Jesus' Desire

What we get to see this morning are two of the most basic truths of Christianity. We mentioned some of the fundamentals of the faith, the essential Orthodox truths that Christians have believed at all times and all places. This morning, we're going to look at even truths more basic than these. They're basic, but they're actually the most profound truths that we see revealed in Scripture. What we're studying this morning is even more foundational and fascinating than even the Trinity or the Incarnation. The Trinity and the Incarnation are really the advanced truths that we see, the basic truths more fully revealed. Today we're going to consider these two things. God calls us to be with him. God makes himself known to those he loves. These are basic Christian truths that everything else is built upon, but if we really think about them, they're they're fascinating and profound. They're foundational because they're seen throughout all of the history, all of Scripture is built upon the truth that God desires us to be with him. That's fascinating because when we actually see how God sees us and who we really are, why does he want to be with us? The loving God wanting to be with hateful sinners. This is why the second truth is so important. He makes himself known to those he loves. This morning, these two truths are emphasized in our passage. We're in John chapter seventeen. The page will be found on page nine zero three. If you're using a few Bible, we are concluding the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ. He is ending his earthly ministry is ending his time of discipling those who will be the foundation of his church. He is trained as disciples. He's been teaching them, he's about to die, rise again, and ascend. And here he's ending this prayer with the essential truth, that he's praying to the Father that we would be with him and that we would know who God is and that he loves us. I'm going to read the prayer in its entirety. John chapter 17. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the sun may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you, for I've given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me for their yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost, except the Son of Destruction. The Scripture might be fulfilled, but now I'm coming to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled themselves. I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me. Here, the conclusion of the prayer, which is our passage for this morning. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous father, even though the world does not know you, I know you. And these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. This morning, we'll see these two truths. We are called to be with the son in his glory. We are called to know God and be loved by him. Let me read our passage again. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me, because you love me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I may know unto them your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Notice a couple of the things in this passage. He's praying, he's already prayed for his glory to be restored, and now he's praying that we would be with him in that glory. Let's walk through the whole prayer here very quickly. Those, he first prays, Father, glorify me that I may glorify you. God's glory is the ultimate end. Jesus is focused upon the true final end, the true final purpose, God's glory. He then turns his attention to his disciples. He says, those that have been given to me, I revealed your name. Those you've given to me, I have kept. Please keep them. Those you've given to me have been protected from the world. They've been called out of the world, protect them from the evil one. And those you've given to me, they should be united. This morning, we're going to look at this very particular end that really wraps all these together. This is a proper conclusion, because he's going from the glory to us, and he's saying, call them together to be with me in my glory. He's going back to the beginning, which is the focus. It's his glory, and he's declaring, let us be with him to see his glory. We've been given, kept, protected, and united. Our final end is to see the Son's glory, which leads us to the question. What is the chief end of man? You can say it. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. That's why the catechism properly begins with that question. Our end, we must remember, is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Let's walk through our passage slowly. He concludes, as he has begun, Father, this is the son of God talking to his father, the one God who we know as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Father, I have accomplished all that you've given me. I am coming to declare that I want to glorify you, glorify me. These are the disciples you've given me. They are called to be a people that will glorify us together. Father. He speaks to them. And he's letting you know his desire to the father. But we shouldn't think that the father and son have two desires. All along, throughout the book of John, he's established the son has come to do only that which the father has sent him to do. In John 4, 34, Jesus says, My food is to do my father's will. In John 5, 30, I can do nothing on my own. I seek not my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. And John 638, I have come down to do my father's will. The father and the son had the same desire. But here he's presenting this this focused desire. Those whom you've given me, may they be with me. This is a powerful statement. Jesus wants us to be with him. I can be read so simple, but it's very powerful. He wants us to be with him. In order to really appreciate this, we have to realize we forfeited the right to be with him. God designed us to be with him. And we chose to go away from him. We chose to despise him. Yet here Jesus is saying, I've come through those you've called out. I've come to those you've given me so that they may be with me. This is the foundation of reconciliation. God calls us back to himself. To