John 16:1-15 | Warning and Working

Sunday Morning | November 12, 2023 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In his sermon titled "Warning and Working" on November 11, 2023, as part of the ongoing Gospel of John series, Pastor John explored the crucial message in John 16:1-15. John emphasized the peril that disciples face from worldly opposition. The sermon then delved into the four works of the Holy Spirit on behalf of believers: the transformative presence of the Trinity, the convicting power illustrated in Luke 18:9, the guiding into truth, and the glorification of Jesus. Through these elements, John conveyed the vital role of the Holy Spirit in navigating the challenges of discipleship and maintaining unwavering commitment to the truth of Christ.

At Valley View Church we are currently studying through the entire gospel of John, verse by verse. You can join us on Sunday mornings at 11 AM for worship. We are located at 8911 3rd Street Road, Louisville KY 40272.

Transcript

0:12

Well, good morning Valley View. It's great to be with you today. I was traveling last week. I went with Julie to a conference. She was going to a conference about teaching and I went to support her by mountain biking while she was in the conference. It was a very helpful thing for her. So we had a few days away together. That was good. And thank you to Colby for bringing the word last week. Really grateful for him. Does a great job. Yeah. And I also want to say thank you to our veterans. I know yesterday was Veterans Day, but for those who have served, thank you so much for serving. When I think of veterans, I think of a verse we covered a couple of weeks ago. Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for a friend. And many of us have signed up to difficult jobs. But rarely do we sign up to lay our life down in that job. And those veterans have and so thank you for that. And when I think of the military, I also think of something that I think relates to today's passage. One thing that is really important for the military is to deal with truth. If you're going to confront a hostile enemy, you've got to deal with the truth of the situation. Winston Churchill, no perfect man, but he was known for being one who was fastidious to get the facts. World War Two, Prime Minister of England. How many planes does the other side have? How many tanks do they have? What are their fuel reserves? Where are their bases? We've got to know the facts. We got to know what we're dealing with. We can't just be oblivious to it so that we can prepare for what might come. And in today's passage, I think we're going to just see a hint of that with Jesus saying to the disciples, We're in John chapter 16. We've been working through the Book of John. In fact, we've been working, maybe some might say slowly through the Book of John, but we're going to start to pick up speed. We're in chapter 16 and each chapter is going to move along a little more quickly. We're in really the final hours of Jesus's life, even though there's six or seven chapters left. But in this passage, we're going to see two things. First, we're going to see Jesus give the disciples a warning. Here's what's coming. Here's what you need to deal with. Here's the reality of the situation. Here's truth. He doesn't try to soft pedal to make it sound better than it is. Here's what's coming. But he doesn't leave him just with the warning, but he also gives them the work of the Holy Spirit. You're not left to figure this out on your own. There's a warning. But then we have the work of the Holy Spirit to guide us, to get us through the difficult situation to come. This was relevant to the disciples then, and I think it's going to be relevant to us today as well. So if you have your Bibles, turn to John, Chapter 16. If you don't have a Bible, we have Bibles in the connection corner. We'd love to put those in your hand. The page numbers on the screen. Page 848 In that particular Bible makes it easy for you to find the passage, easy for you to get through the Bible and find what we'll be reading today so that you can read from God's Word your own copy of God's Word. John Chapter six. So we're going to start by reading just these first couple of verses here,

