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[0:00] Today, the gospel lesson is a reading from the gospel according to John. The next day, the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

[0:11] They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written, Do not be afraid, daughter Zion. See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.

[0:30] At first, his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

[0:43] Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him.

[1:02] Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. Sir, they said, we would like to see Jesus.

[1:15] Philip went to tell Andrew. Andrew and Philip, in turn, told Jesus. Jesus replied, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

[1:37] Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be.

[1:48] My Father will honor the one who serves me. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

[2:02] Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and will glorify it again. The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered.

[2:16] Others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world.

[2:26] Now the prince of this world will be driven out, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

[2:38] This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. Good morning. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for being a God who writes better stories than we would write for ourselves.

[2:58] We thank you for sending forth your son, a better king than we could have dreamed of. And we pray that as your word goes forth this morning, that your presence would go with it.

[3:13] That we'd behold him, our king. And that we would sing our hosannas to him. And hear his words of assurance that there is salvation in his name.

[3:26] Because of what he's done. So bring glory to your son this morning, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so this is my sixth time, sixth time in my life, preaching a Palm Sunday sermon.

[3:42] It kind of comes with the territory when you're not the lead pastor. Because next week is Easter, right? And I'm definitely not going to get that one. Not ready for the big boy pants. But you know, I've always thought Palm Sunday was kind of strange.

[3:56] I've always felt a little unsure about how to handle it, or like how to enter into Palm Sunday emotionally. Because like, on the one hand, it is a celebration. It really is.

[4:07] And that's why we have these cute little kids walking up, you know, entering into that tradition that started all the way back in the fourth century of reenacting what happened in Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday.

[4:19] When Jesus came in as king, right? Rode in on a donkey. Palms were waving. Crowds were chanting and singing. No doubt, as we heard read in this passage, there was a ton of joy and energy and excitement on the first Palm Sunday, and rightfully so.

[4:32] They were right to recognize Jesus as their king with joyful exuberance and singing. Yet on the other hand, as much as they had reason to honor and acknowledge that Jesus is king, we also know that they sang far better than they knew.

[4:49] And that this moment, though genuine, was also filled with a lot of misunderstanding. No one had any idea what kind of king was riding into Jerusalem.

[5:00] Even his own disciples had no clue. No one but Jesus had any idea that this triumphal entry was far from the happy ending that they all expected to unfold. No one had any idea that this was not the climax, not the pinnacle, not the final destination.

[5:16] Actually, things were about to get a lot worse for Jesus. And it kind of makes you wonder if they knew what was about to happen. If they knew that just in a few days, Jesus would be arrested, beaten, mocked, and lifted up on a cross, would they still be celebrating?

[5:35] Would they still claim him as their king? Or would they just walk away? So like, knowing what happens next, it's hard to read these Palm Sunday accounts throughout the Gospels and not wonder, was Jesus' Palm Sunday celebration something to be celebrated?

[5:52] Or was this just the short-sighted, nationalistic fervor of a people who saw in Jesus a kind of king that he actually never intended to be? What are we supposed to feel on Palm Sunday?

[6:05] Joy and triumph? Or something more like uneasy anticipation? You know, I'm beginning to think that it's actually both. Palm Sunday shows us something true but not yet complete.

[6:18] It tells us that Jesus really is king, but it doesn't show us yet what kind of king he is or what his glory really looks like or consists of. And you can feel that tension when you picture the scene.

[6:32] Recently, I watched some of the Palm Sunday episode of The Chosen. Anyone watch The Chosen? I love The Chosen. And I have no idea, you know, how it actually went down, and neither do the writers of The Chosen.

[6:44] I have no idea what Jesus' actual emotional state was on Palm Sunday, but personally, I thought The Chosen did a great job capturing all that Jesus might have felt as he rode into Jerusalem on that donkey with palms waving, people singing his praises.

[6:59] So like in The Chosen, Jesus is, he's smiling, he's enjoying the moment with his disciples, he doesn't stop the people from singing Hosanna, he doesn't stop them from lining the path with palms and with their cloaks.

