Transcription downloaded from https://carloway.freechurch.org/sermons/22256/communion-with-god-the-son/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Well please turn back with me to Ephesians chapter 1. We are doing a very short little series in our evening services last week this week and next week all on the theme of communion with God. And we're doing this because we want to think and learn more about the incredible privilege that we all have as Christians that we can know God. Not just know God in the sense of being aware of Him or having knowledge of Him but actually to be close to Him, to have a relationship with Him, to participate with Him, to enjoy Him. And that's the great reality that the Gospel brings into our experience. For anyone who is a Christian and for anyone who becomes a Christian this is what Jesus gives us, the amazing privilege of knowing communion with God. And I think it's incredibly important for us to think about that because I don't know about what you all think of God and I don't know what you tend to think about how you relate to Him. But I can only speak with confidence about my own mindset and experience and for me it's incredibly easy to think that God's just a bit out of reach of me, that He's far away and that even if I could come close to Him, even if I could come really near to God, He would want to take a step back. And that's how I tend to think. I think that we're maybe, maybe we're all prone to take those experiences of rejection that we've had in our lives that can leave scars in our minds that never go away and we can think that that's exactly how God might think about us as well. [1:59] Communion with God as a topic is a wonderful thing to look at because it's telling us that if you are a Christian or if you become one, that idea of God keeping you at arm's length is complete and utter rubbish. We're going to look at this in three parts. Last week we thought about communion with God the Father. This week, as you can see, we're looking at communion with God the Son. Next week it's communion with God the Holy Spirit and each seven is going to be based on Ephesians chapter one. So we can read again together at verse seven that's on the screen before you. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. We said last week that Ephesians chapter one is like, it's a wee bit like the Niagara Falls of theology. [2:54] And I think that that's a good illustration because it's one of these chapters that's so incredibly rich and dense. It's just every verse is just pouring more and more upon us in terms of teaching about everything that God has done for us and sento to it all is Jesus Christ. I don't know if anybody did count the number of references to Jesus. I didn't actually count this myself, but if you go through the whole chapter, you could see it's obvious Jesus is mentioned nearly every verse, whether by his name or by a pronoun. [3:26] And so what I wanted to do this evening is we're going to do a couple of things. First of all, we're going to go through part of this chapter and highlight just some of the truths that Paul speaks of in relation to Jesus. We don't, we won't have time to do with the whole chapter. I already preached too long even with just a verse. So we're not going to go for the whole chapter. We'd be here all night, but we're going to take part of the chapter. We're going to do three to 13. And we are going to just highlight some of the key things that Jesus that we're learning about Jesus. In fact, we're going to pick out 10 things. I probably shouldn't say that, that this is a 10 point, it's a 10 point sermon for the first half of the sermon. So that says very off duty, but anyway, just bear with me. They will be really short points. I want to pick out these 10 things because they're all showing that Jesus is at the center of this Niagara Falls of astounding theology. So let's go for it. Number one, verse three tells us that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Now there's loads of notes we could say about that. At a basic level though, whenever you, whenever you come to a verse like this or a passage like this that's full of rich teaching, and you think, oh, where do I start? Well, start with the obvious thing. Start with something that's simple and clear and basic. And sometimes that's the thing that's most profound of all. And the basic truth that this is showing us is that, is that Jesus is the channel through which all of God's blessings are being poured out upon his people. All the spiritual goodness and favor that God wants to bestow on humanity is given through Jesus Christ. So if we're taking the waterfall image, we're talking about the Niagara Falls of theology, if we're using the waterfall image, it's through Jesus that everything flows. It's in him that every blessing comes. He's the waterfall. That's why without Jesus, we are cut off from the stream of God's spiritual blessings. Now, we might have material blessings and there are many people who have got a lot of material blessings who don't give Jesus a second thought. [5:41] That's a reality of life. It's only ever a temporary situation, but we are being reminded here that when it comes to spiritual matters, when it comes to eternal matters, when it comes to the matters that really matter, it's only through Jesus that these blessings come. [6:03] He's the waterfall through whom it all flows. Number two is taking us into verse four. It says that Christians are chosen in him before the foundation of the