Note: a guest who attends frequently was not in a great mood this Easter, and began to preach his own sermon in the middle of this one. I was going to edit it out... and then realized it might be better to leave it in. This is ministry in the inner city. 

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He knows what sorrow feels like. He knows what griefs we bear. He knows we all have gone astray. He holds us up in prayer. He sees the wounds within our hearts, and in our bleeding souls. He died that we might live again. He bled so we’d be whole. 

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Mark's Passion of Jesus says as much about the condition of the human race as it does about the character of God. Why do we follow Jesus? Because he alone would suffer what he did and then forgive us for what we had done. 

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Jesus tells the disciples that the nations have leaders that lord it over them, and that it shall not be among them. (Mark 10:43) What he says is aspirational, because this often is so among us. But by the grace of God in Christ and through the Spirit, it shall not always be so.   

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When God sent serpents among the people of Israel, they repented and prayed that the Lord would take them away. He didn't, but he did provide a means to live among the serpents in safety, without fear. This is what Jesus does in his being lifted up: gives us the certainty that the poison of sin and death cannot truly harm us. 

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God's laws are not a fence within which we can 'do as we please.' They are a lightning bolt to our black hearts. 

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Wild animals often serve as a stand in for the forces of evil in Scripture. That Jesus does battle with them, and wins, is a comfort to our times spent in the wilderness with "the beasts." 

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Why does Jesus charge the disciples not to talk about his transfiguration until he has risen from the dead? The answer is a real blessing to those who are struggling with life. 

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Franklin Roosevelt famously said, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” It’s like he was reading Jesus’ mind. 

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Satan is in the business of misinformation, disinformation, hoaxes, and lies. But Jesus speaks the truth. He silences Satan and his horde, that we might know his truth and find life in Jesus' name. 

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