Family Blessings Pt. 4:: God Secrets

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Thanks for joining us today as you listen to a portion of a message recorded at Vine Life Church in Boulder, Colorado. If you'd like to connect with us further, you can visit us online at www.vinelife.com.

unknown 0:15

There we go.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Get long-winded. Um. Okay. How many of you like me are excited that it is summer? I love it. It's my favorite season. And not only because it's warm, but because of what summer is all about. Right? The agenda of summer is cram as much fun as you can with your family and friends, right? And sometimes I can like lose sight of having fun, so it's good to have seasons where it's on the agenda. So the Ross family was not about to disappoint summer. So we have been having lots of fun, and they're showing a picture here of these are my five kids, plus one. We bring Josh sometimes to family events. Um we've got Jessa, Tate, Jace, Jaden, and Trinity. And we went and had fun in Steamboat Springs and enjoyed the lake and all the beauty. I mean, how awesome is it that we live in a state that other people come and vacation in? We're so blessed. So it makes sense to me this summer that we've been talking about the family of God and the blessings and the fun that we get by being a son and daughter. So let's go into Ephesians 1, where Luke has been teaching out of and um remember what we've been digging into, starting in verse 3. Blessed be the God of our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Woo! Right? Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Come on, we get the goods in the body of Christ. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance. Woo! Having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. And in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. It is awesome news. And if you have been out and enjoying Colorado and not here every Sunday and have missed some of Luke's messages, I encourage you to go back and listen to them on the podcast or the website because they have been so good. Last week alone, he shared some cultural information about the Romans that will change the way you look at adoption when you read that. So I'm not gonna spoil it, no spoil alerts, but go back and listen. It's good. So this morning we're going to focus on Ephesians 1 9, where it says, God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ. I love how the Passion Translation words this verse. It says, And through the revelation of the anointed one, he unveiled his secret desire to us, the hidden mystery of his long-range plan, which he was delighted to implement from the very beginning of time. So basically, this is saying that God had a secret that he was holding and was not revealed until the death and resurrection of Jesus. And that secret was that before we even fell, before we even needed to be saved, God had already planned. Because it was his heart for us to live here in this realm on earth in constant connection with his presence and then seamlessly move into eternity with him and never experience the void. Because what is hell? Hell is separation from God's presence. And he did not want us to experience that ever, not even for a second. And so, from before he even said, on the let there be light, he had already planned, I'm coming for you and I'm making a way that you don't have to be separated from me ever. How beautiful is God that he would do that for us. But this verse also kind of reveals something else. God had a secret. If I was to call Dennis up and begin whispering in his ear right now, how many of you can at least admit that there would be some level of curiosity as to what I was whispering in his ear, right? We want to know! FOMO comes in, right? Fear of missing out. What is being told and talked about that I'm not privy to? So when I hear that God has secrets, it piques my curiosity. Well, if he had a secret, does he still have secrets? And what are those secrets? And who is he telling them to? And can I be one of the people that can hear them? And how do I hear it? And why is he sharing these secrets anyway? So this morning, what I want us to do is we're gonna break up in groups of two. If you really have to do three, fine, but keep it small because I'm only giving you about three minutes, okay? I want you to get in groups. You're gonna share your name, okay? And how long you've been coming to church. If you're new, share that you're new. And then we're gonna swap stories about asking or divulging with each other. If there was one question that you could ask God and you know that you could get an immediate answer on, what would it be? I feel like I play this game with my kids a lot. You know, we went camping this year and they're spoiled. Okay, I grew up in Massachusetts where there's all kinds of mosquitoes, right? You just get eaten alive. They're used to like no bugs here. So this year, with all the rain, there's some areas up in the mountains that have mosquitoes, and they're like, what is happening? What is going on? Why did God make mosquitoes? And I'm like, I don't know. But when we see him face to face, we will ask him, right? Because even Siri or Alexa does not know the answer to the mosquito dilemma. But so I mean, I have lots of questions myself. I'm like, bow movements, why? And if it had to happen that way, could it have not smelled nicer? I mean, these are the things that