John 7

Sa your throne and all the elders cost their crowns before the family of God and saint.

Yes, all the saints and angel, they bow before your throne.

And all the elders come their crown before the land of God. And see you are worthy of it all.

You know you are, you are, you deserve the glory. Close.

Day and night and day and night. I didn't take it.

Day and night. I didn't feel it.

Day and night I didn't take it.

I day and night. I am day and night.

I know you are, you are, you are. I can't do. You are you.

Jesus. All the glory.

Two, three, four.

You're the only right among the wrong.

You're the only hope among the chaos. You are the Lord to call me all louder than every lie, my story. In every fight, the truth will chase away the night. Your name is power over darkness. Freedom for the casting, mercy for the broken and the open.

Your name is faithful in the battle, glory in the struggle, mighty. It won't let us down or fail. Your name is power or your name is power.

I know it is written hopeless.

I know that the world will never fade?

I know that in every situation, yes, I know it be the power to prevail. Louder than every lie, my story, every fight the truth will chase away tonight. Your name is power over darkness. Freedom for the captive, thirsty for broken hand. Open.

Your name is faithful in the battle, glory in the struggle mighty. It won't let us down or fail. Your name is power.

Your name is power.

When you speak, you scatter darkness. Light arrives in heaven. Open, Holy Spirit, let us hear it when you speak. The church awaken, we believe the chase coming, Holy Spirit, let us see when you speak, you got a darkness. Light arise in heaven.

Open, Holy Spirit, let I hear it when you speak. The church awaken, we believe the shake is coming. Holy Spirit, let us see it. Your name is power over darkness. Freedom for the captain, mercy for the broken and open.

Your name is faithful in the battle, glory in the struggle, mighty. You will let us down on favor. Your name is power over darkness.

Your name is power in the land that is plentiful when the streams are abundant. Let it be your name, bless it, be your name. When I found in the desert place, so I walk through the wilderness, blessing every blessing you call out, I turn back to pray. When the darkness closes in still I will say, let it be the name of the Lord, let it be your name, let it be the name of the Lord, let it be your glory, let it be your name. When the sun shining down on me when the world all as it should be let it be let it be only on the road marked with suffering let's be every blessing you fall out turn back to grace when the darkness goes still I will say, let it be the name of the Lord, let it be your name let it be the name of the Lord let it be a glory you can take away, you can take away my heart will choose to say your blessing be your name, every blessing back to praise when the darkness closes in still I'm gonna say blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name, Jesus blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be glory blessed be the name of the Lord let it be your name just let it be the name of the Lord let it be the glory of name you can take away my heart will choose to say what ability to gather together as your church, to be here, to study your word, to be spoken to by your spirit and father. I pray as we do that, that you'll turn our hearts from you, up from Lord, toward you. Let's see if I cannot commit blasphemy in a prayer. Lord, turn our hearts toward you and away from the things of the world, away from the distractions from the things that are weighing on our hearts and our minds about our lives. And, Lord, let us just focus solely on you.

And father, I pray as well at this time, Lord, that we know your name is power, Lord Jesus and I lift up Israel to you right now. And I just pray, Lord, that you will prevail over the situation going on over there, Lord, that your name would be power in the mouths of the Israelis, that they would look to you, that they would cast their hope upon you, that you could get them through the things that they are going through at this time. And, Father, I pray that you be glorified as you do that in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right.

Well, other than getting my tongue confused with what I wanted to say, it is a blessing to be here with all of you tonight as we continue our study, our series through the book of John. We're going to be in John chapter seven today. I intend to get about halfway through it, and we'll see what happens. But we're going to see some things take place after all of the events of chapters five and six. And something I want to point out is that the events that take place in chapter seven take place only six months before the death of Jesus, before he's crucified.

So the book of John, it moves relatively fast through the life of Christ. And in just a few weeks, we will actually be more than half of the chapter of John takes place the night before he dies or on the night he dies his last 24 hours. So we're almost to that point where Jesus prepares for his death. With that said, let's look at John seven, verses one through nine. We read that after this.

After the events of chapter six. Jesus traveled in Galilee. Since he did not want to travel in Judea, Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. The jewish festival of shelters was near. So his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples can see your works that you are doing.

For no one does anything in secret while he's seeking public recognition. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus told them, my time has not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand. The world cannot hate you.

