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Um, as we look at the text that we read, uh, I was reminded of this idea of name dropping. Now, anybody know anybody who's a name dropper? I see a few elbowing. Okay, there we go. Um any of you in this room willing to admit that you're a name dropper? Or you know what I'm saying when I'm saying name dropper? You like to kind of throw those names out there. Yeah, I know them. Or uh, yeah, yeah, we're we're friends, we're buddies. Now, again, I would probably guess that some people use names at times, but they don't really know the person, right? Uh I had a friend when I was uh when I was earlier in ministry, and he kind of was one of our interns and one of our youth leaders, and man, he was always name-dropping. I mean, it's specifically about, you know, in the Christian world, there's kind of the celebrity Christian world, it's a really weird thing uh that there's this celebrity Christian world with all these key leaders and pastors and authors, you know. And and I was in a large church at the time, and so there were a lot of uh name-dropping going on. Uh, and I remember him, he kept saying, like, every time we'd bring up a conversation, he'd go, Oh, yeah, I know so-and-so, or I know so-and-so. And finally, I like pulled him, like pulled him aside. I was like, bro, you got you gotta quit you gotta quit doing that. You know, you just seriously, it's not good. It's not not okay. Um, I love you too much so that you keep doing that. It's it's annoying, okay? And so um, but we gotta have those conversations. But somebody, somebody in here, I'm sure, is probably one of those people. Um I'm I'm guessing there's at least one of you in here. And uh we love you still. We're glad you're here. Um But that being said, there is a place and there is an occasion where name dropping is actually okay. There is a situation, there's a set, there's a there is a uh a particular name, it's okay to drop. But the way you drop it is very important because that kind of sounds like we're being flippant. And I'll tell you that the name that we can all use is the name of Jesus. But not to use it in a way that benefits just us, but to use it in a way that honors and blesses that name, because that name is a powerful name. We just sing about that. It's a beautiful name. And there is no name that rivals that name. There is no name under heaven which men might be saved except in the name of Jesus. But when we say it, we shouldn't be flipping about it because it is a name that is so significant, so beautiful, so awesome, so amazing for us as those who call ourselves Christians. You see, even in that name, right, that we call ourselves Christians, little Christs, little, we were trying to reflect who our leader is, our savior, our Lord is. And as we look at this text today, we are reminded that the context of this section is in the same uh vein of what we talked about last week. Uh in this scripture in John chapter 14, uh mentioned at Easter that here's these disciples wrestling with discomfort, wrestling with a little fear, anxiety, struggle, worry, because Jesus has just told them, I'm going somewhere you can't go. Uh I will come back for you. But he's also told them, you're gonna you're gonna deny me. He told Peter that directly, you're gonna deny me three times. And so he's been trying to then respond to their uh discomfort and to help encourage them. And in the process of doing that, uh he tells them, Hey, look, I'm preparing a place for you, and it's gonna be awesome, and you're gonna be with me forever. And and then Thomas comes right out and says, Well, we don't know how to get there. Like we don't even know where you're going. How are we gonna get there? And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. That famous verse of Scripture that reminds us there's only one way to heaven, and that's through the person and work of Jesus. And on the heels of that, Jesus returns, not just in a response to Thomas, but to his entire group of disciples, on how to comfort them through some of the struggle and the trouble that they have. And he's going to continue to do that through the rest of this discourse. He's kind of preparing them for his departure. And as he's preparing them at verse 7, he says to them something that we've already heard previously in John, which is this if you know me, you also know my Father. And from now on, you do know him, and you have seen him. So in these next few verses, Jesus is reminding his disciples that if you've seen me, then you've seen the Father. And if you know me, then you know the Father. He's saying, if you know who I am, then you know God. Because Jesus is God. Jesus is not just a man, he's not just a good teacher. We've talked about that before here. And in fact, you would have to say that he's a really bad man based on the claims that he makes about himself, if he's not those things, right? He's either a liar, he's a crazy man, or he's actually the Lord of the universe. That's that's that's kind of C. S. Lewis's uh verbiage on that. And so I would say to us this morning that Jesus is reminding his disciples something we all need to be reminded of. And that is if we, not only if we want to get to the Father, do we have to come through Jesus, but Jesus actually is God, and we can put our trust in him as God. And if we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus. Okay? And that's how we know. But Philip, in response to Jesus' instruction or his statement there, he says this. He says, Show us the Father. That's not enough for us. That's enough for us, actually. He