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So up until now, we've been looking at a lot of Red Flags.
Well quite frankly, I'm sick of the Red Flags, so today
we're going to look at some Green Lights. I think we're going to
really be encouraged by what these green lights are,
what they are telling us to do, how to move forward in this relationship with Christ Jesus.
So, Red Flags, Green Lights. We will be in the
fourth chapter of the book of Hebrews, starting in
verse 11, and then we will work our way, all the way through the end of
chapt--or verse 10, in chapter 5. Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for
Your love for us. We're thankful for Jesus; that in
Him, we have everything. Thank You that through Him we're part of a
New Covenant. A New Covenant in which You remember our sins no more.
A Covenant in which You are our God, and we are Your people.
A Covenant in which all of us know You personally, and intimately.
A Covenant in which Your laws of faith, hope and love are working within our
hearts and manifesting themselves out into this world of darkness.
Thank You for all of that. Now as we go into Your word,
today, we ask that You would open up our hearts and minds, so that we could see Jesus
more clearly, and all the things He's accomplished for us, through His death
burial and resurrection, and it's in His wonderful name that we pray, Amen.
So, Red Flags, Green Lights.
We have established over the last several weeks that the book of Hebrews is about
one thing, and one thing only, and this is the proposition:
the New Covenant is superior to, and takes the place of, The Old Covenant.
So this New Covenant that the writer of Hebrews is
speaking about, is better than the Old Covenant. When they speak of the Old Covenant,
they are specifically speaking about the Mosaic Covenant.
We would know it as the Ten Commandments. That is the center piece
of that Mosaic Covenant. So what Jesus has ushered in,
is better than the Ten Commandments. Now you can imagine
that those Jewish people, the citizens of Israel,
were having problems with this particular proposition.
We sent out an email this week, talking about the message that was going to take place
today, and here was the scenario.
Say the church that you had grown up in; for me, that would
was the First Methodist Church, United Methodist Church in Marietta Georgia.
My grandmother was a member of that church.
Her parents were members of that church, and you know, when
my mom got to the age, she and my dad joined that church.
We grew up in that particular church. Say we go to
a service one Sunday, and the pastor stands up and says,
"We're shutting down, because something better has come,"
Because there's a new assembly that's
happening, that is far superior to anything that we've ever been able
to do as a church body." Man, the
audience would be stunned! Shocked! They wouldn't know how to
take it! The pastor would do everything in his power to
point the people forward, that there's something new, that there's something better, and it's
found in this new person called Jesus.
They would be thinking, "But.. but...but..but... what about
"all of these great things that we've experienced through these hundreds of years?"
well, they're not nearly as good as what this new thing
is going to be. But...but...but... it's our life! It's what's
defines us! It what made us as the people that we are!
But...but... all that it has made you, is not nearly as good as what
you could be in this new thing.
You would know that there would just be all kinds of problems.
Yet, that was the very thing facing
the people of Israel.
Some 1400 years of Judaism under
the Mosaic Covenant. That is a long tradition.
That is a long time to be doing
something the same way, and then to have
Jesus come on the scene, and the apostles that had
attached themselves to Jesus are making a statement that
what this Jesus has brought in is so much better than everything
you've experienced for the last 1400 years?
There's going to be issues. That's why
the book of Hebrews was written. To plant
some red flags, warning the people that if they did not go
forward with Jesus, then all they could
expect would be the judgement of God.
That's not a very good choice, is it? But it's black and white.
There's no gray matter in that. It's either you go with
Jesus and you're saved, and you enter into this New Covenant,
you experience all that God has intended for us, from the very get go,
or you shrink back and continue in your life,
controlled by the law of sin and death.
So, last week, Richard talked about a warning
in Hebrews 6, four through six, about the
folks tasting of the goodness of this New
offer in Christ. Participating in it to some degree
but yet, there was a fear that they might fall back.
So he kinda gave some
backstory of what was leading to that particular warning and we're going
to pick up with that today, but first, let's take a look
at some of the things that we have learned thus far in the book of Hebrews.
This New Covenant is superior
because Jesus is superior to the prophets.
Those men of old, we can name them: Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Daniel, and Moses, and you know we could just
list out the whole group; all of them inspired by God
to deliver revelation to the people of God, the nation of Israel.