But it does hate me because I testify about it that its works are evil. Go up to the festival yourselves. I am not going up to this festival because my time has not yet fully come. After he said these things, he stayed in Galilee. So much I want to say just about the end of this passage, but I got to wait till we get there.

So there's a plan here going on right now. And that plan is to kill Jesus. Look what it says in verse one. He traveled to Galilee because he doesn't want to be in Judea because the Jews are trying to kill him. Remember in John chapter five, there's the man.

He's waiting at the pool, waiting for the angels to stir the water that he may be healed. And Jesus comes to him and heals him. He tells him, stand up, take your bed and walk. And this happened on the Sabbath day. At the end of that chapter, at the end of chapter five, it says, from this point forward, the Jews sought Hal to kill him.

But Jesus knows it's not his time to die yet. It's not his time, and they're trying to kill him. So he says, I'm going to go to Galilee and I'm going to go rest in Galilee for a while and do some stuff there. But it says that the jewish festival of Shelters was near. Also known as the festival of Booths was near.

And his brother said to him, leave here. Go to Judea. That your disciples can see the works that you are doing. Says no one does anything in secret while he's seeking public recognition. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.

So what's going on here? We need the context of John chapter six to interpret what it is that brothers are saying. It says they do not yet believe in him. And what that is, they don't yet believe that he's the messiah. They don't recognize him as the promised one, but they do believe that he's a prophet.

And in jewish culture, shame and honor play a major role in how you interact with people. They tend to shun those who bring shame, and they flock around, gather around those who have a lot of honor. And the brothers appeared to be worried about what happened at the end of the last events. Remember, at the last events. It says that from this moment, in verse 66 of John six, from this moment, many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.

So Jesus has just lost a major following. He's lost a lot of followers, a lot of disciples. And his brothers are worried. Oh, our brother, he's a prophet, but he's in shame. His followers are leaving him.

So what is their plan? Their plan is go to Jerusalem, go to the festival, and do your works, perform your miracles, do things in the sight of everyone, and show yourself to the world. The idea is that if Jesus went and did these things, that he would gain his honor back. He would show the people that there was no need to worry about him and to shame him. I want to draw some observations from this.

It says that no one does anything in secret while seeking public recognition.

What type of recognition are you looking for? There are two types of recognition that you can receive. You can receive recognition from men, and you can receive recognition from God. In fact, I want to read, let me turn my Bible real quick into the book of Matthew, chapter six. And just look what it says right here at the beginning.

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others, to be seen by them.

Be careful. Jesus is actually telling us, take great care that our good works, our righteousness, our deeds, are our charitable giving, our praying, our worship of God. It's not done to be seen by people.

It says that when you give in secret, in verse four, your father, who sees in secret, will reward you. It tells us if we were to continue to read, it tells us that if we do things to be seen by men, we have our reward. Look at verse five. Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly, I tell you, they have their reward, so don't be like them.

He says. Instead, when you pray, go into your private room. Shut your door. Pray to your father who is in secret, and the father who sees in secret will reward you. So what we see here is the disciples.

They're encouraging Jesus. Seek public recognition. They're encouraging him, go show yourself to the world. Be seen. Jesus is not about that.

He warns us. He says, do not do things to be seen by man. But there is another thing I want to draw from here. The brothers of Jesus are worried about his status because he's losing followers. Verse 66 of the previous chapter, it says that many of his disciples turned back.

They no longer followed him. And I want to tell you something about Jesus. Jesus is the greatest divider in history. No one is more divisive than Jesus. He says that he will turn father against son, mother against daughter, brother against brother.

And the reason is, it is impossible, literally impossible, to be indifferent when it comes to Jesus. Have you ever noticed that when you mention jesus to someone, no one takes an indifferent stance? Those who follow jesus want to talk about him. And those who don't want to tell you how stupid you are or how bigoted you are for following such a man. It is impossible.

There's no one who's neutral.

You just don't find it. And with that said Jesus, he divides those who follow him and those who don't within the church as well. He had a bunch of disciples, and he intentionally speaks hard sayings to divide them. We saw this last summer, two summers ago, when we were going through the parables of Jesus and the Jews, asked him, the disciples, why do you speak like this? Why do you speak in these strange sayings?