says, that's enough. If you would just show us the Father. And I love it because it's like Jesus is the discipler, but he's also like a parent. Um, how many of you as a parent in the room, and not everybody is, but those of you that are, um, you know, a kid, your one of your kids just keeps coming and asking you a question over and over and over, and you keep, you've answered the question like 15 times, and they just keep asking you that question. And you're just like, stop asking me, right? I feel like Jesus had to be a little bit uh just at this point of exasperation because Philip's like, show us the Father, that's enough for us. So notice what Jesus says. He says, Have I been among you all this time without you knowing me, Philip? Which gives us, again, an insight that the disciples still hadn't fully arrived at where uh they were on Jesus and who he really was, what's really going on here. And that's kind of comforting in some ways, and in some ways it's kind of disconcerting. It's comforting in some ways to know like we're not alone when we struggle with questions and confusion, because his disciples were with them and they still were not quite getting it. But it's also a little disconcerting because you can sit in years in a church service, you can sit for years uh around other Christians and yet still have not come to grips with who Jesus really is and put your trust in him. And we have to uh something we could imply from this. But again, as I've already mentioned, Jesus continues on. He says, uh, the one who has seen me has seen the Father, reiterating the same point that's at the end of chapter 12, which we taught on a few weeks ago. And he says, Don't you believe that I am the Father and the Father, that I'm in the Father, and the Father is in me? And the words that you speak, I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. He's saying that God obviously does the father, has done the works in and through the life of Jesus. And he's made himself known through Jesus. And he says, Oh, you know, the call in verse 11 is the same call we've been making this entire series is work through the book of John, which is to believe in Jesus. And Jesus says these words again, believe in me, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves. He's like, Come on, guys, I'm Jesus, I am in the Father, the Father's in me, I am God, believe in me, trust in me, trust, I've got this. And he says, if even if you won't believe just because I'm telling you, believe because of the works that God's been doing in and through me, the Father's been doing in and through me. So at that point, Jesus changes direction slightly, even though it's the same thing. He actually starts to talk about something that's pretty amazing. And if you're a child of God in this room this morning, if you're a believer in Jesus, I want to tell you what I'm about to talk about is pretty incredible stuff. Pretty amazing that this is who we are in Christ. I want to read it again to us, and here's what it says. I assure you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Are you hearing that? That's pretty incredible stuff he's saying here. The way I would summarize this is I would say, when we believe in Jesus, we can expect more of God's supernatural activity in our lives because the same God that did miraculous works in and through Jesus will do his works in and through us. Are you guys awake? The same Father who did miraculous works in and through Jesus will do miraculous works in and through those who believe in him. Wow. I gotta let that soak in. Because that tells me that this thing we're part of here is not just some gathering of some normal people doing normal stuff. That tells me that what we're doing in this room right now and who we are as God's children is supernatural. It tells me when I read this that those of us who believe have the power of the God who spoke the world into existence at work in our lives. Man, that is incredible stuff. And I would say to you this morning, I don't think we live like that. I don't think I live like that on a daily basis. To believe that the God who is king over the universe is actually at work in my life right now. I don't always live that way. And Jesus says to them, He says, I assure you, I assure you. This is truth. The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Now we're going to talk about what that means a little bit in a minute, but just know that if you are a child of God, we're not talking just about preachers, pastors, paid clergy. We're not just talking about all the ways that our world kind of builds up this gap between the leaders in the church and the average person who goes to church. We're saying all of God's people, all of God's children, all of God's children can see God working in their lives. All of us who have called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved can see the powerful work of God in our lives. Now, what does this actually look like? Well, I'm going to try to unpack a little bit of what's here because I think this is really important. But I don't want to distract us from that truth this morning. Because I think sometimes we reason away why God is not working or why we can't expect Him to work. And I would say that if you are a child of God, you can expect God to work supernaturally in your life. But here's some things to hold on to as we look at this text. Because Jesus clarifies some things for us. As we put our trust in Jesus, we can ask and expect God to work in our lives. Some of us are not even asking. Some of us are not even looking for God to work in our lives. Some