But now Jesus is on the scene, and He is far superior to the prophets.
None of them compare to Jesus. Jesus is
superior to the angels. Angelic beings were a
significant part of the history of Israel.
An angel met with Moses on top of Mount Sinai, and was a representative
of God, in that transation. Angels were a part of their history
and even at the birth of Christ, it was angelic announcements that
brought the news to the people. Jesus is far superior
to angels. That's why Paul would write in Galatians,
"Even if an angel comes to you and gives you a different message other than the one
"of Christ Jesus, don't believe it" Why? Because
Jesus is superior. Jesus is superior to Moses.
You know, Moses was the guy. He was the guy handpicked by
God to lead the people out.
The people of Israel put a lot of stock in Moses' leadership.
So he stands head and shoulders above all
the rest. Yet,
Jesus is superior to Moses. God is building
us into a house. You know, we see in Israel's history
the house of God was important. We first see it
in the form of the Tabernacle, then that Tabernacle was converted
to a stand alone temple; Solomon's Temple.
Temple was kind of wrecked and they rebuilt it,
but they always wanted a house for God to
dwell in among the people. Well, God doesn't live in
temples made by hands.
The place He's going to live, He's going to build Himself. He's going to bring it
about. So, God is building us into a house
for Him to dwell in. We are the building materials
We are the stones, we are the brick, we are the mortar.
We become this living structure, in which God takes up
residence. We saw that happening the Day of Pentecost when
God poured out His spirit upon man, and God's Spirit came to live
in us. Now, Jesus is the ruler of that house. He's the head.
He's the one that keeps it together. Moses
was just a servant. So Jesus is far superior.
Then the Creation Sabbath Rest remains
for God's children. I thought Richard....he's done this on radio
so often, and then last week. Just really laid
out what this Sabbath Rest is. If you want to know
that is, get a hold of that message from last Sunday.
I think it's the best description that's ever been given for the
Sabbath Rest. Because he built the story from Creation.
We see that this Sabbath Rest still remains
for the people of God. God created
man on the 6th day, He rested on the 7th.
As an indication of what our relationship with God
was to be about. We were to rest with God, to enjoy
that relationship eternally.
That was destroyed by sin, but now that's made available to us again, through faith
in Jesus Christ. So that's what we've learned so far. That's why
he keeps prodding the people of Israel, his audience
to move forward with Jesus. Don't shrink back.
Don't stand aloof. Don't stand at an arm's distance from this Jesus,
then turn, and go back to your old way of life.
Move forward with the Son of God.
Move forward with the One who loved us, and gave Himself for us.
Move forward with Jesus into this New Covenant.
So, what we've learned, explains the warnings.
Do not drift away, or ignore such a great salvation. That
was the first red flag. We have a tendency to
drift away. God says get your feet fully planted
firmly planted in Christ. Do not have a sinful
unbelieving heart. Gosh, the people of Israel, that's
how they were characterized, as they were wandering in the desert, they
were doing so with sinful, unbelieving hearts. Their minds were back on
Egypt. They thought they had it pretty good as slaves
in Egypt. They weren't thinking forward.
Do not continue to crucify Jesus by your unbelief.
If you hear the message of Christ,
and you see the goodness of Christ in the lives
of others, and yet you refuse, you are exactly
like those standing at the foot of where Pilate
was with Jesus, yelling out with the rest of the crowd, "Crucify! Crucify!"
"Crucify!" Don't continue
doing that through your unbelief.
That was Hebrews 6.
So those are some of the red flags. Now let's take a look at some of the green lights
that we see in this book as well.
What we're going to be looking at today, is Jesus as our High Priest.
Priests.
For most of us who grew up in Protestant backgrounds,
the idea of a priest is somewhat foreign to us. We don't get it.
We don't get what a priest is supposed to do. Those of you who may have
grown up in a Catholic background, will have a better idea. But certainly
for the people of Israel, the priesthood was a significant
thing. The Levitical priesthood was the group that
kinda governed the religious activities of the people. They were important
folks. They had power, prestige, authority with
in the community. Within this chapter, we're going to see that Jesus
is far superior to those Levites.