And the short answer is to weed out those who aren't really following him and cause them to leave and to find those who are truly seeking him, who want to learn so that he can reveal his wisdom to them. So Jesus, while his brothers are concerned about his following, Jesus isn't. Jesus is not concerned with that. So many people are turning away from him, rather, and we need to take from Jesus'example in the church. He's concerned about those who are following him.

There's a tendency in the western church, and most churches in the US are. They follow the western route. There's a tendency to focus on how big the church is to focus on. We need just to fill the seats, we need to fill our buildings, we need to draw crowds. And many churches measure their success based on how many people they can cram into a room.

And in doing so, they fail to disciple. They're more concerned. We just want people here versus we want disciples of Jesus. What Jesus is concerned about the quality of the disciples. Jesus wants those who are quality, who are seeking him out, who are earnestly looking for his wisdom to follow him.

It's for that reason that Jesus spoke in the way that he did. As we continue, verse five is just something interesting to me. It says that his brothers did not believe in him yet.

I can't, I can't put myself, well, I can't put myself in the shoes of Christ anyways. I'm just not, not capable. But even when it comes to this. So try and put yourself in his shoes for a moment and think about that. Did Mary not know who Jesus was before she became impregnated with him?

Did not Gabriel the angel tell her exactly what's going to happen? You are going to carry the messiah. You're going to carry the promised one.

Was it not revealed to her time and time again? And then we see her amazement every time when Jesus, remember when they leave Jerusalem to go back home and he gets left behind. He's at the temple and he's teaching, and they circle back, they come and find him there and they are amazed. It says, mary has to ponder when he says, I'm here about my father's business.

Mary and Joseph, for all that they knew, you would think that the brothers would know who Jesus is. You would think that there would have been some form of discussion, even if not in front of him, some form of discussion between the parents and the brothers about who this man really was.

And all he is to them is a prophet.

I want to also, while we're looking at verse four and looking at the brothers, says that they're trying to push him to do things, to be seen. And it really feels a lot like what Satan did during the temptation in the desert. Remember what Satan did. Satan was saying to him, if you're really who you say you are, and that's what the disciples, the brothers are saying, if you're really who you say you are, go show yourself to the world. Satan says, if you're really who you say you are, turn the stone into bread or go up to the pinnacle of the temple and jump and God will save you.

This seems an awful like what Satan was trying to do as well. Now look at verses six through nine with me. The rest of this passage here. Now remember, the prophecy of Christ in the Old Testament has not yet been fulfilled. Christ is here physically at this time, but the prophecy has not yet been fulfilled and it's not yet time.

He said to them, as they encourage him to go to Jerusalem to work for this festival. Says, my time has not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand. A theme through the book of John that we're going to see. Is my time right? The hour we see Jesus say time and time again, my time has not yet come, or my hour has not come, or the hour is now here, or the hour has come.

And we see that timing plays a crucial role in the gospel of John, and that's important. It plays such a crucial role because God's timing is never wrong. He does everything at a specific time for a specific purpose. So he says, my time has not yet come. It's not time for me to go, to go there.

It's not time for me to be seen. But then he says, your time is always at hand. What does that mean? Well, it means that any time for his brothers is a good time. Any time to go down to Jerusalem, to Judea is a good time for them.

There's no one seeking to kill them. And then he says that the world cannot hate you, but it does hate me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.

Can we not see that? True? Jesus, he testified of the evil deeds of the world, of people. He called out sin, and he was hated.

Do we not see the same as true of us today? Those who stand up against wickedness, are they not hated in this world? Are they not scolded? I actually find it amazing because don't we have something called the Justice Department?

What is the point of the justice department? Justice. Right. To stand against wickedness and evil things. But is that the way it works?

Not really. Our justice system has been corrupted, and it pushes what society. It looks toward what the loudest voices in society demand of it, and that's what it pushes. Haven't you noticed that if you look at the LGBTQ movement, how big do you think that movement really is?

It's tiny. Very tiny. In fact, studies say that less than 7% of people are even part of that movement yet. Isn't it that movement right there that drives our political system right now? Think about that.

Less than 7% of our population are driving our political system. Why? Because their voices are loud. And that's what the world does. The world flocks to those who make themselves seen, who make themselves known, and it loves them.