of us didn't come today expecting God to move. Some of us came expecting to hopefully get encouraged and sing some good songs and to hear a good teaching, but we're not even looking for God. Although I would say we actually are looking for God. Now, every one of the points I'm about to make, I'm going to tell you, I take these things for granted. I really do. I already sense in my own heart this weight of do I really live like the God who get again who created all things that I see and sustains all things that I see? Like lives inside of me. But the first thing I want us to note here is that we actually have access into God's presence. Notice where he says, because I am going to the Father. This is alluding to the fact that again, Jesus is about to do something that his disciples still don't know what. They still haven't clued in fully. And what he's about to do is he's about to go to the cross. He's about to sacrifice himself to take on himself the punishment that we deserve for our sin. And he's going to reconcile humanity to God in that. Specifically, the human beings who receive that reconciliation. But I would say to us that in doing that work upon the cross, Jesus gave us access to God. So that when we pray, we actually get to talk to God directly. And again, I would say to every one of you in this room that is a child of God that this is not just for pastors and priests and special people. This is for every child of God has access to the presence of God. Are you hearing me? You can go to God 24-7-365. I know it's outdated now, but I just said it anyway. You can do it. Every moment of every day, you can go to God. You have access to God because of Jesus Christ. Now, it wasn't always that way. And this is why this is so significant, and maybe why I take it for granted. Because I never lived in a time when I couldn't go to Jesus as a believer. Now, I don't always, again, acknowledge that. I don't go into God's presence. But I've grown up around church, and we've taken for granted so much of the time that God is with us, He's among us, He is working in His spirit. But there was a time in the scope of human history where people did not have access into God's presence. In fact, if you've read the Bible, the first 39 books of the Bible, and even through the Gospels, the people that are there, outside of Adam and Eve way back when in the garden, when they could just walk and talk with God, which would be pretty awesome. Wake up in the morning, hey God, how's it going? Let's walk around the garden today and have fun. Like, just such an awesome thought. Now, we as people have had this divide, this separation, this chasm between God and humanity. And that chasm was there because of our rebellion, our sin. And what God put into place was a system of sacrifice, a legal system, a law-based system. If you've read the book of Leviticus, if you've actually made it through the book of Leviticus in your Bible reading plan, it is a very interesting and hard-to-read book. It is a very bloody book. It's a very specific, detailed book of how all these little laws work themselves out because God is holy and no one can get into his presence because he is so holy. But there were some ways that God put into place so that people could still uh could still interact. And the way it was is, of course, God tells his people to build a tabernacle. And that was this portable worship center that went all over the place with them in the desert. And then eventually, of course, they build this temple. And what you find is there was this place called the Holy of Holies in this tabernacle, and then in this temple, and inside the Holy of Holies, they kept this box. It's a very beautiful box called the Ark. And on top of the ark was this thing called the Mercy Seat. And on top of the mercy seat, you would find a cherubim on one side and a cherubim on the other side, and this space there where they would sprinkle blood on it. And they would put the blood on there to signify the sacrifice that was being made for atonement for the people's sins. And so it was a beautiful thing that they would do, and yet there was only one man who could go in to do this kind of work and go into the quote, holy of holies, the presence of God, and to do this work and to do to make atonement for the people. Now, obviously, we're sitting in a room today and there is no holy of holies. There's no mercy seat up here, there's no blood being sprinkled. We didn't butcher anything before we came in here to pour blood so that you guys, your sin could be covered. Why did we not do that? Because Jesus was a sacrifice, right? And here's the beautiful thing. We didn't get to talk about this last week. But when Mary looks inside the tomb where Jesus' body had been put, you know what she saw? She saw a space where Jesus' body had been. She saw cloths that had been nice and neatly folded because Jesus had been taught well by his mom. And she saw an angel at the head and an angel at the foot. You think that's an accident? No. It's representative of the mercy seat. Because Jesus, that body that had been laid, atoned for our sin. And now we have access to the presence of God. Because of Jesus. That's awesome news for us today. So when we pray, we don't pray to some God who's far off that we can't get to. In fact, in 1 Peter, we're reminded that every single child of God is a priest now. And we go to the great high priest, who is Jesus, who understands our weakness, empathizes with it, but also receives us in. That's awesome news for us today. We have access into God's presence. In fact, Ephesians 3, verse 12 says