That the service that He offers is far superior
than what they could do. So we're going to start
and what I'm going to do is simply read, starting in chapter 4, verse 11;
and we're going to go all the way through verse 10 of chapter 5.
This won't be on the screen, so if you have your Bibles, just follow along as I read through this.
Let us, therefore, make every effort
to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following
their example of disobedience. For the word of God
is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword,
it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;
it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything
"is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
"Therefore, since we have a great high
"priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God,
"let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to
"empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way,
"just as we are--yet, He did not sin.
"Let us then
"approach God's throne of Grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy
"and find grace to help us in our time of need.
"Every high priest is selected from among the people and is
"appointed to reprsent the people in matters related to God,
"to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently
"with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since He Himself is subject
"to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices
"for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
"And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives
"it when called by God, just as Aaron was.
"So in the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of
"becoming a high priest, but God said to him,
"You are my Son; today I have become your Father
"And he says in another place, "You are a priest forever, in the order of
"Melchizedek." During the days of Jesus' life on earth,
he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who
could save him from death, and he was heard because of reverent
submission. "Son though he was, he learned obedience from
"what he suffered, and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation
"for all who obey him and was
"designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek."
So in this particular section, we're going to look
at three green lights.
The encouragement to go forward is based on Jesus
being our High Priest. We're going to take a look
at what Jesus is, as our High Priest,
and why we can actually, as the song indicated,
that we can draw near to Him in confidence, and
in hope. What's the first green light?
We are to make every effort to enter that rest.
So the promise of a Sabbath Rest, remains
and we are to make every effort to enter
into that rest.
Here's how the writer of Hebrews is kind of spelling
this out. We look at it as an opportunity for us as believers
who have kind of put on top of us, rules
and regulations and we've grown weary, to lay those aside
and rest in the finished work of Christ. Certainly there's application
in that concern, for that concern.
But here, the writer is really making this a salvation
issue. There were people that were standing
at the foot of Jesus, with their arms folded;
with doubt and skeptism in their heart. With 1400 years of
tradition behind them,
with this dilemma, "what do I do?"
Some of my friends are moving forward with Jesus,
most of my friends are saying no to Jesus.
Most of my friends are telling me that Judaism, this old
command...these Ten Commandments, this Old Covenant, this Mosaic way of life
is what God has for us. That is God's intended
purpose, for us to live as a people, governed by
these rules and laws and rituals, and regulations.
I've trusted my friend for a long time,
so I don't know about Jesus.
Now they would also say, that trying to live up
to that Mosaic Covenant was a
heavy, heavy burden. It was weighty.
The consequences of not living up to it, were heavy.
I mean, they could look back in their 1400 year history and see
that every time they walked away from the Covenant,
every time that they said, 'we're not going to follow these Ten
"we're not going to give our allegiance to the one true God, we're going to follow the ways
"of the world," dire consequences followed.
Babylonian captivity.
A nation divided.
Enslavement, death,
those were the curses of the Law.
Heavy, heavy stuff.
Saying, you could be set free,
you could experience true freedom in Christ.
Don't stand there with your arms
crossed; enter into the rest. Make every effort
to do so. Get there quickly! Hasten
this decision. Because it's today.
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.
Today, if the message touches you, respond in faith.
Combine it with faith! That's what the people of Israel
did not do! They died
in the wilderness. So he says, make every effort, because God doesn't want you
to perish. Not just a death like
they died in the wilderness, but a eternal, spiritual death.
So, green light says
Go! Enter in! Because in Jesus you have
everything. What does he say?
Gives this great passage on the word of God.
The word of God will bring to light
the attitudes of the heart. If you don't know where you stand
if you think you've received, but you're not quite sure
or you are kinda moving in the opposite direction. Be sure
of this, the word of God will make a judgement.
The word of God will reveal to you what's in your heart.
In such a way that it will just rip through, and show your heart
for what it really is. Is it a disobedient heart,
an unbelieving heart, or is it one that is responding
to this good news of Jesus? That's what the word of God does, it's a
double edged sword; it penetrates. It pierces through.
It's like God takes us and just rams it into our hearts
and it shows what's in our soul, it shows what's in our spirit.
It judges the thoughts and attitudes, and we
can see clearly that we are hardening our hearts,
or that they're being soften to Jesus.
