WEBVTT 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:06.480 All right, so I'm gonna warn you the intrusive thoughts are winning today. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:17.359 I was walking past someone that was in the back of the sanctuary here that was praising their hand held high, and without even thinking about it, I gave them a high five. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:20.239 So we'll see how this goes. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:21.519 Buckle up. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:25.839 Um, this week we are talking uh about the Holy Spirit. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:33.920 This is the second week in the series that we're gonna be doing through most of the summer, where we're talking about the Spirit of God and the attributes of God. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:40.479 What is or who is the Spirit, and what does He do in the life of a believer? 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:48.399 And this is all kind of tied in through a verse that we're we're gonna be carrying through the 2nd Corinthians 3. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:53.759 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:03.840 And 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. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:08.159 For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:20.000 The Spirit is often the most confusing part of the Trinity. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:34.879 We've got the Father, you know, we can picture that, he's the big guy on the throne, and then we've got Jesus who was here on earth, he walked with humans, uh, and he joined them in everything that they were doing. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:41.920 And then there's this other person of the Trinity. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:46.959 You can't see the Holy Spirit, you can't touch him. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:02:00.159 It is often described as the wind that it just blows in going this way and that, and you don't even know where it's going, but you know it's there because you can see the effects of the wind. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:06.959 You can see the leaves blowing, you can see the trees moving, you can see the waves building. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:08.879 You know he's there. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:13.360 But how do we put that into our head? 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:16.080 How do we relate to that part? 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:25.280 Which is really interesting to me because that is supposed to be the most relatable part of the Trinity. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:33.840 You know, when Jesus left, he he said, I'm going to send my spirit. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:40.400 And it's better if I go and I send you the spirit. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:55.759 Now I'm sure if you're and if you're anything like me, I've thought so much about how cool it would be to walk with Jesus, to be there with him, and to see him do miracles and all that kind of stuff. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:06.159 It's not very often I think about, man, I really hope I can walk with the Spirit and and really just spend time with him. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:09.599 I mean, I do. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:15.840 But with Jesus being right next to me, it's a lot more relatable, it's understandable. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:22.000 I could say, hey, Holy Spirit, uh you are there, right? 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:23.439 Yeah, okay, good. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:33.280 It's hard to put in to words, it's hard to put into our heart and understand what's going on. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:41.120 Um but the reality is that this is where you see God's power moving the most. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:58.719 Where his spirit is is like the it's like the the hands that God tells us to move and the hands that go out and do it. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:02.319 God the Father declares it, the Spirit does it. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:07.039 He dwells inside of every believer. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:15.360 But he's hard to understand. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:22.480 So today we're gonna be talking about um Ezekiel. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:32.000 And Ezekiel had some very interesting interactions with the spirit, some very cool stuff. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:36.639 If you haven't read that portion of the Bible, please read it. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:48.800 There's angels and with animal heads and big wheels with eyeballs all over it, and it's just it's really fascinating stuff. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:56.879 Because God gave him visions, and most of us don't get visions like this. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:08.879 So to be in that position where the Holy Spirit is so strong, so thick, that he's literally taking you to different places around the world. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:11.120 How cool is that? 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:17.040 But Ezekiel's life was not an easy one by any stretch. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:25.040 Um Ezekiel uh grew up in in Jerusalem and he was from the tribe of Levi. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:30.079 Levi is the the priest of the kingdom of Israel. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:38.000 That whole line, if you were born in that as a male, you would have been brought up with one thing on your mind. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:40.959 I get to work in the temple one day. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:43.439 I will be a rabbi, a teacher. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.800 I will intercede to God for my people. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:06:14.000 And he got to about 25 years old, and then the Babylonians came in and destroyed much of Israel, took them captive, brought them out of Jerusalem, exiled them across the region, and then they were removed from the plan that they had. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:21.199 So imagine being 25 years old, you spent your whole life waiting and yearning for this one thing. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:22.959 This is what I'm gonna do. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:27.040 And then it's taken from you. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:38.639 Well, about the time that he turned 30, so he's been in captivity for uh about five years now, God starts giving him visions. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:43.040 All kinds of fascinating things. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:50.399 And you think, well, okay, if it's something coming from God, it's got to be good, right? 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:54.720 Well, not necessarily. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:56.399 It's kind of hard. 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:14.720 The visions that that God gave Ezekiel were for to let Israel know that they were in big trouble. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:29.120 That they had been sinning, they had walked away from God, they were worshiping idols, they were not obeying the laws, the commandments that God had given them. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.600 And God was getting ready to pour out his judgment. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:50.800 Now, whenever God poured out his judgment like that, he would send this message and he would say, or he would give these people a chance, be like, oh yeah, I should probably do something about that, and I'm gonna stop doing bad things and I'm gonna go back to God. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:55.759 It's like, all right, maybe I'll be a vessel to help heal my land. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:02.879 But instead, God tells Ezekiel, and by the way, they're not gonna listen to anything that you say. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:05.839 This judgment is coming anyway. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:21.759 So instead of being this rabbi, this teacher, this holy priest, he gets to be the bearer of bad news. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:29.920 But in the midst of all of that, God is still good. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:37.840 Because at one point in one of his visions, the presence of God appears to Ezekiel. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:44.639 Which is really weird because at that time it was supposed to be that God was in the temple in Israel. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:48.240 That's where his presence was, under the Holy of Holies. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:53.200 His spirit would have been hovering over the Ark of the Covenant. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:58.159 But he wasn't there anymore. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:08:59.919 He was with Ezekiel. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:02.559 Well, what is that? 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:03.919 How can you be? 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:07.679 So now you've abandoned your people as well? 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:16.240 But God says, look, these are the things that they're doing. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:18.399 They have to be judged for that. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:23.759 I've tried for too long for them to get their act together, and they won't do it. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:34.399 But the beautiful part about the book of Ezekiel is that the whole thing is littered with hope. 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:42.000 Because yes, he is going to punish his people for what they're doing, because that's what it would take to bring them back. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:47.600 But he is going to restore them. 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:51.279 And this is where we get to Ezekiel 37. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:57.840 This is uh the uh a story that many of us have heard. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.440 If you're of a certain age, you might know the song. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:05.919 Dry bones and bones and dry bones and anybody? 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:06.879 No? 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:08.000 Alright, yeah. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:20.159 So this is um Ezekiel as he's going to see one of the prophecies that's going to be, I mean, to make a song about it. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:28.799 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord, and sat me down in the middle of a valley, and it was full of bones. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:36.320 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:40.720 And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:44.320 And I answered, Oh Lord God, you know. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:48.240 That's a sign of his despair. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:52.159 Hey, only you know. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:53.919 You've been watching these people. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:54.879 Is there any hope? 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:03.279 Then he said to me, Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:12.240 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live, and I will lay sinews upon you. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:20.960 And sinews is is just another way of saying like your tendons and your muscles, and it's all the connective tissue that keeps everything strong. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:32.960 I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and I shall know that, or and you shall know that I am the Lord. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:36.080 So I prophesied as I was commanded. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:50.559 And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone, and I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh to come upon them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:12:04.480 Then he said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on the slain, that they may live. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:13.840 So I prophesized as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet and exceeding an exceedingly great army. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:19.120 Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole of Israel. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.879 Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:24.960 We are indeed cut off. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:50.159 Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:56.080 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, I have spoken and I will do it, declares the Lord. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.360 I've spoken, I will do it. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:09.519 Yes, you're being you're being um judged right now, but I am doing a new thing. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:14.639 I am going to make you new, I will revive what was dead. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:30.639 Four winds meaning this is an omnipresent thing. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:38.960 This is to symbolize the God of everything coming together for his people. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:51.759 We see in Genesis 2, then the Lord God formed a man of dust and from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:59.039 The breath of the Holy Spirit brings life. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:02.799 It has from the beginning. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:07.039 It will continue on until the end. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:15.200 What was dead is never too dead for God. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:24.240 And that's important for us because so much of what we see around the world is negative news. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:30.399 I personally I don't even watch the national news anymore. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.200 Um, I'd rather be happy. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.080 So much negativity. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:44.720 Who's fighting with who over what, most of which doesn't even matter in the long run. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:53.840 There's there's people that won't even listen to each other anymore. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:01.120 They don't want to hear your side because that's that's hate speech. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.200 I'm not picking on any side here. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.360 That comes from both sides. 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:09.759 The left or the right. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:15.840 There are groups of people that will not talk to each other just because of the labels that they put on each other. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:27.360 It's very easy to look at the disparities in our country and say there's the homeless and there's a trillionaire. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:29.840 How does that mesh? 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:47.759 And in all of that, there are a lot of days where it's kind of like, why bother? 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.559 That's much of what Ezekiel would have felt like. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:56.240 What am I what are we gonna do? 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:03.840 In that first 25 years, he grew up under, primarily under corrupt leadership. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:13.919 The kings of Israel were not good, they were they were corrupt, they were sinful, they weren't looking out for their country. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:27.840 And when you're not in it at that level, how do you fix it? 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:29.679 What do you do? 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:35.120 Well, we could respond by becoming cynics. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:40.320 We get bitter, we just complain all the time. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:55.200 But while there are issues that need to be addressed, if all we ever do is complain about them without offering any kind of solutions, eventually it just becomes whining. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:00.240 But we have the solution. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:08.400 Anything that is dead in this world is not too dead for God. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:11.359 He brings in new life. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.880 When we look at Ezekiel 36, we're going to jump back a chapter. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:21.440 It says, I will take, I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:31.119 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:33.759 A new spirit I will put within you. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:39.519 I I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:47.279 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:54.319 You shall dwell in the land that I give to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:05.680 The spirit isn't about making sure that your side is right. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.839 It isn't about making sure that the other guy gets it. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:17.200 It's about restoring what is here. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:25.680 Taking that cynicism, that anger, that frustration, and removing it. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.640 Because all that does is make our heart hard. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:47.839 And allowing the spirit to come in and breathe new life, new life into our hearts so that we can have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:19:00.079 Everything that we see around us right now is one day going to burn. 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:03.920 God will destroy all of it. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:16.480 Everything that we work so hard for, everything we we do so much, or it takes up so much of our time that we focus on. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:20.319 All those material things, they're going to be gone. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:27.039 That's why God tells us to store up our treasures in heaven. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:34.079 Because it's not about stuff, it's about what's in here. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:47.759 God making all the pain, all the ugliness, all the anger, all of it new and real and beautiful. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:58.880 What kind of world would we live in if we all decided that today we're just going to start loving our neighbor as ourselves? 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:10.319 That we are going to put aside differences and get to know each other as people. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:22.079 What if we gave of ourselves to someone that we don't like? 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:30.079 People that judge us and ridicule us. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:33.119 What if we serve them? 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:36.799 The way that Jesus is served. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:47.039 So much of what we do is trivial. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:56.079 Important to some degree, yes, because while we're here, we still have to live. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:58.799 I mean, we're commanded to work. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:03.839 We're commanded to take care of each other, look after our families. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:06.240 Those are important things. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:18.079 But so is going to all the world, making disciples of all nations. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:30.960 People that will treat each other better because the Holy Spirit is working in them and through them. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:47.200 Um my day job, uh I'm a co-responder with the Duluth Police Department, and I I go out and I respond to mental health calls. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:50.559 Um I speak to people who are in crisis. 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:54.880 Uh a lot of the people that I I work with are homeless. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:56.799 They're drug addicts. 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:09.680 And I get told a couple times a day how I'm the enemy. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:20.640 How I am the reason that they're in the position that they're in. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:33.359 I've learned that there are a lot of people who like to say that I'm number one. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.680 It would be very easy to be jaded. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:47.119 To say, why are we doing this? 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:52.160 We're going to put them in detox, but it's not a locked facility, so they're going to be out in a couple hours anyway. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:56.480 We could try to incarcerate them. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:58.079 Most of it is trespassing things. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:22:59.920 They're out in 12 hours. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:07.599 Most of them that we work with don't care about going to the jail for 12 hours. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.240 Because it means they're going to get some food. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:16.799 If it's overnight in the wintertime, you actually see people trying to get trespassed so that they can go to jail. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:19.359 Because it's warm. 00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:30.079 It seems like there's so many options for for healing, but there's so few solutions. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:48.240 But every once in a while, there's folks that have threatened to stab me or to shoot my coworkers. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.400 Sometimes they have a moment of clarity. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:02.160 And instead of being the enemy, I'm the one that's offering them assistance. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:06.480 I'm the one trying to keep them out of jail. 00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:17.200 I'm the one that wants to let them know that they have purpose and meaning, that their life is not a waste. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:34.000 I think the thing that I hear the most from the folks that I work with is that it's always been this way, it's always gonna be this way. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:40.240 Not as a lie from the pit of hell. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:45.599 God has a different way. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:52.160 Love changes everything. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:02.079 He makes addicts lose the cravings. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:09.440 He brings balance to people that are in crisis. 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:16.160 He gives community so we can lift each other up. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:25.039 But we gotta let the Spirit work in us. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:29.039 Are we showing love? 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:33.680 Are we treating people like they matter? 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:37.759 Are we honoring God in everything we do? 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:43.200 So to wrap this up, let's look at some application. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:50.960 Has sin in your life cut you off from the power of the Spirit? 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:53.440 Get rid of it. 00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:55.920 Simple as that. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:00.319 Israel wasn't in exile because Babylon was just a bigger army. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:05.920 It was in exile because they turned to other idols, false prophets, sin. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:11.119 They took their focus off of God and put it somewhere else. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:19.920 I'm not saying that everyone in here has this big huge sin that they're hiding. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.000 I'm not accusing anyone of anything. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:26.640 I'm saying it's reality, we all sin, myself included. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:35.119 What is it that is keeping you from being a hundred percent connected to God? 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:38.799 Get rid of it. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:46.960 Secondly, ask the Spirit to make your heart aligned with God's desires for your life. 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:55.519 Psalm 37, 4, delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:03.920 All those things that we're craving for, that we want, that hope for a feeling of peace and restoration. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:08.319 God has that. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:10.400 He will give you that. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:16.559 And then actively share some good that God is doing in your life. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:20.079 We hear so much negative. 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:28.640 Before you leave today, tell somebody something good that God is doing in your life. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:34.400 God is good. 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:45.920 And we go from Genesis 2, where we're talking about the spirit breathing in. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:50.240 We go all the way to the end of Revelation in chapter 21. 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:53.839 And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. 00:27:54.079 --> 00:27:58.000 For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:06.160 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:12.240 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:19.920 He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:24.640 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:31.119 Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:35.920 God wins. 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:46.720 But we don't have to wait until the end to experience that joy, that presence of the Holy Spirit within us. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:49.119 We should have that today. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:53.680 Just ask for it. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:55.759 God will give it to you. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:00.960 And you will really truly know what hope is. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:02.880 Let's pray. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:08.319 Heavenly Father, I thank you that you are not a God who abandons us. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:18.400 Even when in our judgment you come and you show your love to us in this hope that one day you will make everything perfect again. 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:29.680 That you will give us a peace that surpasses all understanding. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:36.480 There'll be no more enemies, no more arguments, no more debt. 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:47.039 Help us today to feel that feeling of renewal. 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:54.079 So that as we go forward we can walk in a living hope. 00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:56.240 Amen.