this way In Him, we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. Some of you today don't feel like you can go to God. Some of you today feel unworthy. Some of you today feel like you're incapable of talking to God or incapable of engaging with God. Maybe that's where you are. And I would say to you today that because of Jesus' sacrifice, you have access. You have access. Now, some of you today are very flippant as you go to God. Some of you today are just like, you know, you just kind of throw out God's name or Jesus' name whenever things aren't going well. It's the, it's the, you know, when you're in school and you got that test you forgot about. Oh God, help me. Some of us are very flippant with the name of God in the name of Jesus. Whether you are arrogant and prideful, or whether you feel like you're insufficient and incapable, Jesus is the way that we can come into God's presence. We should not be haughty, we should not be puffed up and proud. We should also not be beat down and feeling like we have no way. Because Jesus is the way into God's presence. And I can tell you, there is a significant difference when we call on God knowing we're in His presence. And when we're just throwing lobbing up, you know, wishful bombs of prayer into the heavens. You ever done that? We have access. Not only that, but as we put our trust in Jesus, we can ask and expect God to work in our lives because we have alignment with God's will. We have alignment with God's will. Notice verse 13. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. We have alignment with God's will. Now, this is really important. Because when we say we're trusting Jesus, when we're believing Jesus, we are also saying we're not trusting in ourselves. We're not going to put our hope and our trust and our confidence in ourselves. In fact, it looks like this. It looks like God, instead of me trying to control things, I trust you to control things. And when Jesus says, you can ask these things in my name, and he says that the Father might be glorified in the Son, he's saying, I have a will. I have an agenda. And my agenda is better and bigger than your agenda. And when we surrender to Jesus, when we believe in Jesus, we are aligning ourselves with God's will, or hopefully we're submitting and surrendering our lives to his will and to his agenda. So the reason that we can expect to see God's work done in our lives is because we're asking for his will to be done. Do you remember what Jesus' words were? There's a line in his prayer. Whenever the disciples said, Teach us to pray. And Jesus starts giving them this model prayer. In fact, some of us learned that prayer when we played on the sports team because before you go out on the field, you got to pray this prayer, right? It's kind of superstition. More than actually asking God to do something. And we say, you know, our Father who is art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus taught that. He taught that because we are not praying for our stuff to get done, for God to bless our plan. We're saying, God, we want to do what you want us to do. We're surrendering to your plan, to your agenda, to your desire. I'm not saying that there's never a place that we can bring desires before God. That there's never a time that we can't bring our hopes or our dreams before God, our problems. But here's what I can tell you. When we come before God, we can trust that he knows better than we do what to do with our lives. We can trust that he knows better what needs to happen for him to get glory because that is his end goal. And so we are aligned with his agenda. Some of you probably know this verse from Psalm 37, verse 4. Let me read it to you. This is the HCSB version. I learned it in a little bit different translation, but it says, Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires. The way I learned it, delight yourselves in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Anybody ever heard that verse? Everybody loves the second half of that verse. Right? He will give you the desires of your heart. Amen. Yes. I claim that right now. Here's the thing: delight yourselves in the Lord. Delight yourself in the Lord. Here's what happens when you do that. You begin to want what he wants. You begin to desire what he desires. You begin to find that he is our joy and he is our pleasure and he is our peace. And whatever we can get is it pales in comparison to him. So I don't need more money. I don't need to be happy. I don't need more, you know, this or that. I mean, those are things that we all, you know, can struggle with and wrestle with, but he is what we really are wanting and what we really desire. And so our prayers start to change. And it's beautiful and it's awesome. And we find real joy and real peace. God, man, he is so much wiser. He sees the whole picture. He sees our lives in the scope of eternity. We see ourselves like right here in this narrow moment we're in. And he knows. And he loves and he wants to help us. He wants to bless us. But we have to surrender to his agenda and surrender to his will. When we say we believe you, Jesus, we're trusting in you, we're saying, Jesus, you're king, you're in charge, you're in control. And so we're laying down our right and our will, and we're saying, whatever. Whatever you want, God. And that's a lot harder to do than it is me say it from this stage this morning, right? So we have alignment. But also this, believer, when we put our trust in Jesus, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we have authority to be his witnesses. We have authority to be his witnesses. Now