[7:11] And when the religious leaders tell him to silence the crowds, he's even bold enough to say that if they stop, what will happen? The stones will cry out in their place, right? He willingly receives all this glory, praise, and honor that's being heaped upon him.

[7:25] And yet at the same time, if you watch closely, he's also not nearly as enthusiastic as disciples, as his disciples, especially Peter, right? He doesn't let himself get caught up in the fervor of the crowd.

[7:38] It's not like he hops off the donkey and body surfs through Jerusalem, right? No. In The Chosen, they did this so well. But like what happens is he gets into Jerusalem and he gets to this point, right, where he's riding into the city, everyone's cheering, everyone's chanting, the disciples are on cloud nine, right?

[7:56] This is our guy, right? We've got access to the guy that the whole city is glorifying. But then at one point, while the crowd is going wild, Jesus rides up to one of the walls of the temple and what he sees, staining the cracks of the stone wall, is the blood of countless lambs slain for the sins of the people.

[8:18] And it's like time stops for him. And his breath gets heavy. And all the singing and noise gets drowned out and it's like he's frozen. And this is so puzzling to his disciples because this is like the greatest moment in their lives.

[8:32] Surely it must be for him, right? And they cannot fathom why he might not be soaking in the moment, soaking in all the glory that is being poured out upon him. They cannot understand what is going on in the mind of Jesus all because while they rightly see his glory and while they rightly celebrate his kingship, there is still something about his glory, something about his kingship that they have yet to understand.

[8:59] And this is what Palm Sunday invites us into. On this side of the cross and resurrection, we do join in the joy. We do join in giving Jesus the glory. He really is the king.

[9:09] But the glory we celebrate has far more to do with his wooden cross than his golden crown. That's what the crowds didn't understand. Even as they shouted their hosannas, meaning save us now, and even as they called him the blessed one who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel, no one understood the nature of Jesus' glory.

[9:31] Verse 16 says, even his disciples did not understand all the depth of what was happening in the scene. All that they knew was that Jesus had come in power full of signs and wonders. He'd just raised Lazarus from the dead and word was spreading and momentum was gaining.

[9:46] And much to the dismay of Jesus' opposition, the Pharisees are just whining to each other. Verse 19, see, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him. So I mean, when you're being hailed as king and you're the most celebrated person in this place that's supposed to be the very city of God, and when even your enemies are throwing up their hands in frustration and in defeat, isn't this, isn't Palm Sunday the ultimate picture of glory?

[10:17] I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty good to me. If I were to write a story for myself, Jesus' story up to this point, it sounds, pretty good. A miracle baby with massive prophecies spoken over him, narrowly escapes death in Bethlehem, flees to Egypt, and though growing up in relative obscurity, even as a 12-year-old boy, he shows incredible promise, incredible wisdom, incredible theological prowess, and though coming up in the no-name town of Nazareth and rejected by maybe his own village and maybe some of the religious establishment, here he is, a man of the people, demonstrating a power and authority unlike anything anyone had ever seen up to this point.

[10:58] What a story, right? With the exception, you know, of a few small blips, the temptation probably wasn't very great, and also the beheading of his cousin, but apart from those, just a couple things like opposition, rejection here and there, but for the most part, Jesus' story up to this point is basically going up and to the right, right?

[11:18] Is that up and to the right for you? It's up and to the right. More and more influence, more and more attention, more and more momentum. And at this moment, as he rides into Jerusalem, his stock's at an all-time high, right?

[11:32] His glory level is over 9,000, right? And if we're honest, this is a storyline most of us would want for our own lives, is what we'd want for our children. Wouldn't it be nice if all our stories could just end here, right?

[11:46] And just like Palm Sunday, because this, this to us, is glory. This is a weighty life. This is a life that matters. This is a life that's made a difference. This is the kind of life that's revered, respected, admired, and adored as praiseworthy.

[12:00] This is winning at life, right? This picture right here of Palm Sunday. He's winning at life. And yet, if we're honest, can you think of a story like this that has moved you, stirred you, inspired you, surprised you, and shaped you to be a better, deeper, more loving human being?

