 All right, welcome back. Let's pick up from where we stop. The next one is the arm of the Lord revealed. Isaiah 53 in verse 1. Who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Now, what a way to, you know, just point to the crucifixion and on the cross, Isaiah is referring to a prophetic message which he is about to deliver about the cross. Now, people will find it hard to believe yet this message will show and reveal the arm of the Lord or, you know, the power of God. So that verse says who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed, meaning to whom is the power of God being revealed to? Paul writes, right, he says in Romans 1 16, he says the gospel is the power of God. And first Corinthians, he says that the cross is both the wisdom and the power of God. So we talked about this last semester as well. The arm of the Lord, the power of God, the power of the gospel to whom is it revealed to everyone, but for some of them, they will not believe it. For some of them, it is foolishness, right? Romans 10 16, but they have not obeyed, not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? The report here is the gospel that is being preached. Right. So here's the wonderful part. The arm of the Lord, you know, in many places in the Old Testament says the arm of the Lord is not too short to to heal. The arm of the Lord is not short to deliver, to redeem. So whenever it's described, the arm of the Lord, it only describes the power of God. Right. So, for example, it's, you know, we say a person who has gone away from God, saying, you know, doing all the wrong things, living a sinful life. You know, in in this biblical language, we can say, hey, the arm of the Lord is not too short to heal this person. Right. So it only talks about the power of God. There's a verse here. But Kings, OK, Nina is asking, Kings will stand in amazement. That is to happen. OK, so Nina, to answer your question. In the Old Testament, we were right now, we don't have Kings. So Kings now means leaders, people in high positions and people in probably in government rule and higher positions. So it's not only talking about now. It's it's it's called a prefiguring, right? So it's it's both for now and for later, right? It's a prophetic prefiguring. So it's talking about now, even now, people will stand in amazement of Jesus. If they don't stand now, later, they will have to stand in amazement of Jesus. So, yes, it's it's happening now. It's not happening now. Of course, we know many people in high positions who believe in Jesus, believe in the cross, believe in what he has done. But there's also many of them who don't believe, right? So every king, meaning every ruler, every person in high positions will stand in amazement. Now, this amazement or the word amazement can be in awe and wonder. Or it can also be in fear and trembling. Right? So it's it's a picture of both, right? You and I can when we look at the Lord Jesus, there's going to be awe and wonder and love and beauty when we just, you know, worship him for who he is, revelations, four and five, talking about after the rapture. Right? We will we will see him as he is. Paul also says that, right? We will see the Lord in the rapture, he'll come on the cross. We will see him as he is. Now, when we see him, it's not like we're going to be fearful. Oh, Jesus, let me go to the back instead. No, we'll be in a hurry to see Jesus. Why? Because it's a joy and it's an honor to watch him. But what about people who didn't believe, people who don't believe? It's not going to be a joy and honor. It's going to be fear and trembling. So the word amazement can encompass both these aspects. Nina, I hope that answers your question. Yes, it means rulers now and later as well. Yes, yes. Right. OK, as a tender plant, a root out of dry ground, Isaiah 53 verse 2, we read this already. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Right. Look at this. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. As the Lord Jesus is growing up, he was not saying, Hey, I'm the Messiah. This is what I am. This is what I can do. It's nowhere is it mentioned. Right. He grew up as a tender plant under watchful care. Right. And I always wonder, right. Imagine if Jesus's parents said, OK, anyway, you're a messiah. No, you're the king and you're the God. So you look after yourself. It never happened, right. They had to look after the child and as the child was growing up, they had to feed him and teach him and the Lord Jesus himself being God. He had to learn the Bible says he grew in wisdom. It's not like he was there. And suddenly when his 20 years old full wisdom came upon him. No, right. From the time he was eight, we see that he was going to the temple. There was that one account, but probably after that, he went many times and he spent time in God's word. He spent time in the scriptures and he began to he knew that, you know, this is me, this is this is what God has called me for the father's purposes here, but he grew up as a tender shoot, even knowing his status, even knowing who he was, grew up as a tender shoot, right. As a tender plant referring to God's hand of nurture and protection over the messiah's childhood, right. A root out of dry ground, meaning coming out of difficult times was the Lord Jesus under one rich family. Now, his whole birth itself was a difficult time, right. Mary