verse one: 3:28

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God and they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. Here we have Jesus speaking to the disciples, and we're in this long section called the Upper Room Discourse or the farewell discourse, kind of his final sermon or message to them that goes across chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 long section of Jesus just investing in his guys right before he leaves. But here he gives them this warning. He says to them, Here's what you need to be mindful of and what is coming. He said, The first thing I've said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. That's the warning he gives to them. Now, why does he need to warn them about that? In particular? Why does he need to warn them about falling away? Jesus, we've been here with you through all this. Up to this point. Well, they don't know what it's about to come. They think they do, but they don't know all that's about to come. And by the way, we got to keep in mind that just probably a few minutes ago, one of their own fell away. You know, again, many, many weeks we're talking about a few verses, but in real time, 15, 20, 30 minutes ago, Judas walked away. He was there with them this whole time. He saw the same things they saw. He walked away. What makes them think they're any better than him? Well, there's still the temptation to think I didn't walk away. I'm better than that guy. But, man, they're facing the same challenge that Judas did. They are not better than him. I shared with our Wednesday night group we're working through the topic of forgiveness. We meet on Wednesday nights after the meal and have a Bible study, kind of an open service, sing a hymn together, study the topic of forgiveness. And there's this really powerful story, post-World War two. So World War two, obviously, America, a number of other countries when beat the Nazis, in particular in Germany. But a lot of the Nazis went on the run, went into hiding. One in particular, probably the most high profile guy they hadn't captured was hiding in Argentina. It's 1962 when they finally find him, track him down. And Israelis, they extricate him, take him back to the country, put him on trial. His name was Adolf Eichmann. And of course, they're bringing in people in particular from Auschwitz, the death camp there. And there was a guy they bring in, Yehiel De-nur. They brought in a number of different people to testify. Yes. That's the guy. Yes. This is what I went through. They bring him in. He's testifying. But in the midst of his testimony, he just collapses on the ground in a puddle, sobbing uncontrollably, body convulsions he can't even stand. They have to grab him by his arms. In fact, here's a picture. After they had got him set back up, they just had to drag him out. He was in just this uncontrollable state of emotion, understandably so. And afterwards, he was interviewed. Mike Wallace interviewed him 60 Minutes and said what was going on there? I mean, clearly, you were overwhelmed with emotion. Was it just the craziness of the moment? Was it all the memories of what happened before, maybe lost loved ones and family members? And he said, no, it was none of that. None of that. In that moment, I'm staring at a man who I thought was some god of a general who had control over people's lives. And he did. But in that moment, I saw him for the very plain, ordinary, boring-- in fact, they use the word banal-- man that he was. And here's the quote that he said, what that did to him. I'm going to put this on screen for you to read as well when he saw him that way, if you can put up that quote. Here it is. It's coming. That's the right one. I was afraid about myself. I saw that I am capable to do this. I am like him, the guy who seems so plain, so boring, so normal. If he was capable of that in that moment, he said that that must that be inside me too. I'm ultimately no better than that guy. Maybe I didn't end up down the same path. And I think the disciples in this moment, Jesus is saying, You think you're better than Jesus. Be careful, Judas. Sorry. You might think that too, Be careful. Be careful. Watch out. Troubles are coming. Struggles are coming. Don't fall away. That word for fall away has this whole idea of stumbling over something. Tripping over something. It's the we get our word scandalized from it. It sounds the same in the original language. Scandalize. And we even use that today. If someone is in a public scandal, you know, they had a fall from grace or what we like to say kind of euphemistically, they fell into sin like they didn't have a part in the problem or something, just fell into sin. Nooo, well, there may have been a choice there as well. Scandalize, don't fall away. Don't be drawn away. Tough times are coming. In fact, he says a couple of other things to them here about what is on the way. The reality of it. Look at verse two, they will put you out of the synagogues, which doesn't seem like that big of a deal to us. You go find another church here, but there that meant complete ostracization. Your life was utterly changed. They'll put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour’s coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God. That's messed up, completely upside down. But we've seen this in Scripture that that was Paul. He was passionate about killing these Christians who are ruining my faith, my belief in God. Before he knew Christ, he thought what he was doing was the right thing. They don't know this is about to come. And he says to them, Watch out, be careful. Be mindful. Not only will they think they are offering service to God when they kill you, there's a reason why they do that. Look at verse three. They will do these things because they have not known the father nor me. There is a reason why they act the way they do. They don't know Christ. And I think it's really helpful to take a step back and recognize that because I don't know about you, but it's easy to get angry. Maybe it's something you saw on Social media or something you see in the news. It's easy to get upset with non-Christians for being non-Christians, but