[12:21] Can you think of a linear, up-and-to-the-right story that you find yourself returning to again and again and modeling the whole pattern of your life after? You know, we may think that we want an up-and-to-the-right story.

[12:34] We may think that we want our stories to end at the triumphant entry. But at the same time, let's be real. These aren't even the stories that stick with us. The stories that we come back to, the stories that move us and shape us, the ones that we tell again and again, the ones we hope will inspire generation after generation are the stories of selfless love, service, and sacrifice in adversity.

[12:59] The stories of people laying down their lives, choosing others over themselves at enormous cost to themselves. Think of Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows. Think of the Iron Giant, right? Stopping the nuke. Think of that final pilot in Independence Day, Bing Bong from Inside Out.

[13:13] Tony Stark, right? Avengers, Endgame, the billionaire who had everything he ever wanted, power, influence, legacy, and yet in the end, what made him unforgettable, what made him a hero, what made so many people cry in the movie theaters?

[13:26] It wasn't what he built, it was what he gave. He laid down his life to save the world. There is something about these kinds of stories that feels like both unnatural, right, and yet somehow more true than anything else, even supernatural, as if these stories are portraying for us the life as it was meant to be lived.

[13:52] See, these stories, they aren't just moving and inspiring in and of themselves. No, actually, every story of love, every story of sacrifice and service that stirs our soul, every single such story is a derivative story, an echo, a shadow of something far greater and far more real.

[14:10] And here in John 12, Jesus begins to show us what glory really looks like and what kind of king he truly is, and it's nothing like what was expected. So remember in verse 19, the Pharisees are despairing, the whole world is going after Jesus, and it's as if they are prophesying because in verse 20, they say, we see that some, you know, God-fearing Greeks are in town to worship, and then these Greeks are desiring to see Jesus.

[14:38] Word has spread. His glory cannot and will not be contained. And at this point, you might expect Jesus to say, here, bring them to me. Bring all the nations. Let's scale the kingdom up from the river to the sea and from Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth.

[14:53] But that's not what he does. Instead, Jesus' reply seems almost like a complete non sequitur. He starts talking about his death. He says in verse 23, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

[15:07] And you might think that he's saying, this is it, glory time, time to be glorified as all the nations come flocking to me to worship me, to bow down to me as king. But if you've been paying attention to John's gospel, you'll notice that when Jesus talks about his hour coming, it is most often used, what?

[15:26] To note the hour, the time, the moment of his death, of his crucifixion. So you see, the hour of his glorification here, it's actually the hour of his murder, the moment of his murder.

[15:41] What Jesus is saying here is that yes, he has just received a ton of glory in this triumphal entry and even the Greeks are looking to see him and soon the whole world will come. But, he says, this fame and this popularity are not the center or the essence of his glory.

[15:58] No. Rather, what Jesus understands as the primary and most essential moment of his glorification is actually his death. Good Friday.

[16:10] Friday's still ahead. Verse 24. He says this. Truly, truly, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.

[16:21] But if it dies, it produces many seeds. For Jesus, scale and multiplication come not through, come, I wrote that poorly. Scale and multiplication do not come through self-preservation, but through self-sacrifice, through dying to oneself.

[16:42] The whole point and the whole glory of a seed is not to be preserved and put into a nice fancy glass container to be showcased for the world to see and admire. You don't see farmers going out there and say, check out my seed.

[16:54] Oh, my precious seed. Right? Everybody look at my seed. No. Isn't it glorious? No. The glory of a seed is the way it falls into the ground and becomes undone in order to generate new life and multiply other seed-bearing organisms.

[17:14] And that's what Christ came to do. Not to preserve his own life, but to bring new life into the world through his death and resurrection. And he says, this is his glory. It's his cross.

[17:26] His glory is his agony. That's the most glorious thing about him, actually. Not that he avoids the cross, but that he chooses the cross. You see, the cross is not the interruption of his glory.