world. Here we are being pointed right backwards. Before the foundation of the world, we're being taken back right to the very beginning. From before the foundation of the world, God's great plan was to save sinners through Jesus. The imagery here is of a foundation. Jesus is at the foundation of that plan. That's why when we look at God's plan of salvation, when we think about how God works out his purposes over history, he's not making stuff up as he goes along. He's not thinking, oh, well, let's see how things go with Noah. Okay, well, that didn't go well. [6:50] Okay, let's go with Jacob. Let's see how that might work. And adapt and think, no, he's not making it up as he goes along. It's all part of one plan. And at the heart of that plan is Jesus. And so if you think about a foundation, or even before a foundation, as it's been pointed out to you, but we can just use the foundation imagery itself. If you think about foundations, if you look at a house, if you were to spot a house being built, you see a foundation being built. And often you'll see it in our context when a foundation's been built, they'll put up what you call dwarf walls, which is just little brick walls away this high, and they'll be in a shape on which the house has to be built. And it looks really quite simple. You just see like this rectangle of walls. But it's a wee bit tricky because you've got to make sure that everything's in the right place because everything is going to fit on top of these. And so you have to make sure that you build the dwarf walls in exactly the right place. It has to be in exactly the right shape because everything is going to fit on top of these. And when you see that foundation, you can look at those dwarf walls and you will see the shape of the house, you know, the pad that it's going to have. If you were to look down at the foundations of God's plans, if you could look at his dwarf walls, if you like, I think that you should think of those walls, not as like a rectangle or an L shape or a T shape or whatever outhouses look like. I think you should think of those dwarf walls as spelling out the name Jesus because it's on him that everything is built. [8:34] Number three, it says going into verse five, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. I want to focus on that wonderful word there, the word adoption. That word should immediately make us think of a family being brought into his family. In other words, Jesus is the elder brother of everyone who comes to faith in him, everyone who becomes a child of God. So you can just imagine a lovely family setting. And it's, I think it's easier for us to do that at this time of year because we have people coming home, we see people, we see family and it is so, so good when you can sit round the table as a family and have a lovely meal together. Have that image of you in your head because that's what Jesus is doing. He is bringing people into his family. He's welcoming people to his table and he is enjoying a wonderful time with them. And you only have to read the Gospels, you can read any of the Gospels and you'll see that coming up again and again. Jesus eating with people, sitting round a table with them, he's welcoming them into his family. He's warm, hospitable, loyal and kind. Number four, let's move on into verse six. It speaks of us being blessed in the beloved. Isn't that a brilliant way to describe Jesus? With which he has blessed us in the beloved. Jesus is the Father beloved. So in all the ways that Jesus is accomplishing the plan of God the Father, he's not merely his servant or his prophet or his soldier or even his champion. He's more than all of that. He is his Father's beloved. Such, such a beautiful word. It's reminding us that Jesus is utterly unique. He's the one and only of the Father from forever until forever. Jesus is the object of the Father's love, joy and delight. So it's very hard to illustrate this but I was going to say we know what this is like but we don't really know what it's like. It's going to use the image of sunshine. [10:58] We're not getting it at the moment but we can remember long ago the days when sunshine appeared in Lewis and you're standing in the warm sunshine beaming down and you can think of Jesus in that way that the Father's love just beams down upon him. He is the Father's beloved. Then we come fifthly into verse 7 where it talks about redemption through his blood. This is getting us to move on a little bit to think about what Jesus has done, the work that he's come to accomplish. And you can just see, even just looking at these verses, you can see so many amazing truths being strung together because you see the why Jesus came because of God's plan that before the foundation of the world God had this plan to send his son. You see what Jesus has accomplished that he's bringing people into his, into God's family through Jesus's work. We become the children of God. We see who Jesus is as the Father's beloved. So we're seeing why he's came, what he's accomplished, who he is. Now we have the answer to the question, well how did he do it? And the answer is by shedding his blood. Through the cross Jesus has secured redemption. That word redemption is an amazing word. When you see the word redemption always think slavery. It's the idea of buying somebody out of slavery, delivering them from bondage. That's what the cross does. [12:32] We are rescued out of slavery brought into the family of God. The cross breaks the tyrannical power of sin. It clears the debt that