And then our political system, our justice department, everything changes to accommodate what the loudest voices want.

Let me tell you something that's not unique to the US. It's not. It's not unique to the 21st century. Go back to the time of Christ. Go back to when he was crucified.

Was there not a justice system at the time? Did Pilate not bring two people before the crowd? Jesus, who he said, I have found no fault, and the murderer.

And did he not say to them, there's a custom to let you choose who to let go. And the loudest voices prevailed. The voices that cried, crucify him. So the world is natively wicked. It's evil that is the default state of the world and wickedness.

Evil beings and people, they do not like being called out, and they hate Jesus, and they hate us when we stand against the very wickedness that this world stands for. Jesus says, though he says, you're not greater than the servant's, not greater than the master, the world hated me first. It will hate you on account of me. Bogey says about his brothers, the world cannot hate you. Haven't you noticed that those who appear to be indifferent or who go with the ways of the world, they're not ever targeted.

They're not hated. They're not persecuted. They're left alone?

Jesus says that about his two brothers right now. The world cannot hate you.

I want you to know, if you ever hear from God, that the world cannot hate you, that is a moment to stop and get scared, to stop and say, what am I doing wrong? If God is saying that the world cannot hate me, what am I doing wrong? Because the world should hate me. The world should loathe me. It should look to get rid of me the way it looked to get rid of Jesus, because I stand against it.

If the world does not hate you, you are probably not following Christ. If the world does not hate you, you are not speaking out against evil and wicked things. If the world does not hate you, if it loves you, that means you belong to this world. And you cannot belong both to this world, to the kingdom of darkness and to the kingdom of God.

So Jesus tells them, go up to the festival yourselves. I'm not going up to this festival because my time has not fully come. After he said these things, he stayed in Galilee. When we read this, the next verses we're going to read are going to indicate if we do not interpret within its context that Jesus is a liar. And so I am telling everyone now, as we read this, as you read it, that context is king.

We need to understand what's going on here. So Jesus told them, he says, go. I'm not. I'm not going because my time has not yet fully come. Read verses ten through 13, we read that after his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly, but secretly.

The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, where is he? And there was a lot of murmuring about him among the crowds. Some were saying, he's a good man. Others saying, no, on the contrary, he's deceiving the people. Still, nobody was talking publicly about him for fear of the Jews.

Okay, so you can see the problem, right? In verse eight, he says, go on your own. I'm not going to this festival because my time has not yet come. And then in verse ten, what does he do? He goes, so how do we reconcile what appears to be a contradiction?

Notice I say appear because it's not. When we reconcile it with the Context, first you'll notice some versions of the Bible will say, I'm not going up yet. And other versions do not add the word yet. And it all depends on the manuscript that was transmitted from. But because some have the word yet and some don't have the word yet, and we don't know which one was really said, we have to reconcile this absent of the word yet being there.

We have to make it work with what we have. So let's look at the whole context. He says, my time has not yet arrived. And then he says, and we're saying, my time has not yet fully come. So there is an issue here with timing, but there's another issue here, and the issue is publicity.

The issue here is he's not telling them, I won't go to the festival. He's really telling them, I won't go with you, because what is it that they want? They want for him to go publicly with them and be put on display. And he says, I'm not doing that.

So we have to look in the context here of time. His thing is, it's not yet time for me to go, and I'm not going with you. Go on your own. Go alone. And then after his brothers have gone up, he goes.

It says, not openly, but secretly.

Jesus is not ready for a public appearance yet, and his brothers want him public. In fact, if this were a contradiction, if Jesus lied, why didn't his family see this as a lie? Wouldn't his family be the first people to felt betrayed and lied to? And yet his family never publicly criticizes him for this. So we know that the issue here is not a contradiction or a lie, but an interpretation that's largely lost through translation.

He goes secretly to the festival, and he observes when he is there. What's going on? Well, verse eleven. The Jews are looking for him. And they're saying, where are he?

So people are looking for him. They want to know, where is he? What's he doing right now? Some of these people may be people looking to kill him. We know that the Jews sought out to kill him.

And there may have been a group looking, being like, he should be here. Let's grab him. But then there's others looking for him. To be healed, to be taught, to get to know who he is, to see the miracles. So there's a little bit of everything going on here.