is pregnant. They're going searching for a place. Firstly, they're running away, right. So it's not like they can relax wherever they want. They needed to get out of that place quickly, right. And then they go into Bethlehem. Bethlehem, there's no place. And imagine Joseph and Mary, what is happening? Right. What do I do? That's so many questions, so many thoughts may be going into their mind. And it was a difficult season, right. But we see that a root out of dry ground, meaning coming out of difficult times. So you and I are going through difficult times. It doesn't mean that, you know, God does not love us. And we know that, right. We know that God loves us, but God lets us go through these seasons, right. I'm not saying I love the difficult times to be there. Be only in difficult times, only then we will learn. No, right. There are seasons that God takes us through. We look at Ecclesiastes 3 and you see, right. God works and sees there's a season to grow. There's a season to harvest. There's a season for crying, laughing, season for everything, right. And here's the verse I was talking to you about. When we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. Now, when Jesus, you know, he knew he's the Messiah. He didn't wear a kingly robe and wear those, you know, what the high priests wear, all those 12 tribes and all those things. And then, you know, wear some wonderful sandals and look fully decked up. Oh, he was very simple. Just walking around doing, wearing the clothes that if he was, Jesus was there and this time he would have worn a jeans on shoes and T-shirt. That time it was a tunic in that long robe, so he would have worn that. He came out without any show or pomp. He came with simplicity. Here was the almighty God coming as man and he could have come with such greatness. He could have come like lightning in the sky and just come down and an angel could have come and said, this is the Messiah and placed the Messiah on the ground and said, you both look after this baby. There's a Messiah. Did God do that? There was it like, you know, the whole of Israel was looking up into the clouds. Oh, man, there's a white horse that is coming. And then that horse says, it looks like the, you know, the king is holding a baby or the angels are holding a baby and that's going to be the Messiah. And they all came ready to bow down before him. No. He was in a cow's stable. Right. There was no pomp. There was no show at all. Yet he came with some simplicity. There was nothing attractive about him. And because of this, the Jews would stumble. Wherever Jesus said, I'm the Messiah, you are. You're the Messiah. You're the carpenter's son. You look at you, how you are. You are wearing this clothes like this. You know, you don't look like a Messiah. The point is Jesus came in such simplicity that the Jews, it was a stumbling block. Now the Pharisees, the Sadducees would have said, Oh, I look better than you. Look at me. I've worn the robe because the high priest, they have certain clothes. There's a way to portray yourself. You can't be walking around like this. Right. So they stumbled at it. His own brother said, you know, I grew up with brothers in my house. I know how it is. His brothers would have said, What's wrong with this guy? It's going on and on saying, you know, I'm the Messiah going on, reading the scriptures. What is he doing? Right. In one verse, they say, you go, show yourself. You're saying, no, you're a Messiah. You go. Don't be here. Don't be keep getting us at home. There's no use. Go tell people outside that you're the Messiah before the Feast of the Tabernacles. They say, go. His own brother said, Oh, he's a little off. Because there was nothing in him, nothing to when we look at him, there was nothing great in him. Right. It's just a simple man. Till 30 years old, he was probably cutting that wood, carrying wood to places, doing that wood business. Right. And in the book of Mark, it says, Hey, we know you here. You're saying, Messiah, we know you. We've seen you walking around here. We've seen you, you know, with your brother. And your sisters and all of that. We know your mother. You can't be the Messiah. Why? It's too simple. But he was the Messiah. Right. This caused the Jews to stumble because in their mind, even now, when you talk to Jews, you ask them about the Messiah. Right. If you if you talk to a true Jewish person now, when we see a lot of Jews, you know, they are like all modern Jews. Right. When you talk to, if you go to Israel, you catch one of those Pharisees or those you'll find them around there. They'll be wearing the full robe. And you know, they'll also have those you know, everything, the precious stones, everything. They'll have the scriptures always, you know, that they would have tied a tunic here and they would have put the scriptures there always to you. You ask them. What do you think about the Messiah? You know what they'll say? I believe the Messiah is going to come on the clouds. And when he comes on the clouds, there'll be such greatness. He'll come with the angels and the host of angels. They will come and he will come to Jerusalem and he will stay in Jerusalem. And they're still waiting for it. Now here, Jesus has come, the Messiah has come, done everything, did everything. The cross is finished. He's resurrected, gone back to him. They are still waiting for the first coming. We are waiting for the second coming. Now you see the picture here. Why they're waiting for this? You talk to them about, hey, but Jesus came. No, he died on the... No, no, no. He's a prophet. He's a prophet. How can a Messiah, how can the Messiah die on the cross? But you go to Isaiah 53. You tell them, they will not talk about Isaiah 53. 