Shane Kirkword - Class 2: Hosanna In The Highest

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   This is day two of the 2010 Idyllwild Bible School. Our first period teacher is Brother Shane Kirkwood. His general subject is, Our Lord's Last Week. Today's topic is, Hosanna in the Highest. Brother Shane.

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   Good morning, everyone. Now that may be the clearest I'm going to be all study. Hey, Jeff's just told me some of you are having trouble with my accent. I didn't know I had an accent, but there you go.

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   Sometimes when I trail off the endings of my words, it's more due to being emotional than anything else, so I hope you'll forgive me for that. But I will try to be loud and clear this morning and help you out with that. Just a couple of things from yesterday's study.

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   Thank you to Sister Susanna, and she may not be here, but she pointed out to me the parallel between Mary's offering of her breaking and pouring, and of course the memorial that Jesus established with the breaking of himself and pouring. So that was very interesting. For some of you who asked about whether Judas also knew the Lord's death was coming, yes, I think he did, but not in the same way that Mary understood it.

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   Mary offered something as a memorial for the Lord's death. So there was a difference between their understandings, and while Mary was so moved, she saw it as a tragic yet necessary thing. Judas saw it as an opportunity to make money as well. So they were very different people. Today's study must be remembered in the context of what we said yesterday in Luke 19, verse 11, where we had that verse that said that the disciples thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

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   And we have to remember that context if we were to understand what happens on this day of the Lord's last week. I'm cheating a bit when I'm reading the Gospels. I'm using this, which is a parallel account of the Gospels, and that's one of the reasons why I'm able to go between the records so quickly.

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   And I apologise if sometimes I don't tell you what book and verse I'm quoting from, because I'm just losing it as I'm reading. But these are really helpful things, particularly when you're looking at the last week, because there was just so much information contained in the four Gospels. So Jesus spent the night in Bethany, about two miles from the city of Jerusalem.

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   And we can only wonder, really, at what was going through the Lord's mind that evening. And there would have been, I believe, an intensity of prayer for the Lord as he faced these last final days of his earthly ministry.

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   We're told in John chapter 12 and at verse 12, on the next day, much people, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So, as we saw yesterday, there had been a great anticipation whether or not this prophet, Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee, was going to come to the feast. It was the subject of everybody's conversation.

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    Will the man that raised Lazarus from the dead, and of course Lazarus is now a living witness to this man's power, will that man come to the feast? And there would have been people saying, no, he'd be foolish to come to the feast because we know that the Pharisees want him killed. And others would have said, no, no, this is the opportunity for him to take the kingdom, to overthrow the Romans, to at last cast off this foreign invader.

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    And there were about, according to Josephus, perhaps two or three million people that converged on the city of Jerusalem at the time of Passover. It was the most crowded time of the year. Now, Jerusalem is not a big city. So what happened was, all of those people, or some of those people, spilled over outside the city of Jerusalem and they slept in the valleys surrounding the city.

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    And you just imagine bedding down for the night, wondering what the morrow would bring, whether this prophet would appear. And he did appear. He did come. And so Jesus begins the short journey into the city of Jerusalem. Matthew 21 says, when they drew near unto Jerusalem and were come to the Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus' two disciples, saying to them, go into the village over against you and straight away you will find an astide and a colt with her.

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    Loose them and bring them unto me. And if any man say unto you, if any man say ought unto you, you shall say, the Lord hath need of them and straightway he will send them. He'll get them back. He's not stealing them. He's just using them for an occasion. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, tell you the daughter of Zion, behold, your king comes unto you, meek and sitting upon an ass.

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    And the colt, the foal of an ass. And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. And they brought the ass and the colt and they put on them their clothes and they set him thereon. So Jesus looks like he's at last going to take the kingdom. But you know, if they had have known the prophecy of Zechariah, they wouldn't have been so hasty in jumping to that conclusion.

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    I want you to come for a moment to Zechariah chapter 9. And look, in this morning's study, there is a wealth of Old Testament scripture that bears upon this. We're going to look at some of them because they're important in the context, but you'll find others yourself and I'll perhaps refer to some scriptures you might want to look at later on.

