Luke 23:50-56 Courage and Patience

Transcript

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And I'm only going to look at six verses today. It says, Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph. He was a member of the Jewish High Council, but he had not agreed with the decision and actions of the other religious leaders. He was from the town of Arimathea in Judea, and he was waiting for the kingdom of God to come. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Then he took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in a long sheet of linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb that had been carved out of rock. This was done late on Friday afternoon, the day of preparation, as the Sabbath was about to begin. As his body was taken away, the women from Galilee followed and saw the tomb where his body was placed. They went home and prepared spices and ointments to anoint his body, but by the time they were finished, the Sabbath had begun, so they rested as required by the law. So we jump back to verse 50. We're picking up Jesus has made the sacrifice. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. He's dead now. And then you got a guy that shows up on the scene, and this guy, Joseph, is mentioned in all four Gospels. All four Gospels account this story, all with a little bit different verbiage, but they all mention him. And it's significant because you have a guy that pops up and he's on the radar and he shows up and is like, we have to do something about the body. Because Jewish custom was if somebody died, they needed to be buried that day, right? And so Joseph goes and he asks Pilate, Pilate, can I have the body of Jesus? And I just want to step back really quick because there's something interesting to me as this unfolds. And as I as I study scripture, I've tried to learn how to slow myself down and think about things I don't normally. And the first thought I had after just sitting and thinking about this was the timing of God is almost always painful, but it's always amazing. Think through everything Jesus went through when his beating happens, when his crucifixion happens, when his death happens, and it all takes place with enough time for Joseph to be able to get his body down, wrap it in cloth, and put it in the tomb. Right? Like a lot of people don't think about that. If it would happen later in the day, this ceremony wouldn't have been able to happen. But the timing of God is almost always in my life been a little bit painful, but always amazing. And so Joseph shows up and he's got time to do this, but he has to hustle and he talks to Pilate. We get an insight here that I think is amazing. I just want to give you a snapshot from another gospel. It's Matthew 27, verse 57. It's not going to be on the screen, but you can write it down, check it out later. It said, as evening approached Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea, a rich man. It's interesting that Matthew points this out. Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea. We've talked over and over and over about why Luke is writing this letter. He's writing it to Theophilus so that Theophilus can be certain. There you go, one person after a year and a half, so that so that Theophilus can be certain in his faith. And when I look at this, I was reading through all the accounts and I saw this, and I thought it was interesting that Matthew mentions, hey, he's a rich guy. And I, you know, is Matthew just excited about knowing somebody that's got some wealth, or is there something more to that? And one of the things that we find out is that in Isaiah 53, verse 7 and 8, let me read this to you. Isaiah 53, it says in verse 7, he was oppressed and treated harshly. This is a messianic prophecy now, yet he never said a word. Remember when he was on trial, Jesus is not responding to anything that he's being asked. He's he's being questioned and he's quiet. He's oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep is silent before the shears, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream, but he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. Check this out. But he was buried like a criminal, he was put in a rich man's grave. So in Isaiah, you got hundreds of years beforehand, Isaiah writes this prophecy. How could Isaiah know that Jesus was going to have to die a criminal's death on the cross, right? Because that's what's being said. He's going to die a criminal's death because that's the only people that ended up on a cross. And then he's going to end up after what criminal ends up in a rich man's tomb? Here's how Rome did it. You were crucified, you died, and then they just threw you in this huge grave with all the other people that got executed. And then they just covered it up or they burned it. Right? And that's how would happen to most of the people that were thieves or murderers or whatever they were tried for, convicted of, hung on the cross. That's where these people went. Yet Jesus lives a sin-free life, dies as