52, 53, 54, they will not talk about it. No, that is somebody else they'll say. Because they're not able to accept the fact that Jesus, being a carpenter's son, came in such humanity, died on the cross, a murderer, like a criminal he died. So for the Jews, it is, don't tell me this, it cannot be. We are still waiting for him to come on the clouds. We are still waiting for him to come in great glory. And when he comes, we'll know he's a Messiah. They talk to any Jew now, they will say that. I'm talking about really Jews who really believe in the Old Testament. They're following the law, all of that. Right? Why? Because it was too much for them to accept the fact, but it's already done. Of course, God through the Holy Spirit has, you know, touched many lives. Many Jews have accepted Jesus as their personal savior. And it's wonderful, right? Look at the Apostle Paul himself, right? Well, trained under Gameliel, he knew everything about the law. Who is this Jesus guy? Saying Christianity and Christians and all of it doesn't make sense to me. Let's wipe out that religion. And he had the encounter, right? So it was too much. And even now, it's too much for people to understand. Because he was so tender, he was so simple, no pomp, no show. And that was a fulfillment of prophecy. John 1.45 and 46. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him who Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. See what Nathaniel says. And Nathaniel said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nazareth, though. No, it's like saying, you know, Philip was fully excited. Hey, we found the Messiah, right? And he's coming to Nathaniel and Nathaniel says, Nazareth. Why Nazareth out of all the places? Nothing is good in Nazareth. But Philip says, come and see, right? So the Philippians 2.5 through 9, I love this verse. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a born servant, coming in the likeness of man, being found in the appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore, God also has exalted him and given him the name, which is above every other name. Here you and I are challenged to be like Jesus, right? God gives us gifts, God gives us talents, God gives us abilities, but we are never to use them in a way saying that I know everything. It's wonderful that God gives us all of this. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being God did not consider it equal, robbery to be equal with God. Sometimes we consider, when people say, hey, we'll not give you this opportunity now, or we'll give it to you next time, we get angry, we get upset. We don't have to do that. Why? Because we look at what Jesus did. He made himself of no reputation, right? Could Jesus have said, of course, he did these powerful miracles and raising the dead, opening blind eyes, lepers being healed. He did all these wonderful miracles. But nowhere do we see him boasting about those miracles. And you see him boasting, and here's another wonderful thing. I was reading the Gospel, suddenly it struck me. Jesus does not ponder on everything that was done before. He's always looking ahead. He doesn't say, hey, I raised up Lazarus, I opened his blind eyes, then I met this person, I met this person. It was all about doing more, looking forward. That's the mind that you and I should have. Yes, God gives us victories. We look back, we thank God for the opportunities. There are times we have done well, there are times we may have failed, and we have learned from those mistakes. Yes, we look back, but we always press on forward, right? Remember what the Apostle Paul says? I press on to see what God has in store for me, right? So always remember, stay humble, right? Stay humble, especially when you get opportunities to immediately be on the stage. Stay humble, because it's very easy for pride to come in, very easy. Now I'm saying this because I had to keep a check on my life, right? So at a very young age, I got opportunities. Go, go, Paul, you lead worship. Go, Paul, you preach, right? That's a young age. Go, Paul, you do this. Go, you do this. And so I got all these opportunities, and sometimes pride can creep in, right? But here, always go back to this. God, the Lord Jesus, being God Himself, came down, and He made Himself of no reputation. He even chose to be born in such a humble way. He chose to be born out of a carpenter's son. He chose to do the menial work. He chose simple fishermen and tax collectors, simple people. And with that humility, He did great things. Right? And that's a lesson for us. It's wonderful when God gives us opportunities, but always are, you know, yesterday we were praying in our evening prayer. Everything that we do should be out of that intimacy with God. We were praying for revival, refreshing. Why? Because at times we are doing the same thing again and again and again. It becomes a routine. But when the rain of His presence comes, there's a revival. There's all that dryness goes away, right? So it's wonderful, right? I'm not