I read it, and some of you are still chewing on it, still trying to think, what in the world does that mean? I assure you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these. Now, who's this speaking? This is Jesus. And what kind of things has Jesus done? Well, just in the book of John alone, we've already talked about the fact that he has healed blind people given their sight? Right? A lame man by the pool who'd been lame and lay there a long, long time. He picks, picks him up, he tells him to stand up, take up his mat, heals him. Lazarus was dead. He raises him from the grave. So is Jesus saying that we're going to heal blind people and lame people and deaf people and dead people? Maybe. If that brings him glory, if that's what it's going to take for people to know him. You see, here's the thing. There is a danger zone here. There are some people who take this verse and they name it and claim it and they just go all over and they say, well, everything's going to happen now for me in the name of Jesus. That's not what it's saying here, guys. But it's also not saying that we shouldn't expect to God to do miracles in our world today. That we shouldn't expect to God to do signs and wonders as he did in the early days of the church to support the work of the what? The gospel going out. Because the greatest miracle is salvation. That's the miracle. Like, what good is it to save a person from not being able to see, their sight being restored, but they go to hell? You see, the miracle is salvation of the soul of man. That's what we're looking for. Jesus, when he was here, he had a very narrow scope in terms of his earthly ministry, right? He walked around everywhere he went, so his ministry geographically was very narrow. He also was very narrow ethnocentrically. Like he focused primarily on one people group. Who was the people group? The Jewish people, the lost sheep of Israel, is what he says. So here he is ministering amongst the lost sheep of Israel in a very small piece of geography in the world. Guess what? When he tells his disciples, he gives them a commission, what does he say to them about their gospel witness? He says, Go to what? The ends of the earth. Do you see how it's greater? Now, yes, Jesus' mission on the earth has implications for all times and all places and all people. But while he was on the earth, his ministry was very confined in many ways because he was laser focused. He knew the cross was coming. He knew that's what he was here to do. But as the apostles went out, and now as we as believers go out, we get to be a part of seeing the gospel go to the whole earth. We're going to take the gospel, we're going to join God's work and his gospel in Indonesia this summer with a team. I can't wait. And we're going to get to see greater works because we're going to see more people come to know Jesus, who are on the other side of the planet from us right now, walking without any knowledge of him. And what I'm telling you this morning is that I believe what Jesus is driving home here is that we're going to get to see the kingdom expand in ways that Jesus, his kingdom stayed pretty small when he was here on the earth. And now it's expanding to every tribe, every tongue, so that when we get to heaven one day, it's going to be people of every skin color, every race, every language, and it's going to be awesome. And that's a miracle of God. It's the greatest miracle that God is saving people. Listen to this. These are the words from John chapter 20. We'll be there in not too long. John chapter 20, verse 21 through 23. He says, Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. So Jesus was sent by the Father. That's an interesting thought. Now he's sending his disciples. And he says, after saying this, this is really, really key. He doesn't just send them on their own power and their own strength. He says, He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. How are they going to do it? By the power of the Holy Spirit. This sounds similar to Acts, right? You will receive power and the Holy Spirit comes and you'll be my witnesses. And he says, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. And if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Now that last verse is a little bit weird. Wait, you're saying that you get to decide who's forgiven and who's not? Here's my best understanding of what Jesus is saying here. Because you know the gospel, because you know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father through him except through him. Here's what we know. We know the way to have our sins dealt with. We know how sins are forgiven. And they're not forgiven by being a good religious person. They're forgiven through the person of Jesus. That's the authority we have as we go. We have authority in the gospel. We have authority in the person and the work of Jesus. We have authority because we know the truth. And the power of the Holy Spirit will be at work supporting that truth. And so it's beautiful because now we have authority. Jesus is saying to these disciples, and he's saying to us today, you have authority. And by the way, if you didn't know Jesus' name had authority, don't forget what Philippians 2 reminds us of and what Revelation reminds us of. Philippians 2 says, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess, on earth and under the earth, that he is king of kings and lords of lords, right? Forever. That's who he is. He has authority over all things. So this morning, if you are a believer in Jesus, if you're a child of God, you have access into God's presence, you have alignment