It tells us that there's a lot of murmuring about him on the. You know, have you seen Jesus? Have you seen what he's done? I think he's a great man. No, I think he's the deceiver.

It's all this whispering quietness going on. Everyone's. There's this quiet excitement. Where no matter where you stood on the scale of supporting Jesus. Or standing against Jesus.

There was an excitement. But no one wanted to talk out loud for fear of the Jews. There was this fear that if the jewish leaders hear that I support Jesus, they'll take me too.

So what are the things we hear? We hear that he's a good man. There are people who are seeking him for his miracles, for his healings, for his teachings. But then there's people saying, on the contrary, he's deceiving the people who are saying, who do you think these people are? These are the Pharisees who are saying, he's deceiving the people.

He's leading you astray.

Verses 1414 through 24 says. When the festival was already half over. Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. Then the Jews were amazed and said. How is this man so learned since he hasn't been trained?

Jesus answered them, my teaching isn't mine, but is from the one who sent me. If anyone wants to do his will. He will know whether the teaching is from God. Or whether I am speaking on my own. The one who speaks on his own seeks his own glory.

But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true. And there is no unrighteousness in him. Didn't Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?

You have a demon. The crowd responded, who is trying to kill you? I performed one work, and you are all amazed. Jesus answered, this is why Moses has given you circumcision. Not that it comes from Moses, but from the fathers.

And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath if any man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won't be broken. Are you angry at me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? Stop judging according to outward appearance. Rather judge according to righteous judgment. Let's interpret this, and after we interpret this, let's go to our closing prayer.

And just remember, everyone, we do have communion right after our closing prayer, so please stick around to partake of the Lord's supper. So the festival is already half over before he actually makes an appearance. And he goes and teaches. And look what happens here. As he's teaching.

They're amazed. They say, how is this man so learned?

The correct translation here is, how is this man so lettered? How does he know so much when he's not lettered? When he wasn't taught to read, taught to interpret the scriptures. But look what Jesus says. He says, because my teaching is not mine, he says, I'm not teaching based off of tradition or my own theology.

He says, but I am teaching from what the one who sent me, what the father, what God who sent me, has given me. And then he says, if anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or I am speaking on my own. What a great test right there. A challenge. If you want to do the will of God, then you will know.

You'll know anyone who believes God, who has the Holy Spirit, who seeks him, who has studied his word, who wants to do what he wants you to do, you will know what Jesus is saying is true. And you'll note, because God is, he never changes, ever. The God that we know today is no different than the God that Abraham knew 3500 years ago. He's the same God. And as the same God, you will know because his character has never changed.

Are these things in line with the character of God? It's what makes it so easy when religious systems today say, oh, well, God told us to practice polygamy. Did he? Because the God I know, the God who never changes, has told us not to do polygamy.

It's so easy to verify when you know the character of God and when you want to do his will, what words are his and what words are not. In addition, if you follow God, if you hear God's word, you will accept Christ's words. We read several weeks ago, that you cannot honor the Father without honoring the Son. That's impossible. He says that the one who speaks on his own seeks his own glory.

But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true. And there is no unrighteousness in him. Christ says here, he says, if I was speaking on my own, then I would be seeking my own glory. But I don't seek my glory. I seek the glory of the Father.

I seek the glory of the one who sent me. And isn't that true? Don't we see that in what he does? Hasn't everything been to glorify God?

Jesus never asked for praise. Never sought praise, never sought to be in the crowd. He would disappear. He only sought to glorify the Father. And you can see the difference in men today who seek their own glory.

I don't know if I should call this man out, but I'm going to. Joel Olsteen. A perfect example of someone who seeks his own glory. He thrives on the applause of men. He thrives on being in the spotlight.

And he will say whatever he needs to say to stay there. Jesus. He thrived on the glory of God. He thrived on glorifying God, on doing his work, on pointing people to the kingdom of heaven. He didn't care about the spotlight.

He didn't want to be in it. To the point that he would say things that would get him killed. Right. The one who seeks his own glory. Is he out there trying to get murdered?

No. But Jesus, despite knowing they wanted to murder him. Would continue knowing what it is they were going to do. Because he sought to glorify the Father. Then look what he says in verse 19.

Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keep it? Why are you trying to kill me? Jesus speaks out against hypocrisy.