one of these thieves, these criminals, and yet he ends up in a rich man's tomb. There's a certain point where you can no longer say, that's just coincidence. There's a certain point where you can no longer say, man, that's just like the dots are so connected. Listen, if you can't read through this and your faith gets stronger, then you need to read through it again until you realize, man, God, you are truly great and how you called the shot over and over and over and over. And why did he do that? So that we could have certainty in our faith because we live in uncertain days. Are you with me on that? We live in uncertain days. I was driving down the road the other day and I start rejoicing because I see gas getting closer to $3. It's crazy. Right? I'm like, woohoo, we're going down, you know, and like there's this, you hear about what goes on in the world, you see what goes on in life on the regular, and you're like, man, these are uncertain times, but my faith doesn't have to be. A lot of times we pray for God to change our circumstance when what he wants to change is our heart. Because he wants us to be uncertain because our circumstances, excuse me, he wants us to be certain because our circumstances will often be uncertain. But if you can get so certain in your faith that you can face any circumstance, you will start living a life that proclaims the goodness of God in the land of the living. Yeah? Cool. So that wasn't even anything to do with Luke. Matthew, thank you. So Joseph shows up. He had not agreed. He was a part of the Jewish High Council. 51, verse 51 says, but he had not agreed with the decisions and actions of the other religious leaders. He wasn't for this. He was from the town of Arimathea in Judea. Um one scholar said that uh it's likely that this Joseph was a descendant of the Joseph, coats of many colored Joseph. Um, and why I think that's cool. I don't know how much effort that you could put into that and verifying it. But so Arimathea, not a lot known about it, but other than it was in Judea. We see here though that he was waiting for the kingdom of God to come, which means this he's looking for the Messiah. He's looking for the Messiah. And listen, he believes that he found him. Check this out. It says he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, or he went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. This is significant because John accounts in John chapter 19, verse 28, it says, Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. This is John's insight. Why is that important to catch John's insight? Because there was something about this man that was learning from Jesus, that was loving Jesus, that was being, he was being discipled by Jesus, yet he was nervous about the crowd that he was around. He would, he would kind of like, I've got to keep this a secret, though in my heart I know that this is the guy. I love that in discipleship we don't have to have it all figured out, and Jesus loves us where we're at, and he grows us more and more into who he wants us to be. If you're in this place today and you're like, man, I feel so far away from being a mature believer, you're in good company because there was a guy named Joseph of Arimathea that his discipleship he had to keep secret, but then one day Jesus dies, and now boldly, check this out. Everybody's gonna know that he went to Pilate. I was secret about this, but I've seen the sacrifice, I saw the life he lived, and I am convinced I'm gonna go, Pilate. Would you give me the body of Jesus? I don't care what all the other Pharisees say or the religious leaders say, I don't care who sees me. Listen, take this into account. Pilate had just been the one to acquiesce to the people and say, okay, you can kill him, you can have him crucified. You're asking for the body of somebody that was just committed to death. He was just murdered. How many people want to hang out with somebody who had just got murdered? You're not really because you're thinking, man, I could have the same fate as him. In fact, we see Joseph there, but we don't see the disciples there. Why? Because they're afraid that what happened to their rabbi is their fate. And so they're hiding in this moment. Listen, don't ever be discouraged if fear has held you back in a season of life because God loves you enough to work with you in the middle of your fear and get you to the other side of your fear so that you can live courageously before him and before others. Sometimes we get so ashamed. I was too afraid to share the gospel yesterday with that person at work. Yeah, but that was yesterday. This is today. I'm not the same person. As I push into Jesus, I'm not the same person today that I was yesterday. As I chase after Jesus, I'll not be the same person next year that I am now. So there's mistakes I'm gonna make now, but check it out, it's okay because he's going to begin working and continue working in me all that he wants to accomplish. Listen, how long is he gonna do it? Until the day I die, he's gonna be in process