[17:38] It's the revelation of his glory. Because on the cross, we see the most glorious thing about God. And in Jesus' glorious willingness to go to the cross, he simultaneously testified to the world that there is more to life than life.

[17:53] At least life in this world. He says in verse 25, anyone who loves their life will lose it. While anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

[18:05] And what he means by that is that there is a glory more glorious than the glory of self-preservation and survival. A glory that outlasts the glory of self-preservation, shines more brightly than it.

[18:18] It's the glory of self-surrender, the glory of understanding that my life in this world is not the main event, not the most necessary, not the most essential thing, not the center of the universe. And therefore, it need not be cherished as my highest, greatest possession.

[18:35] In fact, if I should love my life as if it were my most treasured possession, then that is the surest way to lose it. Like, think about it. If your whole life is about protecting yourself, feeding yourself, securing your own future and well-being, keeping your comfort, protecting your reputation, gaining control, sure, you might preserve your life for a moment, maybe longer than the next person.

[18:59] That tech billionaire, Brian Johnson, he's probably going to live 20, 30, 40 years more than me based on my lifestyle. But in the end, if we all live, if all we live for is to preserve our own lives, if we're committed to a life of self-love only and not self-giving love, have we even really lived?

[19:21] Have we even really lived a full life as we were meant to? And maybe that's a question for all of us to grapple with. Which is more unnatural? Which is more unnatural, a life of self-giving love or a life that revolves entirely around self-preservation?

[19:37] What Jesus is saying here is that if you hate your life in this world, that is if you loosen your grip on the here and now, if you stop acting like you are the center of the universe and if you're willing to subordinate your love for yourself in order to love something higher, something more worthy, that is how you will keep your life in the end, Jesus says.

[20:03] But listen, this isn't just about being more selfless, loosening your grip on life in this world. More importantly, it's about what you're gripping most tightly, who you're entrusting your life to.

[20:13] We're all gripping onto something, who you're following as your way, your truth, your life. Look with me at verse 26. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be.

[20:26] My Father will honor the one who serves me. See what he's doing? You don't just let go of your life, you commit your life to serving and following a king.

[20:37] Even perhaps denying yourself, taking up your own cross, and following him to his. To those who simply, excuse me, following him to his.

[20:53] But get this. Listen to Jesus' incredible words here after he says this. He says, my Father will honor the one who serves me.

[21:04] My Father will honor the one who serves me. You hear that? The very thing we're all after, honor, glory, a life that matters. Jesus says, you don't earn it, you don't build it, you don't secure it, but if you follow me, my Father will give it to you freely, freely.

[21:24] And that should change everything. That changes everything for us. Because if that's where glory comes from, you don't need to spend your life chasing after it anymore. You don't have to glorify yourself, you don't have to build your brand, protect your image, prove your worth.

[21:36] No, because the very thing you've been chasing, the Father freely gives you. To those who simply serve and follow his Son, he'll give honor to you, just as he's about to give honor to me, Jesus says.

[21:49] And again, this changes everything. Because listen, if the Father can take a cross, an instrument of shame and suffering and death, and he can turn it into the most glorious moment in history, if the Father can bring the highest honor to his Son nailed to a cross, then what would make you think he can't take your life, your weakness, your losses, your sacrifices, your hidden obediences, and turn them into something incredibly glorious too?

[22:19] Do you believe that he's a good Father who loves to give us good things, a good Father who delights to honor his children and to answer their prayers? I love what it says here in verses 27 to 30.

[22:33] So Jesus, he's admitting that his soul is troubled, right? And if he were like most other kings, he would wield this power to relieve his troubled heart, right? Just as he could have turned the stones to bread, just as he could have said no to the cross, just sat on the throne, on top of the world as king of it, because he already was.

[22:49] He also could have asked his Father to send legions of angels to save him from his hour of death, right? Father, save me from this hour. But that's not the prayer that he prays, because he knows who he is, he knows why he's come, and he knows who he serves, he knows whom he wants to glorify.