Then he says, no one can hide from God.
You can't hide from what is in your heart from Him.
We try, don't we? We certainly do
an admiral job of hiding what's going on inside of us,
to other people. We come to church,
How ya doin? Great! Are you?
No! no.. I guarantee you
not everybody in this room is doing well. I guarantee you
that there are trials and troubles that are impacting you, right now.
and I guarantee you, that even as you're sitting
here, listening, you're thinking about
the mess you are in. Am I right?
I'm right,
aren't I? I love it when I'm right! (laughter)
Never happens at home with Jeanna.
I'm always wrong!
But when I admit I'm wrong, then that's right.
There's stuff going on in life. There's thoughts and things
that are happening in our hearts, there's attitudes that are there, and we try to
get all clean on the outside. We try to make ourselves
look the best that we can be, so that we can still
save face in front of friends and family and relatives and all of that, but
in the depths of our souls, we're just distraught.
We're downcast.
The word of God surfaces that.
We can't hide that from God. We can't
sit on the fence with Him. We're either turning
away from Jesus, or we're turning towards Jesus.
That's the way it is, and there are many
in Israel who had come to the edge,
and seen the goodness of the Lord, but who were turning
away. They were doing so, with this
clean, righteous appearance to those
within the community. Folks could look at them and say,
yeah, they're doing the righteous and just thing. They're sticking with
Judaism; they're sticking with this Mosaic Covenant.
But they're only doing so out of
rejection of the goodness of God.
The kindness of God that's been revealed to us in Jesus, and in Jesus alone.
So that's green light #1; if you're wrestling
with this salvation message; if you're wrestling with the gospel message, make
every effort to enter in. Hasten it, because today is the day!
Go forward with Jesus.
Second green light. Let us hold firmly
to the faith that we profess. Verse 14.
Since we have a great high priest, who has ascended into heaven,
Jesus the Son of God, let us
hold firmly to the faith that we profess. Once you have had entered into the rest,
once salvation has become yours. You're saved
you're in this New Covenant. Guess what? All of those friends that are
stuck in the old? They're going to come after you,
and they're going to start arguing and trying to
persuade you that the old way of life is the best way of life.
Some of you have come out of
religious denominations
and you've walked away from those paritcular
denominations, because you knew that it was just a
denomination filled with Law and Legalism, and control and bondage.
Somebody brought the message
of Grace and life and freedom and you responded to it.
You said, "I can't stay in that place anymore. I've gotta go where I can be
"free! I've got to go to a place where I'm encouraged to grow in the grace of God."
"To grow in my knowledge in Christ." There's lots of folks that are still stuck; that probably call you up and say,
We want you back. We need you back.
He's saying, hold firmly
to the faith that you profess. Some of you
may have come out of dependency
issues: alcohol, drugs, that sort of
thing. The gospel message has hit your heart; you've entered into that rest, you have this
dynamic, vibrant relationship with the Lord. You're growing in His love,
and you're just astounded that the God of this universe thinks
of you in such a way that He sent Jesus; that He loves you
and that love is being directed to you right now!
Some of your friends are saying to you, remember the good old days?
Remember when we had so much fun hanging out
at this bar, or doing this, or doing that and
Jesus is saying, hold firmly. That's the green light, stick with him
All that back stuff
is death. You've entered in, hold firmly to the
faith. Then he says this, We do not have a high priest
who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses.
We have one whose been tempted in every way.
Here's the next green light: Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence.
You're hearing from all those people in your past,
and your heart is being tugged, and you have all of these
feelings and emotions that are welling up, and you don't know which way to go.
The green light is to
go boldly into the throne of grace, approach the throne of grace
with confidence, so that you may receive mercy and grace to help you
in your time of need.
Why can we do that? Because of Jesus.
Our high priest. He ascended into heaven.
You know, those Levites, they never ascended into heaven. They just made it to the holy of holies.
They got into that place and out, quick!
They were frightened.
They didn't know if the sacrifice would be accepted.
They had no assurance of that. If they did it wrong,
if they messed up, they could die.
That's why they'd put a rope around the guy's foot, so if he did
die, the people could drag him out. Because if they went in, they would die.