we shouldn't be surprised by that. In fact, our natural bent before knowing Christ was to reject him. I mean, we're all that way going back to Yehiel De-nur, who am I to say I'm so much better that I've figured it out? Nah, that should cause us to just pause and yes, we should have sorrow. Yes, there is a part of maybe righteous anger of wishing that things were right as God intended them. But yet also there's a measure of I shouldn't be surprised that people live out full rejection of God, and that should give us pause to we should be aware of that as well. Be careful, be watchful, be mindful. There will be those who fall way. I think a practical takeaway of this for us that's really important, something that each of us needs to be mindful of. What Jesus is warning the disciples of is that problems will come. This isn't going to be an easy problem, free life and we shouldn't try to sell Christianity as being problem free. In fact, I would say there's a chance you might have more problems if you follow Christ. We have friends in Phoenix, they grew up Mormon, their families, both sides Mormon. They come to know Christ, they become Christians. They turn away from the Mormonism and their family disowned them and never spoke to them again on both sides Their life didn't get easier. And so we don't sell them on that. I'm not here selling Christianity to you based on the benefits. Come be a Christian, and here's all the good things that will happen to you. No, here's here's what we want you to experience is the person of Jesus Christ. Come to know him, fall in love with him, the person of Jesus Christ, and then everything else will follow from that. You, I hope you see the radical difference between the two approaches. I don't hang out with my friend because of his boat. He's my friend. I love him. I care about him. I care deeply about our friendship. And if he gets a boat, I like him a lot more after that. Right? Maybe. You see the difference. We don't come just-- here's what I will get from Jesus, this is why I follow him. I follow him because I love him. Because there is nothing better than him. And hard times will come and we don't soft pedal Christianity based on the benefits to people. There’s a person, Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, who we follow. And this is the warning He gives to the disciples. Hard times are coming. Now, here's the beautiful part of this passage. He doesn't just leave them with the warning-- hey, hard times are coming. Good luck. No, he doesn't leave them that way. He's going to tell them that I have given you a power to get through what is coming. In fact, the warning is what is coming. But here is the power. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. And in these next few verses, we're going to see four key ways the Holy Spirit works in our lives to help us through the challenges we face. He doesn't leave us alone just to figure it out ourselves. The Holy Spirit is at work. If you know Him, he comes alongside you. He works in your life. We're going to see that in these next few verses. In fact, turn look back down at verse four, depending on your Bible, there's a paragraph break there around in the middle of verse four, and I'm going to start kind of in the middle of verse 4-4b- I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you, but now I'm going to him who sent me. And none of you asked me where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. So he's recognizing the situation. I'm about to leave you. I talked openly about it before. They did ask him about it before. Now they're not asking anymore. And I know you're full of sorrow in this moment, but you're full of sorrow, nevertheless, verse seven, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. So this is the first way the Holy Spirit works right here. Jesus is saying to them, I've got to go away so that you can have the presence of the Holy Spirit around you. This is the first way. Just His presence is with us. Go and put that number one up presence. Now, here's what's kind of strange about this. Jesus says, If you look back, it is to your advantage that I go away. If you're the disciples, even now, you've got to wonder, is it you're saying that the Holy Spirit's better than Jesus? It's better to have Him than Jesus around? You know, if you ever hear these quizzes where they ask people if you could have a dinner with anyone dead or alive, who would it be? Jesus is always on that list, right? But no one ever goes, well, the Holy Spirit. I'd really love to have dinner with him as well. Well, but he's with you. That's why we don't we don't say it, They didn't know that at the time. Why would it be an advantage to them that Jesus, who's there with them in the person-- his physical presence there-- why would it be an advantage for him to leave? I've got to do just a quick pause down on the Trinity short topic to address it here in church for everyone. Probably the most complicated topic in the history of Christianity. But I'll quickly say this Father, Son, Holy Spirit, they're all equally God. It's not like God, the Father, he's really God. Then there's Jesus-- he's closer, but still mostly God. Then there's the Holy Spirit who's kind of like junior God. It's not like that. In fact, one guy wrote a whole book called The Forgotten God about the Holy Spirit. Kind of tend to tack him on after, know, they're all three are equally God, but they play-- there's a lot of different words you could use here, and I need to be careful-- different roles, different persons in the way that they live out life, in the way they relate to us. And so here when we see Jesus, here's one thing that Jesus did different. He took on human flesh. He came into the world, both God and man, which, by the way, he put on himself a physical limitation. He chose to limit himself. It feels really weird to say that Jesus had limitations, but on earth in a physical body, he chose to take limitations upon himself. And you've all experienced this. It doesn't make him less God, by the way. So when you had your first child and that toddler finally stood up and in them you saw a future NBA basketball