right? "God has blessed me so much. What shall I give to the Lord"?

We always think in terms of in the natural, serve him more, do this more, do that more, but the answer is... David says, "I will take..." The answer is, take some more, take some more from the Lord. You know what? This pleases the Lord. If you are God and you are so full, full of blessings, full of healing, full of impartation of joy for your depression, peace to garrison your heart and mind from all these negative emotions that this world is so subject to, and when you are so full, what hurts you is no one takes from you. And you find one that wants to take. That person becomes the recipient. It's like a river. I always say, "Lord, what they don't want, give me". Amen.

And that's why Jesus's favorite, when he rebukes his disciples, his favorite word is what? He never says, "O you of little prayer". Never. He never says, "O you of little fasting, I can tell". He never says that. He never says, "O you of little discipline". He never says, "O you of little sacrifice". It's never that. "O you of little Bible reading". He never says that. It is always the same. "O you of little faith". And what is faith? The hand that takes from him. In other words, he's saying, "Why do you take from me so little? Why do you take from me so little"? Oh, hallelujah. When you realize that, even his indictments are his greatest encouragements to us. Amen? "Pastor". Yes. "Bartimaeus". Yes.

All right, so we go to Bartimaeus. Amen. "Now they came to Jericho". Jericho is a city of the curse. Amen. How was it cursed? Joshua cursed it. Joshua said that, "From now on after this..." You know, Joshua and his men surrounded the city once every day for seven days. On the seventh day, they surrounded the city with the ark of the covenant for seven times. On the seventh time, they shouted. Joshua says, "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city". They shouted in unison, and the city fell flat. I've been there a number of times, and the ruins of the city is still there. And Joshua burned down that city. Amen? And the ash element is still there, the burned ash. And he burned down the city and he says, "No one takes the gold, the silver, nor the spoils of the city".

The city is like a tithe. Amen? It's the first of all the cities that God will give them. The other cities, they can take the spoils, but not the first city. You know, Achan did, and he died, okay? It was given complete, like, to God. Anything anyone does from that will be a curse. Amen. And Joshua said that, he made a curse. Joshua says, "Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he will lay his foundation with its firstborn, and with his youngest he will set up its gates". In other words, no one should ever raise the city of Jericho again. It's cursed. If he does it, his firstborn will die when the foundation is laid, and when the gates are laid, his youngest will die.

That really happened later on in 1 Kings. A man called Hiel did that and he laid a foundation with Abiram. He built Jericho, he laid his foundation with his firstborn, and his second born, younger son rather, was when he set up the gates according to the word of Joshua. Look up here. So, that's why I say it's a city of the curse. This whole earth is a city of the curse. God sent his Son to the city of the curse. Imagine Jesus went to the city of the curse and saved Zacchaeus. Today we're going to see that he's going to save a blind beggar, all right? Let's look. And he says, "Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude," there's a great multitude following Jesus, "blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging".

Now, Bartimaeus is not a proper name. Bartimaeus means the son of Timaeus. Bar in Aramaic actually, Hebrew is ben. In Aramaic... Aramaic and Hebrew is the language Jesus speaks in that day. Aramaic and Hebrew is like Hokkien and Teochew. Very similar. Amen? You say boti, bota. Amen? Am I right? That kind of thing? Yeah. My wife is Cantonese. And when I spoke to her parents last time, the first time I was dating her, I said, "..." So also in the accent, right, makes a difference. So Hebrew is a very much like... anyway, bar means son, son of Timaeus. Now, Timaeus is the anglicized form, but in the Hebrew it is "tamey", son of "Tamey". And tamey is used very often in the book of Leviticus for unclean. So he has no name. Bartimaeus is not a name, is son of Tamey, son of Tamey, son of Tamey, son of the unclean one, son of the unclean one.

Now, this is Pastor Prince's opinion. It's my personal opinion. I'm not saying it's Bible. I'm just saying it's my opinion. I think his father Tamey must have done something drastic, wrong, that the whole city knows about it, okay? Probably he's the one that rebuilt Jericho in that time. That's my opinion, okay? I just think. And they call him the son of the unclean, the son of the unclean, the son of the unclean. That's how he was known. He was a blind, poor man. Beggar means poor man. And that's what the world is like. That's what all of us are. We have fell from God.