really appreciate, let's think about this in our human relationships. Have you ever been with someone or around folks and you feel like they may just not want you to be around them? You want to be with them, but it's not clear if they want to be with you. You wonder, am I wanted here? Do I belong here? It's a gut-wrenching worry. It's a gut-wrenching feeling. Does this person want to be my friend? Does this person want to be their friend? Does this person want to pursue engagement in marriage the same way I want to pursue engagement in marriage? It's gut-wrenching wondering, does somebody want to be with me? We can worry about this, but I want to focus back here on a relation with God. When we ask the question, does God want us to be with him? There is great reason to be insecure about this. In the sense that we're sinners. We have refused God, we rejected God. By the same time that we can think about our reality of sin and that we should not be with God, we have absolute security that God has said, I want you to be with me. If you question if God wants you to be with him, look to the cross. As we worry about this insecurity, this paranoia, are we wanted? If we look to our own sin, we will be overwhelmed with guilt and confusion. But if we look to Christ, if we look to the amazing declaration that Jesus Christ makes when he dies for us, I want to be with you. I'll lay down my life for you. We have absolute assurance that God wants us to be with him. God calls us to be with him. He calls us to be his people. He wants us to be with us. He wants us to be with him. Now, the problem that we have and who we seek to be with is that we're constantly looking to make other relationships more prior than God. We're constantly confusing ourselves by making other relationships God's designed us for to have a place outside of the way God designed it. See, if we're with God, we're truly happy, we're content, we're joyful. We're also forgiving because we realize that we're only there because we've been forgiven. We're constantly looking for the kind of joy that God created us for with Him in our spouse. And what we're doing is we're putting unhelpful expectations on our spouse that they can never fulfill. We're trying to find full fulfillment in our spouse. We're expecting from them the things that only God can provide. We can do this with our children. We're looking to find purpose in our children and the way we're raising them that only God will give us. We can look to work. We're trying to find a fulfillment that only God gives in the purpose he has for us and working for his glory. At our worst, we look for joy and happiness and just outright sin. This is taking what we think is going to quench our thirst and our desire, and it only makes us more thirsty and hungry. We may look for confidence in our religion and what we do rather what Christ has done for us. We have to realize this basic truth. God designed us to be with him. We will only be truthful, joyful and delightful and delighting in him when we're with him. He's designed us for himself to know and to be known by him. And in our sin, we're always looking at some other place in some other direction to find the joy. God with us, this is a rich theme throughout scripture, and again, this prayer, John 17, is the longest Conversation we know of God having with God, but it's also ending the the final discourse. We go back to John 15. He's summarizing a lot of the things he's already taught the disciples. John 15, he tells the disciples, I have to go. It's for your advantage if I go, because if I go, I'm going to my father and I'll prepare a place for you. so that you can be with us. We can go back to the beginning of John. The word became flesh is what among us God with man personally. I want to focus on something else here in the passage. May. May be with me where I am. There's a language there. I am. That takes us all the way back to the Exodus, doesn't it? When Moses said, Who are you? God said, I am. This is the covenant language of God, where Jesus is saying, I am the God who has always been with his people. We can see the formula throughout all scripture. I will be your God. You will be my people. God has constantly revealed himself to a particular people at a particular time to be their God. His presence is what made them his people. God's glory was manifested with Israel in the exodus on Mount Sinai. He searched his mighty right arm to carry them out. His presence was with him in cloud by day and fire by night. But yet still. The people of God at that time, they couldn't they couldn't boldly approach him. Remember on Mount Sinai, there was a barrier, the fires on the mountain, God's presence is with them, that makes them his people, but yet they could not. draw near. We are not like Israel. Because we are called to draw near, we're not like Israel, because now the Holy Spirit indwells us and unites us and calls us to draw confident and the one sacrifice made once for all for every kind of person, not just one nation. Listen to this. I'll have this theme ends in scripture. This is revelation. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. That's how the story ends. He created us to be with him. We refused him. We ran away from him. We rejected him. And the rest of the Bible, from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20, is about God bringing us back to himself. The story ends with us forever being with God. See, every promise is yes and amen in Christ, who brings the Saints back to God. He desires to be with him. One day will always be with the Son in his glory, and we long for that day. Jesus repeats this great truth in the Great Commission. Go and make disciples. And that promise, that gives us confidence. I am with you always. You see, this theme is out throughout Scripture, and it has to be at the foundation of the way we think about God. We're supposed to be making disciples. That means we're going out and we're proclaiming the gospel boldly, not because we think we can convince people in the kingdom, but because we think Jesus Christ and the power of his gospel is with us as we're going out proclaiming it. We're actually getting involved in each other's lives. To protect each other from sin and to warn and rebuke and correct one another. Not because we think we're wise or better, but because we believe it's the power of God that transforms hearts. And God is with us in that proclamation to help change one another. We believe the gospel is the power of God to save sinners. It's the power of God that's going to change us and make us into a temple. Together, united, a body that will glorify Him. Let's keep walking through the passage. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am. This is a great purpose. Be with me to see my glory. Why do we need to be with God? So that we can see his glory. We are called to be with him for his glory. which should be our greatest delight. What does this remind you of so far? We've studied through John and other books of the Bible. We've seen this theme come across throughout John. Back to John 14, Philip says, let me see the Father. And Jesus says, if you see me, you see the Father. Go back to John 1 17. No one has ever seen God, but the only begotten God, he's made him known. This is one of those themes also that this is captured throughout scripture. We're called to be with him to see his glory. If you go all the way back to Exodus 34, Moses says, let me see your glory. God says, no, you can see a reflection of my backside. But here, Jesus, who's a better prophet, who's a great high priest, Who's the Messiah? Who's the son of God who took on flesh to reveal God fully and completely? He's saying. In me. You can see the glory of God. This is why our worship is more robust than that of Israel. This is why we have more confidence. This is why we we draw near with absolute confidence in Christ. Again, we're created to behold it and delight in his glory. And now he's come. to wash away our sin that keeps us from seeing His glory. It keeps you from seeing the glory of God. It's your sin. It's your delight in the things that are not of God. It's the delight in the things that pervert and corrupt and twist the things of God that are meant to be used to worship Him. But instead, we worship the things He gives us. We've been washed for the blood of the Lamb to be cleansed and forgiven to truly worship. We've been indwelled by the Spirit to have our hearts renewed To worship. So what does it mean to see God's glory? It's not physical sight we're talking about. When Moses said, can I can I see your glory, Jesus, God revealed himself and said, I have mercy on whom I have mercy. See, his his glorious side was love. His glorious side was mercy, and we see it in this prayer. May they be with me where I am to see my glory, and we see later that the love of what you have For me, maybe in them. God's glory and His love are tied together. We have to realize that we see His glory and His love on the cross. We come humbly in need of a Savior and we see that Savior on the cross. We see the one we're called to worship on the cross and we see it only when we realize we should have died on that cross. Our sin should cause us to be crushed. By the weight of God's glory. But instead. We look to Jesus. And we see the glorious one was crushed for us. We must pursue a greater knowledge of his glory. We must pursue a greater understanding of his glory. We must pursue greater love. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. Notice the contrast of the Old Covenant, just like Hebrews. Not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For this day, when they read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding, it's present, beholding, The glory of the Lord are being transformed in the same image from one degree of glory to another. That's what Paul is expecting here for believers, we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. When we look to the cross. When we look to Jesus Christ and love displayed, when we look to Jesus Christ and the glory of God who became man, who died for us and rose again, that should be changing us. It should be making us more like himself. Here's kind of the basic rule. The more we love sin, the less we love God. If you want to delight in the glory of God, you have to stop delighting in sin. Your heart just doesn't have the capacity to love God and sin. And that's good news. God designed you to love one thing as if God and it has to be God. But our problem is we have to realize this. Our problem is that our hearts are so bent towards loving all those other things. Jesus Christ came to forgive us for loving things with this world. Jesus Christ came to change our hearts. To bless us with a pure heart so that we might see God. This is why it's such a frustrating battle. That heart is constantly bending, being bent back towards sin and the Holy Spirit and God's word and other brothers and sisters are constantly being used to bend us back up to worship the one who is truly delightful. We're supposed to be beholding the glory of God, being transformed by that glory, and I listen to first John three, two. Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. This is speaking of Christ's return. When we truly see him finally, when he returns, we see him in his glory. It's going to be a complete transformation. We'll have a glorified mind, a glorified body, a glorified heart, completely transformed without the stain of sin that keeps us from true worship. We're too long for that day when sin no longer taints the worship we're seeking to give to God, where sin stops corrupting our worship. Let me read this passage again and with a verse after it versus first John, chapter three. That was verse two. I'm going to add verse three now. Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared. But what but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. Now, listen to the instruction. Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure, purifies himself as he is pure. If you're waiting for heaven to worship, you're, you're probably not going to get there. If you're, if you're, if you're thinking, I'm just going to delight in sin while I can, there'll be one day where I'll turn my heart that day to day friend. If you hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you stop playing with sin and you seek to be purified because you've seen what real glory is like, you've tasted what glory is like. You know, sin is unsatisfying. There's an option. Do you desire to be with God or be in sin? It really isn't either or. Do you desire to be with God, to see His glory, or do you desire to be in sin? You might say, I'm loving Jesus and living in sin. That's what James calls double-minded, and it's impossible. You do not have the capacity. God designed you in such a way that that is impossible. You cannot love your sin and love Jesus. You can be wrapped in sin and entangled in sin and still be Christ, but you can't love him in response. If you are Christ, turn your hearts away from the sin, be untangled and be set free to worship him with great confidence. There's two great dangers of the gospel. We can confuse our need to be obedient to deserve his love. Or we can confuse our need to be obedient to delight in his love. We do not need to be obedient to deserve his love. We do need to be obedient to delight in his love. We do not need to be obedient to deserve his love, because we can't be that obedient. It's a free gift. We do need to be obedient to delight in his love. I say that because it's so easy to justify our sin. Now, I'm going to read a list of sins from Scripture, and I pray the Holy Spirit will convict you to see the sins that are so easy in your own heart, in our hearts, to justify. Sexual immorality. Impurity. Sensuality. Idolatry. Sorcery. Enmity. Strife. Jealousy. fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. Which of these things are you protecting as your right to sin? Because what you need to realize is what you're doing by protecting that sin is you're keeping yourself from truly delighting in the love of God. You're not protecting sin. You're being entangled by it. You're allowing yourself to be ensnared and captive, held captive by it. Be set free by the power of Christ. To participate in and pursue one of these is to deny the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not protect your sin. It will devour you. We as a body are called to protect one another. Not in our sin, but protect one another from our sin. This difference is really uncomfortable. It really is uncomfortable to protect people from their sin, it causes very difficult, awkward conversations that have to be said. Protecting one another in our sin, that's easy. But to protect one another from our sin, that requires difficult gospel conversations. we have to realize is that we're sheepish in our sin to go before God. So I ask you, how is your worship? If you're bored in worship, I really think it has nothing to do with the music, has nothing to do with me, has nothing to do with who's leading it. I mean, look to the words we're singing. If that bores you, it has everything to do with if your heart is being aligned with God. Either we're singing the wrong songs or you're bringing the wrong heart. Either I'm saying the wrong words or you're bringing the wrong heart. I'm saying the wrong words or I'm bringing the wrong heart. Worship is confident when it's focused on Christ. It's sheepish when we bring our own sin. God wants you to be with him. The invitation is to go boldly and have confidence in Christ. What is keeping you from delighting And Almighty God. Let me turn to our second. Passage or second point. We are called to know God. And be loved by him. Listen to verse 25 and 26. Oh, righteous father, even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name and you will continue to make it known. that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them." Now here, the address is a little different. He continues to call him Father, but he's focused in on O righteous Father. It's not clear why he's doing this, other than maybe it's because he's still making that strong declaration of difference between the world and those of God. To show God is righteous in his judgment, even though the world does not know you, you are righteous in whom you have given to me. You are righteous in whom you are revealing yourself. See, again, this is this is this is assuming the foundation of what Scripture teaches. God created us to be with him. God created good and we refused him and denied him. And now everybody is in rebellion against God. That's what the world is. It's our order of rebellion against God. But Jesus was sent by the father to save some out of that rebellion. Jesus made it very clear, I'm not praying for the world, I'm praying for those you've given me. He's righteous in what he does. Now, what I need you to hear this morning, if you're not a Christian, It's a simple truth that you are in rebellion against God. Everybody in this room is a rebel against God unless they believe in Jesus Christ. And that doesn't mean that everyone doesn't have rebellion. We've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory. The only thing that separates those are of the world and those are of God is that those are of God have looked to the cross, have seen Christ, and they see that there they see Jesus taking the punishment they deserve. Jesus was perfectly righteous, he was perfectly innocent, but yet God crushed him, judged him, punished him as if a sinner. That's so that everybody who looks upon him will no longer be counted as a sinner, will no longer be held accountable for their sin, because Jesus has paid the penalty. He's been judged in our place. If you're not a Christian this morning, we have to tell you the very uncomfortable truth. That if you have not believed in Jesus, your sin is still in your account. You will be held accountable for that sin. But if you look to Jesus, if you believe in Him who died for your sin, if you look to Him who paid the penalty, if you look to Him who rose to give new life, you're forgiven. You're no longer apart from God. You're no longer distant from God. You'll no longer be judged by God. You'll be with God. Loved by Him. If you are a Christian, We look and we realize a few things here in this passage about