sinners owe. It brings freedom and new life to all who were enslaved to sin. That means that Jesus' blood is incredibly powerful. But God forbid that we forget that his blood is also indescribably precious. It's the blood of the beloved. God did not spare his son, but he gave him up for us all. That blood brings healing, restoration, redemption. There's loads of ways you can illustrate that. And I think it's helpful to think of a hospital, a place where healing and restoration takes place. Halfway there, we're 252 and we're 5 points into our 10 points sermon. That's the fastest I've ever gone in my life. Right, number 6, verse 9 speaks about that the Father has set forth his purpose in Christ. This is pointing us to lots of things. One of the things it's highlighting is the fact that Jesus is the means through which God's purposes are made known. He's the means through which God's purposes are made known. So that's telling us that Jesus is not just the accomplisher of everything that God wants. He's also the great revealer of everything that God wants us to know. In fact, it's in and through Jesus that God is seen. That's one of the incredible emphases that the New Testament makes again and again. The fact that if you want to know what God is like, the clearest, most accurate place to look is at Jesus. That's why when Philip once said to him, Lord show us the [14:46] Father, it's enough for us, Jesus said to him, it's almost like he said, you don't get it. Have I been with you so long and you still don't know me, whoever has seen me, has seen the Father? That's how we know what God is like by looking at Jesus. He's the great revealer of God. And that is one of the things that makes Christianity so utterly incredible and brilliant because when you look at Jesus, you discover that God is a God who defends the poor, who reaches out to the suffering, who eats with people who are failures in their lives, who always stands up for what is right, who's got no time whatsoever for the stupid nonsense that cultures around us can value and see as important and the one who has incredible compassion on people who are in such need. It's Jesus who reveals that, he reveals what [15:49] God is like and he reveals all the other amazing purposes that God has. He's like a great lamp illuminating the character and purposes of God so that they can be seen. [16:04] Verse 7, verse 11 tells us that in him we have an inheritance. That word inheritance is a fascinating and wonderful word for us to think about in terms of our theology. It's immediately pointing us forward to the future. And so you can think of inheritance of a great house, a great bank balance, stock market portfolio, whatever it may be. Lots of people have great anticipations. Well, I shouldn't say lots of people because it's a minority of people in the world, but still you can imagine what I mean. People who know that there's this great future ahead of them. Well, the same principle applies in Christianity, only the nature of the inheritance is a million times better because in Jesus, God is promising us an amazing future of privileges and blessings, all for his people. And this is where we see that just in a few verses Paul has taken us all the way back to the foundations of the world, back before the foundation of the world. And now he's taking us right forward to the future inheritance that God has for his people all achieved through Jesus's work on the cross. [17:14] And it's all centered on Jesus. It's in him that this inheritance is promised. So if you imagine a legal document, if you imagine maybe an inheritance that was given to you and you had the document to prove that this inheritance was going to be yours. For the Gospel inheritance, Jesus is the name that will be embossed on that paper or the name that would be sealing that as an official document. Three more. Verse 8, no, sorry, number 8, verse 12 speaks about hope in Christ. That's again pointed towards the future, but the key thing now is that that hope in the future should make a massive difference to the present. A great reminder that as Christians we always have something to hold on to. No matter how difficult particular circumstances might be now, in Jesus we have hope. And the incredible thing about Jesus is that he is both the source and the object of that hope. In other words, he has provided hope through everything that he's accomplished on the cross and at the heart of that hope is an amazing future with him. And that's something that you can hold on to right now as a Christian. That's something that you can hold on to every day. And if you become a Christian, that's one of the amazing differences it makes. It means that you can never, you never, ever, ever, ever have to go into a day or a circumstances, a circumstance or a situation and think, I've got nothing. [18:50] Christian never has to say that. And so, I mean there's lots of ways you could picture this. Maybe you can just imagine a toddler struggling to walk, they're learning, they're stumbling, but they've got an adult's hand that they can hold on to. That often used to happen, you know, well, when my own kids were wee and you see it all the time, we wouldn't start stumbling along, but if they've got a hand, if someone's holding their hand, that will take them safely through. Then we come to verse 13. We've got two things to highlight in this verse, number nine and 10. In him, you are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. [19:37] So you've got to put the two parts of