WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:06.959 So we've been walking through the book of 1st and 2nd Samuel through this winter and spring. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:10.800 We've seen the nation of Israel ask for a king. 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:14.320 We saw the rise and then the fall of King Saul. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:20.079 We saw the rise and then the stumbling of David, a man after God's own heart. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:39.439 Now, as we come to the end of these two books, or kind of one book in two parts, we see that because of David's sin in part, both his sins of omission and his sins of commission, his son Absalom staged a coup, and a civil war broke out in Israel. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:46.719 David's side eventually won, put down the rebellion, and his son Absalom was killed. 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:53.520 Now, these next two chapters that we're looking at this morning mark the return of David to the throne. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:56.240 And also it's really the end of David's story. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:04.079 As we move into 1 Kings, it's really about kind of David's death and the transition of power after David. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:07.760 And so today we look at the end of David's story. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:22.560 What we're going to find here is that hope never lies within ourselves or the people around us, but our whole hope is ultimately and always in the God who is faithful to his people and to his promises. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:25.439 So that's where we pick up our story here. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:28.000 And 2 Samuel chapter 19. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:36.959 Says, It was told of uh told to Joab, Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:41.359 So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:45.439 For the people heard that day that the king is grieving for his son. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:53.359 The people stole into the city that day as people who steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:02:02.000 The king covered his face, and the king cried out in a loud voice, O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:08.639 So David obviously is overcome by the death of his rebellious son. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:21.120 And because of that, he's unable to honor or to celebrate, to commend his soldiers who had won the victory, who put their lives on the line for him and for the kingdom. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:27.120 Rather than returning to cheers of victory, they return ashamed, as if they had lost. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:32.719 And so Joab, the leader of David's armies, comes and rebukes him. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:34.000 We continue. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:00.000 For you have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:06.560 For today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, then you would be pleased. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:11.520 Now therefore arise and go and speak kindly to your servants. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:13.120 Point one. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:49.360 Now he was overcome with grief at the death of his son, but it's very likely that he was also overcome with shame because of his own failings as a king and as a father, which really led to Absalom's rebellion. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:56.319 And this weight was so heavy upon him that he couldn't do anything else except cover his face and wail. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:01.840 But the problem was he wasn't just a father, he was a king. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:11.759 And this shame that he felt began to spread outward from himself and began to infect not only his household, but the nation as a whole. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:19.199 And as Joab puts it, it was going to do even more damage than the Civil War ever could. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:22.959 And so an unlikely friend comes to his aid. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:31.839 Problematic Joab comes and says these hard words of truth and calls him back to his duties as king. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:37.279 But it raises this question: we too face guilt and shame. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:39.120 We face the weight of our own sin. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.720 We face the weight of the sin done against us. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:44.959 And so how do we face it? 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:52.800 How do we overcome it more than simply pushing it down and going along with life as normal? 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:57.759 As I thought about it, uh, this movie, The King's Speech, came to mind. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:04:59.839 This is my favorite movie. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:02.240 Uh that may tell you something about me. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:05.600 Um, it's kind of just a conversation. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:13.199 Uh, it's about a king who can't give a speech, and and the victory, the victory at the end is that the king gives his speech. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.160 So uh it's kind of a heady, heady movie. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.000 It's about Prince Albert. 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:20.399 This is a true story, based on a true story. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:26.160 Prince Albert, played by Colin Firth, is thrust into public service. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:27.759 He never thought he would be king. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:32.000 His father was King George V, and he was the younger of two sons. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:39.839 Well, his father, King the Fifth, uh, King George V, dies, and his brother abdicates the throne. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:47.360 And so he finds himself in a place that he never thought he would as King of Britain. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:48.959 But he has a problem. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:58.959 He has a terrible stutter that he's had since being a very small child, and it's a huge embarrassment for him, for the family, and in turn, the nation. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:07.439 And so the royal family goes and hires uh speech therapist after speech therapist, the best and the brightest in their field. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:16.560 None of them are able to help until they stumble across Lionel Logue, played by Jeffrey Rush. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:23.040 And it's his unorthodox methods that break through, begin to break through these speech impediments. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:27.199 And the secret of his success, uh, we can see it in this short clip. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:29.360 So let's just watch for about a minute. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:30.720 What do you think? 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:32.399 Get up! You can't sit there. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:33.360 Get up! Why not? 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:34.160 It's a chair. 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:36.079 No, that is not a chair. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:38.720 That is that is St. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:39.600 Edward's chair. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:41.120 People have carved their names on it. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:43.600 Chair is the seat on which every king is. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:45.759 He's killing quees by a large rock. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:47.120 That is the stone of schoon. 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:48.319 You are a trivializing. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.040 Listen to me! Listen to you by what right? 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:52.480 My divine right, if you must. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:53.040 I'm your king. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:53.600 No, you're not. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:54.560 You told me so yourself. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:55.600 You said you didn't want it. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:57.439 Why should I waste my time listening? 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:00.079 Because I have a right to be and I have a voice. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:20.480 You have such a perseverance birth, you're the bravest man I know. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:23.120 And like a bloody good king. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:31.199 I love that scene. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:35.439 Can you see how he got through? 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:42.720 It wasn't through special verbal techniques or exercising the tongue. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:51.839 Lionel Log got through to Prince Albert or Bertie, as he was known by his family, by becoming his friend. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:58.399 And by loving him for who he was, a simple human being. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:06.319 Rather than continuing to thrust upon him the pressure of his role as king of England. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:14.240 And as I've watched this movie again and again over the years, it has become just a beautiful picture of the gospel. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:20.240 One of the best pictures of the gospel, in my opinion. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:29.120 Because this is the message of the gospel that God comes to us being crushed under the weight of our own sin and our guilt. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:38.080 And he doesn't just wipe it away, he doesn't ignore it, but he takes it from us and he takes it onto the cross and he dies in our place. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:50.639 Not only does he die for us, but he is also resurrected for us, so that in him we receive forgiveness and eternal life. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:09:02.799 And for those of us who put our faith in that sacrifice, that death and that resurrection, the Father in heaven, Jesus Father, says to us, You are my beloved daughter. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:08.799 You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:23.279 And so not only does he take away our sin, our guilt, and our shame, but he fills that hole inside of us with divine love that can never be quenched. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:44.559 And so when we are faced with our own failures, failures as individuals, as parents, or in our roles that we play, we can come back to the God who judges justly, who has poured out all of our sin and all of our shame onto Jesus on the cross. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:47.519 And he says, Lift up your head. 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:49.840 I have work for you to do. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:55.360 And we can go and return to that work in the world. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:00.879 Beloved, we need the truth of the gospel and we need friends. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:07.360 Friends who will come and speak the truth to us when we have forgotten it or don't believe it. 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:09.759 All right, let's continue. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:16.080 David says, Say to Amasa, Are you not bone my bone in my flesh? 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:23.679 God so do to me, and more also if you are not commander of my army from now on in the place of Joab. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:32.399 And he swayed the heart of all the people of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, return both you and all your servants. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:38.879 Point two, reconciliation and relational healing require forgiveness. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:48.080 You see, David, he has been hiding outside of Israel, and now he is physically on his march back to Jerusalem. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:53.440 But on the way, he is hard at work to restore a broken nation. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:11:08.799 So first he seeks to reconcile with his own tribe, the tribe of Judah, the southern tribe of Judah, specifically because this is the faction that uh backed his son Absalom and betrayed him. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:12.399 One of his first acts is to forgive Amasa. 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:19.759 Amasa was David's nephew, but he was also Absalom's general, the leader of his armies. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:24.399 And so he was directly in conflict with David and his men. 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:37.919 Now, by forgiving Amasa, David signals to the rest of the tribes of Judah that he is not after retribution, but reconciliation and healing of this wounded nation. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:48.240 And then as the story goes on, he forgives three other men who had betrayed him in the rebellion: a man named Ziba, a man named Shemmai and Mephibosheth. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:50.720 Now here David shows the heart of God. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:54.639 This is why he is called a man after God's own heart. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:12:00.159 He reflects God's heart, which is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:04.639 And as David has experienced God's mercy, right? 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:11.759 He's been overcome by his own failures, both in this instance and in plenty that has preceded it. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:20.320 As he has received God's mercy, he is now able to extend that mercy to his enemies and betrayers. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:25.840 To turn a phrase, forgiven people, forgive people. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:43.440 And beloved, there is a message here for us that no matter what is happening around us, no matter how much the wicked prevail, no matter how much our culture tells us that we should seek retribution and revenge, he calls us to be a different people. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:48.720 A people who reflect the heart and actions of our God. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:13:00.159 This is what Jesus meant when he said, Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:02.559 Yes, we fail. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:08.879 We fail every day, and that's why we return to the Lord and we have our friends who speak the gospel over us. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:13.679 We repent, we believe, we are forgiven, we are cleansed in Christ. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:21.759 And then we go out and we continue to represent our God and Father as lights in the world. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:26.000 It is his light, not ours, that shines through us by his grace. 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:28.240 Now the story continues. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:30.799 David has finally made it to the Jordan. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:33.840 This is the river that marks the edge of the nation. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:41.279 And uh he will cross into the land, as he will is about to cross into the land, a little squabble breaks out. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:56.720 Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, Why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you and brought you, the king, and his household over the Jordan, and all David's men with him? 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:02.320 All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, because the king is our close relative. 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:05.120 Why then are you angry over this matter? 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:08.399 Have we eaten all at the king's expense? 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:10.639 Or has he given us a gift? 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:13.519 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:18.399 We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:21.120 Why then do you despise us? 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:25.440 Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king? 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:30.960 But the word the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:39.840 Point three, unforgiveness and retribution in our hearts lead only to violence, destruction, and heartache. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:48.399 You could tell in how I was reading it, but these men of Israel are squabbling like children, right? 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:49.759 We were here first. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:52.320 He's my cousin. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:55.200 We get special privilege. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:15:05.679 Here's the thing: unfortunately, no matter how shrewd or forgiving David is, he can't overcome the tribal and fractious nature of a fallen human heart. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:13.039 The nation of Israel as a whole was made up of 12 tribes, as you may know. 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:19.919 Ten are the northern tribes called Israel, and two are the southern tribes called Judah. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:27.759 And here we see the seeds of the future civil war where the nation will indeed fracture in two. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:36.000 But because of this uh petty squabble, a new uprising breaks out and under a man named Sheba. 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:39.759 And I can only imagine David's frustration. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:42.320 You know, I'm doing the best I can. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:44.000 I'm forgiving. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.960 I'm I'm I'm making deals. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:49.440 But you see, that's not all. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:54.799 David's, uh as David attempts to deal with this fresh rebellion, Joab, right? 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:59.600 That friend from earlier, he's actually been a problem the whole of David's life. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:03.200 Yes, he's been the leader of David's army because he's effective. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:08.799 He is loyal to David, but again and again, he is more loyal to himself. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:14.720 And because of that, David actually replaces Joab with Amasa, the man we saw earlier. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:22.240 David's trying to subtly push Joab to the side, but Joab's pride is way too big and too strong for that. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:28.000 And so he approaches Amasa under the guise of friendship. 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:42.159 And as he approaches Amasa, he kills him in cold blood, completely undercutting David's earlier diplomacy in order to serve his own bitter ends. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:56.399 And as I read through this passage again and again this week, and as I tried to place myself in it, I was overwhelmed with a sense of discouragement and disappointment. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:02.720 The underlying message of this story seems to be that we just can't get out of our own way. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:08.480 Humanity is fallen and broken. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:14.720 And as I thought about that in my own heart, I was taken back. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:15.759 Where do we see this? 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:23.920 We see it all over the place, but most pointedly in my own life, it was on October 7th, 2023. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:41.759 The militant group Hamas, the governing body of Palestine, together with other other militant groups, attacked a music festival happening in northern Israel, along with a couple other civilian neighborhoods. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:49.680 That day, 1,200 people were killed, and 200 hostages were taken. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.599 Terrible, terrible atrocities happened that day. 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:58.079 Things that brought tears to my eyes as I heard about them and I read about them. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:09.519 Now I have heard, as you have probably heard, of you know, the need for peace in the Middle East, the the conflict between Israel and Palestine my whole life. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:22.400 But it was on this, because of this event that was just stark and in my face, I decided to take a deep dive and try to understand this conflict that has been going on over a century. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:29.759 What I had hoped to find and what I kind of endeavored to find was a clean narrative with a good guy and a bad guy. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:44.559 But what I found was over a century of grievance after grievance and wound after wound until there was no room for good guys or bad guys anymore. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:52.880 Like the proverbial Hatfields and McCoys, each side was able to recite the wrongs done to them by the other. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:03.119 And my conclusion is that there is little to no hope in the Middle East for the Middle East, humanly speaking. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:18.319 But before I go pointing my finger around to conflicts around the world or around me, as I reflect on myself, I see that it is all too easy to find the same discouraging signs in myself. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:32.319 How many times have I, how many times have you nurtured a grievance, held on to a wrong, acted for retribution, or canceled someone in my heart? 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:38.160 And this is pretty much the end of David's story. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:44.880 After Joab kills Amasa, he kind of takes control over David's army again. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:48.240 He he pursues that guy, the rebellion of Sheba. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:53.759 He gets that guy's head cut off and he returns home to David in Jerusalem. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:59.119 And David never addresses Joab's injustices and murders. 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:13.759 It's kind of like you watch one of these, you know, four seasons, you know, dramatic shows on HBO or Apple TV Plus, and you get to the end and nothing is resolved. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.759 How unsatisfying. 00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:21.920 That's how I felt at the end of 2 Samuel. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:25.599 So what are we supposed to do with this story, beloved? 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.759 Well, it brings us to point four. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:34.079 The evil and brokenness of this world will not overcome the goodness of our God. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:37.039 Amen. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:42.640 I know we're going, we're going low, we're going dark, but we're coming up here. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:47.680 I love this quote from Eugene Peterson, the way he summarizes this section of the book. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:56.079 He says, in reflecting on what we have just read, we realize this is not the kind of narrative we're used to reading in a religious book. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:01.119 We're used to wanting moral lessons and a theological truth. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:07.839 But this story, while it is both moral and theological, cannot be boxed into either of those categories. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:16.000 This is a story of God's ways with men and women the way they are, not the way they are supposed to be. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:24.240 God, as the story is told, is not separate from the story in such a way as to be generalized into a truth. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:40.160 The way God works, patiently and behind the scenes, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, establishes divine sovereignty by using flawed, rebellious, and out-of-the-way men and women to do it. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:50.160 This narrative trains us in perceiving and responding to God as God is, not as we would wish or fear is the case. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:58.400 Unforced, attentive to details ever present but mostly hidden, sure and sovereign. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:04.640 As this narrative Is reread and reheard generation after generation. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:14.240 It continues to release subtleties and intricacies of presence that continue to shape and reshape our lives. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.440 Beloved, as we reflect on this passage, it's not hard. 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:20.319 It's not hard for me. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:25.279 I suspect it's not hard for you to find similarities in our own world. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:36.559 It can be just as discouraging to look at our leaders today, or at our communities today, or at our own lives, our own decisions, our own failures. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:53.279 And yet, this is the world into which Jesus came, a descendant of King David, as a fulfillment of God's own promises to save and to overcome this broken world. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:23:01.279 What Peterson is trying to say is as we read this story in the Bible, we learn how to see God at work in our world. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:10.160 Yes, there continues to be sin and injustice and failure all around us and in us. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:18.000 And yet we are not to put our faith in ourselves, just as we're not to put our faith in David. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:24.799 We're not to put our faith in our leaders, just as we were not supposed to put our faith in Joab. 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:37.440 Our hope, beloved, is in King Jesus, who sits this very moment at the right hand of the Father, sovereignly reigning over heaven and earth. 00:23:38.799 --> 00:24:00.960 And we, as his people, in this place, sitting under his lordship, are called to live as lights in the world, refusing to give in to the weight of our shame and guilt, but running again and again and reminding one another again and again of what King Jesus has done and is doing. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:06.400 Yes, when we put our hope in ourselves and in the world around us, that hope fades. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:17.039 But when we remember our God, his faithfulness, his power to bring about his promises, then our hope returns and it is rightly placed. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:28.960 And then we can live as his people in this place, shining that light in a dark world, trusting in our divine king. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:38.160 And as we trust him and as we follow him, seeking in our imperfect obedience, he brings his kingdom one day at a time. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:44.079 If you have any questions about the sermon, or if you'd like prayer, I'll be down front after the service. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:45.200 I'd love to talk with you. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:46.480 Let's pray. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:25:00.000 Our Father and our God, Lord, it is easy to be discouraged in this world, and yet you remind us that you have overcome the world. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:07.759 Show us your goodness and your faithfulness, just as you did to your disciples that first Sunday morning. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:18.000 Lord, and fill us with your spirit so that we can imperfectly follow you, obey you, love you, and love and forgive our enemies. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:22.240 We ask it for our good and your glory in Jesus' name. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:23.119 Amen.