star. In that moment, you knew greatness was in your genes, and so you ran out and bought one of those basketball goals that goes about this high, the plastic ones. It's somehow adjustable but never works. You know what I'm talking about? And you immediately got them playing on that goal. Now, when you played with them, you didn't come up to them and dominate and block their shot and dunk on top of that. I hope you didn't. But that's a temptation. I know. Take it while you can. Right? They're going to grow up. No. Here's what you did. You you got down in front of them on your knees and you got down to their level. Let's play. I tried. I missed. You got down where they were. And when they got a little older, you changed it up. Maybe you only played left handed, kept your arm behind your back. Maybe they got two points to your one. Does that make you less of a parent? I'd say it makes you more meeting them where they are. And Jesus came and chose to limit himself. And here's the advantage. His physical limitation. He left. He's leaving the scene. The disciples don't know it. With them now will be the presence of the Holy Spirit who will be with them, guiding them all the time, anywhere, everywhere. And look, I wish day to day I really realize that. I mean, imagine how differently you would live life if every day you were overwhelmed with the reality that the presence of the Holy Spirit is with you every step of the way. I would change everything. None of us do it. But the more we grow, the more we come to know him, the more we connect with him and the more aware we become of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in His presence. So that's the first one, his presence. But let's keep reading. Look secondly, at how the Holy Spirit works, verse eight. And when He comes, he will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. That's part of the Holy Spirit maybe we could do without, right? We don't really need that conviction part Lord, especially not around sin, righteousness and judgment. I mean, just keep piling it on. Well, let's unpack these a little bit. Look at what he says concerning sin, because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness, because I go to the father, you will see me no longer concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. So the second way the Holy Spirit works is through convicting, through conviction. We're going to talk about each of those. What does that mean? Of course, first is sin. Look back at verse nine concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. This is the first way the Holy Spirit convicts. And it's the first one in this list because that's the starting place. Sin blocks belief. Sin builds barriers between you and God. Sin undermines truth. And so if you don't believe, you're not going to know Christ. You're not going to want to follow him. And so there's got to be conviction of sin. There's got to be this place where you become aware that the way you think, the way you live is against following Christ. And coming back to that same issue of we don't make Christianity easy, try to sell it easy to people. And it's the same way with sin. We don't soft pedal on sin. If someone asks you, Hey, does does the Bible teach? And by the way, this is an important difference. Does the Bible teach that this is whatever behavior is sin, not just do you think? Well, let me show you. Here's where scripture says that this is not what God has planned for people. If someone asks you that answer faithfully from Scripture, point them and do it graciously. It's not in a condemning way. But look. Yes. No, this is what Scripture says. We don't we're not trying to hide that. We don't kind of go, Yeah, I hate to say it. I think we try to hide that from everyone else. But no, it does say that what you're talking about is sin. And here's why we don't. Tim Keller, who is a pastor in New York City, passed away recently, very influential. He had a lady come up to him in church after he talked about following Christ. And she said to him, I really like what you're saying. I like some of where Christianity is heading. I like this Jesus guy. But let me ask you, if I were to follow him, does that mean I'd have to put aside my romantic relationship with this other woman? And he said, I can address that directly and I will. But let me tell you, if you follow Christ, there's all kinds of things in your life that will change, not just that one thing. You know, we don't bargain with God. I'll follow you. But let me let me let me just hang on to this. No, If you follow him, everything will change. And here's what he said and you'll want to change. Look, if you've got life perfectly figured out, you don't want any change in life. Everything's good. I'm good to go. And if you meet that person, I'd love to meet them as well. None of us have life figured out, even if it appears we do. Where are you going to find hope? Where are you going to find purpose? Where are you going to find meaning in life? I couldn't do it on my own. I haven't met anyone yet that has. The Christ will give you that in him you will find. And that means conviction of sin. The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts. He does it for the world. That's who he's talking about here. He does it for us to. Thankfully, he does that for us. Doesn't leave us where we are. You're not to stay where you are. He doesn't leave us where we are. Come as you are. But don't stay where you are. So the first is he convicts of sin. Second is righteousness concerning righteousness. Because I go to the father and you will see me no longer. Now, this one's a little harder. It seems kind of weird. How do you convict about righteousness? Let's think about that word righteousness. For our purposes. I'll just say you might shorten it to the word rightness. How do I know I am right? How do I know that if I see God, that He will accept me, that I am living rightly in a way that He will accept me and he will convict the world concerning righteousness, There's a verse that I think is real helpful to understand what he's talking about here in terms of what is the right way to live.