God gave us a choice, people. God gave you a free choice. You say, "Why didn't God just stop Adam from taking that fruit in the first place? God is all powerful, isn't he"? Yes, if he wanted robots, he would have done it. If God is all mighty and uses his power, when Adam was about to take the fruit and then Adam's hand shake all of a sudden and God make his hand with great velocity come across his face... God can do that. But would God be just if God creates a being as a free, moral agent? No. God didn't want robots. Got wanted truly a person with a free choice to come to love him because they want to love him, to worship him, but there's always a risk involved. And you cannot because of the risk, not create a free, moral agent, but one thing though, you are free to choose. You can choose to walk out here if you want to. Nobody will stop you. No angel will stop you, I promise you that. Amen? But you cannot choose the result, the final result of your choice. That's been predetermined.

Like fire burns. You can choose to put your finger in the fire, but you cannot say, "I choose no burn". No, you can choose to put your finger there, but you cannot choose no burn. Burn has been chosen before the foundations of the earth. Okay? Are you with me so far? So the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And there is no other name under heaven given among men, the Bible says, whereby we must be saved. Jesus says, "I am the way," definite article, "the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me". Amen.

So all of a sudden, this blind beggar with no name, amen, heard this commotion. "And a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth", in Luke's account it says that he asked the people, "What's happening"? He heard the cacophony of the crowd passing by, all the different sounds and noises, and he realized something is happening. There's a certain crowd and all that. "What's going on," he asked someone, and they said, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by". Now, they used that term Jesus of Nazareth. Today is an honorable term, Jesus of Nazareth, but when they crucified him, they put over his head Jesus of Nazareth. It's actually a derogatory term. Like Nathaniel in John chapter 1, when he heard that Jesus came out of Nazareth, he said this: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth"?

You look at the map of Nazareth. Nazareth is right smack in the middle of Israel where people from Egypt, in those days, the three continents would cross ways, and they would cross Nazareth. So Nazareth became a city known for its, you know, a notorious city for... it's like a sin city. And right where sin abounds, God planted his son. Grace super abounds. Amen. And every caravan would pass by and stop over in Nazareth, north-south, south-north, so Egypt went to Syria, Syria went to Egypt, and also westward to Jordan. So there, Jesus of Nazareth, his name became Jesus of Nazareth, but in the beginning it was a derogatory term, right, but later on because of Jesus and what he is and what he's done it's become a name of fragrance. Amen. So he heard the people say, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by". And then he cried out. He began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me".

Notice he didn't cry, "Jesus of Nazareth". Whoa, something happened. In Hebrew, "Yeshua bar David, hanani". Hanani means have grace on me. Hanan. If your name is John, it is Yo, Yahweh, hanan. That means God is grace. Hanan there is the same word he used here. "Hanani. Have mercy on me. Have grace on me. Yeshua bar David, have hanani, have mercy on me". He didn't say Jesus of Nazareth. What an amazing thing. The people said Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, but this blind man saw more than all of them put together. And because the Gospel of Mark is the first gospel of all the four gospels, this is the very first time a man called Jesus bar David. Later on in the next chapter when Jesus rode into the final week into Jerusalem, he was riding on a donkey, "Behold, your king comes meek and lowly riding on a donkey". And that people shouted, "Hosanna to the son of David".

They learned from the blind man 'cause son of David means the king 'cause David is the king of God's choice. Son of David. Jesus has double claim on the throne. You know, the line of David goes all the way to Jesus Christ. So in the natural, his great ancestor would be David, and also he was born king. Now, a lot of us, we said he was born to be king. No, the Bible didn't say that. The Bible did not say he's born to be the heir apparent. No, when he's born, he's born king. The wise men had that revelation from God when they came seeking for him, and they asked the question, "Where is he born, king of the Jews"? Very soon we'll celebrate Christmas. He was born king. Hey, what does this king do? With all the power he has, he goes around cleansing the leper, opening the eyes to the blind, multiplying little to bless many, just going around blessing. What a king.