[23:07] He submits to his Father's plan, verse 27, shall I pray for deliverance from my Father's plan, which includes my torture and crucifixion? No, he says. It was for this very reason I came to this hour.

[23:21] And so in this moment, this kind of pre-Gethsemane moment where his soul is troubled, because everyone is celebrating him, everyone is glorifying him while he knows the truth, the truth of what his glory will involve.

[23:34] In this moment of anguish, he does not pray for his own comfort, he does not pray for his own deliverance, he does not pray even for strength to endure what he's about to go through.

[23:45] No, he simply prays the prayer that he taught us to pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Verse 28, Father, glorify your name. Father, you are still the center, even if that means death for me, even if that means suffering for me, your kingdom come, your will be done, glorify your name, the name above all names, whatever it means, that's what I want, Father.

[24:08] And for me, it is enough that I can start my prayer with Father, my Father, our Father. This is absolutely incredible. He is practicing what he is preaching.

[24:20] This is him hating his own life in order to maintain a life with his Father. This is him becoming a humble, lowly, unglorified servant and trusting that his Father will indeed honor him.

[24:32] And as soon as he prays this prayer, verse 28 says, a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and will glorify it again.

[24:44] Which was the Father saying, yes, my son. You know that this is the one prayer I will always say yes to. I have always existed and acted to glorify myself and my name in any and every circumstance.

[25:00] And I will continue to do so. I will glorify my name again and again and again, even on the darkest day of history when my son, my only son, the son whom I love, will be lifted up on a cross.

[25:13] This was the Father's comforting word to his son. As his son faced his hour, he alone understanding the weight and significance of his entrance into Jerusalem as king, a king not coming to dawn a crown of gold but a crown of thorns.

[25:28] And even though the people on that day could not understand what was said, thinking it was a thunder, some thunder or an angel, Jesus says in verse 30 that it was for their benefit and not his, meaning that one of our greatest needs and one of the greatest gifts God has given us is the rock solid assurance that he will always say yes to this prayer, Father, glorify your name.

[25:52] If you want to that can never crumble beneath you, if you want to pray the kinds of prayers and set your hearts upon the kinds of things that God will never say no to, pray this prayer.

[26:07] Father, glorify your name. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, and the answer will always be yes, always. Delight yourself in the Lord, right?

[26:18] That's what the psalm says, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Do you realize what a gift this is in all the uncertainty that exists in our life and in our world?

[26:31] And maybe you're thinking to yourself, but what if God is glorified in my suffering? What if God is glorified in the loss of my job? What if God is glorified in the loss of my health, in the loss of my child? Jesus would remind us, anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life?

[26:52] Jesus says, sure, sure. God may glorify himself in any of those situations, maybe even worse ones. He says, even look at me, he glorified himself in me, naked, tortured, forsaken, and crucified on a Roman cross.

[27:10] But what if that's the best news of all? What if my cross is my glory? What if that means that there is nothing God can't redeem? That there is no way we can screw up his plan to glorify himself, and not only to glorify himself, but to bring honor to his children?

[27:28] Because don't you see, the glory of the Father is the glory of his children. And as Jesus says in verse 26, if we follow him, we follow our big brother Jesus, the Son of God, the Father will honor us.

[27:40] That's his promise. Glory for him and glory for us by virtue of our union and communion with the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This is the cheat code. This is power overwhelming.

[27:50] The cross is the glory of our Savior. It's his victory over the world and all that is evil. Verse 31. Now is the time for judgment on this world.

[28:01] Now the prince of this world will be driven out. This is Jesus doing the ultimate judo move, right? Putting death to death by his own death on a cross, right? This is Harry Potter laying down his life to destroy the horcrux.

[28:13] This is Jesus breaking the power of sin, the power of the prince of this world. Because of the cross, the enemy has no claim, no charge, no dominion over us. He has no say, no word of condemnation that he can level against us.

[28:26] Every lie that comes into your head telling you that you are not worthy and that you are not enough and that you cannot be loved and you cannot be forgiven and that there is no hope and that you are unwanted and that you have no value.