with me. He's gonna be in process with you. I look at Joseph and I get I get excited about this guy because he's like, I've got a secret quiet faith. I know a lot of believers that have a secret quiet faith. I had a friend one time and he was sharing their like somehow he got into a conversation with a buddy, and uh they got talking about church, and and my friend was like, Well, I go to church over here at this place. And the guy was in the conversation with us, you go to church. It's like, bro, your faith was so secret that it's shocking that you go to church. There's nothing about your life in this moment that gives off Jesus, that aroma, right? But listen, we're okay because as we push into him, he will transform us, but we have to submit to him. So Pilate goes and he asks for Jesus' body. This is a huge moment. He's got secret fears that aren't unique to him. We all face them. There are many followers of Jesus, some in this room that keep Jesus secret in areas of their life. In this room, there's some people that keep Jesus in secret areas of their life. So you can come on a Sunday morning and you can sing and you can raise your hand. Some people, I see you out there now. Some of you getting froggy. You're like, I'm about to try this. I'm about to you're trying to figure out which one to do. Am I doing the carry the cake or raise the roof, right? I don't know which one I'm about to do, but I'm about to do one of them. And it's awesome because the Bible says lift holy hands to the Lord. Guess what? We talk about this all the time. God loves hands. That's why we raise them. It's it's not us, it's not like, hey, you guys are the crazy church that raises your hands. Like, no, we're the obedient church that raises our hands because he likes hands. So we raise our hands and worship. I don't care what you think if I raise my hands, because I'm worshiping God. I'm not worshiping you. And I love to see you guys, you're like, ah, uh, uh. And then you just do the one-hander, you're like, I'll just do the one. I love it. We're in process in here. So there's a lot of us that's got secret areas, but God's working in us. He's working in us. 2 Peter 3 18 says, I grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus. We grow in our relationship with Jesus. Joseph goes from being a secret disciple to putting everything on the line when he asks for the body of Jesus. It says, verse 11, excuse me, verse 11, uh, and verse 53, then he took down the body from the cross and wrapped it in a long sheet of linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb that had been carved out of rock. There's a lot there going on. First thing, let me break this down. When he takes the body of Jesus down, the moment he touches the body, he becomes ceremonially unclean. We've talked for weeks and weeks about the Passover is about to happen. That weekend, the Passover. It's like the highest day on the Jewish calendar. They're like everybody is pouring in for the Passover. The moment he touches the body of Jesus, he removes himself from being able to celebrate the Passover with anybody because he's unclean for the next seven days. But in his mind, I would rather honor Christ than be included in the celebration because I've already seen the Lamb that was slain. So I'm gonna be unclean. Check this out. Every other time you look in scripture where somebody who's unclean touches Jesus, what happens? They get clean. We've talked about this before, that the holiness of Jesus is more contagious than the sickness of man. Right? So you can have a woman with the issue of blood reach out, touches garment, boom, she's healed. He doesn't become unclean, she becomes clean. The leper comes. Jesus, if you can heal me, he touches the leper. Jesus is not unclean, the leper is clean. But now we have this crazy moment where, boom, you have a follower of Jesus that it says what? It says, now there was a good and righteous man. You got a clean guy coming up and touching Jesus who has the sin of the world. And now this man is unclean because he touched Jesus. And yet he honors him, brings him down. He's wrapping in him and in what, if you would study, would be a very expensive cloth. And then he puts him, it says, in a new tomb. I'm so glad that Luke is detailed. Puts him in a new tomb. It says, it doesn't just say a new tomb. It says what? That had been carved out of rock. A tomb that had been carved out of rock would have been incredibly expensive to have done. And it would have been done for the reasons of this would be the place where my family gets buried year after year, every time somebody dies. This is sort of like the plot. This is the spot where all the bodies are going to go. And so he has this huge like, I don't care what it costs me, you take my tomb. This was like my inheritance to my family, in a way, being given over. And he's like, you take my tomb. And now here's what's important about it is that nobody had ever been in it before. Why is that important? Because we want to be sure and certain in our