saying don't do what you're doing. You're writing songs, coming up with songs. Wonderful. Keep a check on your heart. Keep a check on your heart, because that's just very, very important. Because the moment you see pride coming in, when you see, hey, I can do it, you know, or I can do it without anybody's help, I'll do it on my own. Keep a check on that, right? Keep your heart humble, stay grounded. And one of the things that we as a team always do is, we always focus on, you know, when we're leading worship preaching, it's ministry unto the Lord, right? Of course, we have people, we are ministering to people, but the true ministry happens out of that intimacy. So ministry out of the Lord, right? That is coming out, right? So especially, you know, in times of, you know, if you're rostered to lead worship, I say this many times and I always talk to worship leaders and I tell them, right? It's very easy to lead for one hour. Yes, right? Very easy. Choose one, five songs. In between, say, Hallelujah, Hosanna. It'll finish, right? And nobody will know. Oh, he's a nice worship. But God knows. God knows how much time we have spent in His presence and sometimes it will, that intimacy with God will reflect outside. People will be blessed. People will, it's like a fire that will spread, no? It's an anointing. That's when people are truly blessed. Sometimes people are, you know, they just enjoy the music. Hey, this is a wrong chord that is, that means they've enjoyed the music. But it's about, you know, blessing, being the ministry should be a blessing to people. That should be our motive, right? So as you guys write songs, even those online students, as you write songs or preparing messages, preparing sermons, God gives you opportunities to reach out, be willing to do even the menial tasks. Especially when you grow up the ladder, no? It's very hard to do menial tasks. But what did Jesus do? In the prime of His ministry, crime, everyone would think, hey, Jesus is wonderful. He's thousands of people following Him. In the prime of His ministry, He made His disciples sit and He washed everyone's feet. And He said, if you want to be a leader, you first choose to be a servant. Right? So walking in humility, there's power in that. Sometimes we feel, oh, so, you know, everyone are getting opportunity because I'm walking humbly. No opportunity for me. No, there is power in humility. God will know how to open the right door for you. Right? So when you and I are doing our ministry, let's do it in humility, right? Don't take offenses. Don't, you know, everyone should recognize me. Everyone should applaud me. Leave all that to God. Right? It's nice. We feel nice. You know, when people say, hey, good job, you've done well, it's nice. But one of the things that we as a leader always says, don't accept flattery. Don't give it. Don't take it. No, it's flattery. What is flattery? Oh, pastor. What a worship. Such a wonderful worship. I went to heaven and almost reached third heaven. Then I came back. Oh, the voice also pastor. So nice. The guitaring also, the keyboard. And then you're standing there and say, oh man, yes, I am the, I'm done. So one of the things I do is people will say, in my mind, I'm shutting off my ears. Okay. Praise God. Because there will be people who will come up and say, but you don't take that flattery and keep becoming a balloon. Right? Always use that example. Keep blowing the balloon. Suddenly, one fellow will say, hey, you didn't play that song properly. Putt gone. Burst it. Oh, I didn't play properly. We start crying. Start weeping. All that won't matter. Why? Because, hey, you're normal. I didn't play. Okay. Next time I'll play. It doesn't mean that God is saying out of worship ministry. No, right? It doesn't work that way. Right? It's all about how we take it. Right? Of course, you take correction. You take feedback from people and you work on it. You know, I remember when I was reading worship, I used to go back to my recordings. So listen to whatever. Why am I doing this? I used to wonder, you know, I had this habit of, you know, always moving, the mic is keep moving. Then I kept looking at my recording. Why am I moving? I need to stand in one place. It's a simple thing. But it's, but it's an important thing, right? Then I also realized that, you know, one time I had these notes and I was leading all the notes fell off somewhere. So I'm leading and looking at the papers fallen out. I stopped it. I don't know if those recordings are there. This is 2012, 13 at Central. Right? The, and the papers have fallen off. I've stopped. Luckily, there was a ban also stopped taking the papers. So all these things are there. There are times things went well. So all of this should, you know, help us to learn. It shouldn't be a place where, hey, I'm the best. I can do all things. Yeah, you can do all things through Christ, but there's a way to do it. Right? Right? So that's, that's very important. Okay. A man of sorrows and grief. Isaiah 53.3. He is despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Despised the way the Roman soldiers treated Jesus and the way the Jewish leaders also treated Jesus. They despised him. They mocked him. They ridiculed him. They rejected, abandoned and left him alone. Even his closest disciples left him. John 1, 10, 11. He was in the world and the world was made through him. And