Has there ever been a king like this? "So son of David, have mercy on me". Next. "Then many warned him to be quiet". You know, the crowd is always like that, okay? One moment they will shout, "Hosanna to the son of David". Next week, "Crucify him". And that's why our trust must be completely in the Lord. Don't get bitter with people. You know, in a way have confidence in people, amen, but don't put your utmost trust in people. People fail. The best of them will fail. Amen. Only one never fails. Amen. So the people say, "Quiet, quiet," all right? "But he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, hanani.'" The people said, "Shut up". He shout out. Isn't it interesting the people knew him by his father? It's not your background, it's not who you are, what people say about who you are, or who your background is, it's who you say of Jesus that makes all the difference in the world. He says, "Jesus, you are the king". But what a king? A servant king. Amen?

So he was a man who shouted, "Jesus, have mercy on me". And they said, "Shut up". He shouted even more, all the more, "Jesus". The last time I read, somebody else shouted at Jericho. It was Joshua and the mighty men that went around the wall of Jericho. On the seventh day, the seventh time, Joshua said, "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city". They all shouted, and the walls of Jericho fell. This time who was the one that shouted? A beggar. And what happened? The walls of his blindness came down. Both are Jericho. By the way, in modern military history there's no record anywhere that a place was conquered.

In 7 days, it was theirs. We know Joshua and the wall of Jericho, 6 days, 7th day, Jericho was theirs. But God did something in modern times in Jerusalem. For 2,000 years, Jerusalem ever since they rejected Jesus Christ, all right, the Romans came in, destroyed the temple, and all that, and the Jews has been around the world, you know, all for 2,000 years, but Jesus prophesied that Jerusalem will be back in the hands of the Jews. And what happened was that 1967 in the 6-day war, on the seventh day, Jerusalem, after 2,000 years, was back in the hands of the Jewish people. So God is doing a parallel between these two. Amen. So here you see a parallel again. Joshua shouted to his men, but here's a beggar shouting. The walls of Jericho fell, a greater wall in this man's life, his blindness, fell, amen. And when he shouted, the Bible says Jesus stood still.

Again, the story of Jericho, the story of Joshua rather, Jesus stood still. There was a time that Joshua was fighting against the Amorites. He and his men were fighting not too far away from Jericho. Amen, after Jericho they were in the Gilgal, and they climbed up. And when they heard that the Gibeonites asked them to help and they came, you know, it was a force much throughout the night to fight against the Amorites. And they were fighting and they had the upper hand. They were winning against the Amorites, but the sun was going down. Many of you have been there in the Valley of Aijalon. Actually, in fact, you're there, most of the time on a good day you can see the sun setting on one side and the moon rising on the other side.

Let me show you a picture of the Valley of Aijalon. This is the valley here, and that's where the battle took place. You can see the sun setting on the evening and the moon rising on the other side. So what happened was that Joshua realized they were losing the momentum. They were winning, and the enemies were retreating, but the moment they had to break for the night, the enemies can gain back momentum, all right, can get the upper hand if they rest. So Joshua looked at the sun. And this is what Joshua says: "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon". And many of you been to Israel. Amen. You have passed by that valley. You have to. From the airport to Jerusalem, you have to pass by that valley. And you can see sometimes the sun setting at the right time and the moon coming up. Joshua says, "Sun, stand still. Moon, stay there".

And you know that sun exerts a gravitational pull on all the planets, not just earth. And if it stop exerting the gravitational pull, the earth stops rotating. So the Bible says (drop down), it says there never was a day like that, all right? The Bible says, "The Lord heeded the voice of a man. The Lord fought for Israel". And there was, the sun did not go down. It was a longer day. In the Chinese history, they recorded a day, there was one day where it dragged for so long, and it was a time of Joshua and the walls of Jericho. Amen? "Sun, stand still". And here, who is shouting? Over there it was a commander of the Lord's army shouting. Here is a blind beggar saying, "Jesus, have mercy on me". And Jesus stood still. The one who made the sun stand still stood still at the shout of a rich man? A beggar, a blind beggar with no name.