I'm gonna ask God. So let's get in groups of two. Okay, it can be a funny thing, it can be serious. I have serious questions, okay? You might need to get up and move, okay? All right. And go. Time is ticking. I'll need you guys to start wrapping up your conversation. And if you had to move seats, maybe start heading back to your seat. Hopefully, you guys were hearing some interesting questions that maybe you're like, oh, I agree. I I would have that question too. Or maybe they brought up something that you're like, well, I never thought of that, but now I have that question. But my um what I'm wondering, and my question for us this morning is how do we even know that if we were to ask God these questions, that he would have the answer? What does God know? So let's look into the Bible because the Bible has a lot of things where other people or God Himself is saying what he knows. Okay? So let's dig in to Daniel 2.22. It says, It is he who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. So God here is saying, Look, I know things, and the things that I know are profound, and I know mysterious things. In fact, he's saying, I even know what the enemy knows. Isn't that comforting that the the enemy doesn't have anything on the Lord? Psalm 44, 20 through 21 says, if we had forgotten the name of our God or extended our hands to a strange God, would not God find this out? For he knows the secrets of our heart. Now, this may be comforting, this may be terrifying, maybe a mixture, but God is saying, I know even your secrets that you have in your heart. Psalm 139, 1 through 5, 15 and 16 says, Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read me like you read my heart like an open book, and you know all the words I'm about to speak before I even start a sentence. You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. You've gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from harm of my past. You saw who you created me to be before I became me, before I even saw the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book. But God's saying, I know what you're gonna say before you say it. I don't even know sometimes it's gonna come out of my mouth. But God does. He knows what I'm doing right now, and he knows what I'm gonna do in the next moment and tomorrow and the next day. 1 Chronicles 28, 9 says, the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. He knows what we want when we really, really want. Do you guys remember that song? How many of you guys have thought you wanted something and you get it and you're like, oh, I don't think I wanted that? God knows all the complexities of our heart, he knows all the layers. He even knows what we what we really want when we think we want something else. And if there was any ambiguity from any of these scriptures, Hebrews 4, 13 sums it up very clearly. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. So God knows everything in the universe about everybody, right? In all the realms, he knows it all. But can I suggest this morning that we can't know everything? Or I'm sorry, that God's secrets are not for everyone. You might think, well, that's awfully stingy of him. Why is he keeping things? But hear me out, okay? Not everyone can know, but I believe that God wants everyone to know. Why? Because he wants everyone to know him. And in knowing him comes an intimacy, and where there is intimacy comes revelation. Psalm 25, 14 puts it this way: the secret of the Lord is for those who fear him. It's not talking about being scared of that God's gonna zap us with lightning bolts and coming before him with knocking knees. This fear is talking about a deep love and a deep respect. And so God is saying, if you love me and you respect me, then you are a candidate for me to share my secrets with. I love how the Passion Translation words this verse. It says, There's a private place reserved for the lovers of God where they sit near him and receive the revelation secrets of his promises. So God is talking and sharing the secrets of his heart with his friends. So if you want to know what's going in your heart, if you want to know what the future holds for you and what God has planned for you, if you have some confusion and you need clarity, if you're needing direction when it feels very uncertain, then can I suggest to you the first place is to give your heart and your devotion to God because those who do, those are the ones that He's speaking to and sharing these secrets with. But this isn't about merely ourselves. We're living in a world that has a lot of questions, a lot of confusion, and needs real answers and real solutions. And God is saying, I know everything, that means he knows the answers to things like world hunger, inequality, racial issues. He knows how to heal cancer. And why, after 80 years of recess making peanut butter cups, this still happens. I mean, isn't that the worst? And then if you want that bitty peanut butter chocolate goodness, you've got to lick it off the paper, and the paper just tastes nasty, right? I mean, why? Could it be that God wants to divulge the answer to this to us if we would just listen? So then my question is, okay, God, I love you. I know many in the room would say the same. I want to know your secrets, God. I want to be able to know the direction that you have for me. I want to be able to help the world around me. How do we hear God? Is it does it play out something like this? We have a little video.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