faith that who came out of the tomb was the only person ever put in that tomb. It's a new tomb, never been used. Listen, don't you love how the dots start boom, boom, boom? Like I have to start trying to believe harder that this isn't real than when I have all the evidence in front of me. He's like, man, how for sure. Put in a new tomb. The women are following behind and they see what tomb he gets put in. There's no confusion about whose tomb it was. It was Joseph's tomb. There's no confusion about what tomb to go visit. It's not like they got mixed up in their directions and ended up at some random tomb that was empty. They knew where the tomb was, they know who it belongs to, and they go right to it on resurrection day. You with me on that? So he took down the body, he becomes unclean. He takes it, he has enough time to then take it and put it in the tomb. This was done late on Friday afternoon, the day of preparation, as the Sabbath was about to begin. As his body was taken away, this is verse 55. The women up from Galilee followed and saw the tomb where his body was placed. Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments to anoint his body. What are they doing? They're putting together all this stuff that when his body starts decomposing, it won't stink or it'll stink less. So their belief is he is gone. If hope is light, they're in a cavern. They're in full darkness, they're in full despair, they are in full grief, they are in full hopelessness, they're in full everything that they had hoped for shattered. And now lays behind this rock and this tomb. And they're preparing the ointments to put on his body so that it won't stink as it decomposes. This is where their hearts and their faith are. Can you catch that with me? Have you ever been so hopeless in life that you're like, man, I'm preparing for this next season just to be a dead season? You've given up that anything special now can happen. Right? Can we can we read this? Can we get in this place where these women are that night? They're trying to keep like their tears are mixing with the ointment. Wouldn't yours? If you thought this was the guy that's going to change everything, I've seen him heal people, I've seen him raise the dead, I've seen him open blind eyes and open deaf ears and heal the mute. I've seen him, all these things happen. How is he dead? How was he beaten like that, brutalized like that, hung on the cross for the guilty people when he's the most innocent man ever? He was the one that was going to change everything. And now he's in the tomb, and we're wrecked, and we're making these ointments to put on his decaying body. What were they doing? They were preparing ointments to anoint dead dreams. This is what, like, can I just tell you? It was about halfway through the week, and these women became my hero. Like new heroes. They went home, prepared spices, anointments to anoint his body. But by this time, but by the time they were finished, rather, the what? The Sabbath had begun. So they rested as required by the law. These women have followed Joseph, they see where the body's placed, they're preparing the ointments. Man, I can't I I I try to get to the point of like, what did it feel like? And the Sabbath hits. And so, how does it work? Um, the day begins for them, a new day begins when the sun sets. Right? So the sun's setting, the Sabbath is beginning. They don't have time to get to the tomb. Even if they could, there's a stone rolled there. They have to rest. Why are they doing that? They're honoring God when they honor the Sabbath. Say that again. This is huge. They're honoring God when they honor the Sabbath. They're honoring God when they choose to rest. Let me put it to you like this. They should have no reason to worship, yet they do it anyways. They don't have any reason to be like, yeah, let's rest. God's good, let's rest. He's faithful, let's rest. No, everything is broken down in their life, and like, you know what? We've got this ready to go to the tomb, but we can't because even in the pain, we're gonna worship him, we're gonna honor what he asks us to do. Listen, we live in a current culture where every single excuse is made not to worship Jesus and honor him. We want to say, how close to the line of sin can I live rather than how close can I get to Jesus? We want to figure out like what can I do to have as much of the old me as I can in my life rather than getting rid of it. And so we'll find excuses. Well, that person treated me wrong, that person treated me wrong, that person fell from grace. Why should I trust? Why should I believe? We will look at all these excuses. And oftentimes, a lot of the excuses for why we don't want to worship, why we don't want to obey God, can be legitimate. You can have somebody that you once trusted that said they love Jesus and they stabbed you in the back, and that is a real pain that really hurts. And you cried real tears. You had somebody maybe in your life that you should have trusted. A lot of reasons that are valid. These women are