But this Jesus, wasn't a holy of holies;
it wasn't a room. He entered into heaven itself.
That blood sacrifice was offered at the heavenly altar.
It stands eternally
as the blood that cleanses us from all sin.
Jesus ascended into heaven. This Jesus empathizes with our weaknesses.
He became one of us. That's what we learned in chapter 2, He took upon
himself, flesh and blood and became one of us.
He was tempted in every way.
Yet, without sin.
How many of you have ever made this statement, "God just doesn't know how I feel,"
Lot of us. I mean there was one truthful person
here. Rest of you raise your hand, you've said that!
I guarantee you've said it: God doesn't know how I feel. He doesn't know what I'm going through.
We're having a wedding ceremony following
the service, and I've talked to many people who've been infactuated
and they think that this is just the right person, and you know
well, they're not believers in Christ. Yeah, but
but... I can change them. You know, I can bring
them to Christ, and besides, this is just the right one, and God just doesnt' know how I
feel. I mean, I've been lonely and I've been frustrated,
and life has been miserable for me, and this is the best thing that's come along in a long time.
I don't care if he doesn't know Jesus.
I'm going to move forward.
6 months later, they're thinking,
Why didn't I listen to the word of God? Why didn't I listen
to the one who knows exactly how I feel? The one that
whose been tempted in every way, just like I am.
But is without sin. Who never gave in.
Who never gave in to those outside pressures.
Why didn't I listen to him?
But He does know you. He knows everything about you.
He knows every feeling you have, every attitude you have,
every thought you have. Everything about you.
Because He knows you
because He knows how you feel. Because He empathizes with your situation.
I mean, isn't that the great thing? He's not judging you
for your situation? He's empathizing with you!
that in, whatever mess you're in, whatever thinking pattern
you're in, whatever attitudes you're stuck in, you can turn to Jesus
and get an empathetic ear.
Talk to somebody that can help you.
That's who this Jesus is. He empathizes
with our weaknesses. He was tempted in all ways.
He didn't have the internal struggle that we do, when faced with temptation,
but every temptation, He suffered.
That's what He did. He knows that
outside pressure. He knows what that's like. He knows what we're going
through. He did not sin.
He never gave in. So,
we can trust Him with our lives. What about the high priest of old?
Well, he was selected from among the people.
Aaron was selected from among the people to be the first high priest, then
every high priest after came from Aaron's bloodline.
If you don't know, Aaron and Moses were brothers. They were out of the Levitical line.
So, when they got to Mount Sinai, God said Aaron is going to be
the high priest. Then, every year
following, when the high priest was selected, it was out of that Aaronic bloodline.
They couldn't seek it, they just had to be named
the high priest. He was appointed to represent
the people. What did the priest do? He represented the people
in matters relating to God. That's what the high priest of old did.
He offered gifts and sacrifices. You sin,
you felt guilty; this heavy weight was on
your shoulders. You wanted to get released from that; you would go
see the priest. But you had to bring a sacrifice.
Then the priest would offer that as a blood sacrifice
and then you would have a measure of release from that guilt,
from that weight of your sin. So that's what they did, they offered gifts and sacrifices.
But these Levitical priests, they were subject to weaknesses.
They were human beings just like we are, and
people of Israel were; so they had to
offer sacrifices for their own sin. They dealt gently with those who
were ignorant and going astray. They offered sacrifices for their own
sins and they were called by God. It was an important office.
But now, this Jesus that we have is far superior.
Far superior. I mean we go
seek counselors. We go and talk with pastors and try to get help
and you know, in our problems and
I've had the opportunity to sit down and talk with folks and
you know, they'd present a problem, and it's like well, you know as soon
as I figure out how to overcome that, I'll let you know. But right now I'm
right where you are. But not with Jesus.
Not with Jesus. He knows how to get us through.
He knows how to help us. He knows how to extend the grace and mercy
we need, in any given circumstances.
But what about this Jesus?
He was called by God to be a priest forever. It wasn't out of the Levitical
line, He was from the tribe of Judah.
There was no talk of a priest coming from the tribe of Judah, yet.
God has appointed Him as our priest forever.
Not a temporal thing. Levites
they did their duty, then they died.
Somebody else had to step up. Step into
those shoes and carry on, then that group died, then the next group and the next group.