the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. I'm always fascinated by that verse. You know, there's a song. Mary, did you know? That your baby boy will someday walk on water. Mary, did you know? That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters. I don't think she knew. Right? She said, okay, Messiah. Like for her, she knew that, you know, this is going to happen. But I'm sure she never pictured this kind of death. Maybe some soldier came and died. Maybe she never pictured this kind of death. This is the worst form of death. That a man of sorrows, a man of grief. People made fun of him. That his own friends, his own family, his own brothers made fun of him. Ridiculed and mocked. And is it fun to be ridiculed and rejected and mocked? Oh, but he took it up for us. Right? The Lord Jesus became a man who suffered a lot of pain and sicknesses. Now, it's not necessary that his whole life, he suffered pain and sicknesses. It was mostly on the cross, where that pain, a combination of the physical pain and the pain of being away from the Father. Right? Isaiah presented this aspect of Christ's work. He bore this so that we do not need to bear it. He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. I like that other words. Isaiah 53.4. It says, Surely our griefs and he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. The Lord Jesus carried away our sins, our pain. And when we think of this, it is such a humbling thing, right? Every time I tell myself, I thank God for the opportunities He gives us. I always thought, God, if I was only in ministry, I will do this, this, this, this. When I was working in the corporate sector, I want to do so much. Why? Because you've done so much for me. So I want to do so much more for you. And this whole feeling was there for a long time. And even now, sometimes when I look back and I say, God, if you tell me to start again, I don't mind starting again. And I keep telling you all, no, I don't mind coming and sitting and just listening to lectures. I don't mind. It's not something that, oh, I finished. I'm a teacher. No, no. It's because when you look at the cross, it should just make us in a place where we feel, hey, God, you've done so much for me. How much more I should do for you? How much more I should give everything I have for you? Of course, we are weak in our bodies. We are weak in our, there are times we are weak in our spirit, our soul. We go through emotions, but we need to overcome all of that. We need to overcome. I remember last night, I went home late. Every time I went home, the kids were still awake. So I thought I might put them to sleep. You know, it's late. It's 12 o'clock, 10.30 by the time I slept. I said, God, tired. And the alarm rings in the early morning. So I'm not able to get up. And today, this morning, I'm not able to get up. Just three hours, three, three and a half hours. But I remember this, you know, this picture just came. How the Lord Jesus, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was so stirred up in his soul that he could not sleep. All the disciples were sleeping, but he could not sleep. So he went and he prayed and he prayed. Of course, the context is different because he knew what was happening. The same way I felt, no, I have to do this because now when I'm 60 years old, I can't do it. Right? I'm 70 years old. I can't do it. I need to rest. And what I'm trying to say is, as we're young, right? Just give your best for God. Give, do as much as you can when you're young. So when you're old, you can look back and say, hey, I'm something for God, right? Because Jesus forgave us and He healed us. He could do so because He did it as a pre-pavement in advance. So whatever Jesus did was a down payment of what in His earthly ministry, it was a down payment of what He was going to do at the cross. What did Jesus say at Lazarus' tomb? I am the resurrection and I am the life. They all say, oh, they're all beeping. Jesus says, hey, I'm the resurrection. I'm the life. But was He already dead? Did He rise up again again? No. He was talking from the position of the cross. Hey, I'm the resurrection. I'm the life. I'm going to do it later on, but this is a down payment. Lazarus come out. All the miracles that He did was He knew that one day 100% will come for all of them. Now I'm giving 20% or I'm giving 50% down payment because one day the cross will happen. For our peace, Isaiah 53.5, but He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our inequities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His tribes we are healed. Wonderful verse, right? Look at Isaiah writing such prophetic poetic words. Yet profound truth, profound truth that even thousands of years later, even as we are reading this, it brings a tear to our eyes that Jesus, yet He was wounded for our sins, our rebellion, our trespasses. He was bruised. He was beaten. He was crushed for our inequities, which means our evils, our faults, our guilt. The chastisement, the punishment for our peace was upon Him. It's all about us. What we should have gone through, everything Jesus did for us. We should have been on that cross. We should be taking the pain. We should be going through this suffering, but He did it for us. Imagine, you know, when we get hurt physically or even emotional, sometimes these emotional hurts are more painful than a physical hurt. Physical hurt, okay, we can manage, you know, got hurt, put some medicine, put some crepe band and it will be okay. What about emotional hurt? Sometimes these emotional hurts go for years and years and years. You know, brother and brother, brother and sister, or father and son, or father and daughter and friends, between friends as well, emotional hurts. They can last for years and years. I know of people who, you know, who don't talk to their brother. They're 56 or 50 or 60 years old now. You know, the moment you talk about the brother, they get angry. What happened? 