[0:00] I need one more reader who will read nice and loud. One more reader. Okay, come on up.
[0:11] Do you know how to read? I'm going to be very impressed here. I'm going to have somebody help you read, okay?
[0:30] Okay? You guys can sit down. Okay, so we're going to, we want to talk, we want to talk a little bit about that Bible reading.
[0:48] Yes, there we go. We're going to talk about that Bible reading we just heard, and we are on peace. Peace because of Jesus shedding his blood on the cross. And now I want to ask you a question.
[0:59] Do you guys see a cross anywhere in the church? Do you see a cross? Why do you think there's a cross there? Why is the cross important to us as Christians? Because Jesus died.
[1:12] And what does Jesus dying mean for us? What does it mean for us that he died? Yes, Ben? It means that he's saving us. It means that he is saving us.
[1:23] Excellent. Now, it's interesting you should say that, Ben, because I want to show you a picture here. I want to show you a picture of Jesus on the cross. Can you guys all see that? Can you see that picture?
[1:35] That's Jesus on the cross. And, you know, this was an awful thing that happened to Jesus. He was on the cross. And did you know that people were speaking to him as well? They were speaking to him.
[1:46] And they were saying certain things to him. One of the things they said to him... Why does he save himself? Yes. What did he say? Why does he save himself?
[1:56] I'm going to ask Luke, or I'll ask Mary, if you'll stand up and read what they said. Save yourself and come down from the cross.
[2:09] He saved others. He cannot save himself. Yes. Did you know that when they said that to him, they were making fun of him? But did you know that Jesus, that is actually what was happening?
[2:21] The only way that he could save the whole world is by not saving himself. Did you know he could have come down with thousands of angels and just stopped everything right there? But he stayed on the cross.
[2:33] And, you know, it wasn't the nails that was keeping him on the cross there. It was his love for the world that kept him on the cross. And did you know that this was not just...
[2:47] It was a terrible, terrible death dying on the cross. But the worst part was not that he was physically dying, but it was because of what I'm going to have, I think, Ben read.
[3:00] Ben, which one do you have? No, not that one. Zach, we'll have you read that one. No, Luke, come on up. Come on up. It is because of what Luke is going to read that is the worst death you can imagine.
[3:13] What did Jesus say? My God, why have you forsaken me? He said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And do you know what that meant? That meant that Jesus took all of the sin of the world on himself.
[3:29] Jesus was God's son, his beloved son. But he took all the sin of the world on himself. Did you know that sin is like a wall? Did you know that? It is like a wall between us and God.
[3:42] And Jesus experienced that. He knew what it was like to have a wall between him and his father. And that was the most awful thing about his death on the cross.
[3:54] And I want to tell you what happened. Does anybody know what the weather was like that day on the cross? What happened? There was a giant earthquake.
[4:05] And what else, Ben? It was very dark. No light came out. It was like night. Oh, did you give me an all of the day long? That's right. If you didn't hear Ben, he said it was totally dark.
[4:19] Totally dark in the middle of the day between 12 and 3. And it was like this at first. It got darker and darker and darker. And do you know why that was? It was because God's anger against sin that is so bad for the world all came on Jesus.
[4:36] And when Jesus died, he took that sin away. And that was the most powerful thing that could happen for us. That he would be able to take away the sin of the world.
[4:49] And that is why at the end, when Jesus died, he said something really loudly. I'm going to ask Ben to come up here to the microphone. Ben, tell us what Jesus said really loudly.
[5:01] It is accomplished. Accomplished. Very good. And you know, Jesus said it as loudly as that. It is accomplished. And you know, that's why this is good news.
[5:18] This is why it is good news. Because this was God's plan. From when Adam and Eve first sinned, God had a plan as how to rescue the world. The way that he would rescue it is for his beloved son to take our sin on himself and die and take it away.
[5:37] You know, only Jesus can do this. Only Jesus is powerful enough because he is God. And that's why I want Zach to stand up. Zach doesn't look like a centurion, but we're going to pretend he is.
[5:49] And he was watching. He didn't know God, this man. He was watching Jesus die. And he heard what Ben said. And Zach, I want you to read what Jesus said. Oh, you don't have it.
[6:03] Oh, there. You lost your card. Okay. There you go. Now you go up and read. And Alexander, come up too. You can read with him. This is what the centurion said.
[6:16] The bear has to go back. Okay, come on up. Okay. There we go. Now read it out loud. Surely this was the Son of God.
[6:28] Surely this was the Son of God. It was Jesus in all his power that gave this glorious gift to us. And do you know that right after that something ripped?
[6:39] Do you guys know what ripped? What ripped? What curtain ripped? That's right. The curtain in the temple. And that was saying that people are no longer going to come to God by doing sacrificing of animals and religious good works.
[6:57] They are going to come to God by trusting in Jesus to take away their sin. Now I want to help you. I want you to help me show the congregation here what this all means.
[7:09] I need two. I need two volunteers. I want somebody who hasn't helped yet. Okay. Come on up. And what is your name?
[7:22] Claire is going to help me. And one other person who hasn't helped yet. Who else wants to help? Okay. I want somebody who hasn't helped me. I want somebody who hasn't helped me. I want somebody who hasn't helped me. Okay. Why don't we have...
[7:32] Do you want to help? Okay. Yeah. Why don't you come on up? You can come on up. Okay. Now this is good. I'm going to...