Not with Jesus; He's forever.
He offered up prayers and was heard by God.
We know that. During the Garden of Gethsemne,
He offered up prayers with tears and sweating drops of blood, please, take this cup away
but, not My will, but Yours be done. He was heard!
Isn't that encouraging
to know that Jesus was heard by His Father?
Sometimes we wonder if we are heard.
The reason He was, is because, "not my will but Yours be done."
He was interested in carrying out the will of His Father.
He learned obedience through suffering. Jesus learned obedience?
Well, shouldn't that come easy for Him?
I mean, like, big deal! Well, think about it.
Jesus is God. He's independent.
He obeys no one.
That's what God does. I mean, God doesn't obey us, does He?
If He did, this would be a worse mess than we could ever
imagine. God is independent. That's who Jesus
was, and Jesus is. Yet He became one of us. He lived
as one of us, in obedience to His Father, in dependence upon His Father.
He learned that obedience through suffering.
Suffering. He was made
perfect. Again, through the suffering.
This word "perfect", we've talked about it numerous times
it doesn't mean flawless; it doesn't mean without
blemish. It means complete. --telos
is the Greek word, it's the root. It means the end
goal. God sent Jesus for a purpose.
That purpose was to carry out the will of God.
That will was to become the final sin offering for
the sins of man.
Through suffering, even to the point of death, He was made perfect.
He reached the end goal. When we
have faith in Jesus, which we'll learn later on, we've been delivered to the end goal.
We've been delivered to the place where God intended us to be;
in this state of eternal rest, and salvation in Jesus.
So, through suffering,
He was made perfect. He reached that goal, and as a result, He became
the source of eternal salvation of all who obey Him. Who's
the source of salvation? Jesus. Who's the source of life?
Jesus. Who's the source of forgiveness? Jesus. Who's the source of
righteousness? Jesus. Is there any other source available?
Absolutely not!
You're trapsing around in the desert, and you come to an oasis,
and it's green, and there's vegetation there. The reason is because there's a
source of life; there's a water source there. If you need water,
you can't find it any other place in the desert, you have to go there.
Jesus is that oasis for us, He's
the source of eternal salvation. What the writer
of Hebrews is really saying to the people of Israel, what source do you
have under the law? What is your hope
for eternal life? What is your hope for forgiveness? What is your hope for
an eternal standing of righteousness in the sight of God?
You know what the source is under the Law? It is not the Mosaic Covenant,
it is not those laws that were written on stones,
it wasn't any of the other laws, it was the people.
They were the source. It was up to them to make it happen.
If I'm going to be saved, I gotta do it. If I'm going to be the
declared righteous, I have to
have a life of nothing but good works.
Are we a source? We're a source of
death. But not life. Think of evey single
religion that's out there. Who's the source?
In every single religion, it gets down
to the shoulders of the people.
But, not with Christianity. Our source is Jesus
Himself. If you want salvation,
if you want right standing with God; if you want to experience forgiveness of sin,
if you want somebody that empathizes with you in your time of need,
there's no other person you can turn to.
Jesus. Jesus.
Some of you know my favorite song, "He is Alive" by Don Fransceco.
I make Richard sing it every Easter. If I could
I'd make him sing it every single week, but he just is stubborn.
But there's a great line in there, when Peter
finally sees the resurrected Jesus,
it says he fell down on his knees,
and he simply clung to him and cried.
With Jesus, we can do that. In our times of sorrow,
in our times of trouble, when our hearts are heavy,
we can fall down on our knees and we can
cling to him and cry. Knowing
that in His arms, there's nothing but love,
life, mercy and grace.
Let the green lights urge you to Jesus.
Well, let's pray.
Lord, thank You
that we can fall down
on our knees and simply cling to You and cry.
Thank You that
in Jesus, we have somebody that truly understands.
That truly cares for us, knows us inside and out.
Who is there with open arms,
to extend to us mercy, grace
and to help us
experience the fullness of all that we have in Him.
Thank You for this New Covenant in which we live,
thank You that You've wiped away our sin, that Your remember them no more.
Thank You that we have the opportunity
to be transformed simply in
knowing You. Thank You for this, and we praise You
for it, in Christ's matchless name. Amen.