25 years back, 25 years back, something happened, some misunderstanding. The parents said, so they like that boy, they like him more than me. So I don't want, so 25 years. So from 25 years, you're carrying that anger and it's true. There's no, it may not be a physical hurt, but emotionally they're hurt. It could be something very simple. Look at Jacob and Esau. Esau was really angry. Hey, as the first son, I was supposed to get all the blessings. This guy deceived and took all the blessings. And so for many years, they were separated from each other. Esau said, I'm going to kill you. You come, you, I'm going to search you. I'm going to kill you for many years. I think finally Esau said, okay, I don't want anything of yours. God has blessed me also peace treaty, right? And they were, you know, they became friends again, but there was emotional hurt. Now, when we go through all of this, don't you think that we should, you know, just give it up because of what Jesus did for us, for our peace, for our transgression, for our inequities, for our evils, for our faults, everything. He took it up. All we need to do is surrender it to him. That's all we need to do. Right? Now it may sound simple. You may say, Hey, Pastor, it sounds simple, but you don't know the hurt that I've gone through. Yes, there is hurt, but the Bible here, what is, what did the cross do for us? For our inequities, for our evil, for our faults, for our guilt, for our, the for our, the punishment for our peace was upon him, the punishment for our peace. You know, peace is something important, no? How many of you feel restless in your spirit at times? There's no peace. You know, you can be in a beautiful place. It's calm and serene, but the mind, there's no peace. It especially happens to people who, you know, who are task oriented. Task one, task two, task three, right? So you can be, it happens to me. That's something that I, that I always think of, you know, we'll be sitting in the beach, enjoying the beach, and suddenly my mind is thinking, okay, I have to call this person. Then he said he has to set up the sound system. Then in the church, there's this other couple, why they didn't come to church? Maybe I need to call them. And then I'm thinking of all kinds of things, right? Now, they may be good things, but the mind is continually thinking of things. Sometimes that can end up in a restless feeling inside, in our heart, in our mind. The peace of God is so important for all of us. They pass it all understanding, right? And it says here, we don't have to live in, you know, many times, I've shared with these people, you know, who are angry with their own brother, own sister, they've not been talking to them for years, spoken to them. This is what Bible says, you can just give it up to Jesus. It's not easy for them. Why? Because it's years of guilt. But if we do it, the Lord is willing to. And saying, all he's saying here is, by his tribes, we are healed. That healing can be both physical and emotional. Right? Shalom is total well-being. And we know that the word shalom encompasses many, many aspects. Let's read Exodus 15, 22 to 26. It talks about Jesus, the tree who turns our bitter into sweet. Exodus 15, 22 to 26. Yes, go ahead. Anyone can read Exodus chapter 15, reading from verse 22. Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the desert of Sher. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Mara, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. So the people grumbled against Moses saying what we are to drink. Then Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water and the water became sweet. There the Lord made a decree and a law for them and there he tasted them. Yeah. So this again is talking about, this is just a digression from Isaiah, what we've been talking on. Isaiah, Exodus 15, 22 to 26. The people have come out of Egypt. They are drinking this water in the Mariah and what's happened? It's bitter. The water is bitter. Can we drink bitter water? It's bitter. Moses, why did you bring us out? As usual, they started grumbling. Why did you bring us out? There's no water here. So God told Moses, take that piece of wood, throw it into the river. He threw it and then they tasted the water and became sweet. Now that is a type of Jesus, right? The Jesus, the one, the true one who turns our bitter into sweet. This is where the Lord revealed himself as Jehovah Rapha and the Lord who turns our sickness into wholeness. And again, if we read the whole of Exodus, there are many places where Christ is portrayed. But looking ahead to the cross, Isaiah said, we are healed. Now, looking back, Peter says, by his stripes, we were healed. It's very clear that Peter is talking, speaking of physical healing, and he uses this Greek word, aiomai, which