Something that we all need to be careful of. If you're not going to obey the very laws that you champion. The very laws in which you're trying to use to get rid of me, then why are you trying to get rid of me? If you can't keep it, why do you expect me to?

It's that holier than thou mentality though. Well, you have to keep it. It's my job. I'm the leader. We're the jewish leaders of the synagogue.

It's my job to make sure you keep it. Isn't it your job to first make sure that you keep it? What did Jesus say to the Pharisees about the blind leading the blind? They will all fall into the pit.

Look at their response. You have a demon who's trying to kill you. It's like they're making fun of him. No one's trying to kill you. No one seeks to get rid of you.

What are you talking. Only six months later, they put him to death. From this point to his death is six months.

And Jesus answers. He says, I performed one work and you are all amazed. And he makes a point. Here. Look at the circumcision.

In jewish law, the circumcision had to occur on a specific day. There was no if, ands or buts. There was no except for the Sabbath day or except for during a festival. If it was the day of the circumcision, it was the day of the circumcision period. But is that not an outward work?

Isn't circumcision a physical work?

And yet Jesus points out, you will circumcise a man on the Sabbath day. You'll do this work on the Sabbath day. So why are you angry at me? Remember, he healed the man on the Sabbath, and he performed no work. He just said, get up.

And the man was healed. And he says, I don't get it. If you will cut a man, if you will perform that work on the Sabbath, then what is wrong with me healing a man on the Sabbath?

What's wrong with it is hypocrisy. You will notice about men. Men who have power will seek to hold on to power. Right rules for thee, but not for me. Don't we see that in the US Congress?

Rules for thee, but not for me. We'll pass the laws. We'll tell you how you have to live. But they don't apply to us. And that's the way that the Pharisees are living.

We make the fence laws. We tell you how you have to live. And these are to protect you. But we don't have to abide by them. Why?

Because they want the power. It's all about the power.

And so Jesus'final message to us tonight here is, stop judging according to outward appearances, and rather judge according to righteous judgment. The way beings appear on the outside are irrelevant. What matters is, are the actions. Righteous is the intent righteous.

And that's what we need to judge. In the Old Testament, God told us to not look outwardly on a man, but look upon his heart.

Let me tell you something, though. You cannot judge according to righteous judgment until you have judged your own heart, your own life, your own sins, only then can you judge according to righteous judgment on other people.

But how bad would it be for me to judge you. When I still have that log in my eye, that beam? Could you imagine that? Doctor, we've got to try and remove that little speck of dust out of Matt's eye. Meanwhile, he has an eight foot two x four sticking out of his.

How is he going to remove that little sliver from mine?

Only each of us are the doctor. In this case, every one of us are. We're all the person trying to remove that speck from someone else. But we never want to remove the plank from ours. It's time that we begin to examine our own lives.

It's time that we really examine our own lives. I believe that the time is near. It's coming. We still don't know when, but it's coming. And where are you going to be when he calls us home?

Are you going to be left here, or will you be meeting him up there? It's time for us to examine. Are we saved? Are we following Jesus Christ? Are we living a God pleasing God, glorifying life?

Are we addressing the needs of our own sin before we're trying to perform surgery on someone else? Stop judging according to outward appearances and rather judge according to righteous judgment. We'll continue this chapter next week when we get back, and I look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday as well. We'll be doing our next discipleship training this week. I look forward to seeing you all.

Let's pray. And then right after our prayer, I'm going to run upstairs and get communion, and I'll be right back down, and we'll partake of the Lord's supper together. Father, we thank you for today. Lord, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for everything that you have given us.

Father, I pray that we'll learn from the examples of our lord today. Examples on not doing things to be seen and applauded by men. Father, that we'll do things just to glorify you. Lord, I pray that we won't get so focused on the spotlight that we have to get around crowds, but we'll be focused on your mission, on your heart, which is developing. Disciples of Christ.

Father, I pray that you will help us to stop focusing on outward appearances, Lord, and look to what's on the inside. And Father, help us evaluate our hearts, our minds, whether or not we are glorifying you.

And Lord, let us judge righteous judgment. Father, I pray that you would come here and take us home ever quickly. And once again, I just pray for your people, your nation in Israel, that you will be glorified and that you will come through in situation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

I'll be right back with communion I'll see you all here in just a minute.