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    Zechariah 9, verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. And there was going to be rejoicing and shouting as we will see. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee.

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    And then look what it says. He is just and having salvation. And if you've got the AV, you look in the margin and for that phrase, having salvation, it actually says saving himself. Now that's very interesting because that's what the Lord was going to do. He was going to save himself and others and that's not what they understood.

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    They were swept away with this occasion. Zechariah says, having salvation, but lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an ass. Now you look at verse 10 of Zechariah 9. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace unto the heathen and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

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    So what have we got here in Zechariah 9? We've got his first coming in verse 9. He would save himself and others but he would be lowly. And in verse 10 we have his second coming where it speaks of him speaking peace unto the nations and his dominion shall be from sea to sea.

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    And in between those two verses the Lord's sacrifice laying down his life for our sake. And so he picks up that quote of Zechariah 9 and he rides upon an ass. And it's interesting in Mark chapter 11 and verse 4 it says they found the cult tied by the door without in a place where two ways met.

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    Where two ways came together. And isn't that significant that the Lord when he comes into that city and eventually forfeits his life brings together two ways. The Jew and the Gentile. The Romans and the people of Israel. And so they put their coats and their clothes on the ass and they set him on the ass.

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    And it says a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from trees and strawed them in the way. You just imagine this if you're the Lord. there's probably over a million people. Have you ever been adored by a million people? You see the Lord suffered temptations that we can't understand.

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    But he was never carried away. So much of our world is carried away isn't it? And so he's sitting upon that ass and there are people literally throwing their garments throwing the branches of palm trees in the path and they're singing out as Zachariah said they would. They're singing out saying Hosanna to the son of David.

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    Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. The hair goes up on the back of your neck and you imagine yourself there on this occasion. And I can't imagine anything other than I would be swept away like the disciples were. I'd be just caught up with the hysteria euphoria.

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    What a fantastic thing. The Lord is going to bring the kingdom. So much so that Matthew says the city was moved and the word in the Greek is seismic. It means the city was so moved it was like an earthquake. If you can imagine that if you've been in one it was shaking the foundations of the city and the establishment knew it and they were scared.

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    But Jesus was different very very different from what they were expecting. They wanted a king in all his glory and his military power. They were getting a king but not the one they wanted. You check out Isaiah 62 verses 10 to 12 in your own time. Just have a look at that. I won't go there now but you just pick up the connections there in Isaiah 62.

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    So the whole place was moved and they were singing out Hosanna. There was an imitation here of what happened in 2 Kings chapter 9 and it's very interesting in 2 Kings chapter 9 that it deals with an anointing. Just come there briefly because the connection is fascinating. in 2 Kings 9 we're told at the beginning of the chapter Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets and said to him gird up your loins and take this box of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth Gilead and immediately you pick up a connection with Mary and the box of ointment that she had that we looked at yesterday and when you come thither look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi and go in and make him arise up from among his brethren and carry him to an inner chamber then take the box of oil and pour it on his head thus saith the Lord I have anointed thee king over Israel so flee not there's a very interesting parallel there Mary anointed Jesus for his burial Jehu was anointed from a box poured over his head to be king and you'll notice in verse 13 when Jehu came forward and announced that he'd been anointed king over Israel they hasted and took every man his garment and put it under him on the top of the stairs and blew with trumpets saying Jehu is king so there's definitely some Old Testament parallels here and you can go through the rest of that chapter at your own leisure so they're really thinking this is it this is

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    the event we've been looking for and they're singing out Hosanna Hosanna does anyone know what Hosanna means it means save now see what they're saying save now but they're thinking of salvation in very different terms to what the Lord was thinking and that is quoted from one of the Passover Psalms just come for a moment to Psalm 118 because that's where it comes from they're really carried away with this event in Psalm 118 just look at the context it's messianic look at verse 6 of Psalm 118 Yahweh is on my side I will not fear what man can do under me and that had to be the resolve of the Lord didn't it Yahweh takes my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man verse 8 verse 9 it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes and then come over to verse 22 verse 21 I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation the stone which the builders refused to become the headstone of the corner and the Lord would shortly give a parable about that in the gospel of Matthew 21 this is the Lord's doing it is marvellous in our eyes now here comes the crowd they pick up this refrain this is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it and they knew these psalms because they sang them every Passover so they are saying this is the day more

