1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Let's pray. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:59,980 Let's pray. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:29,980 Let's pray. 4 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:29,980 Good morning. We're glad to be able to gather for worship this morning, the Sunday before BBS. We're going to go ahead and go to God in prayer, and then we'll spend some time in the Word of God and in worship and prayer, gathering around the table and opening and studying His Word. Let's pray. 5 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:59,980 Father in Heaven, I just ask that You would bless our time together this morning, that You would show us Your truth clearly through Your Word and through the testimony of Your people, through the songs that we sing. May You help us to see Your goodness and Your grace and Your love, and that You would help us to see that You are a good Father who loves His children. Help us to be able to glimpse a little bit of the depth and the width and the breadth of that life. 6 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:05,000 So be with us this morning as we worship. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 7 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:26,000 And in just a moment, we're going to read from the 13th Psalm, a psalm that directs us to God's steadfast love. And that's kind of the direction that we are taking through our service this morning on Father's Day is to be reminded of the great love of our Heavenly Father. 8 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:38,000 And the 13th Psalm is interesting because most of the psalm is a bit of a struggle. The psalmist is relating the fact that he feels like he's been struggling for a long time. 9 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:48,000 He's been praying for a long time, and he's waiting for God to answer him, and it seems like his troubles are mounting. His enemies are surrounding him. 10 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:58,000 And then in the last two verses, he essentially just says this. This is how I make it through the struggles and the silence and the difficulty. 11 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:09,000 And those are the verses we're going to begin to read this morning as we worship. So let's go ahead and stand, and we'll read these last two verses. 12 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:24,000 But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he is doubtful with me. 13 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:36,000 This is God's Word. And before we sing our first Song this morning, "Who You Say I Am," I want to read a little bit from the eighth chapter of Romans. 14 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:47,000 And so Paul writes this, "You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father." 15 00:08:47,000 --> 00:09:03,000 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we also may be glorified with him." 16 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,000 Let's sing "Who You Say I Am." 17 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:33,000 "Who am I that the highest King would welcome me? I was lost, but he brought me in. Oh, his love for me. Oh, his love for me. 18 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:50,000 Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. 19 00:09:50,000 --> 00:10:00,000 At last he has ransomed me. His grace runs deep. 20 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:11,000 While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me. Yes, he died for me. 21 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:27,000 Oh, the sun sets free. Oh, it's free indeed. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. 22 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:54,000 In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. 23 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:21,000 I am who you say I am. I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. I am who you say I am. 24 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:48,000 I am who the sun sets free. Oh, we're free indeed. I am a child of God. Yes, I am. In my Father's house, there's a place for me. I am a child of God. 25 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:55,000 I am a child of God. Yes, I am. 26 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:42,000 It's so good. I almost can't believe it. Far beyond what hearts could ever dream. The God who said the galaxies in motion would descend to give His life for me. 27 00:12:42,000 --> 00:13:09,000 For what could make perfection bleed for sinners? What leads a king to pay so great a cost? All my life, my heart will sing the answer. Only the love of God. 28 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:33,000 Oh, how great is the love of God. He paid our debt on that rugged cross. For all our days, we will sing our Savior's praise. How great is the love of God. 29 00:13:37,000 --> 00:14:05,000 It's so kind, it leads us to repentance. It's so bright, the darkness has to flee. Hallelujah, it cleared my guilty sentence. For I was bound, but now I stand redeemed. For what could break 30 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:33,000 the chains of any prison? What force could rob the power from the grave? What would trade my racks for heaven's riches? Only the love of God. Singing, oh, how great is 31 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:54,000 the love of God. He paid our debt on that rugged cross. For all our days, we will sing our Savior's praise. How great is the love of God. 32 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Though I try, my mind can't comprehend it. It's so high, too marvelous for words. I could sing a million songs about it, and barely scratch the surface of your word. 33 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:50,000 This all my life, the banner I'll be waving. My anthem cry, no matter what may come. And when I rise to walk the streets of heaven, I'll still be singing this song. 34 00:15:50,000 --> 00:16:17,000 For everything that you've done. How great the love of God. Singing, "Oh, how great is the love of God." He paid our debt on that rugged cross. 