You know, kings in those days, many of them, they listened to the VIPs, they listened to other kings, they listened to wealthy people, but this king stood still at the cry of a blind beggar. Many of us go, "Ah, poor blind beggar". We are the blind beggar. All of us are blind, amen, and we are all lost in our lostness. And the best part is that, the most proud thing is that to boast of our nothingness actually. So we are always trying to get the validation of other people. We are a society in today's world, we are society more connected than all the societies that's gone on before, yet we are never so lonely like so many people are. Depression is increasing at an unprecedented scale.

People are committing suicide like never before. The numbers are increasing, yet we are supposed to be so connected. We're supposed to have more friends in Facebook, and yet we're never so lonely because the answer is not found in how many people have likes for you. It is found what you say of Jesus. What you see of him. Amen? Hallelujah? Something about Jesus I notice also in the gospels. You read carefully, you can never flatter Jesus into having a good opinion of you. Neither can you ever criticize or slide him into bad or hard thoughts of you. It's something I realized about Jesus. Many of us, you know, we judge other people and circumstances based on how people treat us. If they flatter us, we have good opinions of them. If they write bad things about us or they say bad things about us, all right, we have hard thoughts about them. That shows that we cannot be objective. But the Lord, many are times, you know, people try to flatter him and he goes right to the point. Amen. So to see him is to be like him. It's all together lovely. Can I have a good amen?

"So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him..." Now, the same people that said shut up just now, right, now what did they say? "'Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.' And throwing aside his garment..." I love this. Throwing aside his garment. All of us are self-righteous. We clothe ourself with, you know, fig leaves, no blood, amen, and we think we are well-covered, but salad dressing cannot cover your sins. God was the first one to kill animals and cloth Adam and Eve. When you clothe yourself, you'll always feel it's not complete, it's a imperfect work, but when God clothe you, brother, sister, you are clothed. It's a picture of his son who will come and die and with a blood. You know, skin of animals have blood all over. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And Jesus shed his blood. Amen? Praise God.

And throwing aside his garment, that means what? "I'm not coming back the same way I came, I went. I'm throwing aside this garment". And the garment is actually his insurance. In those days they give people were beggars, true beggars, if they're truly blind and they're begging, they give them a cloak or a recognition so people recognize they are legal beggars, all right, not a con beggar. And he threw aside. He came to Jesus. Look at this king. "Jesus answered and said to him, 'What do you want me to do for you?' The blind man said to him, 'Rabboni...'" Highest form of respect is Rabboni. It's not rabbi, it's Rabboni, chief master or Lord. "That I may receive my sight". I love it. This king, look at this. Kings, when you come to the king, all right, you come to obey the king, you come to serve the king, you come to give things and gifts to the king. This king asked the blind beggar with no name, "What do you want me to do for you"? One translation, "What will you that I do to you? In other words, I'm at your disposal. You command me".

Has there ever been such a king? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he says, "'Lord, that I may receive my sight.' And Jesus said, 'Go your way; your faith has made you well.'" I love it. The Lord, when he heals someone, he never say, "Now you're obliged to follow me". He always say, "Go your way". To the Gadarene demoniac whom he freed from all those demons, he says, "Go home to your friends". Jairus's daughter, he gave back to the family. The Nain young man who was raised from the dead, Jesus handed him back to his mother. He would say, "Go home". He would say, "Go your way". He never obliged the person he heals. This is grace. Amen. No doubt he has disciples, but then he never healed them and said, "Follow me".

He never obligates them. Those people, you know, they're washing their fishing net and all that, Andrew and John, he'll say, "Follow me," and they followed. Matthew was busy collecting money at the tax collector receive, and then he says, "Follow me". He left everything and followed him. He never heals and then say, "Now you follow me". He never makes his healing, his grace as something that obligates you. I love him. To see Jesus makes my spiritual hormones bubble. That's what it's all about. Sometimes we don't have to see and say, "What can I learn? What can I learn"? It's not about you.