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    than any other day that we will rejoice in save now that's Hosanna save now oh Lord oh Lord I beseech thee save now send now prosperity blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord we have blessed you at the house of the Lord so that's what they're saying what was the mindset of the Lord look at verse 27 God is Yahweh which hath showed us light bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the altar so while they're thinking salvation in terms of overthrowing the Romans the Lord is thinking bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar what an incredible contrast do you know that's the only way the Lord could have maintained his equilibrium on this occasion when you had all those people his mind was set on Jerusalem because it represented his sacrifice and what he saw was not a picture of him riding in and overthrowing the Romans what he saw was a picture of himself bound with the cords that represented his sacrifice and he had to do that before ever he could overcome the foreign oppressor so they sang praises to him and they beseeched him to take away the Roman power and they strewed the branches of palm trees and there's a remembrance there of the feast of tabernacles isn't there where they took the branches of palm trees you can pick that up for yourself in Leviticus 23 and that's what they were looking for do you know when I read this passage I think to myself sometimes I say Hosanna save now you ever been in a state of

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    mind where you've you've said to God I want the kingdom now I don't want to deal with this stuff anymore I don't want to have to try and cope with the issues of living the life of discipleship in a world like this where I feel so crowded in where I have to battle my own weakness every day I just want to see the kingdom now and I want to see it because I want to see the world acknowledge that there is a God and he's the God of Israel and the fact that they've thumbed their noses at him for so long that eventually they'll be brought to their knees to acknowledge his right and his power to reign and so on those occasions I say Hosanna bring it now but there's other occasions where I say Hosanna and it's a completely different reason one is to see God reign in power and the other is because I don't think I can go any longer I feel so bowed down and weighed down and so desperate that even if he comes and I I don't make it I'd rather that than have to keep going and I think all of us can understand that can't we that sometimes those pressures just get so enormous that we just want it to be over and you imagine that then for the Lord he could have said father I just want this over I don't want to go through the next four days but he did and wow that's a powerful example isn't it he just kept going back into that city with all that represented in all the

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    hostility that represented he just kept doing it and that's a great exhitation to me when I feel like I just can't keep doing it and I can't go on think of Jesus in these events of the last days of his life and it is really sad that many of the people that shouted Hosanna blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord a few days later those same people would say crucify him crucify him we have no king but Caesar doesn't that highlight the absolute fickleness of our nature that at one time we can be saying I'm for you God and then a few days later we can say I'm against you I don't want you I don't care about you these are incredible emotions we're looking at here this is all in a cauldron you know the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed and so Jesus for a moment went with that and he accepted that and he rode for a short distance on the colt as the multitudes extolled and rejoiced and it says in the gospel of Luke when he was come now at the descent of the mountain of olies the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and to praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen saying blessed be the king that comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest and some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him master rebuke your disciples and you can only imagine what they're thinking and he answered and said to them I

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    tell you that if these should the Pharisees in John 12 verse 19 said among themselves perceive you how you prevail nothing behold the world is gone after him we're losing this we can't control this there's millions of people here we're losing this battle look at this but just after they said that he comes to in view of the city of Jerusalem and he stops and the disciples are imagining is this going to be you know like when they stop and they gather the troops and they call to arms and they have that final charge of the battle but there was to be no !