35 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:44,000 For all our days, we will sing our Savior's praise. How great is the love of God. How great is the love of God. 36 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:51,000 For more information, visit www.fema.gov.au 37 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,000 www.fema.gov.au 38 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000 www.fema.gov.au 39 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,000 www.fema.gov.au 40 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,000 www.fema.gov 41 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,000 For more information, visit www.fema.gov 42 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,000 www.fema.gov 43 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,000 www.fema.gov 44 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,000 www.fema.gov 45 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:36,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:58,000 how deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure. 47 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:20,000 How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away, as wounds which mother chosen one, bring many sons to glory. 48 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:48,000 Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders. Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there. 49 00:33:48,000 --> 00:34:16,000 Until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. 50 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:44,000 But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know it on my heart. 51 00:34:44,000 --> 00:35:12,000 With all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart. His wounds have paid my ransom. 52 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:41,000 Love is a pretty common topic, and for us this morning, it's going to become even more common in just a few minutes. 53 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:50,000 In 1 John 3, as we think about the kind of love that the Father has given to us. 54 00:35:50,000 --> 00:36:02,000 And it's very easy, I think, in our world to make love simply about saying the right thing at the right time, or simply having maybe the right words or the right feelings. 55 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:15,000 But what we find is that love, and when we talk about God's love, the true source and picture and reality of love, it's so much more than that. 56 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:27,000 In 1 John 4, it says this, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into this world so that we might live through Him. 57 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:37,000 In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation or to pay the price for our sins. 58 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:43,000 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 59 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:55,000 And when we come to this table, we are reminded that God's love for us is not just an idea. It's not just some sort of wishful thinking. 60 00:36:55,000 --> 00:37:10,000 It's not a hope that may in some reality be possible, but it is a concrete reality made manifest through His Son and through the fact that God's Son paid the price for our sins. 61 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:23,000 And one of the ways that we are reminded of the concrete reality of the love of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God is through these little emblems. 62 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:38,000 This bread and this cup, while seeming so small sometimes and so simple, represents something so great and so wonderful that, as we sang earlier, that words often can't describe it. 63 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:51,000 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Let's pray. 64 00:37:51,000 --> 00:38:02,000 As we come to the table this morning with this bread and this cup, may You remind us of the concrete reality that stands behind this. 65 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:17,000 The broken body of Your Son, the blood that was given in our place. May we not partake lightly, but may we also partake with a deep and abiding peace and joy, 66 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:27,000 knowing that through Your love and the sacrifice of Your Son, that we who are wretches can be brought into the family of God. 67 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:35,000 That we can be Your children through the sacrifice of Jesus. So I ask that You bless this bread and this cup. 68 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:45,000 May You encourage our hearts. May You strengthen our resolve. May You forgive our sins. And may You help us to focus our eyes on what is truly important. 69 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,000 It's in Your Son's name we pray. Amen. 70 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:55,000 If you would take this bread and remember with me the broken body of Jesus. 71 00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:06,000 And if you would take the cup and remember the blood of Jesus given for our sins. 72 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:26,000 And as we eat and we drink, we also proclaim God's goodness and God's love and ultimately our hope in the return of Jesus. 73 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:36,000 So just a little sort of preview of where we're going. We're going to be in 1 John 3 this morning. 74 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:43,000 In these three verses, we're just going to sort of take them piece by piece here in just a minute after we pray. 75 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:54,000 Next Sunday, at the end of VBS, what we are going to do is we'll be from the Psalms, Psalm 34, Magnify. 76 00:39:54,000 --> 00:40:02,000 We're going to be talking about the Psalm that our VBS is based on. We're also encouraging the kids that come to VBS 77 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:08,000 who maybe don't have a church home or who aren't part of a church to come and bring their families next Sunday. 78 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:13,000 And so we want to sort of summarize and show them a little bit of what happened at VBS, 79 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:19,000 but also to proclaim this wonderful message that we'll be teaching through this week. 80 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:27,000 Following that, the following Sunday, and for the rest of the summer, we're going to be in Isaiah, the 40th chapter. 