No, but we are looking for one of your members. We don't actually know the name, but we do know he went on an expedition you founded to Darkest Peru.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

I can see you're very busy. Perhaps we could just go and check.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

There are over two million letters, diaries, and artifacts up in our archive, meticulously filed, and they don't stay that way by letting strange men and their bears rummage around. Well, listen. I'm going to have to ask you to leave.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

What if going to the throne room of God was like that and you had to meet this cranky desk person who may or may not be telling you the truth? Wouldn't that stink? Well, thank goodness. That is not how we hear from the Lord. So this morning I want to go through four things that I think will help us posture our heart to be able to receive the revelations of God. So number one would be to acknowledge. Isaiah 55, 8 through 9 says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. So if we are to humble ourselves and admit that we don't know all the answers and we need God, I believe this will open up our heart to be able to receive his revelation. Because he's saying that he is not operating in our realm. We are of the earth. And we have ways and we have thoughts, and he's saying, My thoughts trump all of those. My thoughts are higher, my ways are higher. And the moment that we acknowledge that and accept that it's not about us bringing anything to the table, then it opens us up to be able to receive his higher thoughts that are not of our of our world. They're otherworldly. So number one, acknowledge. Number two, ask. Jeremiah 3 33, 3 says, Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. If we want to know great and hidden things, then God is saying, simply ask me and I will tell you. Proverbs 51, 6 puts it this way: it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. In other words, this verse is saying that God has hidden mysteries within himself. And as we pursue him, there we find the secrets that are hidden. And why has he done this? He knows something. He knows that when we go in pursuit of him to ask, that we not only discover the answer to what we're needing, but we also discover our value and our worth. Why? Because only someone who knows that they are a king will be brave enough to go in pursuit and seek the king of kings. So there is something that happens to us in our confidence level of knowing that we can go boldly before the throne in the asking. And so God has set it up, He's hidden the mysteries. Within himself, so that we pursue and discover who we are. So number one would be acknowledged. Number two, ask. Number three, make room. Matthew 6, 6 says, But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door, and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. Where does this verse say that God is found? In secret. Where does it also say that he sees? In secret. So if we want to find God and we want to see what he is seeing, then we need to get in the secret place. And yes, I believe this is talking about a literal place that we go to and we shut the door. And I know this verse is talking about prayer, but prayer is not supposed to merely be us coming and listing off all of the things that we're anxious about and saying, God, fix it. Yes, that is part of it. He wants us doing that. But that can't be what the secret place is alone. It's digging into the word with him and letting his word become the living word in which he speaks and brings his revelation. It's shutting up and giving room for him to speak and having dialogue. It's not meant to be a one-way conversation. It also means getting still. And sometimes being in the secret place is doing nothing at all. Blocking out all the chaos of the world and just letting God love us and feeling that love. And what happens naturally is then our love will get poured back out to Him. And sometimes there are no words or actions that are happening. And I know sometimes people will say, well, I've tried this, I've tried to make a routine of it, and sometimes it's just mundane, it's boring, it feels like nothing's happening. But I think God is talking about the long arc. And any relationship we have with anybody, a friend or a lover, sometimes it's exciting, sometimes it's fun, it's fireworks, and other times it just feels like, you know, you're connecting, but it's not nothing special. But in those times that we're carving away with God, we're getting in the secret place, there are things that are being deposited in us that we don't even know until we get out of that room and we shut the door and we're back into the world with chaos and we're dealing with the situation, and then all of a sudden this verse comes out and we don't even remember that we read it, but it was planted in there during that time, and now we have it to be able to use it and bring transformation to the circumstance. Or we're talking to a friend, and they don't need our words, they don't need this earthly realm, thoughts, and ways, they need God's ways. And because we've spent time in that quiet place with him, he can pull from that, and all of a sudden we're saying something that we didn't even know that we had the wisdom to be saying. Because this verse is talking about a literal place, but