Look at Luke 18: 25:56

9. That's just one book back from John and it's on page 824 in the church Bible. This is a parable where Jesus is contrasting

two different people: 26:09

a Pharisee and a tax collector and how they both see themselves before God. And I'm not going to read through the whole parable. But this first verse highlights the whole purpose he tells on the front end why

I am sharing this parable. Verse 9: 26:27

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. I think we all have the temptation to think and here's the phrase we use self-righteous, but I've got it figured out the way I live, this is how I justify myself before God, the way I live, the things I do. This is why he will accept me. This is why I am right. And Jesus contrasts here, there are those who think, No, I'm good. I got it all figured out and then look down on others. The Holy Spirit came to convict of that kind of self-righteousness, and Jesus came to show the correct standard of righteousness. Here is true righteousness. It's him. It's knowing him and following him. So that's righteousness. And then number three, I will convict concerning judgment verse 11, because the ruler of this world is judged. This one is also a little tricky. He will convict concerning judgment. Even that phrase the ruler of this world is already judged is maybe kind of hard to swallow because there are times where it doesn't feel like the ruler of this world is already judged. But we live in this in-between moment where he has been judged. God allows sin to continue on Earth for a season, but it won't always be that way. But conviction around judgment here-- what he's responding to-- Jesus came when he came,

