We honor Veterans at Grace!  In light of the recent tragedy at Ft. Hood, this sermon deals with the importance of loyalty.  In serving in our country’s forces or in Christ’s forces of light, loyalty is becoming increasingly rare but is still crucial.

It seemed like a simple email. I was in my first year in grad school. Karie had just one semester left to complete her degree, and we would be married in December. At this point I didn’t realize I’d be staying for a second masters degree, a master of infinity. So we were thinking we might look for a job that May.

And every week I’d get a mass email from the office of Career Services telling me about recruiters who would be on campus interviewing for different jobs. And one day I saw what looked like some interesting positions. So I decided to forward the email to Karie. I typed, “Hey Babe, want to meet at the Student Center to check this out? Love, Josh.”

But to my horror, I saw that instead of forwarding the email to Karie, I had replied to secretary. A few minutes later I got a second email from a middle-aged woman in Career Services informing me that she was happily married and didn’t appreciate students calling her “Hey, Babe!”

Now I was mortified. I replied again (this time on purpose) and said things were not what they seem. I too was about to be happily married. I was not trying to seduce her into a rendezvous in the Student Center, I merely pressed “reply” instead of “forward.” It was an accident. I meant to email my fiancée. I hoped she understood.

I didn’t hear back from her. But I hope she wasn’t offended. And I really hope her husband wasn’t waiting for me in the Student Center. Things were not as they seemed.

And same thing is true in this passage. Things are not as they seem, on the surface level. There’s more than meets the eye.

A professor was assigned to teach a class on time management to a group of freshmen in Orientation.

So he walked into the classroom and set a glass jar on a table. Then he carefully placed, one at a time, a dozen large rocks, inside the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked a question, “Is the jar full?”

Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”

“Really?” he asked. Then he reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel into the jar and shook it, so the pieces of gravel worked themselves down in between the big rocks. Then he smiled and asked once more, “Is the jar full?”

By this time the class was starting to catch on. “Probably not,” one of them said.

“Good!” he replied. Then he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it filled all the spaces between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked, “Is this jar full?”

“No!” the class shouted.

Again he said, “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour in the water until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked back at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”

One eager student raised her hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit something more into it!” Several classmates nodded in agreement. It sounded like a good answer.

But the teacher said, “No, that’s not the point. This is a lesson in priorities. And the lesson is this: if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”

And so this evening we ask ourselves: When it comes to our lives (our Time, Talent, and Treasure), how do we know what our priorities should be? How do we know what the big rocks are?

Life can become so busy with work and school, with home and church, with hobbies and sports. So how do we know where to start? How do we know what to put at the top of the list?

The standard answer is, “Well, what does the Bible say?” That’s good, but my Bible has over a 1,000 pages and that’s my small-print, ultra-thinline edition. My study Bible has almost 3,000 pages. It’s a monster. I use it to work out.

Sometimes you sit down to read your Bible, knowing you need help. And it’s overwhelming. There’s so much in here.

So if you could sit down across from God and ask Him what matters most to Him, what would He say? What are His top priorities? If you’ve ever wondered this, you’re not alone.

Jewish rabbis had identified 613 commandments in the Old Testament– 248 “dos” and 365 “don’ts”-one for every day of the year.

And so with all those “dos” and “don’ts,” rules and commandments, they then asked the question: “Which is the most important?”

People have always had unique ideas about what happens to us when we die.

The Egyptians buried the great pharaoh Cheops with a solar boat to sail to the next life.They had already gone green 5,000 before Al Gore was born.

American Indians would bury a pony and bow and arrows with a dead warrior. They wanted him to be prepared for the happy hunting grounds.

Eskimo children who died were buried with a dog who could guide them in the afterlife. Had they thought of it, they should have buried one with men too. Since they obviously wouldn’t ask for directions.

Greeks would place a coin in the mouth of the corpse so he could pay the fare to cross what they believed was “the mystic river of death.” Somehow that sounds more like Chicago, than heaven, with a toll booth. And if I woke up in Chicago, I’d probably think I’d gone the other direction.

People today have some interesting ideas about heaven. When Princess Di was killed in 1997, British people wrote memorials to her in public places.

Some said they thought she’d become a star in the sky. Some said she’d been an angel in disguise and now she went back to being an angel again. Others said she was an angel-in-training and now at death she got promoted. Kind of like Clarence from “It’s A Wonderful Life”-just a little prettier.

Many Hindus believe in reincarnation. That they will come back as something else. Other people believe that everyone will to heaven. Many are so consumed with the here and now that they never even think about heaven.

Many today believe in annihilation-that they will simply cease to exist. This is what the Sadducees believed.

We will look at other passages that not only encourage us but teach and inspire us how to be optimistic in such dark days, and why positive hope is valid if based on the right foundation: “Life’s Problems: A Matter of Focus.”

We say the only two things certain in life are death and taxes, but there’s a clear connection between politics and taxes. Without taxes we wouldn’t have politics. It takes tax dollars for government to function.

Recently we’ve seen Americans outraged over taxes and government spending. They’ve protested in the tea parties and demonstrations across America- from hometowns to Washington. We’ve seen people of all ages wearing placards like this:

Many Christians are concerned about government’s misusing our tax dollars. But some Christians have gone so far as to advocate tax evasion.

And so we ask ourselves, “How should Christians respond to government? How should Christians respond to taxes?”

In this passage, we see what Jesus says about taxes and politics.

Remember this is the Passion week. It’s Tuesday. Jesus will be betrayed and unjustly tried Thursday night and crucified on Friday.

He is standing in the Temple. His enemies, the Jewish religious leaders, are trying to trap Him with a series of questions, so He will lose popularity with the crowds, or better yet from their perspective, even lose His life to the Romans.

It’s a busy Friday afternoon, and you’re sitting in downtown Indianapolis in the middle of rush hour traffic. The congestion has been building up for an hour. So everything is at a complete standstill.

It’s a cacophony of horns blaring, people shouting, cab drivers gesturing. You’re hot. You’re tired. You just want to get home for the weekend. But nobody knows what to do.

Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a young man walks into the middle of the street. He’s dressed in regular clothes. He doesn’t have a vest or sticks, but he starts directing traffic. And everyone is surprised, but they follow his directing. And within no time, the congestion is cleared up. And traffic is flowing as usual.

But right before he can fade back into the crowd, a police car pulls up. And the traffic cops, who should have been directing, pull him to the side of the road and begin interrogating him. [Fictional story adapted from Tom Wright, Mark for Everyone, 154-55]

This is essentially what is happening in Mk. 11. The Temple leaders hadn’t been doing their job. And so this 33-year-old Jesus of Nazareth does it for them-He clears the temple.

In this next section of Mark, the end of chapter 11 through most of chapter 12, we find the religious leaders questioning Jesus’ authority. The priests and scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees and lawyers all take their shot at it trying to stump our Lord, with a barrage of well thought-out questions.

Jesus of course will stump them. But He also tells a gruesome story about tenants who want so badly to usurp their landlord’s authority that they abuse his messengers and brutally kill his son. In this story we find lessons about God’s patient kindness and severe judgment.

When a church in Dallas decided to split, each side filed a lawsuit to claim the church property.

During the hearing, the courts discovered that the conflict had all begun at a church dinner when a certain elder received a smaller slice of ham than the child seated next to him.

Of course the trial was made public in the media.

And you can only imagine how hard everyone laughed when they heard about this huge fight among church people that began over the size of a slice of ham!

Incidents like this bring great shame not only to the church but to Jesus Christ. Satan wants nothing more than to divide a church from within.

In Acts 2 we see the first church in Jerusalem. And it has everything going for it.

• Christ pours out His Holy Spirit on it.
• The apostles are its pastors.
• Right out of the gates it grows by leaps and bounds.
• 3,000 receive Christ at Pentecost in Acts 2 (v. 41).
• 2,000 more are added by Acts 4 (v. 4).
• Acts 5 (v. 14) tells us multitudes more men and women are added to the church.

And so of course Satan isn’t going to stand by. He immediately begins his assaults. Whenever God institutes something for our good, Satan tries to pervert it for our harm.

God institutes government to protect us. Satan uses human depravity to corrupt it.

God institutes marriage for our good.

• To give stability to society.
• To give the security of lifelong companionship.
• To give the gift of the marriage bed-the beauty of the sexual relationship.
• To give the gift of children.

Karie and the girls and I were at Culvers recently. Whenever we get a “buy one, get one free” coupon for ice cream, we feel it’s our duty to use it.

And so we’re enjoying two single scoop cones of the flavor of the day-Black Forest. It’s amazing. Rich chocolate custard with chunks of brownies and cherries.

We decided this time to get an extra cup and put a few spoonfuls of ice cream in for Karis. And in 2 minutes, she is wearing it-all over her face, her clothes, her hair, her dad-my face, my clothes, my hair.

And she looks up at me through melted chocolate ice cream, points to my cup of ice water, and says “Daddy drink.”

So I relent and let her put those chocolatey lips and that ice cream-filled mouth up to the rim of my cup. And every time I tilt the cup down, I can see all these brown streams and brownie floaters channeling down around my ice.

I told Karie “You might be a Dad if you can drink after  2 year old backwash.”

But you know what? It was well worth it. As we drove home, looking like we’d been through a chocolate war, I told Karie, “One day we’ll look back and think, ‘I’d give anything for a Friday night eating ice cream with our little girls.’”

The gift of children is one of the many blessings God designed in marriage. But Satan takes those good gifts and he twists them. He perverts sexuality and gender roles. He destroys the sanctity of marriage and tries to re-define it. And just like every other institution that God creates for our good…within days Satan is attacking the church.

First he attacks with persecution. In  Acts 4, the apostles are arrested and rearrested and threatened and beaten. But that just causes the church to grow. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

And so Satan decides on another strategy. He begins to create problems in the church. In this passage we see the problems in the church (v. 1), the church leadership principles used to solve the problems (vv. 2-6) and the God-glorifying result (v. 7).

Listen to the full sermon here:

Have you ever thought about the question: What would you do if you had the power of God? Supernatural, miracle-working power at your fingertips?

Maybe you’d try to impress people. You could show up at your date’s house without a car and just fly her around the city in your arms like Superman.

Men, that might earn some brownie points with your wife.

Or you could flick your finger and “bam” all the dishes are washed. Your wife really would believe a miracle had occurred.

If you had divine power, you could make your friends rich and your enemies charcoal.

Imagine someone mouths off to you, you could just zap them on the spot.

Someone pulls out in front of you on the road and you could just incinerate their car with fire and brimstone.

These are probably good reasons why God doesn’t give us this kind of miracle-wielding power.

But He did give Jesus this power.

In today’s passage we come to Christ’s final miracle of His earthly ministry in Mark’s gospel.

And we’re somewhat shocked. It looks more like the kind of selfish miracle we might perform with divine power.

Jesus uses His last miracle to zap a fig tree that didn’t give Him breakfast. His last miracle is His only destructive miracle.

Have you known someone who was not good at keeping a secret? I had a brother like this. He was terrible at keeping secrets. And on top of that, he was extremely curious.

He always wanted to know what you were getting the other brothers for Christmas or their birthday. And within a day of finding out, you knew he would tell them. Without fail.

If he found out you’d gotten in trouble at school, you knew you might as well turn yourself in. It wasn’t that he was a tattle tale; he just couldn’t keep a secret.

Maybe you’re like that. You hate trying to keep a secret. And it can be hard. Maybe you’ve given away a surprise birthday party. Or barely caught yourself. You might avoid that person for the next couple days because you have this news you can hardly contain, you feel like you’re gonna burst.

Well throughout Mark’s gospel, Jesus has been commanding people to keep His Messianic secret. He’ll heal someone or cast out a demon. And as soon as they start to confess Him as Messiah. He hushes them up-and charges them that they tell no one.

This seems a little curious. But why is He doing this? “His time had not yet come.”

Everything Jesus did, He intentionally did in the will and the timing of His Father.

I wonder are you like Christ in that area? Are you willing to wait on God’s timing? Or do you try to force things?

Are you able to be patient during a trial? Or do you demand a solution or a healing or at least an answer, right away?

It’s hard to wait for things in the 21^st century. We don’t just sit around on farms all day, like they used to. We don’t have to wait months for a letter to make it across country with the Pony Express. We have instant information at our fingertips. We go ballistic if our high speed internet isn’t operating at a high enough speed.

We’re not used to planning a couple days to get another town. We have cars, not horses. We expect to be there in a couple hours.

My brother Nathan travels to pastors’ conferences every Monday with Dr. Bob, the chancellor of Bob Jones University. They take his personal jet. So Nathan will go to Denver for a good day’s work and arrive home at supper time in SC.

It’s amazing how the speed of life has multiplied, literally exponentially in the last century.

Which means we have to work extra hard to cultivate patience and the ability to wait on the Lord.

The disciples couldn’t watch and pray in the Garden of Gethsemane all night. We’d have probably walked away after half an hour. We can’t wait that long-without a wi-fi signal.

But Jesus always said to the Father “Not My will, but Thine.” He waited on God’s timing. And now was the time. The Messianic secret was over.

Click here to watch the PowerPoint presentation to “Let the Children Come.”

You can also listen to the sermon as you watch.

Jesus is about to heal a blind man. Does this sound at all familiar? This is the second blind man healed. The first one was a couple chapters ago, in chapter eight, at Bethsaida.

You see the healings of these two blind men serve as bookends. And in between we have Jesus’ 3 major predictions of his death and resurrection and His teaching on the nature of true discipleship.

This section also has shown us over and over again how spiritually blind the disciples are. How they completely misunderstand the nature of Christ’s kingdom.

• They want to be first. But in Christ’s kingdom, they must be last.
• They want to be great, but they must become the least.
• They want to be important big shots, but they must become insignificant children.
• They want to live for themselves, but they must die to their selfishness.
• They want to be kings, but they must become servants.

So all these examples of spiritual blindness are bookended with two stories of men who were physically blind.

Man’s natural condition is spiritual blindness, just like the plight of poor Bartimaeus. And that’s discouraging.

But the wonderful thing is that no matter how blind we are, Jesus can open our eyes. He can give us the ability to see clearly-to see the world the way it really is.

This passage gives reasons why you should be encouraged to see.

One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex standing in the church lobby staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with names and small American flags mounted on either side of it.

The six-year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside him.

Alex asked, “Pastor, what is this?”

The pastor said, “Well son, it’s a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service.”

Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large plaque. Tears filled the boy’s eyes. Finally, little Alex’s voice, barely audible and trembling with fear, asked…

“Which service…the 8:00 or the 10:30?”

We use the word “service” refer to a lot of diff. things in the church.

• We call our missionaries are “servants of the Lord.”
• We call our pastors “ministers.” That word means “servants.”
• Deacon comes from a word in the Bible that means “servants.”
• Even lay people will say “Oh, I’m just serving the Lord.”

Maybe sometimes we wonder, “What’s the point of all this service?”

But this morning we’re going to see how our service to God relates to His service to us.

I want us to notice in these 14 verses how much language there is referring to the serving of a slave and the ruling of a King.

Look at the serving language:

v. 33- be delivered unto, condemn him to death, deliver him

v. 34 mock, scourge, spit upon, kill

This is what happens to slaves.

There are a couple veiled references that will look at in v. 38-”the cup” and “the baptism.” Again in v. 39-”the cup” and “the baptism.”

V. 43 “your minister” could be translated “your servant”

V. 44 “servant of all” could be translated “slave”

But also in this passage we see the ruling language of a king.

v. 37- Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory

Again in v. 40 “to sit on my right hand and on my left hand”

V. 42- rule over; exercise lordship over; great ones exercise authority upon

V. 43- great among you

V. 44- the chiefest

V. 45-be ministered unto

This passage is full of language referring to either the serving of a slave or the ruling of a King.

In Mark’s gospel we see Jesus playing two roles. He’s both the King, but He’s also a servant. That’s why I’ve called our series The King Who Serves. So far in Mark, we’ve seen Jesus as the King-casting out demons, healing the sick, feeding the multitudes, walking on water, raising the dead. All these are signs that He’s King of the Universe.