I also believe it's talking figuratively. When it talks about that room, some versions say closet, the Greek means inner chamber. What is the inner chamber that we carry around with us, 24-7? Right? Our heart. So what happens is when we're in the in the secret place with the Lord and we're cultivating that time, and then we leave that because we can't stay there. Sometimes I want to forever, right? But we have to come out, we have to emerge from our secret place with the Lord. And then we're walking around and we're in situations, and all of a sudden, our heart has become this inner chamber, secret place, through which God can begin to talk to us and bring his revelation. And so then, no matter what we are going on, what's going on, no matter what chaos, we can be in a conversation with someone, and God can speak to us and bring his revelation. This is what we need. So make room. Gosh, there was a time when I was a young woman and I was in a new city for a new job, and I wanted to go to church for the first time and this new place. And if you know me, I am directionally challenged. Okay. And this was back in the day before cell phones and before, you know, GPS and Siri telling me, redirect, Jeanette, redirect. I had to actually look the address up in the yellow pages and get a map and chart the path. So guess what happened? I got incredibly lost to this day. I lived in that city for nine years. I don't know where I was. And I said, God help. And all of a sudden, from the inner chamber of my secret place, God began to speak. Turn right, turn left, get up on this highway. And before long, I'm driving, and there's the sign for the vineyard in Wichita. And I got to church on time. And you might think, great, it was great. The reason that I remember this story is because this church would be where I met my husband. This church would teach me what it means to walk with the Holy Spirit and minister in his power. This church would teach me how to worship and abandon. This church would change the direction of my life. So I am thankful that God spoke to me from that secret place. Otherwise, I don't know what would have happened and where I would be today. Probably not right here, right now. So acknowledge, ask, make room. And fourth is invite his spirit. Because it doesn't matter what we're doing. We could be reading the word. If we don't have his spirit, we literally cannot understand the revelation that he is speaking. 1 Corinthians 2, 10 through 16 from the Passion Translation words it this way. God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, he has revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit who constantly explores all things. God's thoughts and secrets are only fully understood by his spirit, the Spirit of God. We did not receive the Spirit of the world system, but the Spirit of God. Someone living on an entirely human level rejects the revelations of God's Spirit, for they make no sense to him. He can't understand the revelations of the Spirit because they are only discovered by the illumination of the Spirit. Those who live in the Spirit are able to carefully evaluate all things. For who has ever intimately known the mind of the Lord Yahweh well enough to become his counselor? Christ has. And we possess Christ's perceptions. God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are not our ways, and we need the Spirit to help us understand. Jesus, of course, modeled this perfectly and beautifully for us. He showed us both how to hear and why the revelations of God were so important and so vital for us. We know from Isaiah 11, too, that God's spirit was on him and with him. It says, the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, meaning Jesus, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. So with God's spirit resting, with counsel, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, there is an account that happens, and it is recorded in all four of the Gospels. This means that all four men that were documenting what Jesus did felt it important to include this same story. That makes me go, oh, this must be important. I need to pay attention. And then this account itself actually played out twice in the three years that Jesus was on the earth showing us how to live in the way. So let's, as we wind down this morning, let's look at Matthew 14 together in light of what we've been talking about this morning and see what Jesus is showing us. Starting in verse 13, it says, Jesus departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself. So here we see that Jesus is tucking away into the secret place with the Lord. Even he is doing this. He certainly has cultivated that secret place that he's carrying around with him 24-7, but yet he still shuts out all the noise and gets away from all the people and gets alone with God. Then it says, But when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude, and he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. When it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food. There was a real problem. People were hungry. Another account tells us that they were there for three days without food. And the disciples are looking around and they're looking at the earthly realm. And they're in their thoughts and they're in their ways. And they're saying, This place is desolate. There is no solution here. We need to get rid of the people and have them go away. We can't solve this problem. And I don't believe