81 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:32,000 There's a little bit of a graphic and a little note in your bulletins if you want to take a look at that, 82 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:37,000 but Isaiah, in its construction, is very, very remarkable. 83 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:42,000 In fact, in many ways, Isaiah is sort of a mini picture of the Bible. 84 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:51,000 Isaiah has 66 chapters, and there's 39 that are very much focused on justice and judgment, 85 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:59,000 very similar to as if you read through God's judgment and justice and goodness and righteousness throughout the Old Testament. 86 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:06,000 The next 27 chapters declare God's hope. And so chapter 40 is right there at the turning point. 87 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:10,000 In the very first words of Isaiah 40 are, "Comfort my people." 88 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:16,000 And the way that God comforts His people is not through sort of nice sort of platitudes. 89 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:21,000 Everything's going to be okay. Keep a stiff upper lip. Turn that frown upside down. 90 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:25,000 But rather God comes through and says, "Comfort my people." 91 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:32,000 And then the entire chapter is filled with the attributes of God, the great pictures of who He is. 92 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:37,000 That He is eternal. That He is sovereign. That He is the one who creates all things. 93 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:40,000 He's the one who saves. He's the shepherd that loves His sheep. 94 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:45,000 And it takes those big attributes and it puts them into actions. 95 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:52,000 And then those actions transform our hope and our fears and our struggles and our difficulties. 96 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:57,000 One example, in the very beginning, it talks about how God is eternal. 97 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:05,000 The implication of that, it will say, is that the grass withers and flowers fade, but the Word of God goes forever. 98 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,000 That God is eternal, which means His words last forever. 99 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:14,000 And for example, for us, the implication there would be in a world where everything can change in an instant, 100 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:17,000 where it seems like there's nothing to be dependent upon. 101 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:21,000 There is someone and something to be dependent upon, and that's God and His Word. 102 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:29,000 So we'll spend, I think, about seven weeks going through Isaiah, just the 40th chapter, taking a look at God's greatness, 103 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:34,000 how it is actionable in creation, and what that means for His people. 104 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:38,000 And so I'm very much looking forward to that over the coming weeks. 105 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:47,000 So I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to read 1 John 3:1-3, and we're just going to dive right into it. 106 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:55,000 Father in heaven, be with us. Be with us as we plan for the future, that you would guide us, 107 00:42:55,000 --> 00:43:03,000 that we would not simply invite you to rubber stamp our plans, but rather that we would seek to follow your will 108 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:06,000 to do things in the way that you would lead us to do them. 109 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:12,000 We just ask that you be with our Vacation Bible School over the next five days. 110 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:16,000 May you encourage our teachers, may you encourage the worship leaders, 111 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:24,000 may you encourage those who help and who teach and who assist and who make and who serve. 112 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:33,000 May you bring safety and peace to these children, and may you help them to see the goodness of your grace in their lives. 113 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:42,000 Be with us as we gather next Sunday. May we be able to proclaim your goodness to a bigger group, 114 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:49,000 a group of people who desperately need to hear about your salvation. Be with us as we move through this study 115 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:59,000 in the next seven or eight weeks about your greatness and how that is a reality, not just in ideas, but in our lives. 116 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:04,000 So, turn our eyes toward you this morning. May we see that it is a good thing to be your children. 117 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:08,000 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 118 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:18,000 So, 1 John 3:1-3, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God, and so we are. 119 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:25,000 The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, 120 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:32,000 and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, 121 00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:42,000 because we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure." 122 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:52,000 And so, I want to just begin with 1 John 3:1, this very, very first words where John says this, 123 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:56,000 "See what kind of love the Father has given to us." 124 00:44:56,000 --> 00:45:02,000 Now, some of your translations, and some of you may have grown up hearing this a little bit differently. 