WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.839 Let's pray shortly before we uh talk about this passage. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:04.879 Let's pray together. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:19.440 Heavenly Father, we uh as a community we proclaim that we believe in your Holy Spirit and the power of your scriptures, and we ask in these moments that your spirit would do that great work that we cannot do of convicting and comforting and counseling. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:22.800 So have mercy on us sinners, especially the one who speaks. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:23.760 Amen. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:31.039 So if you remember back at Lent, we were talking about this make-believe couple, Randy and Sandy. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.439 If you're with us, it's probably been a month ago or so. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:36.560 But I have another story about Randy and Sandy, make-believe couple that we talked about. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:41.759 This was back before their marriage was having problems, if you remember all of that and how that played out. 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:48.320 But this was back when their kids were little and their marriage was not having any problems, and they were on vacation with their two kids, Randy Jr. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:49.039 and Sandy Jr. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:50.560 They'll just keep it easy for us. 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:52.079 I know we need to make it easy. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:54.079 And they went to Disney World, right? 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.399 Great vacation, and Randy and Sandy were so excited about this vacation. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:00:59.920 It was gonna be so great. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.159 And maybe you've been there, you've probably been there. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:07.200 It's an amazing place, it's a world of imagination and cleanliness. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.560 I mean, the whole time I'm there, all I'm I'm just looking for trash. 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:15.040 I'm just saying, like, is it possible for a piece of trash to be somewhere inside of this park? 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:16.879 Because it's all dialed in. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:21.840 It's so perfect, it's all designed for you to have the greatest day, right? 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:24.719 And isn't that what you always get when you go to Disney World? 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:27.359 You just get an unbelievably great day. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:29.840 Is that what you had happen when you went? 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:30.560 Maybe? 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:31.519 A few of you? 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:42.079 Well, Randy and Sandy, they got up real early with their little ones and they got to the park early to get that head start, to get to the rides early, to get a few rides in before the rest of the crowd. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.840 And as soon as they walked in to the park, Randy Jr. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.120 had a tummy ache. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:50.480 And so they spend the first 30 minutes in the restroom there at the park. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:51.760 That's a great way to start. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:53.840 Your head start's already over, right? 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.719 And finally, Randy Jr., he finishes up, he comes out. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:59.760 Sandy Jr., Randy, and Sandy, they're all there together. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:06.799 And Sandy Jr., in her little mind, she had decided that the first thing they were gonna go ride was it's an amazing world. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:09.439 The amazing small world. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:10.479 The small world. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:13.039 You can tell how important that ride is on my list. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.599 It's a small world. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.400 That was gonna be her first ride. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:20.000 But not Randy Jr. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:22.479 Randy Jr., he had decided it was gonna be the race cars. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:28.719 And so right away, now we have conflict, and they start talking about it, and before long, they're not just talking about that. 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.919 They're talking about how they had to share a bed last night in the hotel room. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:32.879 And Randy Jr. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:37.199 was kicking, and Sandy Jr., she was stealing the covers and all of this. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:48.479 This is the beautiful family vacation of Disney World, and they haven't even passed that first big flower bed when you walk in the park. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:49.039 Right? 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:51.039 Maybe you've experienced it. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:52.159 Here's my point. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:55.520 You are in Disney World, and these problems still exist. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:04.319 A world created of perfection, and still problems exist because we carry these problems in. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:05.439 And here's my real point. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:09.520 My real point is this you come into faith in Jesus, right? 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:23.439 He is loving, he is sufficient for you, you have absolution, you have acceptance, you have all of this, and you find out as a person of faith, real faith, you've carried stuff in. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.240 You're still holding on to stuff. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:30.639 So that's what this Acts passage is about, Acts 8. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:35.199 We have this guy named Simon, who's a magician, he's been doing these tricks in his town. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:49.199 He's kind of got a little bit of a reputation, he's a little crowd, he's a person of influence, and then the apostles show up in his area, and these guys have real power, they have real tricks, like real healings going on, and they they take us thunder. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:55.120 Because all of a sudden his little magic tricks just aren't that great. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:58.560 But in some ways, Simon's actually influenced by this. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:02.319 Simon's amazed by this, he's convinced by this. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:05.039 He comes to belief in their message about Jesus. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:06.639 Then an unexpected thing happens. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:10.400 I'll reread what Christie read for us, Acts 8, 18 through 24. 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:15.680 Now, when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, right? 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:16.959 Like because he wanted it. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:24.319 And this is after he's come to belief, saying, Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:30.560 But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:35.360 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:42.079 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, that if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:47.199 For I see that you are in the gal of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:53.759 And Simon answered, Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:57.680 So Peter calls him out for one cause bitterness. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:09.120 Despite Peter's despite Simon's salvation in Jesus, his belief, his real conversion, he's still bitter. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.600 So Jesus didn't solve all his problems. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:15.439 Faith didn't solve all his problems. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:18.480 The problems didn't just all go away all of a sudden. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:19.759 He's still bitter. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:21.199 They stole his thunder. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:29.920 They came into his town and he believed, but at the same time, he's sort of missing that power and that influence, and he's bitter toward them. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.560 And you know what I'm talking about, because you still have bitterness. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:44.000 I still have bitterness with that friend or that parent or that neighbor, that sibling, Randy Jr. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:48.000 It doesn't mean you're not a person of faith. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:57.839 It simply means you're a person who's still growing in grace, letting the Holy Spirit work the gospel into deeper places of your heart. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:05:59.839 So a few points. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:04.399 Point number one, we are positionally healed of our sinfulness. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:07.920 And it is sinfulness, it's wickedness, even this bitterness. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:12.800 It's called wickedness, but we are positionally healed of it. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:15.199 Maybe not practically, but positionally. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:23.120 Two weeks ago we were in New York for a theological conference, and the conference had ended, it was the afternoon, and so I go to get on the subway to go somewhere else. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:27.120 I get on the subway, so it's the afternoon, everybody's getting on the subway to go somewhere. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:35.680 It is slammed-packed, like shoved up, small people's heads in the armpits of tall people. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:36.879 Have you ever been on the subway? 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:40.639 And I'm a tall person, just as awkward for me as the small person. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:44.959 You're just shoved together, you don't want to look at anybody, you're tight. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:52.560 There was a lady here, and then there's a guy here, I'm here, a guy here, and we're shoved, and the door's about right here. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:07:02.800 Right when the door about is just about to shut, right when a lineman of a guy, a big boy, he was a big boy, and he was rough looking. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:06.560 And he comes and he just pushes his way in. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:14.319 And as he gets in, uh, we all, the entire train that is shoved packed, realize what he's doing. 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:19.040 He has his phone, he's holding his phone up about right here, and it's on full blast. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:23.439 As loud as you can get that little speaker, it's going, and he has got a song going. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:28.959 And not only the song going, he's singing the song out loud, full blast, as well. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:30.800 He's having a great time. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:37.279 The only problem with all this is the song was filled with language you did not necessarily want to hear. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:48.079 It had one particular word in it, the word in it repeatedly, over and over and over again, and I cannot, I will not lie to you. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:54.480 As his face is right here beside mine, his iPhone's about right here, right? 00:07:54.639 --> 00:08:01.040 And somebody else is here, somebody else is here, we're all together in this great moment, and he is letting it rip. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:08.160 And this, probably 37, I would guess, of this one word in probably about two minutes. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:09.360 Full on. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:11.279 No shame. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:12.720 He is going for it. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:14.480 Nobody, none of us know what to do. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:21.759 We're not looking at him, we're a little scared of him, to tell you the truth, because he's looking rough, he's bit bigger than anybody on the train, nobody's gonna tell him to turn it off. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.399 I I don't want to know what the song was about. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:26.879 I don't want to Google it, that's for sure. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:28.879 I don't want to see that video. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.120 And then the strangest thing happened. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:47.759 Like 30 seconds before the next stop, he turns his phone off and he turns and he looks at me in this like really tender voice, like a like a normal, like a like the voice he would use with his grandmother or something. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.399 And he says, Do you have any spare change? 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:53.679 I'm not feeling charitable at this moment. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:56.480 I say, No. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:08:58.879 I have nothing for you. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.159 I don't like you. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:02.399 I wish you weren't on this train. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:05.039 Somehow you can afford the iPhone. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:07.759 I'm being very judgmental toward you at this point. 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:10.559 And he turns to the next person. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:11.679 Do you have your spirit changed? 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:15.919 Turns to the next person, nobody gives the guy anything. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.360 I mean, I wanted to give him a lesson on fundraising, right? 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:28.480 Share a vision, make an emotional connect, make an ask, follow up, don't say a lot of cuss words. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:31.279 Hey, this is what I want to share with the guy. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:38.720 And what I realized as he went person to person, as I finally looked at him, was he was just a kid. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.039 He was probably 15 years old. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:48.960 I did not realize it yet because I I wasn't gonna look at him as he was singing quite loudly these cuss words in my ear. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:50.720 He was just 15. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:55.440 You see, in an instant he became who he really was. 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:57.440 Just a kid, just a kid. 00:09:57.759 --> 00:09:59.440 He's just a 15-year-old kid. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:02.159 But the old act didn't go away. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:02.639 Right? 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:15.919 So, like, here's this moment, this moment in time where in the same moment, he's just a 15-year-old kid, and yet at the same time, he's still the one who polluted us at the same moment. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:18.240 Right? 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:19.440 You see where I'm going. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:22.960 We are simultaneously sinners and saints. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:31.279 Positionally, we are saints, even while practically we are still imperfect in our sinfulness. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:38.080 Point number two, we too, like Simon, Acts 8, we too are magicians when it comes to bitterness. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:42.879 See, Peter calls out in Simon something that had been there the whole time. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:51.919 Our growth in grace is not a movement that we're gonna reach in some perfection in this life. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:55.759 It's a never-ending process of seeing stuff like this. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.000 Stuff like this popping up, right? 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:07.120 Bitterness popping up, resentment popping up, something popping up, our inability or unwillingness to forgive somebody, or our total judgment toward a guy on a subway train, right? 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:19.519 Like it's this stuff popping up and us being willing to face it, repent of it, reflect enough on it to let the Holy Spirit speak to us about this bitterness and why is it there? 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:25.600 Do you remember the Ruth and Naomi story I told you a few weeks ago from the Old Testament? 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:33.360 Naomi and her family, they had moved to Moab because there had been a famine where she was growing up with her family. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.960 So Naomi, her husband, two sons, famine happens. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.840 They move to Moab because they they just got to move where there's some food. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:45.200 They get there, husband dies, and then the two sons grow up, they marry, two sons die. 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:47.919 So now it's down to her and her two daughters-in-law. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:54.320 Eventually, her and one of the daughters-in-law, Ruth, Naomi and Ruth, they move back to the town where she's from. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:55.600 And it's interesting. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:59.840 She gets back there, like to a place of safety. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:03.440 A place where she could face things, perhaps. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.320 Her friends see her in the street. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:09.600 And her friends say, Is this Naomi? 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:11.600 She's been gone a long time. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:12.879 Is this Naomi? 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.679 And Naomi says, Don't call me Naomi. 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:20.320 She's saying, Don't call me lovely. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:21.360 That's what her name means. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:23.200 Don't call me lovely. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:24.240 Don't call me that. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:25.679 Call me Mara. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:26.799 Call me bitter. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:27.840 That's what Mara means. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.120 So she says, Don't call me lovely, call me bitter. 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:34.480 For the Lord has dealt with me bitterly. 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:40.720 And then she says, I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:44.399 You go, oh, that's that's really depressing. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:46.320 Oh, here's the interesting thing about it. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:50.399 The interesting thing about it was it's like all of this was already there. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:51.279 Right? 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:55.919 When she's in Moab, I mean, her husband and her sons had already died. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:08.960 All this bitterness, it was already inside of her, but it wasn't until she was in a place of safety where she could catch her breath enough to go, oh, this is all inside me. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:11.519 This wickedness, right? 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:17.360 This thing that destroys me and destroys relationships, destroys relationship with God. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:20.480 And here's the key. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:30.000 The key is this is the gospel will give you the secure home your heart needs because you no longer have to try to please God as to be enough before Him. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:35.120 Your sins have been cast upon the cross, his righteousness is given to you, so you are secure. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:42.080 It's like Naomi back in her hometown, she's safe enough to finally say, This bitterness is in me. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:54.559 And because you are a child by grace and you are valued by grace, now, because of Jesus, you can deal with something like bitterness without it destroying who you are. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:14:00.080 Last point, point number three that which can heal us can only be received. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:03.279 We can see it in the text, verses 19 through 21. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:05.440 Simon wants this power. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:10.559 Give me this power also, so that anyone whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:17.279 But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:22.720 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:26.159 You see, you cannot buy God and his graces. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:30.799 You can't buy salvation, you can't buy approval by God, you can't buy acceptance, you can't buy absolution. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.879 It is all given. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:35.120 No money, no merit. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:38.559 And while on one side that's incredible news, you go, oh, that's incredible news. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:40.639 Why would anybody want that? 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:49.360 Well, it's because it's incredibly offensive to you if you have any pride in your merit, any desire for control. 00:14:51.279 --> 00:15:03.519 But if you're a person of poverty of spirits and incredibly freeing, and then you have the power of the Spirit of God in you because you're not living by control, but you're living by surrender. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:06.720 I saw someone this past week that reminded me of someone else. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:14.240 So it's all one guy who I associate with another guy, and this other guy I hold incredible bitterness toward. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:21.279 This is a person that used to be a part of my life, that I have no desire for this person to be a part of my life anymore. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:22.960 And that's fine, that's a boundary. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:25.919 That would be fine for you and your life if you need that. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:32.080 But what I realized is uh there's a lot of bitterness still inside of me. 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:44.960 Um, this is because I had a list of what this guy should do and be, and this guy demolish that, and I still want to make him pay in some way, right? 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:46.639 That's what bitterness does. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:50.240 But really, it's just inside of me. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:53.360 He's probably not even aware of it. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:54.639 Right? 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:01.039 I mean, bitterness is deep ill feelings of resentment towards someone that ends up only hurting you. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:13.919 I sat next to a man this week who's in his last days, and I got the privilege of asking him, are you at peace? 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:16.720 And he said, Yes, I'm at peace. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:22.080 And he said it very, very peacefully, honestly, reflected. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:28.639 And I left thinking, that's that's how you want to die. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:35.360 That's also how you want to live until you get until when you die. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:47.600 And this is where the gospel, a life of surrendering and receiving rather than controlling and earning, has something to say because first off, we know we are Simon. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:58.720 We are a people that form and hold bitterness, and yet we're incredibly grateful that God forgives us in Jesus and counts none of it against us. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:11.759 I can't summarize it any better than Tim Keller, the author and the pastor, he wrote on an article on community and peace, and we actually read this quote in our Explore Redeemer class, so many of you have probably heard it before. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:17.759 You can remain bitter towards someone only if you feel superior. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.759 If you are sure that you would never do anything like that. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:28.319 To remain unforgiving means you are unaware of your own sinfulness and need for forgiveness. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:33.839 When Paul says he is the worst among sinners, he's not exaggerating. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:38.960 He is saying that he is as capable of sin as the worst criminals are. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:42.799 The gospel has equipped him with emotional humility. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:49.920 At the same time, you can't be gracious to someone if you are too needy and insecure. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:56.799 If you know God's love and forgiveness, then there is a limit to how deeply another person can hurt you. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:01.440 He or she can't touch your real identity, wealth, and significance. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:08.000 The more you rejoice in your own forgiveness, the quicker you will be to forgive others. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:12.160 You are rooted in emotional wealth. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:21.839 My brothers and sisters, may you rejoice in your own forgiveness that was earned for you by Jesus on the cross and may you forgive others. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:23.359 Let's pray together. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:33.519 God, thank you that you call us away from such wickedness like bitterness that is wickedness to our hearts, and wickedness to relationship, and wickedness in front of you. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:44.240 Would you call us to repent of it that we might honor you, that we might know freedom? 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:51.279 Help us to see this kind of stuff in our hearts quickly, and help us to be people who repent quickly. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:10.720 God, forgive the ways that we hold this in our hearts, in our lives, and forgive the ways that we try to purchase before you the thing that we need, the way that we try to use our merit or our goodness to try to earn your power in our lives. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:20.160 Help us to be a people that are poor in spirit, that we might know your spirit's activity in our hearts and our lives. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:21.440 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:22.240 Amen.