Harvest Pointe Methodist Church

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To mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15. And this is, well, I can say officially to you all, welcome to Holy Week. Okay, so welcome to Holy Week. And this is, of course, Palm Sunday.

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But it's interesting, this day, this Sunday really holds intention, all right? The celebration, but also the passion. All right? It holds intention, interestingly, this week, because we have the whole week ahead of us, right? Like, in other words, if you don't come to any of the services, which I really hope you do, then you just move from Palm Sunday straight to Easter Sunday, which then you kind of miss the cross, right?

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So on this day, the church has asked us to actually read two different readings, which we've already read. One, which is this triumphal entry, right? And the second one, though, deals with the passion of the Christ. All right, these are the last of the week. It's Friday, all right?

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And so I want you to join with me as we look here, Mark 15. We got something going on there, Bob, was I. Yeah, yeah, I think I'm coming through on the live or something. You hear that? You hear that bit of an echo?

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Yeah. Oh, there you go. It's done. All right, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to come down and read, in the midst of all of us, this whole chapter of chapter 15.

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We can all pay attention to this very. I mean, this is like the crescendo of the gospel. It is the very center of our faith here, what's happening at the cross. So if you would stand with me and then turn toward where I'm located here, somewhat in the middle, and notice these words reading from the NRSV here. As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council.

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They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? He answered him, you say so? Then the chief priest accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, have you no answer?

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See how many charges they bring against you? But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed. Now, at the festival, he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now, a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom.

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Then he answered them, do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over but the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them. Instead, Pilate spoke to them again. Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews? They shouted back, crucify him.

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Pilate asked them, why? What evil has he done? But they shouted, all the more, crucify him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them. And after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

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Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace that is the governor's headquarters. And they called together the whole cohort, and they clothed him in a purple cloak. And after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him, and they began saluting him. Hail, king of the Jews. They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him.

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After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him. They compelled a passerby who was coming in from the country to carry his cross. It was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of a skull.

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And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, and he did

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You can be done at your home, not by yourself. Communion at home, by yourself. No. Let's just go ahead and say that. No, the church has said no to that for 2000 years.

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You can't do that on your own. There has to be an authority placed there by God, called of God and trained of God, and in the apostolic line, actually. So that it's not heretical what we're doing here. You say, I don't think you're that special, though. Agreed?

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100%. Okay. But here it is. I have a calling that I'm under an authority given to me as a pastor. Listen, and trust me when I say it is a weight at times.

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It is a weight at times. I worry, okay? I worry about you. I worry about what we're doing here. Making sure that we're aiming at what is right, doing what is helpful, to bring people to Jesus, to make disciples, and then to serve others and listen.

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One of our fundamental things as a church, right? Gather, scatter, matter. We gather for worship once a week. That's it. Just once a week.

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How many things have you joined that require more than once a week? Kind of like your job, right? Kind of like sports, kind of like eating. Got to do it all the time, right? It's everyday kind of thing.

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All right, worship. We have one day that's designated, and it's designated by God himself. Brothers and sisters, you say it's just arbitrary. Somebody just chose that. That is not true.

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It is not true. And it was given by authority to those who first went and saw him risen from the dead. You see, when you come into Christianity, you're not coming into something you design. Not something I design, but rather something. We come under something.

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We come into an already established family, an already established order. And this is important for us because we're so used to kind of. Yeah, it's just a suggestion. Like most things in our life. The boss says to do this, I'll stretch out a little bit.

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The law says to do this, but I'll stretch that a little bit. Right? Some of us are guilty of that. Right? Heavy foot, anybody?

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No? Okay, just. All right. You already know. You already pinned me.

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I have to ask for forgiveness for that. That's true. No, we're coming into something that is not ours to remake, but we are to be remade now. That's what we're baptized into, brothers and sisters. That's what we rise into, is a new family, one created by God himself.

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It's called the church. It's called the church. Okay, so here they are. They're worshiping. But notice, isn't it interesting?

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Listen, anytime there's, like, this little nuance, this little interesting tidbit in John particularly, much less the rest of the Bible, but John particularly, because he has a lot of them, something like this, they went up to worship. Who? Well, there were some Greeks. He just mentions this, and he never. Do you ever see him come back up again?

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No. It's just like what happened to those really. It's not clear in the text, but it's this little tidbit. What's going on there? Well, these Greeks were coming up to Passover.

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This is Passover. If we want to locate, again, contextually, here in John. We're already past the triumphal entry. We're already past Palm Sunday in chapter twelve here. We're past that now.

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All right. We're on the other side of it. And right before that text, here's what happens.

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Notice this. Truly sorry. Hold on. Let me find this. I'm in 13.

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Look at this. The Pharisees then said to one another, you see that you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him now. They've just seen the triumphal entry, the Pharisees. And they're already trying to capture him.

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Remember? Ultimately, they've already

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Mark 8 is the pivotal chapter in this gospel. Jesus clarifies his mission and what it will take to follow him.

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