the sentence together to bring that out clearly. In him, you are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. We'll look at that in a little bit more detail next week. Just now, I just want you to think of the word guarantee. That's the kind of concept that's been set before us here. Jesus confirms and seals all his promises through his Holy Spirit as a guarantee. In other words, it's a great confirmation that in Jesus, everything is secure, everything is confirmed. And so, maybe you can think of, if you want to say, you could think of like a stamp of ownership. Something is confirmed as yurge. And you've got the stamp that says it's the case, signed and sealed, official. Jesus confirms and seals salvation with his Holy Spirit. And then last of all, same verse, this language of believing in him. Again, this is just maybe taking us back to the very basics of the gospel. The fact that the word of truth, the gospel is all about believing in him. It's all in, through and about Jesus. He's the one who communicates the life-giving message. [20:53] And it's through faith in him that everyone can receive all the blessings that God wants to bestow. It's a trustworthy, reliable, unchanging message. It's like a great immovable rock that we can stand on and place our trust and dependence on him. And so, in just these few verses, there's 10 massive truths about Jesus. And you can maybe sum it all up in one word. You can sum it up in the word mediator. The fact that Jesus is the mediator between God and humanity, between the absolute of reality and us. And that means that he is the one through whom God's purposes are accomplished. [21:46] He's the one by whom all God's truth is revealed. He's the one in whom all God's blessings are poured out. And this is one of the amazing things about Ephesians. You are only halfway through the first chapter and there's a flood, a flood of stunning theology. And you can see that all the way through it's centered on Jesus. And that's highlighted by the fact that it's all in him, through him, by him. All that kind of language permeates this passage. And so, I want us to have these 10 things in our minds. I want us to try and remember them. Now, I'm not the most creative or imaginative person in the world, but you may have noticed that I used an illustration for all 10 of the points that we highlighted. And I'll just remind you of them all. We said that Jesus is the waterfall through whom all God's blessings flow. We said that Jesus is the foundation, the one on whom God's plan is built. We said that Jesus is sitting at the family table, welcoming people to his meal, welcoming them as brothers and sisters. Jesus is the beloved, the one on whom God's love shines, the one on whom it's poured. The cross is the great hospital, the place where we can be healed and restored through the redemption accomplished by his blood. [23:23] Jesus is the lamp illuminating God, helping us to see who God really is, what he's really like. Jesus is the security of an inheritance. His name is the stamp on that document. Jesus is the source of hope that we hold onto, the hand that we depend on, the hand that will never let us go. [23:48] He's the confirmer of God's purposes, that great stamp, the stamp that makes it official. And the Gospel message is utterly trustworthy. He is the rock that will never move. Now, I wish that I could go into more detail into all of these things. I just want to set them all before you, because I hope they will help us to see just how massive Jesus is in Christian theology. [24:23] You look at that and you just see 10 ways of how Jesus is just epic. And this is just a glimpse, this is just half a chapter. But here we also see something that every human being has in common. [24:36] Every single human being has got this one thing in common. Your view of Jesus is too small. [24:53] Now, for most of the population in Scotland today, that seems obvious because they barely even have a view of Jesus, let alone one that's too small. Maybe at best he's a good example at worst. He's a name from history or a swear word or whatever. But even if you're a committed Christian, devout, dedicated, even if you've been following Jesus for years, you've spent a lifetime thinking about him, reading books, listening to sermons, even if you gladly fall in your knees every single day and say, Jesus is Lord, even then your view of Jesus is not big enough. [25:26] Because the truth is, no matter how much we learn, no matter how far we can stretch our minds, no matter how much we can absorb what's been revealed to us, we are unable to grasp just how big and amazing and awesome Jesus is. Later on in this letter, Paul makes that clear because he says that Jesus's riches are unsearchable. He says that his love surpasses knowledge. That's a massive reassurance for anybody here who says, I can't quite understand it all. Well, no wonder you can't. It surpasses knowledge. It's all bigger and more incredible than we can ever take in. And that's why Christian theology is just the coolest thing to learn because there is always so much more to discover. No matter who you are, your view of Jesus is not going to be big enough. [26:22] The crucial question though is this. Is your view of Jesus vital or fatal? Now, what do I mean by that? Well, if you're a Christian, then your view of Jesus has got a lot of growing to do, but you will know one thing. You will know that, yes, my view of Jesus is small, but it's vital. [26:46] In other words, it's absolutely essential. I