is cure and made whole. And then there are plenty of places here, all in the book of, from Matthew to from the early church, we see the Roman centurion servant, woman with the issue of bleeding, multitudes who touched Jesus who are healed, the man with leprosy, the 10 lepers, the man with the pool of Bethsaida, the triple man at the temple gate. So all of these wonderful miracles that happen were talking about the physical healing by his stripes. We were healed. So these are, there's so much more we'll pick up from next week, but these are some of the things that are available for us through the cross. So even as you and I as believers, we spend time in worship, we spend time in the Word, meditating, reading God's Word, spending time in his presence, always keep the cross before you. It's a picture. Let the cross be a place where you say, okay, this is what I'm doing and this is why I'm doing it, because of the sacrifice of the cross. Now we don't have to sit and only think about the cross and cry the whole day. No. We know that Jesus is resurrected, he's here, but the entire world, Christianity, is based on the cross. It's not based on miracles. Christianity is not based on the missionary journeys. No, it's based on the cross. So picture you're all coming together to worship the Lord. Let the cross be the center. So there is healing, there is deliverance, there's peace, there's joy, there's everything at the cross. And when you have that picture, our worship becomes real. And when I say worship, it's not only about the songs that we sing, but our life itself becomes a worship, our speech, the way we talk, the way we say things, the way we communicate with people, everything is based out of that identity. What does 2 Corinthians 517 says? Anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Right? So I just want to encourage us, even as we pray and seek the Lord, let the cross be the center of everything that we do. Okay, Nina is asking a question. Under the heading, a man of sorrows and grief, the notes say he suffered pain and sickness. The pain, yes, the sickness relates to, yeah. So the pain and sickness, he suffered on our behalf. So we know that the cross was a place where he bore our pain, he bore our sicknesses. So if you look at the verse after that, just a moment, Nina. Yeah, 53-5, but he was wounded, he was bruised for our inequities. This is on a man of sorrows, right? Which verse is this you're talking about? Yeah, Isaiah 53-4. Yeah, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. So Nina, to answer your question, it's not his sickness, but it is our sickness, our grief he carried on the cross for us. So basically, it's this great exchange where we are sicknesses, our pains, our guilt, our transgression, our inequities, everything was put upon him. And so now you and I can stand as justified, redeemed, healed, sanctified, and all of that. So it is ours that he took it up and he took it up willingly for us. Is that okay? Which page is this, Nina? You're saying the notes say he suffered a lot of sickness. Yeah, so the Lord Jesus became a man who suffered a lot of pain and sickness. Yeah, so if you're talking about the natural, right? If you're talking about the natural, of course, see, we must understand that the Lord Jesus had a physical body also, right? But if you look at the cross, the cross was a place of pain and the cross was where he took up our sickness. So because we must understand that Jesus became a man, right? As a man, there were limitations, right? He felt sleepy, he felt tired, he was tempted in every way. So Lord Jesus became a man who suffered a lot of pain and sicknesses. It's not saying that every time wherever he was, he had pain and sickness and all of that, right? Now, for example, Jesus walked from Judea to Jerusalem, right? Do you think he would have had leg pain or no? He would have had leg pain, no? So, you know, so when we take it, we must take it into context, right? Now the cross is talking about our pains, our afflictions, but as a human being, he went through certain things, right? You know, when he went to Samaria, he was tired, he was thirsty, he was sitting, he said, give me some water. So that talks about his humanity there. So yes, there would have been things that he went through that you were... Do you think Jesus would have got fever? So the point we're trying to bring out is not his humanity side, where the natural things would have happened. But the point we're trying to bring out is the cross, where he bore our sickness, he took up our sickness, right? Okay, so let's just close in prayer. Father, we want to thank you for this time. We thank you for the cross. We thank you so much for what you've done for us, Lord. And even as we continue to serve you and minister to each other, Lord, I pray that the cross will be the center, that we will look to you. And everything that we do, Lord, let it be pleasing and honorable in your sight. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your scriptures that teach us, so God, we pray that we will stay focused and know that you took up everything for us on the cross, and we can stand here as your children sanctified and blessed in your presence. So God, we thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, everyone. Have a great week ahead. I'll see you next week. God bless. God bless.