with God's will because you're submitting your will to his and you're saying, God, whatever you want, not what I want, not my kingdom, my little K kingdom, my little thing going on. I want to be a part of your thing, your big thing, your big K kingdom, God. And we have authority because we know the truth of how humanity is going to be rescued. And we can go out and we can declare that truth with confidence and boldness. And in doing that, we just might see God do some other miracles. But that's not, again, the point. But maybe there are some people who need to experience healing so that their heart would soften to Jesus. And I believe God can do that. But finally, and this one's fun as well. We not only have those things, we have the amen. We have the amen. In verse 14, he summarizes what he said to this point, and he says, if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Man, that's a strong word. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Again, he's not a genie in the sky. He's not Santa Claus. Send up our list. If we are asking with a heart that is surrendered and submitted to God, we can ask with confidence and with boldness. Because we're asking for the things that He wants to do. We're asking for His holy will to be done. God wants to bless His people. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God actually wants to bless you? Here's the problem. I don't think many people actually believe that God is that good. And that's that kind. Or we say, yeah, God's good, He's kind. He's going to bless me with a big fat bank account, right? Or God's going to bless me with, you know, the best job ever. I'm not saying that He can't do that. I don't know what God's will is for your life, but I do know this. What God wants most in your life is for Himself to be glorified through your life. For him to be honored and blessed and glorified through your life so that other people would know him. Other people would experience him. But God does want to bless you. He wants to help you. He wants to help you so that you can demonstrate and declare the gospel with power and authority. God wants to help you in your life with the things that really matter to you, the things that really are your marriage, your parenting, your work. He wants to help you with those things. He wants to help you with your stress, your anxiety, your fear. Okay? He wants to help you. But why does he want to help you? Because he is good. Yes, he is good. But because he also wants to demonstrate his power in your life so that others might experience his goodness. Say it this way: you've not just been blessed to be blessed, but that God chooses to bless us so that we can bless others, right? But when I say he is the amen, where did I get that? Well, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 20 says this. Goes right in line with what Jesus has just said. Paul's writing there, he says, For every one of God's promises is yes in him. Therefore the amen is also spoken through him by us for God's glory. Again, notice God's glory is there. Let me read that one more time. For every one of God's promises is yes in who? In Christ. Okay? Therefore, the amen is also spoken through him by us for God's glory. You know what amen means? It means yes. So when we pray and you say amen to your own prayer, you're just saying yes to your prayer, right? In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Yes, I agree with myself, God. Yes. Usually for us, it's just, okay, the prayer's over. Now we know we can move on and not be awkward. Okay? Amen means yes. And here's the beautiful thing: when you pray in line with God's will, Jesus is the amen. He's the amen to your prayer. And so you're saying, God, I want to be more kind and loving as a husband. Jesus is saying, Amen. Absolutely. Because that's going to demonstrate my goodness and my power and my grace in your life and to your wife. God, I want to be a parent who's not so agitated and irritated with my kids. And Jesus is saying, Amen. Yes. Because that will make you look more like me and help you. You see that in Galatians we're told that there are the fruits of the spirit and the works of the flesh. Notice it doesn't say the works of the flesh and the works of the spirit. Why? Because there are things in us we cannot change on our own. It's not just about being a good, moral, upright person. We need the spirit, the power of God in our lives. And it's available, and Jesus is the yes to that. And when we pray those kind of prayers, God says, yes. Yes. Now your kingdom, your heart, yes. Your heart is in the right line now. Now you're thinking the right direction. I think the longer you're a believer, the more and more and more you start to pray in line with God's will. And God's saying, Yes, yes, yes. God, I want my neighbors to be saved. Yes. God, I want my coworkers to know Jesus. Yes. God, I want my mom to know Jesus and not spend eternity in hell. Yes. Amen. Amen. And amen. Jesus is the amen. Our churches should be supernatural places, supernatural communities of people, because we're family of God who all have the Holy Spirit residing inside of us. There is a danger to think that a handful of people preaching sermons can reach this globe with the gospel. But what can happen is when the people of God understand that they have supernatural lives and the God's presence is going with them in each of the places that they go. And it is helping them, assisting them supernaturally, divinely to declare the gospel. And some of you, I know that makes you uncomfortable. You're like, I'm going to leave it up to the experts. And