[28:38] The glory of the cross is that it speaks a better word and not a word of positive psychology or optimistic therapy, but the gospel is what it speaks to us. The gospel that says, yes, you are far more sinful than you could ever imagine and yet at the very same time far more loved than you would ever dare hope.

[28:57] Yes, your sins are many, but his mercy is more. Your sins were that bad. They cost the son of God his life and yet your worth is infinite because the son of God purchased you with that life.

[29:11] Our sins have been paid. Our debt's been canceled. Apostle Paul writes this in Colossians 2, when you were dead in your sins, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of legal indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us.

[29:28] He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. You see, upon the cross, when the entire world believed that Jesus was losing, he was actually winning.

[29:46] High and lifted up. It's like what the prophet Isaiah wrote, see my servant, he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness, so he will sprinkle many nations and kings will shutter their mouths because of him.

[30:11] But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed. Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, he has promised, because he poured out his life unto death.

[30:29] And though the prophet did not know exactly what this would look like today, we can find depictions of this event all over the world. Over the past 2,000 years, many of them ghastly, many of them frightening, many of them hard to look at and troubling to gaze upon, and yet at the same time, beautiful, preserved for ages, venerated, they continue to exist for centuries now.

[30:49] Why? Because of the enduring glory of the cross. There is no symbol of violence and bloodshed in all of history that has ever approached the glory of Christ's cross.

[31:00] But in fact, Christ's cross has only continued to inspire and transform and unite. The Son of God lifted up from the earth, drawing all people to himself, not through power or popularity, but through his self-giving love.

[31:13] This is the only kind of glory that can draw the entire world to itself without it becoming a fierce battle of competing levels of glory. Only the glory of Christ revealed in his cross, where shame was subverted and glory transfigured.

[31:30] That's the only place, that's the only place where all people can be drawn to Christ, to the glory of something so bloody, so violent, his cross.

[31:44] So now, you know, today we know. We know what they didn't know over 2,000 years ago on that first Palm Sunday. They saw glory, but they didn't understand it. They saw a king, but not the kind of king he was.

[31:55] They shouted, Hosanna, save us now, not knowing how he would do it. But we do. We know. You know, when we think about whether or not the original Palm Sunday celebrators, whether or not they would have celebrated as they did if they knew where Jesus was headed, we'll never know that answer.

[32:16] But what if the question is not whether or not they would glorify, honor, and follow Jesus as their king even to the cross, but whether we will? The story of Christianity is that the stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

[32:33] But the question is, is it marvelous in our eyes? A crucified king, do you have eyes to see the glory of his cross? And will we invite that kind of glory to shape our own lives?

[32:47] Will we wave our palms today on Palm Sunday, but still follow him tomorrow on Monday? Will we loosen our death grip on life in this world world so we can enjoy life with him, eternally abundant life forever?

[33:02] And will we pray with confidence, conviction, surrender, and faith? The one prayer God always says and promises that he will say yes to. Father, glorify your name.

[33:14] Will that be the cry of our hearts? If so, if so, the same father who turned his son's darkest hour into history's greatest victory, he will take our weakness and our losses, our hidden obedience, he'll turn even our darkest moments into glory greater than we could possibly imagine.

[33:36] In Christ, who through the glory of his cross, through the glory of his cross, he's shown us the glory of the father is the glory of his children. He will honor us, not because of anything we've done, but because of what Christ has done for us.

[33:53] So let's serve him, let's honor him, let's bow down to this king. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you are a God who glorifies yourself.

[34:07] You have always glorified yourself, and you will continue to do so. And we thank you that even while we were sinners, your glory was not at odds with our salvation, but in fact, your glory was magnified in our salvation.

[34:26] Not because you are a God of compromise, but because you are indeed a God of holiness and justice, and you sent forth your son, a king like no one the world has ever seen, to bear our sins on a cross.

[34:40] Oh God, only you could write a story making beauty out of a cross, and that's what you've done in your son. So we worship him. We want to live like him. We want to be shaped by him, oh God, for your glory and for the good of the world.

[34:56]  In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen.