In today’s sermon Pastor Babij teaches on the extraordinary act of love performed by Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, when she anointed Jesus with the fragrant nard in preparation for Jesus’ burial. Pastor Babij contrasts Mary’s public and extravagant display of love and devotion for Jesus against that of the Jewish leaders and Judas Iscariot. Pastor Babij exhorts Christians today toward Mary-like displays of devotion to Jesus and to not give Jesus “hand-me-downs” in service to Him.
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okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to the gospel of Mark chapter 14 and we’re going to be looking at verses 1- 11 Mark 14 veres 1-1 and right after I get done preaching we’re going to have three people getting baptized so you want to stay and witness uh their testim monies testimonies are always exciting to hear because then you know that God is working in people’s lives still uh even though you may be a Christian for a long time God’s still working uh and saving people and um so continue to pray for them as they prepare for that let’s pray father this morning as I come before you with the word of God I pray Lord that you would show us from the word of God today uh about how how we can examine ourselves that we may love you more that we may give ourselves more over to your service that we would think uh not so much of ourselves but of other people I pray Lord you would make us people like what we’re going to see in scripture and I pray Lord that we would be able to exemplify some of the characteristics that are found uh in this particular woman in scripture and I pray this this morning in Christ’s name amen amen okay we’ll be looking at this uh passage today and let me just bring you up to speed uh Mark chapter 14 is actually a transition chapter which really brings us into the third and last part of this gospel it also moves us uh further into the passion narrative uh the last phase of it actually part one of Mark was uh the coming and Ministry of the servant Jesus Christ that’s that was from chapter 1 to chapter 8 and then a continuation of the ministry of the servant Jesus Christ from chapter 8 to chapter 13 the last verse and then of course this last part of the passion week moves Us Rapid rapidly into the sufferings of Jesus Christ which is focuses our attention on the self- sacrifice of the servant which is coming after this but before we get there we see this particular uh event that happens right before uh Jesus actually gets arrested um according to each of the four written records Matthew Mark Luke and John Jesus repeatedly talked about being on a rescue mission even as his popularity began to worry the religious leaders of Israel he talked repeatedly about going to Jerusalem to die to suffer and die his followers found these predictions Unthinkable and so what day is it in the passion week in our text according to our text it’s still Tuesday of the passion week it’s been a long long Tuesday uh and of course it’s going now going to tell us what lies ahead in verse number one if you notice it says now the Passover and unleavened bread were two days away now that tells us something that tells us two days away would be uh of course from this day would be Thursday right so now it’s still late on Tuesday the actual Passover feast and the eating of the Passover land were to be celebrated by all the Jews so that means the uh Jews from all over the place are coming to Jerusalem uh and remember what they had to do is they had to take a one yearold unblemished male lamb or goat uh and ritually sacrifice it in the temple on the the afternoon of the 14th of Nissan which is really Thursday on the 14th of either March or April of our the way we name our months uh and of course eaten after sunset on the 15th of Nissan would be the Passover meal so the meals were to be eaten in family gatherings and in private homes I’ll look more about this uh day of uh the Passover next time I preach but today we want to look in our text uh today Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Passover but his plan goes far beyond just celebrating the fast Passover feast also the judicial and sacred ruling body of Israel is also PR present for the Passover and their plans as well includes much more than just the Passover celebration so in our passage this morning today there are really three responses to Jesus these are really uh put in contrast to one another and in the middle of the story there is also an extraordinary Act of Love towards Jesus and it’s interesting that this particular event happens the day before Jesus is going to be arrested so that means this brings us into Wednesday now Wednesday it seems is is a day of rest for the disciples and for Jesus so the First Act is an act of deceitful treachery from the high ruling body of Israel who showed themselves to be in the Inner Circle religiously but by their deeds denied any attachment to Jesus so here we can see the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel the high ruling class in Israel was called the Sanhedrin it was a body of 70 men uh and of course those men would be part of the chief priests uh the scribes um and other religious uh person religious persons that would be a part of that so that Sanhedrin they were present for the Passover activities which included plotting jesus’ death now notice verse number one it says now the Passover and unleavened bread were two days away and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize him by stealth and kill him so that means that the chief priests the scribes this High ruling class religious class in Israel who really had political clout too had a meet in order to plan how to deal with Jesus when he comes to the Passover feast so this meeting we know from other gospels took place in a private Hall the private Hall of Caiaphas the high priest and they met together in order to keep the plans secret uh and it was agreed upon in this body that Jesus must be killed there was no way around it at this point remember this is the end of jesus’ three-year Ministry uh they have been observing him watching him all along and they have concluded that he must be killed now in verse number one it says that there there’s a a ways and means for their plans to seize Jesus number one it would would be uh done in an underhanded manner the word there is by stealth all right as secret as possible as Shifty as it can be they were going to plot to get a hold of Jesus now that is really it means that it’s not going to be done in a straightforward honest open manner it’s going to be done in a very crafty manner also it’s not to be done on the festival day because the crowds admired Jesus and according to Jew the Jewish historian Josephus approximately 256,000 500 Lambs were slain during Passover and of course one lamb could represent 10 people which means that Jerusalem could have had up to 3 million pilgrims present for the Passover feast and of course there was an added attraction in Jerusalem Jesus was there and everybody knew it everybody wanted to know what was going on so who knew we we could never calculate how many people were actually in Jerusalem and around Jerusalem just to get a glimpse of Jesus and his disciples so the Sanhedrin of course feared the crowds response if they were to publicly arrest him and so and of course crucifixion and death were something that they haven’t really thought exactly how that was going to take place but surely it would cause a riot so they decided not to do it publicly but very privately and if you notice in verse number two it says for they were saying not during the festival otherwise there might be a riot of the people so they had to be as sneaky and slow lie as possible and they were good at it they were very good at it it’s funny how religious people are good at those kind of things and uh I don’t like to consider myself religious because you learn how to get around things that you probably shouldn’t get around and so that is the first act against Jesus they want to kill him but in the middle of the the person that’s going to come last is this woman woman there’s a second act uh of generosity from a woman among the outside crowd who showed that she was really an Insider and was really a follower of Jesus Christ and I notice in verse number three it says while he was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper and reclining at the table there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard and she broke the vial and poured it over his head now this this is what is what is happening here most likely Jesus and his disciples are uh taking Wednesday as a time of refreshment eating relaxing fellowshipping and it says right in scripture they were in the house of Simon the leper now we don’t really know anything about this particular particular uh person but obviously Simon was healed by Jesus of leprosy or they would not have been meeting at his home fellowshipping and especially eating together they wouldn’t be doing that at all so that’s what they were doing Bethany was a village about two miles from Jerusalem on the east side of the Mount of Olives and so if you notice in our reading what happens this woman takes this uh container of uh very costly perfume uh and she pours breaks it in and then pours it over his head now this was a vial made of really semi-transparent Stone which was so arranged that a seal it was sealed up at the neck and of the vial and had to be broken to get at its contents now all the contents had to be used once it was broken because you couldn’t you couldn’t seal it back up again the ointment was from the nard plant uh actually it grows in India it was a Indian herb uh and it it was kind of a a leafy thing that they squeezed out the the particular stuff and they it very costly very expensive and it was was it was like oily but it would not leave an oil an oily stain but it did leave a very lovely odor similar really to our Modern Day perfumes they say that it evap evaporated very quickly now Mark doesn’t name this woman the Gospel of John and Luke point this woman to be Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha where it tells us in in John uh if you if you care to turn there it’s John 12 verse1 1 through3 again the same exact situation where Jesus is uh there now relaxing and it says in John 12:1 Jesus therefore six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised from the dead so they made him a supper there and Martha was serving but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him in verse number three of John 12 it says Mary took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of perfume now that’s who John identifies as uh Mary now some people say that possibly Mary Mary could be the Mary of Luke 7 where um she was the Mary who was one time at Harlot because a same a different situation but uh the same kind of thing happened when uh some Pharisees were Jesus was visiting in that the home of uh Pharisees and this woman came in and she did the same thing she took an alabaster vial of perfume she broke it and she poured on his feet and she was crying and then the Pharisees said now who had been invited if this man were a prophet he would know who or what sort of person this woman is who is touching him she is a sinner and of course Jesus gives this story about saying listen whoever sins the greatest uh or who sins least than someone who would sin greater than them who would love more and the disciple says well the person who sinned more would love more if they realized they were going to be forgiven and he says that’s right that’s the that’s that’s what uh that’s a correct answer and so the Bible goes on to say that uh you didn’t Jesus says to them you didn’t anoint my head with oil but she anointed my feet with perfume for this reason I say to you her sins which are many have been forgiven for she loved much but he he who is Forgiven little loves little so then he said to her your sins have been forgiven now if Mary we’re not we can’t be sure about that if Mary is the Harlot of Luke 7 it would explain where she obtained such an expensive container of perfume it would be from her lucrative past sinful life style however I think that is unlikely instead some have suggested which I think is the correct suggestion that this woman women actually in general were by and large excluded from careers that afforded the possibility of earning such wages or procuring objects of such value the nard most likely was very probably a family heirloom in which case it was it possessed a sentimental value in addition to a monetary value so see Mark in Mark she freely spent her money in order to honor Jesus see she poured the expensive ointment over jesus’ head John says that she also anointed jesus’ feet and then wiped the excess with her hair now that’s what happened now there’s respon respons to that and here is the first response to that particular action that this woman performed to Jesus now notice in verse four and five some of course responded to this act of generosity totally with indignation it says in verse number four but some were indignantly remarking to one another why has this perfume been wasted for this perfume might have been sold for over 300 daer daeri and the money given to the plor right well a noble observation now for your information the Daenerys was a normal days wage in Palestine now if you do the math it says uh in Scripture that uh it was sold for over 300 daeri all right that that means that uh it was equivalent to one year’s wages now just imagine yourself um that’s a lot of Moola in other words imagine spending a whole Year’s wage on one bottle of perfume and then using it up in a moment now you would you and I would think you know what that seems like a waste right and so it says here that some were indignantly marking to remarking to one another now Mark again does not give us the name of the person not right here who has instigated this incident see the some to make these marks against these remarks against this woman the reason why is because the focus of our text is to be on the generous Act of the woman towards Jesus in other words Mark is actually using what they call a Kay a Kay asmis structure in here uh that there’s a story and then there’s another one in the middle and then there’s another one at the end and the one in the middle is where everything is focusing on so this is the one in the middle the one with the woman so that’s the center of the literary unit and it builds towards a climax now we know from the Gospel of John that it was Judas who instigated the others it tells us in John but Judas one of his disciples who was intending to betray him said why was this perfume not sold for 300 dinari and given to the poor people so Judas Uncorked his vial of Poison by spreading the odor of indignation which spilled over onto the other disciples and Judas got the others to see it his way concerning this act he got to get them to see that this is excess this is a terrible waste of Financial Resources it could have been sold for a large amount of money and it could have been used to relieve many poor people a multitude of poor people so you could almost he the other disciples say yeah you’re right that woman her foolish wasteful act so Judas with the others began snorting at her actually the very word here uh in the Greek means to flare the nostrils with anger that they looked uh the disciples looked at her and they were persuaded uh that she was wrong in the wrong and began to treat her in a harsh way at the end of verse number five it says and they were scolding her that’s how it’s translated here they were scolding her see they demeaned the woman and her gift Judas had managed to hide his evil motive by covering it with generosity see Judas already made his decision about Jesus so he sees no value at all in Mary’s action towards honoring Jesus Jud Judas voices his view of what should have been done uh by expressing his charitable desire to supply the poor so God John’s gospel again exposes the evil character of Judas and what he really loved by recording this it says now he said now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief and as he had the money box he used to piler what was put into it in other words Judas was motivated partly by money he had he he was a thief he stealed that’s what he loved he loved that more than he loved Jesus all right so that is the First Response well we have another response in scripture and that’s the response of the Lord Jesus Christ himself in verse 6 through n of chap Mark chapter 14 Jesus responds to this act of generosity toward him with acceptance and also praise so now he looks at it in a completely different way so Jesus actually defends the woman and puts those speaking against her in in their place and to honor Jesus in this extravagant way was not a wayte not at all verse number six says but Jesus said let her alone why do you bother her she has done a good deed to me see she has done a good deed to me so let’s stop for a minute and and really examine the kind of deed she had done publicly to Jesus there are there’s there’s five observations about this extraordinary Act of love that I think that we can learn from I think the first thing is when it you and I in relationship to Jesus and her in relationship to Jesus apart from anyone else who was looking on her love to Jesus had an extravagance connected to her to her her act that it says there in verse number three that she took this uh costly perfume that she was saving and she broke the vial and poured it over her his head that she performed an act of worshipful sacrificial extravagant love toward Jesus and according to scripture anointing the head was a royal Act both for kings and high Priests of Jesus of of which Jesus was both and they were anointed for their office in that way where the oil was poured upon their head and act actually our new president quoted from Psalm saying that it’s beautiful when God’s people dwell together in unity right remember that if you listen to his uh speech on inauguration day and of course that’s from the passage where it says when the oil is poured over the head of the high priest and it drips down towards him that’s where it says it is good to see uh when God’s people dwell together in unity it’s a picture of unity also so see her act she wanted everyone to know the inestimable value she placed on Jesus which no one else did not even the disciples did the ruling class of of course wants to kill him Judas loved money didn’t love Christ and here is This Woman This unnamed woman that Mark wants to keep unnamed she now treats Jesus with such incredible value that everything else seems to pale and just kind of go into the background now in my reading I came across an interesting question in a story the question was this have you in your life as a follower of King Jesus ever made a sacrifice of extrav in love towards him and did it in a public way now however that would look that could be many things could happen but have you ever done that I thought that was a real good question that’s a question for us today the story was this it was it was a story about a couch that a man related at a time when he served in a church where the student building was filled with oldw and ratty couches sweet folks in the church had brought new couches for their home actually for their homes and and so they donated their old worn couches to the church and in the process got a tax break and felt good that they had done something Noble but had they really see the man confessed that he was one of the it was one of his couches that ended up in the youth center and had been given by him and he thought to himself my couch was no longer worthy of being in my house but it was good enough for Jesus see the moral of the story would be sadly we are good at giving Jesus our left leftovers and our handry downs we fall wul short of Acts of worshipful sacrificial and extravagant love to Jesus why is that I asked myself well maybe it’s because we enjoy a comfortable convenient kind of moderate Christianity let’s keep things even let’s not get too excited about things we don’t want to be labeled as some kind of fanatic or someone who is really out there on the limb loving Jesus Christ and always talking about Jesus Christ and always bringing him up in every conversation and always talking about the Bible and now we wouldn’t want to do that amen how can that change in relation to the time that we give the Lord the service that we give the Lord the use of our talents and our spiritual gifts that we give the Lord it has to change in other words remember this particular narrative is right before two days before Jesus dis displays to the world the greatest demonstration of Love towards sinful Humanity she is expressing her extravagant love towards someone who has been extremely good and kind to her and she is giving that back to him but she’s also expressing her gratitude for being forgiven of her sins of being able to have a relationship with Jesus so the first observation I think is something we need to consider have we will we ever have an act of extravagant love that we act Just for Jesus publicly towards someone else I pray that we’re guilty of that someday I really I really do because you know what that’s what it’s all about you want to have victory over your sin love Jesus you want to love people more love Jesus you want to have a better marriage love Jesus Christ you want to be influential in your family and Society love Christ you will be you will be because there’s a there’s a that is a kind of love that you’ll find nowhere else except in a disciples relationship with Jesus Christ you’ll find it nowhere else on this side of Eternity and so who’s going to express those kind of actions except his disciples a second observation about her love is this in verse 6 and seven her love to Jesus had an Excellence connected to it if you notice what it says in verse six but Jesus said let her alone why do you bother her she has done a good deed to me actually that word good is actually a word that means beautiful or Noble or praiseworthy what an unexpected and exemplary Act of sacrificial generosity an act that superseded anything that was reported among any of jesus’ disciples at any time in his ministry of his inner circle and of course Jesus adds in verse number seven for you always have the poor with you you whenever you wish you can do good to them but you do not always have me of course that was a rebuke right against Judas and against his disciples because his disciples are on judas’s side right now they’re not on jesus’ side and so he is rebuking them by saying that that jesus’ close disciples did not realize that Jesus would be with them for only a short period of time and the disciples would have many opportunities for Ministry to the poor but will have very few opportunities left for doing anything special for their lord see give to the poor but first Worship the Lord It’s always first the Lord and then do something so see there’s an Excellence about her love that cannot go unnoticed that she definitely put Christ first there’s a third observation in verse number eight her love to Jesus had an extraordinary impulse connected to it notice what it says in verse number eight she has done what she could that’s an incredible statement In this passage she has done what she could she has anointed my body beforehand for the burial so see what the woman was able to do she did can we say that about ourselves are you doing what you’re able to do all right if we if if we if we don’t then we’re we’re really kind of fooling ourselves as Christians see she sensed this once in a lifetime opportunity to do something you know we don’t have many lives do we we have one life we have one shot to live right that’s it matter of fact we only have one shot to die too so if you’re going to die do well die well but if you’re going to die well then you have to live well right all right so the things is that we have one shot one shot at this once you become Believers and you begin to understand this from scripture you have one shot to have an extraordinary impulse connected to the love that you have for Jesus and she sees that one impulse see Mary was ready she saw she she embraced the opportunity and she went to the limit of her ability because she loved Christ she gave the Lord her very best that’s what she did now if the Secret Service knocked on your door and said to you the president of the United States will dine with you in your home the same time next week what would you do now chances are you would not serve the president last night’s Leftovers on paper plates all right neither would you order out for fast food rather you would pull out all the stops you would want everything to be cleaned everything to be put in order you would make an effort to find find out what the president liked to eat and you would put out your best China so on and so forth right in other words you would give it your best shot you would be able to you would do as as much as you could do to make that night a very memorable night that’s what you do now as you consider your life of Faith are you you giving Christ your very best if you sat down and asked yourself am I living my life for Christ my very best and you are completely honest with yourself what would the answer be what would the answer be now you would have to check your words that you say you would have to check your attitude you would have to check your your actually your checkbook to see what you’re spending your money on right because you can tell a lot about somebody by looking at what they spend their money on how much they spend it on right you can have to check on how much time you do doing what you do right where do I spend my time how much time do I give to the Lord to the church to the ministry to service to using my spiritual gifts and then you would have to after honestly evaluating yourself yourself answer listen am I giving my very best to Jesus because you know what this woman did and she’s our example there is a fourth observation and that her love to Jesus had an insightful understanding connected to it look at verse number seven uh well not number seven it says that at the end of the verse it says but you do not always have me remember and then in verse number eight it says and she has done this what she could she has anointed my body beforeand for burial so this means that this woman has been listening to Jesus she’s been logging in his messages she’s been paying attention to the word of God she believed Jesus isn’t that no therefore she was spiritually awake the woman understood from Jesus messages that Jesus had a short time left and he was going going to be treated wrongly and suffer he was going to be killed so she prepared his body in advance for burial Matthew chap 26 and John CH 12 gives us the sense that she kept this expensive ointment for the time of jesus’ in tunen that Jesus over and over again announced his death and crucifixion chapter 8 chapter 9 chapter 10 all through his three-year Ministry what he’s been telling his disciples is listen I’m going to Jerusalem I’m going to suffer I’m going to be crucified I’m going to die and I’m going to rise on the third day that’s what he kept telling you but they didn’t believe them they weren’t ready for that but this woman developed a love for Christ and an understanding about what he was going to do that no one else did that this woman believed jesus’ word words and prepared cared for the inevitable what was the inevitable he was going to go and die so what did she do in her worshipful act and sacrificial and extravagant act towards him she takes this expensive perfume and pours it on him and anoints his body making it ready for burial that’s what she does there’s this there’s a fifth observation and an unexpected one from actually from her vantage point that This Woman’s act of worship an extravagant love to Jesus had an unexpected result to it look at verse number nine in other words listen to this listen whatever one does for Jesus will not be forgotten by Jesus whatever you do for Jesus will not be forgot gotten by him now look what it says in verse number nine it says truly I say to you wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be spoken in memory of her see Jesus Praises her for her act and Good Deed toward him in fact what you have done to me will be well known to the world in that it is mentioned alongside the worldwide preaching of the Gospel I’m doing it this morning I’m doing it this morning this woman is being put on a in a place of Honor by Jesus and I’m doing it right here before you just like the scriptures said see he blessed her blessed memory kept alive and will never be forgotten and then also her sweet odor of her perfume has literally filled the world because this is how you want to act this is the kind of disciple that you want to be this kind the kind that sits at jesus’ feet listens to his word follows him and loves him and now through her act communicates the gospel to everyone that would ever hear it see so her deed is connected to the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that’s how people get saved so she gave up she she gave uh up a memorable she gives us a memorable example on how to act toward Jesus with our once in a lifetime opportunity that we have so this woman is held up in contrast to the self righteous religious leaders and also to the treacherous actions the traitorous actions of Judas and he’s the last one mentioned here just shortly here’s the last act in our passage it is the act it’s an act of betrayal from a man in the inside crowd who showed himself to actually be on the outside crowd all right so what is what happens here is that this the smell of sweet perfume changes into the toxic fumes of Deceit and betrayal verse number 10 it says then Judas es scariot who was one of the 12 went off to the chief priest in order to betray him to them now what’s interesting here is that it was not the ch priests and the scribes and the religious body that actually figured out how to get to Jesus it was one of jesus’ own disciples that betrayed him and the Betrayal is is the highest betrayal ever in fact one of the definitions of Judas in the the Webster college dictionary reads like this traitor especially one who betrays under the guise of friendship now Luke I mean Mark doesn’t mention it or yes it does mention it that he’s going to pray beay uh betray Jesus with a what a kiss in fact after coming it says Judas immediately went to him saying Rabbi verse 44 and 45 of chapter 14 and he kissed him that was the signal to the high priest and to the scribes that he’s the one take him so see Judas was not listening to Jesus he was not he was listening to the voice of his own greed in traitorous heart which really leaned toward siding with the religious establishment Judas willfully purposed and planned uh his own handing Jesus over to these bloodthirsty religious hypocrites by giving away his private movements and the locations of where Jesus is going to be so see the Sanhedrin was overjoyed by The Proposal of Judas it says in verse 11 and they were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money and he began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time he would find that opportune time but what did he love the most he loved the money see this they they really surely thought finally one of jesus’ close disciples sees what we see and is willing to put a stop to this madman who is moving the whole nation away from our control that’s how they thought of Jesus Judas handed him over yes this man who was numbered with the well destined to an Apostolic Throne became an an emissary of Satan for it tells us in Luke and Satan entered into Judas who was called scariot being long belonging to the number of the 12 so his covetousness 30 pieces of silver that’s the price of a slave it came nowhere near what it cost that woman to give up that costly perfume she understood the value of Jesus Judas did not and he spent his whole Ministry with Jesus and yet he did not get it his selfishness his ambition his jealousy equaled betrayal so the results will be his cursed memory will be kept alive everybody knows about Judas matter of fact you do not name people Judas you name dogs Judas you name snakes Judas but you don’t name people Judas and at least you better not I’m sure people have but I’m sure if they’ve done that I’m was wondering from what context they did that probably being ignorant of what the Bible says about them but nonetheless most people know Judas is someone you don’t want to be like but you know what I think I thought about that for a moment how much are we like the woman and how much would we we would be like Judas how much do we actually betray Jesus by how we live our lives I think that’s that’s a good good actually observation to have in this context for this is what listen what it says in in Matthew about Judas it says then when Judas who had betrayed him saw that he had con had been condemned he felt remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and Elders saying I have sinned by betraying innocent blood and they says what is that to us see that to yourself and then it says and he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed and when he went away he hanged himself he committed suicide so one action toward Jesus will tell if you love him or not the only worthy action is imitating this woman with an act of extraordinary love that’s the only act that’s the only one that Jesus honors that’s the only one that Jesus prais so you got to you got to look at the text and say well where do I fit in all that am I a real genuine follower of Jesus where uh it shows every day that I’m growing in the love of Jesus Christ or am I more on the side of betraying Jesus by the way I live and by the double life I’ve had and by the thoughts that I like to think about in my mind and by where I spend my money and where I spend my time and all those things will show where you’re at see if we have disciples like this everything will get done I just pray that you would be one and I would be one and that we can exemplify the character of this woman and we can by our life preach the gospel to those who need it by the way we live and talk and by what we say and do and where we go and how we spend our money and in the the end we will be glad about it because we will have taken the one chance that we have and used it in the right way so we will not only live right we will end up dying right and that’s the only way to live your life and all God’s people said what amen okay the people that are being baptized you can be dismissed to the back let me have a word of prayer and then um we’ll sing some songs that they will prepare and then I want you to just take a witness these baptisms I pray that if you don’t know Christ that you may come to know him and that someday you walk in the waters of baptism also so let’s have a word of prayer Lord this morning I do thank you for your great grace to us Lord anytime we come to a passage of scripture like this we are convicted in our heart we realize Lord that we spend too much time and too much effort in places that we should not so I pray Lord that you would every day set us apart to and sanctify us put on our mind every day that we would put oursel up against the example of this woman and that Lord we can become more like her for we know Lord that that is what you’re pleased with that is what honors you that is what giv gives opportunities for more gospel witness and I pray Lord Jesus when we fail show us that we fail and when we’ve sinned and betrayed you Lord I pray that we would quickly come to you in Repentance and we would ask your for forgiveness and you would use that moment in a way that we would develop a hatred towards even being like that anymore so I pray Lord the observations of her love would be observations that are growing in our own lives and Lord please do that so your name could be praised and so the gospel can continue to go out and your work and service would be done by your disciples and I pray this this morning in your name amen am