that Jesus was ignorant to the condition that they were in. Right? He could see the desolation. He knew that they didn't have food to feed 5,000 men plus the women and children. But he also knew God's ways are not my ways. His thoughts are not my thoughts. As in terms of this earthly realm. So he was ready to tap in to the revelation of God. And then it says, But Jesus Sorry, I just want to make sure I yeah. But Jesus said to them, They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. And they said to him, We have here only five loaves and two fish. And he said, Bring them here to me. Now I don't know when it happened. I don't know if it was when Jesus was alone or in this moment when the disciples were coming to him. But at some point, God clued him in to what was going to happen. God spoke to his heart and said, I have a plan. I have a solution. And I believe in this moment that Jesus was inviting the disciples into it. He was asking them, Acknowledge, we can't think our way out of this. There is no way to logically figure this out. So let's ask, God, what is your solution? What is the revelation that's coming from the secret of your heart? Then there's a simple sentence that is chalk full, I believe. It says, then he commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. If we're familiar with the story, if you're not, sorry, spoiler alert, there's a big miracle coming and everybody's gonna get fed. But when Jesus is telling everybody to sit down, it's basically like he's saying, I have a revelation. God has spoken to me. And it's going to impact not only me, but everyone here. And this revelation, when Jesus taps into another realm, another way, kingdom way, kingdom thinking, this revelation actually opens up the possibility now for the miraculous. Why? Because even thinking God's thought is supernatural. It is not of this world. And so when we begin to open up the possibilities of God and we're bringing heaven to earth, all of a sudden it changes everything. And now it's like the floodgates are open for the miracles of God. But he also is saying, sit, rest. I think there was something going on here that he wanted them to physically feel. When revelation is coming and when the miracle of God is coming, there is a place of rest for us. When you sat down this morning, how many of you were like, oh, I don't know if this chair is gonna hold me? Wait, just put one cheek on. No, we had we had no fear that we were gonna lay flat and hurt our tailbones, right? We had full confidence because we had experience of sitting down on chairs and it holding us. Jesus had experience of knowing that the Father's ways were not the earth's ways and that his thoughts were not the earth's thoughts. And he knows when I tap into God's kingdom realm, it doesn't matter the desolation that I'm seeing with my physical eyes because God is a God of lavishness and he will lavishly supply. Right? And so I don't think for miracles we literally have to sit down, but I think Jesus is showing us something. Can we come into a place of trust and rest in God's got it? He's gonna do it. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he thanked God, blessed, broke, and gave the loaves to the disciples. And the disciples gave to the multitudes. If we're looking for solutions to tough problems that we're facing or the world around us is facing, Jesus is showing us a really significant key here. He is saying, be thankful. Gratitude. He took the bread and thanked God for it. Look, the resources that they had, the couple fish and loaves of bread, was pathetic, right? No doubt. But Jesus understood what Psalm 100 verse 4 tells us. And I thought it was awesome that we were singing about this this morning. That we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. This means the doorway and the entryway into the chamber of God, in the place where he is sharing and explaining his secrets and bringing that revelation, comes through thanksgiving and gratitude for what we do have, not in complaint for what we don't. Can I say that again? It comes through thanksgiving and gratitude for what we do have, not in complaint for what we don't. And I am preaching to myself this morning, you guys. We can look around and we can see a lot of lack, we can see a lot of desolation, we can see a lot of desert. But we can scoop up the things that God has given us and say, thank you. I mean, Jesus could have said, God, there are a lot of people that need fed, and all we have are these lousy fish and loaves that aren't going to do anything. Fix it. He could have done it that way, but he didn't. He said, God, thank you for what you've given us. Because he was fully trusting that the floodgates of heaven were gonna open up and pour out through the Thanksgiving. And so they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. And now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. You know, I don't think that it was a mistake that there were twelve baskets filled to the brim with leftovers of the miracle. How many disciples were there? Twelve, right? It's as if God was wanting them to tangibly be able to hold the miracle and let it linger a little bit longer. I mean, the taste of the bread and the fish was still on their palate, and the smell is coming up to their nostrils as they're holding this. It had to be heavy. Some thing that I read said the baskets might have been as big as a man. So here they are with these enormous baskets. And