ourselves. First, the name of God was revealed to us. We're not smarter. We didn't figure it out. God revealed himself to us. This is why we boast in him. Further, I want you to see this. I made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known. There's a couple of ways I think we could take this passage. He doesn't just speak to save us, he speaks to continue to transform us. God is still speaking. Jesus is still speaking. His word is here with us. His spirit transforms us. And then he uses one another. He uses the church to continue to transform us, to continue his message. Other spirit-filled believers are oftentimes the means by which God applies his word. This is why we take our unity as a church so seriously. Because if you're a member of the church, you should be taking the word of God and applying it very precisely. Very boldly and in a caring manner to help people help one another realize their sin, realize the gospel forgives them and transforms them. We don't do that to try to beat people up with the word. We try to help God's word take root in their heart to change the heart. Here's a question for each of us. Are we teachable and correctable? That's what a disciple is. Are we teachable and correctable? Who has authority to speak God's word into your life? If it's no one, you're not really proactively being teachable or correctable. You're also not realizing how dangerous sin is and its deception. How much we can deceive ourselves. We have to be with one another, correcting one another, loving one another, stirring one another up as our Hebrews passage said earlier. Who has the right to speak into your life? This is what the role of the church is. Here's what you're going to find outside. You're going to find friends who are going to want to help you protect your sin. You're going to find people who are going to help you justify your sin. Church, that's not what we're talking about. A Christian friend is someone who will not tolerate your sin, but rather is troubled by it. Who knows you well enough to be troubled by your sin? Because I assure you, there's something to be troubled by. We have to take this work of disciple making seriously because Christ is with us. As we just read before, he's called us to be united. He's called us to be a people that's united for his glory. We're not here to be a social club. We're here to be a people of God, sharpening one another, challenging one another so that we together are the body united to glorify him. This is Christ's desire. This is what we must be committed to. I want to focus finally on, again, one of these unbelievable foundational truths. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, the purpose. That the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. Go back up to verse 24. Look at the ending. to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world." Our whole understanding of ourselves goes back to a proper understanding of God. The Father loves the Son perfectly. The Son loves the Father perfectly. Here, Jesus is giving us this clear purpose. I have revealed you and will continue to reveal you that the love of which you have loved me may be in them. Jesus, the beloved son has come to share his love with God, the father with us. God loved that. Adam rebelled against God. Now we have this whole salvation history where Jesus Christ has come, and I want to make it very clear, we now have a better position than Adam did before the fall. Because Adam did not have divine love like the Father and the Son share. It's a different kind of love. It's an absolute, eternal, perfect love. Jesus Christ came to share with us the most perfect, absolute, eternal love. If we question that love, we look to the cross. We know the love he has for us because he died for us. We know the love he has for us because he's counted us now to be part of the family. He's shared his inheritance with us. This is why we must be united. We're united in divine love. Does that love define us? Does that love define what we talk about? Does that divine love define how we relate to one another? This goes back again to the previous passage. We're called to be united. We're called to be united in the glory of Christ and the love of Christ. I want us to turn to our final hymn of response. Because this is where we see the glory and the love of God. Let me read for you the song we will be singing together. and did my Savior bleed and did my sovereign die. I'm sorry, the word that I was going to read is for sinners such as I, but our our version of the song says that a little more straightforward. Let me read directly out of the bulletin. Alas, and did my sovereign bleed and did my sovereign die. Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I had done? He groaned upon the tree. Amazing pity, grace unknown and love beyond degree. Well, might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in when Christ, the mighty maker, died for man, the creature sin? Thus might I hide my blushing face while his dear cross appears, dissolve my heart in thankfulness, and melt mine eyes in tears. But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away. It is all that I can do." Friends, our song declares to us we were creatures who rebelled against the Creator and that Creator came to die for our sins, to show us his love, to call us back into his love so that our hearts can be transformed. No longer hating God and resisting God and not being thankful to God, but now thankful, thanking him and loving him and praising him. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have sent your Son. We thank you that your spirit allows us to see him in his glory. We thank you that you allow us to see your love for us. And that while we were still sinners, you sent your son to die for us. Help us to praise you. Help us to praise you in our unity. Help us to praise you in our conversations. Help us to praise you in our study of your word and our walk. The way we talk with one another. Help us, Lord, to constantly be pointing one another to you. to stir one another up into a more pure worship. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.