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    battle cry there were going to be tears his tears now this is an amazing event this is a man weeping over a city that is going to kill him that is going to torture him that is going to turn against him just think of that could you do that it's astounding what did the Lord see well he looked beyond he looked beyond his own crucifixion his own agony his own rejection and he saw what that rejection would cost his people he saw it so clearly imagine the disciples so they're swept away with this euphoria and they're just waiting for Jesus to take charge and he stops and he looks at the city and he begins to cry what are you thinking if you're one of the disciples talk about losing it who's losing it now I mean what is going on here he's crying and they would have been saying get some control get a grip doesn't it show you the incredible contrast in the Lord's mind to their mind and the contrast between our mind and his mind and the fact that his ways are not our ways the cross had to come before the crown just come momentarily to Jeremiah chapter 9 sorry Jeremiah chapter 8 Jeremiah 8 verse 7 just briefly verse 11 verse 13 I will surely consume them says the Lord there shall be no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig tree what a remarkable prophecy given what would happen the next day with the withering of the fig tree when the Lord went to look for fruit there shall be no fig on the fig tree

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    and the leaf shall fade and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them they had a privilege that they abused when God sent them his only begotten son verse 21 for the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt there's the Lord he could have said well you're going to reject me and you get what you deserve and they prayed for it but he didn't he said I feel that I'm hurt for what's going to happen to my people I really feel it these weren't fake tears these came from his heart I am black astonishment has taken hold of me is there no balm in Gilead is there no physician there why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered Isaiah 29 is another one verse 13 Isaiah 29 wherefore the Lord says for as much as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people even a marvellous work and a wonder for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid look look at verse 18 and in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness and the meek all shall increase their joy in the Lord and the poor among men shall rejoice in the holy

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    one of Israel for the terrible one is brought to naught and the scorner is consumed and all that watch for iniquity are cut off that make a man an offender for a word there's the scribes and Pharisees and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate and turn aside the just for a thing of naught there's the context of Jerusalem in this last week as the Lord enters rivers of waters run down my eyes because they keep not my law said Psalm 119 verse 136 and there was the Lord fulfilling these things in reality he felt this but you know I read these passages and I wonder how much I hurt for people how much I really feel for people if the Lord could weep over the city that he loved that he would have gathered as a hen gathers her chickens can I weep for the people of my city can I see their destruction do you know I live in a beautiful city Sydney is considered one of the most spectacular cities in the world and when I go in there on a day like this and I go on a boat on the harbour and I see the harbour bridge it truly is a magnificent place but I can't get caught up with that as much as I admire the beauty of the topography of the place that I live in which God has made I got to see beyond that I got to be able to see a time that's coming when the bridge will collapse into the harbour and the opera house will just be wiped out and

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    there will be a tsunami that washes that city and the buildings will collapse and if you live in Los Angeles as many of you do you got to see that and if you live in New York which I visited recently and I stood on the top of the Empire State Building and I heard the noise of that city coming up you know what I thought I thought this is the kingdoms of men that's what it represents it represents the kings of men how we've tried to take hold of what God has given us and we've built like Nimrod these massive cities and within those cities there's millions of people who haven't heard who don't know the day of their destruction and it doesn't move me to tears but it ought and if we can take an exhitation from the Lord as he wept over his city is that we should see our lives in that context that we have something that we can give them that when the day comes it may be the one thing that makes a difference between them accepting and rejecting the son of God not when he came the first time but when he comes the second as the king in his glory do you know so moved with the city they came out with the phrase who is this who is this man that he can create such a euphoria your mind goes to Psalm 24 when they say who is this king of glory which was messianic of his time to come but not this time now and so we're told and I'm going to have to skip

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    a few things here because there's so much in this record that he wept over the city and said that he didn't know the day of its visitation and the time would come he says in Luke 19 verse 43 your enemies shall cast a trench about you and compass

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    leave in the one stone upon another because you didn't know the day of your visitation and when the chief priest and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying in the temple and saying Hosanna to the son of David they were so displeased can you imagine that can you see all these different mindsets at play here the bitterness and the hostility it seems incredible that they could be like that but they hated this man so much and they said to him don't you hear what these are saying and Jesus said have you never read another rebuke but they deserved it have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings that has perfected praise psalm 8 a psalm about the lord having dominion and he left them and went out of the city into Bethany and he lodged there on the morrow it says he came again but you just imagine how the disciples felt after that first day they had seen an opportunity as far as they were concerned that opportunity had fritted away it had just leaked away it had been a glorious occasion that had potential and the potential was never realised and they say travelled back to Bethany that night they just must have been shaking their head and go what went wrong how come he didn't do it how come he cried how come we're just walking back up the hill to Bethany what's going on they came again they came into Jerusalem Mark 11 says into the temple and he began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple

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    and over through the tables of the money changers and the seat of them that sold doves do you know he done that at the beginning of his ministry what's that tell us it tells us nothing had changed in three and a half years that God had given these people nothing had changed they were still ripping off the poor people and he said my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations but you've made it a den of thieves and so they had the hills outside Jerusalem were full of the dove coats of the sons of Annas who bred their doves there to sell to the poor people for sacrifice and they ripped them off at an exorbitant rate and when you brought your lamb for Passover your best lamb that you chose from your flock and you travelled up to Jerusalem with it when you took it to the temple inspectors because they stitched the whole thing up so neatly they said oh your lamb is not good enough it's got a blemish you'll have to buy one of ours you think you got a good deal at the temple huh it's a bit like shopping in airport transit lounge isn't it you got nowhere to go buddy you want it you pay for it it's what they did you imagine the Lord with his seeing that this is supposed to be the house of God it's a house of commerce it's a den of thieves so he again throws them out and into that void came people to be healed what a wonderful thing in came the people that could never

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    get there that never had a hope and they came into the vacuum created by the Lord and he healed them of their sicknesses and again when the evening was come he went out of the city and the chief priests and the scribes sought to destroy him and Lazarus and they could not find what they would do for all the people were very attentive to hear him it says in Luke 19 verse 48 and then he gives them some parables in Matthew 21 he gives the parable of the vineyard which we know well and how they were going to kill the one beloved son which God had sent to the vineyard in Luke chapter 20 he talks about the stone which the builders rejected that that stone would fall and it would grind them to powder and you can look at these yourselves in the context of the last week he gives them in Matthew 22 the parable of the wedding feast and the man who came without the garment and he says at the end of that parable for many are called but few are chosen and it says in verse 15 of Matthew 22 then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk yeah there's one thing I want to focus on just before we finish this morning and it's not any of those parables it's an incident that we know well and it's in Mark chapter 12 where the Herodians joined forces with the Sadducees and they try and trap the Lord in his words and they come out with some ridiculous stories about a woman that

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    had seven husbands and there are in Mark chapter 12 four questions that are posed to Jesus I'm not going to deal with those it's a subject all on its own what I want to deal with is an incident right at the end of that because I want us to feel for the Lord in these days that we've condensed so quickly into just a few moments this morning verse 41 of Mark 12 says Jesus sat over against the treasury now you think about this you think about the enormous range of emotions that the Lord has gone through the building hostility and rejection and you see him sitting over against the temple and watching people cast in their money and many that were rich cast in much it says the Lord was a very keen observer of human beings and he saw on the one hand those who gave much because they are wealthy but that's not what he was looking for and his eyes were fixed on a certain poor widow and she threw in two mites which make a farthing nobody else would have seen her in that crowd nobody else would have seen but he did and he called his disciples and he said truly I say unto you this poor widow have cast in more than all they which have cast into the treasury why for all they did cast in their abundance and she of her want did cast in all that she had even all her living she gave everything she should have been receiving from others he just talked about the rulers of Israel who devoured widows houses and they

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    probably taken hers she could have said well the men who run this system are rip off merchants and I'm not going to give any more to them but she was giving to God so she cast in everything that she had even all her living she gave with her heart her soul her mind and her strength that's devotion why did the Lord see her because it gave him I believe more strength to keep going and you know that's amazing because we wouldn't think a widow who had nothing could give much to anyone but I believe she did to the Lord he saw that he was empowered by that and when we think we've got nothing to give and when we think the Lord doesn't see us in our struggles think of this woman that in the context of the last week of his life in the very temple where they were seeking to take him and kill him he sits down and he looks and he sees a widow that's got nothing who gives everything to God and she was like him Jesus out of all the people there had an immediate affinity with her he had no money he had no wife he loved God with all his heart his soul his mind and his strength and a widow and the son of God who had not where to lay his head were like that that's why he called the disciples because he was about to lay down his life for people that didn't love him