why would God want this? What was he doing? I believe he wanted them to really touch this and savor it and hold it a little longer. Because soon they were gonna have to walk without Jesus. He was going back to the Father and he was gonna bring and leave his spirit. And these men were gonna have to do it without Jesus right there with them. And God knew that they were gonna face some desolate situations. And in the tangibility of that moment of holding the miracle, I believe it was God's hope that they would remember in those days to come. My God can supply. God's ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts. And so I believe when Peter goes and sees that man standing or laid out at the gates of beautiful, who's calling out and saying, Give me money. And he was crippled. I think maybe Peter remembered this moment with the basket. Because he didn't have money, did he? He was in a desolation. He was like, what I what you're wanting is from the world. You're thinking with the world's ways and the world's thoughts, and I don't have that. I can't throw money at the situation and it be solved. That's that's the world's way of thinking, right? Just throw some money at it, it'll be fine. But Peter said, No, what I do have, I give you, and I give you freely. What did he have? He had faith, he had trust that God's ways were not our ways and his thoughts were not our thoughts, and that man got up and walked. And I believed that God would say to us, guys, this is what I want for you. You need my revelation. The world around us needs the solutions and the kingdom thinking of God, not our great ideas. And I believe even here today, there are people sitting here that you're gonna go back into life after Sunday morning church. You're gonna be faced with friends, relatives that have real problems. You're gonna walk into your workplace, they're gonna be dealing with financial struggles or things that need real solutions. I can see mom standing, dad standing in PTO meetings where they're trying to decide real important decisions that will impact kids for the next year and years to come. And God is asking, will you make your heart? A place for me to bring my revelation. The people around us, even ourselves, we need the encouragement of God. We need his strength. We need his comfort. You could be the mouthpiece in your workplace, in your city, in your neighborhood, to bring the very word of comfort, the very word of strength, the very word of encouragement that will change the course of someone's destiny, linking them up to what God had planned for them. Do we want to be those types of people? Then the question is, are we willing to acknowledge that God's ways are not our ways? Are we willing to ask him for his help? Are we willing to tuck away with him and read the word ourselves? Look, I love, ask my husband, ask my kids, I love reading books about the kingdom of God. I love listening to podcasts. I love hearing revelation that others have gotten. But if that's all the way, if we're only getting the word that way, then we're like baby birds, right? The mama birds get the worm, chew it up, get it all mushy and regurgitated, and then spit it out in the babies so they can eat it. Is that what we're gonna be? Little baby birds that only are feasting mushed up worms? God has steak for us. And we will find it in the secret place. That is where He will talk to us and bring revelation that is prevalent for us right now. And from that, then we can go out and we really can impact our community and each other. I need you getting revelation. There are things that the Lord has hidden for me inside of you guys. Okay. I want to just pray for us, okay, and bless us. So if this is resonating with you, I just encourage you now to close your eyes and open your hands. And opening our hands is kind of a dual symbol to the Lord of saying, God, I do, I surrender to you. I'm acknowledging that I don't have anything to bring to the table of myself. I don't have a mental assent, a logic way of figuring this all out. I know, God, that you use my brain, but my brain alone is not the answer. I need your spirit. And so I'm opening my hands, Lord, to say, I acknowledge I need you. I need your revelation. We need you, God. We need your revelation. And I'm opening my heart my hands also to say, I'm open to receiving. God, we acknowledge you. And we ask you to come. And we're making room for you, and we are inviting your Holy Spirit. So we pray Colossians 2. God, will you encourage our hearts as only you can, wrapping us in the comfort of heaven and weaving us together into love's fabric? Will you help us to take hold and fully access all the riches of you, God, as we collectively and individually experience the revelation of your greatest mystery, Christ Himself. Together this morning, God, in unity, we confess, Jesus, you are our spiritual wealth. You alone are our hidden treasure, waiting to be discovered. So help us, Holy Spirit, as we yield our hearts to you and allow you the freedom to make our hearts a secret dwelling place from which God can share with us heaven's wisdom and the endless riches of his revelation knowledge. God, we want to know and operate in your ways, not ours. And we desire to share your thoughts with the world around us, not our own. We trust in you, God, and we rest in you. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 49:09

Amen. Amen. Good, huh? Thanks, Jeanette. It was obvious. Awesome, awesome.