sitting with every excuse, every reason to not be obedient. And I just gotta be honest with you. I'm like, if it's me, if this is if this is Joey back in the day, I'm probably just going to the gym. I've got the women already. I'm like, I'm not gonna be stuck. I've seen what's happening. I'm gonna just do what I'm gonna do because everything I had open is crushed now. What would have happened if they had the attitude of Joey? They end up at a tomb with a stone in front of it. Check this out. If they would have responded like a lot of us do, like probably I would have done, I would have shown up on silent Saturday rather than Resurrection Sunday. When you're obedient in the pain of your life, you will find that it does not lead you to a tomb with a stone in front of it. It will lead you to a tomb that is empty. When you are just hard, and if you are just intentional about saying, I'm gonna be obedient in every season, whether it's raining, I'm gonna praise. If it's shining, I'm gonna praise. If it's hard, I'm gonna praise. If it's hot, I'm gonna praise. Whatever season, I'm gonna be faithful in my best in being obedient. Because in that obedience, it's going to get me to resurrection Sunday rather than Signal Saturday. And the hard part that we have as many believers is we're so controlled by our emotions, we do things not out of obedience, but out of pain, and they lead us to even more painful places. The tomb ended up being a place of rejoicing rather than a pain, a place of even more pain, of greater pain, of deeper pain. Anyone else, you're like, wow, that's kind of I never really thought about that. Man, if they would have just rolled out on Saturday, there would have been zero hope, even more grief. Leaning against the stone and just crying like God, how could this happen? As opposed to Sunday morning when resurrection entered the timeline of history, the door gets kicked open to what redemption is, and they're walking down the path with ointment that they don't need because they don't know that the Lamb isn't in the tomb anymore, that he's risen. Why? Why did that happen? Because they were obedient on the Sabbath. There will be reasons in every season of your life not to honor God. Somebody gets a legit that you didn't want. That's that's where our faith is right now, isn't it? Listen, this is not side oriented. I've talked to everybody on both sides. Not everybody, that's a lot of God. I'm sorry. I didn't talk to all I didn't talk to all of them. But there's a consensus. Right? There'll be reasons in every season of your life not to honor God. Joseph could have kept embracing fear instead of honoring Jesus and touching a body that would defile him and remove him from being able to worship on the Passover. He could have kept that fear. Nobody could have known. He could have kept living his life. He wouldn't have been frowned upon or betrayed potentially by the people that he lived his life with. But he sides with a man who had just been crucified. Joseph could have embraced the fear. Instead, he honored Jesus. The women could have allowed impatience to interrupt obedience. I let that happen a lot for me. Ashley, would you come up for me? I am the Lord reminds me how impatient I am by the son that he's given me. What I mean by that, is my son is he's he's he's as as dope as they come, he's as awesome as they come. But he gets an idea on his mind and he will not let it go. So dad, we were talking about the pool yesterday. I was like, I remember all five times we talked about the pool yesterday in 6 a.m. today. Yeah, man. So what are we thinking about the pool? Well, I told you what would happen. This is how the day's gonna go. Oh, yeah, right, right, right. 15 minutes later, sure. I'm excited about that pool. And like things in his life, he's just like, he'll, he'll just, but man, my dad was laughing at me. He's like, because Joey, he's you at that age. I would worry my mom to death about something until she did that thing. I would get fixated. And then my wife, who's about to play the keyboard, is like, not a lot changed. I get something on my mind, I keep talking about it. Keep talking about it. Oh my gosh. I worried Sienna to death for six months about collard greens. Bless her heart. From like November to two weeks ago or something like that. And I get stuff on my mind, and like, and can I just tell you, I'll be transparent with you. I've made decisions in our church that were impatient. Man, one time I made a decision early on. Don't know how many of you know our story. We are we are three churches that came together. You talk to anybody and they're like, that is foolishness. We've heard that a lot, but they but they didn't know the fools that were running them. So we we'll do whatever God says. You know, it was early on, and and we were trying to, man, you realize we had about three or four services, and then COVID shut everything down. For those of you U OGs that were here, you know. So everybody's like, how do we film stuff and how do we do this? And and one