One of the best things you can learn is that when you see his beauty, is to worship, to enjoy him. I mean, the Father wants above everything else that this Bible, it becomes a picture book of his son. And then when you behold him, you be surprised. You actually being transformed from glory to glory, even into the likeness of the Lord. Hallelujah. Notice what he told the blind man, "Go your way". But the Bible says, "Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way". The Old King James says he followed Jesus on the way. In other words, Jesus says, "Go your way". You know what the guy says? "Yes, my way is your way". Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a God. Hallelujah? And God is healing people right now in Jesus's name. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Now, if you have a joint condition, I'm going need you to stand up right now in Jesus's name, amen? There's someone here with right shoulder condition. Stand up right now. Joint condition, elbow condition. And start moving that area. Start moving that area right now in Jesus's name. Praise the Lord all over this place. Thank you, Lord.

Also, a neck condition. In fact, there's someone here, your neck cannot turn back all the way, and now you can. Turn around, turn around. See what the Lord has done. Amen. Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Headaches left while the Word was being preached. If that is you, just stand to your feet, all right? Just stand to your feet right now wherever you are if headache has left you, amen. Some of you had this condition for some time. Now, those of you who are standing, amen, if you know the condition has left you, do a big wave of thanks. All kinds of healings is happening.

There is also someone here, you have a loved one that has been throwing up for the past few days, all right? You... I think it is a close... could be your, I think a child... or not a child, but older kid. You'll go home and find he is well. Amen? And write to us and let us know what happened, okay? Whatever testimonies that's going forth, amen, if you do not know right now that you're well but you know it later, please write to the church and let us know what happened. Give Jesus the praise because of time. Give him all the praise and the glory and all the honor. Amen. Thank you, Jesus.

How many of you know Jesus is alive today? And the same one that healed Bartimaeus is going to heal you. Amen? Many, many, many years ago when Joshua was about to conquer Jericho the next day, the night before, he saw a man with a drawn sword and he asked the man, "Are you here for us or are you here... which side are you on? Are you here to take sides or are you for the enemy"? And the man says, "I am the captain of the Lord of hosts. I'm not here to take sides. I'm here to take over". And that man is Jesus in his pre-incarnate form because he told Joshua, "Take off your shoes. The place you're standing is holy". And the Bible says Joshua worshipped him. The same Jesus came to Jericho, now in human form, amen, but there's no sword now in his hand, only healing. Amen. How many are glad we are no more under law, we are under grace? Jesus brought grace. Praise the Lord. Give Jesus all the praise, the glory, and the honor.

Every head bowed. Every eye closed. Friend, perhaps you are here and you know that you are lost. I'm not saying how good you are. You know, I'm not saying how good you have been. I'm not talking about your works. I'm talking that you know you're lost. And only in the name of Jesus is salvation. Only his blood can wash you whiter than snow. What can be whiter than snow? Sometimes snow is so bright in the reflection you have to wear sun goggles not to be blinded, and yet when Jesus's blood washes you, it's whiter than snow, the Bible says. Friend, would you like to be washed in the blood of Jesus, would you like to be born again? If that is you right now, wherever you are, pray this prayer with me. Say:

Father in heaven, thank you for the gift of your son. Thank you for loving me and sending Jesus to die for my sins as my divine substitute. On that cross, he bore all my sins and all my judgment until it's finished, and you raised him from the dead. As a declaration, all my sins have been put away. Jesus Christ is my Lord. And from now on, I'm greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved in Jesus's name, (and all the people said) amen, amen.

Stand to your feet. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the Lord. Some of you are going for your vacation, your holidays, and all that. Want to pray for protection. Never take protection for granted, amen. Lift your hands all across this place.

Father in heaven, I thank you that you are the God who commissioned your angels to keep charge over your people. I pray in Jesus's name that this coming week for those who are traveling, for those who are going places, Lord, and even for those who are here, Lord, in all their daily travels, Lord, I pray commission your angels to keep charge over them, to deliver them from all evil. Protect your people, Lord, throughout this week from every harm, danger, accident, terror, from tragedy and also protect them, Lord, from every infection, from every disease. Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus, I pray, Father, you'll go in front of them, make all the crooked places straight. Thank you, Father, for the gift of your son our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the greatest gift, Lord, we can ever have. Give us your spirit of wisdom and revelation that this coming week we see more and more of our Lord Jesus in Jesus's name. And all the people said, "Amen".