[7:43] Claire, I'm going to have you do the hard part. So you can come over here. Actually, go over by Uncle David Short there. Uncle David Short has something for you, which isn't actually very nice. And what is your name?
[7:58] Lauren. Lauren, I have something for you. Can you give that... Can you put this on top of here and hold this? Hold the present? Okay. I'll have Luke... Zach, you come on up.
[8:10] Okay. You can hold it. And I'll give you back yours. And I want you to stand here. Now, Claire, can you hold this for the whole congregation to see what that says?
[8:22] You guys sit down. Do you know what that says? Sin. Now, here's how I want you to... Yeah, hold it like that. That's good. Now, Zach, I want you to go over to Claire.
[8:34] And I want you to give her the present. Claire, I want you to hold that sin. And I'd like you to open that present. Yeah. She can't actually do it.
[8:46] Now, what is the problem here? What is the problem? She is holding... She is holding sin, isn't she? But I can open it. And I want to tell you something about...
[8:57] You need to be quiet. Zach. I want to tell you something about sin. There's only one person who can take it away. Who is it? Who is the one person? Yes.
[9:08] God. That's right. God can. And who did the work? Yes. Who did the work to take away sin? God. Jesus did, right? Claire, I want you to go and take it to a cross.
[9:20] And lead it up against the cross that's up here at the front. Okay. Zach, come over here. We're going to watch. We're going to watch Claire. And I want to tell you that every time you and I ask for forgiveness of sins, we are doing what Claire is doing.
[9:36] You can go up and just lean it against that silver cross so that the whole congregation can see what it says. Very good job, Claire. Claire. That's good. Yeah.
[9:47] And you can come on back. That is where sin belongs. It belongs at the cross so Jesus can take it away. Now, I want you to give this to Claire and she can open it.
[9:59] You can help her open it. Open the top. And what is inside? Here you go. Claire, you can hold one side here.
[10:10] That says, that says, peace with God. And it says, what's on the other side? And friendship with God.
[10:22] And I want to tell all of you that this is the gift that God gives to us in Jesus Christ. He gives us peace with God. And there's two things that I want to tell all of you about that this tells us.
[10:34] You guys got to listen. You guys. Here, I'll tell you what. We'll keep it very safe. Now, there's two things this tells us.
[10:51] Number one, it tells us something about ourselves. It tells us that we are far more sinful, that we have far more evil in us than we can imagine.
[11:01] That's why Jesus had to die for us. But it says a second thing as well. It tells us that we are far more loved than we could ever ask or imagine. Far more value than anything that we could hope for.
[11:15] And what this tells us is that God forgives us. We don't sin more so that he will forgive us more. We actually want to live for him and obey him. We are thankful because of this great gift that God has given to us in Jesus Christ.
[11:31] And this is what we as a congregation need to always know when we look at the cross. That this is our gift. And it makes us want to obey our Heavenly Father. Okay? So let's bow our heads.
[11:43] We're going to pray together as we close our time. Thank you very much, Claire. Let's close our eyes and bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your deep love for us.
[12:02] Thank you that Jesus died in our place on a cross so that you forgive us now. Thank you that he became sin even though he was perfect and your beloved son.
[12:13] Now we give you our sin. And we ask that you take it away from us through Jesus' death. Thank you that Jesus lives in us and that we know you forever now.
[12:25] By your Holy Spirit, help us continue in the faithful, stable, steadfast life. Not shifting from the hope of the gospel that we heard. Which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.
[12:39] In Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, you can go to your seats and we're going to sing together. Our Lord, we turn to you now in prayer.
[12:52] Hear us as we pray. We pray, Lord, for the church of Jesus Christ. We pray today for pastors and for teachers in the gospel.
[13:08] We would pray for missionaries who spread the gospel throughout the world. We would pray especially today for Christian scholars as they continue their work in more deeply understanding the gospel.
[13:25] We, Lord, we pray for peace. Peace in the truth of the gospel. Peace in the Anglican communion. Lord, renew your people.
[13:38] Lord, renew your people. Form the mystery of Jesus Christ in us more and more. Lord, in your mercy. We pray today, Lord, for peace in the world.
[13:54] Peace in those places where it's needed so badly. We thank you, Lord, for the order and good governance that you give us. We remember and we pray for the royal family.
[14:08] We pray for our prime minister, for the premiers of our provinces, for civic officials. Lord, may people everywhere live godly and peaceable lives.
[14:25] Lives to your glory. You, the giver of all good gifts. Lord, in your mercy. Amen. And of course, today, we desire, Lord, to pray for the suffering.
[14:42] The suffering in our midst. By name today, Lord, we pray and we remember Dan and Rosemary and Dawn and Harold.
[14:54] Lord, we remember Rowena today. We pray for Gordon. And Lord, in a moment of suffering, in a moment of silence for these who suffer, we would pray for those we know who are dear and near to us.
[15:12] So, in this moment of silence, let's pray for those we know who are suffering. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[15:24] Amen. Amen.
[15:56] Thank you for the gift of prayer. we thank you very much that here in this mystery we may turn to you always so Lord make us faithful in this wonderful gift always Lord we offer up these prayers to you in the name which is above every name even the name of Jesus Christ Lord in your mercy hear our prayer hear our prayer