But in this morning’s passage we come to the theme verse of Mark’s gospel-ch. 10, v. 45. Here we see another theme-the theme of service.

We see that Jesus becomes like a slave. Jesus is this strange and unusual paradox. Jesus is a King who serves.

The year was 1987. Kirk starts out his biography with chapter one entitled “On Top of the World.”

He was 17 driving his convertible through Hollywood with the top down so girls could see who he was. When he stopped at a light he said “I’d glance over, flashing my famously crooked smile. I loved the double takes, the ear-piercing screams…

I was supposed to be the coolest kid on the planet…Teen mags plastered my mug on their covers…I received 10,000 letters per week, mostly from girls who wanted to meet me, touch me, marry me. I had a fan club that sent out a variety of keepsakes-photos, T-shirts, button, even a pillowcase with my picture just the right size for girls to kiss my fabric-y likeness as they drifted off to sleep. Wherever I went people catered to me.

I had everything the rest of the world craved-money, fame, fortune, any girls I wanted.

But something was missing. Halfway through the biography, Kirk says, “I was 17 and had already surpassed what most people hoped to achieve in a lifetime. The disturbing part was that it all felt very empty to me, like biting into a big chocolate Easter bunny: it looks great on the outside, then pop!-hollow on the inside… I felt like I would have traded it all for something else, but what the ‘else’ was, I had no idea. It was kind of depressing. I always thought being rich and famous would make me infinitely happy. But it didn’t…I began to lose my faith in atheism.”

Many of us think “if I were rich, I would be happy. My problems would be solved.” Or “if I could have my youth and health back, life would be so much better.”  We work like crazy to pursue the American dream. We buy gym memberships, make-up and Botox to look and feel younger. But does it work?

When we come to our text tonight, we get the feeling that we’ve witnessed this situation before. These verses seem full of similarities to a story we just heard:

• In v. 1, we find a hungry multitude.
• In v. 2, Jesus has compassion on the multitude.
• In v. 3, the disciples ask “How can we feed this multitude?”
• In v. 4, Jesus asks them for a food count.
• In vv. 6-7, we find that they have just a few loaves and fishes, but Jesus multiplies them to feed everyone.
• In v. 8, the disciples collect baskets full of leftovers.

And the first thing we think is: “Didn’t this just happen? This feels like déjà vu.”

They say that most of us have had a déjà vu experience.

The eerie feeling “I’ve done this before.” Or “I’ve met this person before.”

I read recently about several different types of déjà vu:

• Déjà boo: The eerie feeling that I’ve been frightened like this before.
• Déjà coup: The eerie feeling my government has been overthrown like this before.
• Déjà do: The eerie feeling my hairdresser has given me this cut before.
• Déjà moo: The eerie feeling I’ve drunk this milk before.
• Déjà stew: The eerie feeling this is made from the pot roast my wife served the week before.

But seriously, here in Mk. 8 we get this sense of déjà vu-the feeling that this just happened.

“Didn’t we just hear a message about Jesus feeding the multitude? Jesus cares and Jesus can?”

And the answer is: Yes, it was only 5 sermons ago at the end of Mark 6.

So we wonder: Then why do we have it all over again at the beginning of Mark 8?

Was Mark tired when he wrote this scroll?

Did he accidentally repeat the story?

Is this déjà vu?

Well, first of all, the Holy Spirit breathed out this gospel through Mark.

And God doesn’t make mistakes.

So Mark 8 is just as inspired as Mark 6.

And in spite of the fact that liberals call this a “doublet,” (They think it’s a repeat), this is not the same account as the feeding of the 5,000.

Though there are similarities, there are also differences:

• Like the fact that this time v. 9 says it’s 4,000 men.
• Instead of 5 loaves and 2 fish, now we have 7 loaves and a few small fish in v. 7.
• Instead of happening in one day. This happens over 3 days according to v. 2.
• Instead of the disciples coming to Jesus, now in v. 1, He comes to the disciples.
• Also very significantly, the first feeding was in Jewish territory, this is still in Gentile territory.