John 12: 28:08

47, I did not come to judge, but to save. He didn't come to judge in the moment, he came at that time, You will later, but to save. But the problem was when he came to save, others were judging him. Others were saying, No, you're not the right way. No, you're, in fact, Satan himself. No, the Pharisees, don't follow him. Don't trust what he has to say. How do we get rid of him? There was judgment being heaped upon him, and the Holy Spirit came to convict those to judge rightly. So, the Holy Spirit convicts. The Holy Spirit brings different levels of conviction around sin, righteousness and judgment. And through this, you know, the Holy Spirit exposes-- we're talking about the world here with those terms-- and he says world, but the Holy Spirit also exposes in us the ways that we think we are saving ourselves. I do it too, right? If I just do this thing, if I say this thing, if I treat this person this way, God will have more favor shown upon me. And clearly there are right ways to live according to Scripture. But the only thing that justifies you is Jesus and His death, burial, resurrection on your behalf and the Holy Spirit comes to convict around that. Don't self justify, lean on Christ. So that's number two. Number three, we're going to skip to the end of the passage verse 14. Here's what the Holy Spirit does. He will glorify me. Jesus says of the Holy Spirit. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has in me is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. The key phrase for us, and this is number three the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. The Holy Spirit points to Jesus, again, talking about the Trinity. There is a relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Father that we see even in this verse. He will glorify me, takes what is mine that I got from the Father. There is this beautiful interaction between them where they're building up one another, encouraging one another, pointing others to each of them. And the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. It's a beautiful picture that I think as a church paints a picture of what unity means for us. I'm looking to build up others around me. I'm not looking to tear them down so that I look better than them. If there is a difference between us, I move toward them, not away. I don't avoid them. I move toward them. If there's someone here that you have a big problem with or a small problem with, you move toward them. This is a radical difference between the church in the world. You know what I'm talking about. And I know where some of you work, some of your coworkers. It's all about the backbiting and it's all about, let me put you down so I can move up. I've experienced it, too. Not here. Okay. There's no comment on church staff, other places. You know what I'm saying? But when you're in a place where people move toward one another, push through conflict, love one another, build one another up, who doesn't want to be around that? That's what we all long for. And so the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. And then number four, the Holy Spirit guides us to truth. Look back at verse 12. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now, which is wise. All right. We've all been in that place where that's all I can absorb. Jesus knows you're not going to get this till later. I can't tell you any more. Won't make any sense. But then verse 13, when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority. But whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. The Holy Spirit guides to truth. We are called to be people of truth. Our standard of truth is up here. We move away from lies and falsehood in our lives, even though we're often tempted, even in the subtlest way, to move away from truth. But you have to start and at the beginning of this whole message today was start with reality. Start with where you are. Can't ignore truth. I wish I could remember who told me this. I know it's I'm pretty sure it's somebody here, but I can't remember who it is. But it was so funny I had to share it. One parent-- I can't remember who it is-- they said there was this day where one of their kids came into the room and just had chocolate all over their face, just everywhere, smeared and the parent was like, Johnny, have you been eating chocolate? No. Nope, not me. Are you sure? You know his hands are like, sticky. Can't hardly pull his fingers apart. Nope. Never seen chocolate, Deal with truth. Acknowledge the truth of where you are. The Holy Spirit convicts. But he also guides you to truth. He got you to a place where you're open to hear from him. You're open to hear from others. You're open for God to work in your life. This week, I got to visit with a number of friends when we were--we went back to Arkansas-- we had a number of friends there. That's where Julie was with the conference, and I was supporting her and I met with a number of different friends along the way, conversations that we had, catching up on how God has worked in our lives. And one of the guys, one of the guys I met with, he told me, John, I got to tell you, God has done some amazing things in my life in the last two years, and it all started with a conflict in their marriage. You can start to look at conflict in your marriage that way as an opportunity for God to work in your way-- in life in amazing ways. And he said, Here's what happened. My wife brought up an issue, he said, and I remember the phrase, it's seared in my brain, the exact words I used. I said to her, This problem is not my problem. It's your problem and you need to get work done. Great way to start a conflict confrontation in marriage. So she says, okay, whatever. She meets with the counselor. She says the counselor gave me this book to read. I'm going to read it. She was going away on a trip, already planned, when I come back, we'll talk through it. He says, good. Finally, you'll get fixed, right? I don't think he said that part out loud, but he was thinking it. But here's what happens. He was in this season, in fact, a few of us talked about this morning being recovering control freaks. Right. Working on that as well. He was in the season-- I better read the book before she reads it to make sure it's okay for her to read it, make sure that she is hearing the right information. He reads the book, and he said, John, I’m weeping throughout the whole book. Because I see in this book that I was the problem, not her. His heart was tender. He was open to hearing from the Holy Spirit. The problem for him was he had walked away from God and in that moment he had all the despair of realizing he was the problem, but none of the power of the Holy Spirit to work to guide Him. And so he had to turn back to Christ and watch him work. The Holy Spirit warns, He convicts, and Jesus warns them, hard times are coming, but you don't have to walk alone. The Holy Spirit is with you. The Holy Spirit will guide you. The Holy Spirit will protect you. You can lean on Him through everything. Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. And we know problems come. We could go around to person after person after person and problem and challenge. And we have to be aware that those problems want to draw us away from you want to force us to turn inward, want to push us into self-reliance. Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit that we can lean on. We don't have to depend on ourselves. I've failed myself over and over and over again. I don't want to lean on myself and yet I still choose to do so at times. Lord, help us to listen to your spirit moving in our lives today. Help us to hear from you in fresh, new ways today. In fact, right now I would ask wherever you are, just even quietly where you are, you would cry out to God and say, Lord, help me to hear your voice today. It’s what we all want. Every one of us wants that. Help me to hear from you today. Jesus, would you move? Holy Spirit would you stir? Thank you for how you are working in this church. Thank you for so many who love you. Lord, help us to love one another well so that the whole world looks at us and says, I want that. Whatever that is. I've been looking for that. I pray that kind of love and unity would just pour out all around us. This week. Thank you that we can gather freely. Thank you for so many who have sacrificed for us. We love you, Jesus. Amen.