week I get really impatient. I have this great idea. And I ordered this thing that's supposed to make things better and it made it worse. And like some people are scrambling trying to get it done, it made it work. And I caused turmoil within the team I was supposed to lead to safe places. Like a team that I was supposed to, maybe not safe places, because not very safe when you're following Jesus, but lead to places where we're honoring God. I cause turmoil, and I had to apologize to the team. Like, guys, I I got impatient and I just got it wrong. If I should have just pumped the brakes, can't I tell you? It's not the only time it's ever happened. If you got to go to a church that's got a perfect pasture, I want to tell you right now, Hope City is not it. But if you want to go somewhere where there's people that are growing in who God's called them to be, there's a lot of awesome people that are doing that right now, including myself. I just, God, what do you want to work out in my heart? What do you want to change in me? I was reading the story this week with these women, and I'm like, God, I let impatience rob me from being obedient a lot. Because I want to get things sorted myself. Anybody else? I read about these women who are like in the depths of despair, yet they are obedient and honoring God. And it gets them to resurrection Sunday rather than silent Saturday. And I just think, Lord, I want an obedience that doesn't navigate me out of hard moments because they had to endure silent Saturday while they were obedient. There's gonna be times as believers we endure tough seasons. We don't need to create a theology that if you're struggling, then your faith is less than just believe stronger. We need to understand that there are hard times as believers. And if you're weary, let somebody know that you're weary so that you don't have to be in that alone, so that somebody can be praying for you. But until you get to some of these hard, dark places, you will never know the height of his love. Let me ask you these two things. We're gonna close with this and get some waffles. You want to see me preach fast, you throw up a bouncy house and give me waffles? I'm gonna have a short message. Courage and obedience are marks of disciples. So where in your life today is Jesus calling you to courage? Where in your life today is Jesus calling you to obedience? He's consistently working in all of us. But is there an area where he's like, hey, I want you to start stepping out in courage? There's this area where your life you've been silent in, and I need you to start speaking up in it. Does it make sense? There's an area in your life where he's like, man, I'm I'm calling you to courage. I was working with you in the secret season, but I'm not wanting to keep you in the secret season. That's why I felt my heart preparing this weekend. There, some of you have been in the secret season, and Jesus is saying, I'm calling you out. I've got a Joseph moment for you. And I and I I felt stirred in my heart that also that the Lord's saying for some of you, um, there's some areas that you just kind of let slide, and I'm and I'm calling you to obedience in that. Calling, listen, I just say this real quick when I talk about these subjects. I look around the room to make eye contact to make sure that you're awake, not because you're the one that did it. Start talking about obedience, it's like, oh my gosh, he's staring right at me. He he hasn't blinked in five minutes. Just making eye contact, that's what communicators do. However, the Holy Spirit does work in these moments, and he'll start saying, Hey, there's some anger I need you to bring to me and submit to me because that's not a fruit of the spirit. There's some fear that you're dealing with that you need to bring to me because that's not a fruit of the spirit. There's some uh greed that you need to bring before me because that's not a fruit of the spirit. There's some envy that you need to bring to me. There's some anxiety that you need to bring to me. And whatever it is this morning, would you just be faithful and saying, Lord, I just want to be obedient. And listen, I'm not trying to tell you that what we've heard this morning, your life doesn't have to be perfect in this moment for you to submit in this moment. You just gotta trust. God, I'm choosing like these women did. I'm choosing to trust you in the middle of the pain, in the middle of the hurt, in the middle of the struggle. I'm gonna be obedient in this area. Some of you, the Lord's just saying, be obedient and getting time with me. He's calling you to time with him during the day. Some of you need to be obedient and inviting accountability in your life. And can I just say this? Oftentimes we look at accountability and we're just like, well, help me to not watch that thing anymore. Help me not to smoke that thing anymore, help me not to, and we're trying to use accountability to keep us from sin. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But if that's the only way you use it, you're missing out on a lot. Because some of you, you need to be held accountable. Hey, when are you gonna write that book you talked about? When are you gonna step up on the serve team? You've been nervous about that. When are you gonna holding people accountable to growing in God? You've been talking about ministering to that neighbor for a while and taking them some cookies. When are you gonna do that? Accountability to what God has called us to, not just what he's called us from. Yeah? So let's pray right now. God, I thank you, Lord, that we as sons and daughters are not left as you found us, but we were loved when you found us. That we've always known, you've always seen us before we were born, you knew about us. You loved us. And the love never stopped and it never ceased and it never changed. And Lord, I thank you right now that you've loved us in every season, but God, I thank you that you don't leave us in secret places, but that you convict our hearts when there's times to step out of those secret places of just saying, I'm just gonna, I'm not gonna let anybody really know. God, I thank you right now that you're calling people into new seasons right in this moment. Lord, I thank you that you're giving people opportunity right now in this moment to step into obedience. Some of it may be rest itself. That you don't even know what Sabbath is, that you're like, man, I've never really thought much about getting a day of rest and trusting God that my life and my world will keep spinning if I rest like He tells me to. Yet just exhaustion overwhelms you because you've gone years trying to keep every plate spinning and all the balls up in the air all by yourself. Lord, I thank you that there's some people this morning that you're calling into obedience in their relationship that they have with others. A purity in their relationships with each other. Lord, I thank you that there's some that you're calling into obedience and forgiveness this morning. That they would realize this is not a feeling or an emotion, but it's a choice of my will to say, God, you've forgiven me, so I choose to forgive those that have hurt me. I value relationship with you more than I do being right in this situation. Some people this morning are getting called to obedience. Some of you this morning are getting called into obedience to find accountability, to seek accountability. Not just to keep you accountable from the things that God has called you out of, but to keep you accountable to the things that God has called you into. Lord, I thank you for your sons and your daughters, and I thank you there's no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, but praise God there is conviction of the Holy Spirit when you've got more for us. So, Holy Spirit, convict our hearts right now when there's areas and places in it that don't line up with what you've got for us. Convict our hearts right now, and that we remember you discipline those whom you love, and that we can come before you and we can run boldly to your throne of grace and mercy without fear, without condemnation, without shame, without regret, and that you embrace us and that you hold us and you transform us and you change us. This morning, I think that's what I would ask you to do right now with your eyes closed. If courage is something you feel stirring in your heart right now, if obedience is something you feel stirring in your heart right now, I would say this in your mind's eye, can you see that throne? Could you imagine whatever you you would think that throne to be? Could you just use the creativity that God's given you? And just whatever, whatever you would see, man, how could we even imagine the the presence of God? But that there would be this place that you can run into, this room you can run into. And then the creator of the universe is like, come sit on my lap. Let me love on you. Let me talk to you about who I made you to be. Let me talk to you about how I see you. Let me break off of you all those lies that were spoken into your life. Let me wash off the tears that have soaked your clothes and just made you feel like there will never be hope. I just invite you right now to see that throne and in your mind's eye, would you run to it? Would you pray this prayer with me? Jesus, I thank you that by your sacrifice, and by my acceptance of your free gift, I am made right. I have been saved. I am being saved, and I will be saved. But I speak peace over your sons and your daughters, but not a peace that leads them to a couch or a piece of furniture to recline, but a peace that calls them into battle. A peace that calls them to the front lines, saying, There's there's a war that's going on, and you need to step into the fight. There's souls in this in this city, in this county, in this community that they need to know the light that you know, they need to know the hope that you know. Would you get into the battle? Thank you, God, for that kind of peace. And thank you, Holy Spirit, for your love, for your goodness, your grace.