what I'm telling you this morning is that God's at work in every one of your lives if you're a child of God. And he wants to use you and He wants to bless you. And He wants to empower you. He wants to help you be the gospel witness He's called you to be. Wherever He's put you. He wants you to be the husband, the wife, the worker God's called you to be. He wants you to live with contentment. He wants you to live with joy. He wants to live with wholeness and health in your life so that you can give him glory and honor. As God's children, we can humbly yet confidently ask God to accomplish his work in our life and the lives of those around us. We should expect supernatural help to demonstrate and declare the gospel. We aren't just asking for an easier life or a simpler solution to fix our problems. We are asking for God to glorify Himself in and through our lives, even through our problems. So yeah, we can ask God for help when we are struggling with fear and stress and health and finances and relationship and jobs. And we can sit in community and we can pray for one another on those things. I mean, every time we gather together, we have no problem in a group saying, hey, if we have any prayer requests, yes, my relative is sick. I mean, that's the number one prayer request you get, right? Such and such is sick. Not a bad prayer request. But I am telling you, God wants to do more than just meet us in those needs for our relatives. He wants to save people's souls. He wants to rescue them so that they might not just live a 75-year earthly life, they might live for eternity with him. But I have to also say this this morning. If you're not a believer, if you've never put your trust in Jesus, and I say this very gently, very kindly, very compassionately, but you need to know, if you're not a believer in Jesus, he doesn't hear your prayer for these things you're asking for. And the reason I say that is because as I understand the scripture, people who are not children of God, the prayer that God's waiting on is a prayer of save me. Until that, we can lob all the prayers we want to heavens and say, God, fix this, fix that, do this, do that. And yes, God is aware of everything. But to get the amen, you have to receive the amen. To get the yes in Christ, you have to know the amen in Christ. And so if you've never put your trust in Christ, you don't have the amen. But if you're in Christ, you have the amen. So you have power and authority and access to the heavens. Do you understand what I'm saying? Are we clear? And if you've never received the gift of salvation, it's not something you have to work for or earn today. It's free gift in Jesus Christ. But you have to decide you're laying down your own agenda to save yourself. You have to decide you're going to lay down control. And you have to say, God, I receive by faith the gift of salvation. I receive the amen. All of us are experiencing God's common grace right now. We look at the world around us, we experience the beauty of a sunset. We experience the greatness of food. We experience the greatness of relationship. But in Christ, we experience the salvation of our souls. We experience the true, amazing grace that's only gifted through the person and work of Jesus. And that's really, really, really, really important because there are a lot of people experiencing God's common grace, and they're actually being distracted from God's most important gift of grace. And that's Jesus. Let's pray to the Amen this morning. Father, thank you so much for every person in this place. Thank you that you are a God who hears us. And I know that for some of us, God, we feel like you don't. We feel like you're not listening, you're not moving, you're not doing what we want you to do. God, I just thank you this morning. We can call on you. Because we are under the blood of Jesus, we have access into your presence. God, I pray that we would recognize that the Christian life is not just a life of accumulating more knowledge about you. It is knowing you and experiencing your power to become who you've called us to be and to make you known. God, I pray that we would this morning be reminded of the beauty, of the awesomeness of what you have given us in Christ. I know that there are some people in this room today who've never actually received the gift of salvation. And I pray today, as the Romans 10:9 says so clearly, that if we confess with our mouth that you are Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we can be saved. Everyone who calls on your name, Jesus, can be saved. So I pray that that would happen today in this room. Somebody might call on your name for the first time and receive the gift of salvation. I also pray, God, for every person in this room who is a believer, that we would keep on walking in belief and keep on seeing the supernatural works of your spirit in our lives. That we continue to see ourselves growing up, maturing. More kindness, more self-control, more goodness, more gentleness, more generosity, more faithfulness. All those fruit of the Spirit and all those other things that reflect the character of Christ, we would see them because we have the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. And I would pray, God, even today, too, that you might do miraculous things in our midst to affirm the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I would pray for signs and wonders to accompany the gospel message. And we, God, who have not believed that you could do that, God, today that you would refresh in our hearts a belief that you can. And that you will. Thank you. Praise your name.