So there are many differences that prove these were two separate feedings not the least of which is v. 19, where Jesus asks His disciples, “Do you not remember…

Mark 8:19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.

Mark 8:20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.

Jesus distinguishes between the two miracles. Okay?

You are not experiencing déjà vu.

So then why does Jesus perform another feeding miracle?

The answer is that He is using these stories about feeding and bread, to teach us about unbelief.

You see, unbelief is not just a problem for the unsaved. It’s something Christians have to face.

In fact it’s at the heart of many of the problems we struggle with day to day.

Let me give you a few test questions:

• Have you ever wondered if you have enough?
• Have you ever questioned the Lord’s love to you?
• Have you ever thought “Why can’t God just give me a clear sign?”
• Have you ever worried about your circumstances?

Then you, like nearly every single person (even Christians), have battled unbelief.

And we can all identify with this, because whether intentionally or unintentionally, we’ve all probably tripped someone, or been tripped, or seen someone tripped.

Maybe it was at a restaurant.

One of the first Sundays I was working at a church in Denver, a family took me to a Mexican restaurant. And the waitress came out with a tray full of dishes. Well, as she came up to the table, she tripped and fell toward me dumping everything all over my suit.

I was a walking sampler platter. I could have gone around the restaurant and shown people everything on the menu.

There’s hardly anything worse than causing a little one to stumble.

In v. 42, Jesus says, “But whosoever shall offend (cause to stumble) one of these little ones.”

And by “little ones” again, He’s not limiting this to just children. We’ll see from the context, that He’s actually referring to Christians who must come to Him in child-like faith and humility.

This evening we’re going to see what warnings Jesus gives about offending or causing believers to stumble.

Last time we looked at Christ’s Transfiguration in Mark 9:2-13. Here you can see Raphael’s painting depicting that scene.

Raphael was a famous artist, maybe not quite as well-known as Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci– unless you grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Raphael actually died at the age of 37 before he could finish his work, but the idea he’d already communicated on the canvas made it a masterpiece.

Notice how well he uses light to show the splendor of the Transfiguration. But also the chaos in the valley below. As the nine other disciples fail miserably to cast a demon out of a boy. They’re helpless.

So Jesus leaves for a few hours and returns to a chaotic scene.

Some of you parents know what this is like. You leave your kids in a sparkling house or a freshly picked-up room and return a couple hours later to find what? Chaos. You know, apparently the Cat in the Hat left early.

The title of tonight’s message is “Help for Desperate Christians” because almost everyone in this chaotic scene is desperate.

It looked like something from the 60s with flowers and psychedelic colors. This is what it said: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” Jimi Hendrix.

Maybe that even sounds like good advice.

We’ve all seen the love of power.

Look at Wall Street or Washington.

We’ve seen relationships ruined and dictators spawned and wars fought for the love of power.

But we’ve also seen the power of love.

We’ve seen relationships mended and nations healed and battles ended because of the power of love.

So is Hendrix right?

Well as Christians, we know that humans are twisted and depraved. And though we have a great capacity for love (because we bear God’s image), we also have a great capacity for evil (because of the Fall).

The power of human love will not be enough to bring world peace.

It wasn’t even enough to bring Jimi personal peace. He died in his late 20s after overdosing on drugs.

What Jimi and many misunderstand is that they think “Love is God.”

When 1 John shows us they have it backwards. “No, God is love.”

And the God of love sent His Son in love to die for us.

And that’s what we’ve been studying– the life of Jesus Christ, in this good news, the Gospel according to Mark.

Jesus not only fulfills “the power of love” half of Hendrix’s statement.

But in this passage, Jesus is going to also address the “love of power.” Jesus answers the question “How can we be great in God’s eyes.”

Today in Mark 8, we will look at Christ’s unusual healing of a blind man (22-26). The account serves as a picture of the disciples’ confusion and inability to see who Jesus really is. Peter finally makes his famous confession in v. 29, but his spiritual vision is still so clouded Christ rebukes him four verses later.

My prayer this morning is that we will be able to see clearly who Jesus is (27-30), what He did (31-33) and what He asks of us (34-38).