completely depend on him because that's what makes us a Christian. That we trust in Jesus. We recognize him as the source of life and hope and forgiveness. We're aware that nothing is more important than him. So, yeah, our faith wobbles. [27:05] We have struggles, doubts, questions, uncertainty, and a ton of things that we still need to learn, but we know that it's vital. We know that we need him. But if you're not yet a Christian, then that means that your view of Jesus, no matter how big or small it is, your view of Jesus is that he's not that vital. If you're kind of thinking, well, I'm not sure, or if you're thinking maybe later, or if you're thinking, I just don't want to think about this, just now, then what you need to realize is that that kind of view of Jesus is fatal. [27:57] So, there's our diagram. I can't decide if clipart like that is profound or a bit tacky, but anyway, it gives you the idea that I'm wanting to convey. Last question I want to consider is this. Where do we fit in? Well, I hope that every one of us stands before this. [28:22] Every one of us, whether you have been a Christian for years or maybe not sure yet if you are a Christian, I hope everyone stands before them and says, well, wow, Jesus is amazing. And we stand before him there, don't we? Looking at him saying, wow, look at Jesus. And we don't dismiss him, we don't kind of minimize him, we just stand recognizing how utterly incredible he is. These passages like these are showing us that from eternity to eternity at every step, Jesus is mediator, savior, brother, hero, teacher, healer, provider, protector, he is everything and we stand before him and we want to glorify him. That's man's chief end. That's humanity's great purpose to glorify God. And it's in Jesus that God's glory is revealed. It's through Jesus that we come to God in worship, adoration and praise. And so we see all this flood of theology, we stand before it, we look to Jesus and we say, wow. And we could stop there. And I hope that if we did stop there, that it would leave every one of us here, you know, ready to look up and just stand in awe of Jesus. But I can't finish the sermon there because there's something even more amazing in this passage. Paul is reminding us that Christianity is all about Jesus. The more we discovered about him, the more amazing we will see him to be. But what is even more amazing is the fact that as a Christian, if you are one or if you become one, you don't just stand in awe before him as a Christian, you are united to him. As Paul pours out these amazing truths about Jesus, at the same time, he constantly emphasizes that if you're a Christian or if you become one, then you are united to Jesus. That means that you participate in all of the amazing theology that Paul is talking about. So you go back to these verses and you see that you are mentioned again and again and again and again and again. And you know that because of all the times it says us, us, we, us, us, our, we, us, us, we, we, you, you, you, again and again and again and again. [30:58] He's talking about you because you are united to him. If you become a Christian, if you are one, that means that you share in everything that he's accomplished. You participate in all that he's doing. You belong with him at every moment. You're safe in him forevermore. In other words, you have communion with God the Son. And that means that for everyone who puts their faith in Jesus, you're not actually standing there at all. You're not down there. You're right here. [31:48] You're united to Jesus. Utterly bound up with him and all that he has done. And the incredible truth that that reveals is that the amazing truths that we see in this passage about Jesus are all for you. And so if Jesus is the waterfall through which God's blessings flow, that waterfall is pouring onto you. And God just delights to share His goodness and favour with you. [32:21] If Jesus is the foundation, your name is on one of the bricks. And that's how much you fit into God's plans. In Christ, He chose you. Your name is on a foundation stone. If you lack assurance, that's where you need to go. To God's eternal purpose. The fact that you, that your name is on a brick, that you are unbreakably united to all the solidness of Jesus. [32:49] In Jesus, you have a seat at the family table. You are as much a part of God's family as Jesus is. Now, if you feel like an outsider, please, please write that truth on your heart. If you think, oh, I'm not quite at that level. I'm not quite in the rubbish, absolute rubbish. Jesus is saying, come sit right beside me. You are part of my family as well. You are irrevocably united to Jesus, the firstborn, to the eldest and most awesome big brother in God's family. You belong with Him forever. [33:25] In Jesus, the beloved, the sunshine of the Father's love is not just pouring down on Him, it's pouring down on you. That means that you are not united to Jesus in the shade. It's not like He's standing there. You're kind of tucked in here. [33:39] You mean the shade? No, not true. God's Fatherly love is pouring and beaming down on you because you're united to Jesus. [33:53] No. All the love that beams onto the eternal Son of God is beaming onto you as the adopted child of God. You're not in the shade. You're never going to be in the shade. You're united to Jesus. You're right behind Him. [34:08] In Jesus, through His healing work on the cross, through that great hospital, you are being healed. Your mistakes, your regrets, your doubts, your sins, all the stupid things that you've said or done in your life, Jesus says, forgive Him. [34:33] He is covered and cleansed by His blood. And all the bruises and scars and tears that remain, He is gently wiping away and healing. [34:50] You are united to all the healing power of the cross. It's in Jesus that the great purposes of God are being revealed to you. The light's not just shining on God. It's shining on you so that you can see and know and understand. [35:05] It's to illuminate your mind. The God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shone into our hearts to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. [35:16] The whole work that Jesus is doing as mediator, the whole great plan of salvation that's being revealed through Jesus, through the scripture, is so that God can get you. [35:27] So that God can have you. So that you can be His forever. In Jesus, the inheritance that He secures has got your name on it. It's for you. You are united to Jesus. [35:46] The amazing future that God promises for Him, for everyone who's in Christ, it's yours, ours. Something that we can share together. [35:57] And that means that for everyone, even if you're putting your trust in Jesus with the most childlike, simple, fragile feeling faith, that just unites you to the point where it's unthinkable and impossible for you in any way to be left out of God's great plans for the future. [36:17] In Jesus, you have hope. He's holding your hand. He's never going to let you go. When we think of Jesus' hand holding it, whose hand is he holding? He's holding yours. [36:30] And union with Christ means that His grasp is locked. He's never going to let you go, no matter what, this week or this year or the next 10 years are going to bring. [36:49] In Jesus, the guarantee is stamped on you. You are His. The Holy Spirit has come to dwell in you. [37:03] The stamp's not on a piece of paper, the stamp's on you. You belong to Him. You are His. If there was one word that Jesus could shout to the whole world about you as a Christian, what do you think it would be? [37:18] Imagine Jesus got the opportunity to stand up and he said, right, you can shout one word about every person here who's a believer, everyone who becomes a believer, or has been one, whatever. [37:29] What's the one thing that Jesus would shout? What's the one word he'd say? Would it be forgiven, healed, believer, Christian, redeemed? Maybe, maybe, maybe, I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe on a bad day we think Jesus would want to stand up and say disappointing, immature, wandering, difficult. [37:49] That's the kind of thing we imagine Him saying when we're struggling. I think that if Jesus could shout one word about you for the whole world to hear, it would be this. Mine. [38:10] And in Jesus you have an immovable rock that you can stand on and rely on and He will never, ever, ever let you down. [38:22] Union with Christ means that all this amazing stuff about Jesus is actually all amazing stuff about you. If you're a Christian, if you become a Christian, you're not standing at the side looking on thinking, you know, I wish I was part of that. You're not even standing underneath thinking, well, isn't that utterly amazing? [38:42] You're right here in the middle of it all. And when you get to heaven you'll realize that's where I've always been. I'm so often I just forgot or couldn't see it. [38:58] You're right in the middle of everything that God is doing through His Son Jesus. That's why our chief end is not just glorifying God, it's also enjoying Him forever. [39:10] I want to close by giving you three things to think about. First of all, theology is just the coolest thing ever. It is just the coolest thing ever. There is so much to learn, so much to discover. Just keep going for it. [39:30] Keep looking and learning more and more about what God has done for you and is doing for you in Jesus. It's the most intellectually satisfying, the most heartwarming and exciting and the most reassuring and mind blowing topic subject that we can ever think about in our lives. [39:54] Theology is such a wonderful thing to learn. Secondly, all of this is going with you into tomorrow morning. So whatever you're going to be doing tomorrow, I don't know if you're off, I don't know if you're working, if you're looking after family, spending time with family, zoom meetings, I don't know, whatever. [40:15] Whatever you're doing tomorrow, even if you're going to be on your own, there is never one second when any of this stops being true. You take all of it with you. [40:26] So I want you to do two things. I want you to enjoy it, but I also want you to display it. May our attitudes, our behavior, our reactions, our words this week all be a testimony to how amazing Jesus is. [40:44] So first thing I want you to think about, just theology is amazing. Second thing I want you to think about is that all of this comes with you into tomorrow morning. [40:56] The last thing I want you to think about is for anybody here who is not yet a Christian or not sure, I want you to look at that circle and I want you to know one thing. [41:13] There's room for you in there. There's room for you in there. [41:25] Amen. Lord Jesus, we stand before you and we just want to say wow. [41:40] We love you Lord and we thank you for all that you have, for all that you've done and for all that you're making us in you. [41:53] Please help us all just to know you more and more this week and for the rest of our lives. Amen.