125 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:07,000 I remember this because there was a song we used to sing when I was growing up, 126 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:11,000 and it said, "Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us." 127 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:15,000 And we would sing it in our church, they would divide you in half, half would start singing it, 128 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,000 the other half would follow along, and you would come in on the chorus, 129 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:23,000 that we may be called the children of God. And so when I hear this, my temptation is to say, 130 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:27,000 "Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us." 131 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:35,000 And so I apologize this morning a little bit if that's where I go, because that's how I've learned this verse. 132 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:41,000 And what John is saying as he begins is simply, "Behold, or see, or look." 133 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:52,000 And one of the things that I love about how this chapter begins is that for John, the love of God does not get old. 134 00:45:52,000 --> 00:46:04,000 If we have something constantly, over and over again, for example, maybe if we eat the same kind of sandwich every day for lunch after a few times, 135 00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:13,000 even if it maybe is our favorite sandwich in the whole world, there might be a time where we say, "Maybe instead of turkey, I could have ham this week." 136 00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:25,000 And for many of us, repetition over time tends to lead us looking for something new or something fresh, even if we love that thing very, very deeply. 137 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:33,000 And one of the things I love about this text is that John is showing us that that is not true of the love of God. 138 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:40,000 The love of God doesn't get old. And you might say, "Well, how does the love of God not get old?" 139 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:51,000 Well, you find that the love of God is continually producing wonder in the lives of God's people if they are willing to see or willing to behold. 140 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:56,000 And one of the ways that we see this is how John is talking about the love of God. 141 00:46:56,000 --> 00:47:05,000 And so John is the only apostle of Jesus who does not die as a martyr. He's the only one who dies of old age. 142 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:20,000 Now, that does not mean that his life is in any way easy, but it is likely as he is writing this letter to the church in 1 John 3 that he is probably around 90 years old or maybe even a little older. 143 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:29,000 And we don't know when he is born, but it's likely he was born around the same time as Jesus, about the same age as Jesus. 144 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:41,000 And so he has probably been a Christian or a follower of Jesus for at least 60 years, for two-thirds of his adult life. 145 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:48,000 He's followed God probably for his whole life, but he has followed Jesus for the last 60 years. 146 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:55,000 And when John comes to the love of God, it's not like, "Oh, peanut butter and jelly again." 147 00:47:55,000 --> 00:48:03,000 But the way that he writes this in the original language, when he says, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us," 148 00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:08,000 in part it's a command, but more than that, it's an exclamation. 149 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:16,000 This phrasing is used like seven times in the New Testament, and in every one of those, it's like an exclamation of joy. 150 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:25,000 Yes, underneath it there is a little bit of command that "Look and see and behold," but more than that, John, 60 years of hearing about the love of God, 151 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:36,000 and he's still not tired of shouting about it. And so John will say, "Behold or see the love of God." 152 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:44,000 And so we want to talk a little bit about what kind of love or what manner of love has John so excited. 153 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:55,000 And one of the things that we see is John, as he talks about the manner or the kind of love, is that the picture that's underneath this is that this love is great. 154 00:48:55,000 --> 00:49:05,000 Or another way of saying this is that the love of God is not stingy. And so one of my favorite things about being a dad is that I get to teach my kids 155 00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:15,000 that when they get snacks, especially snacks that I like, that I am legally and constitutionally allowed to tax those snacks, right? 156 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:24,000 That's the rule, right? Dad gets a cut, always. And then my kids are like, "Taxation is theft." And it's a whole thing, right? 157 00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:32,000 So when you ask your kids for a snack, especially a snack that they love, do they provide that snack in abundance? No. 158 00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:38,000 It's like, "Hey, can I have some M&M's?" And it's like, "Well, I don't really like the red ones." Here's one red one, Dad, for you, right? 159 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:52,000 Now God, when He comes to us in love, is not stingy with His love. And this idea of the manner or the kind of love has a picture of abundance that God's not coming. 160 00:49:52,000 --> 00:50:01,000 You're saying, "Hey God, you know, I'm broken and I'm hurting." And God goes, "Well, here's just a little bit of love to hopefully get you by." 161 00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:09,000 The other thing we see is that this love is a gift. That the love of God has been given to us. 162 00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:17,000 And so John here is celebrating the love of God, but he's also commanding us to see the love of God. 163 00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:30,000 He's saying, "Look, lift your eyes, take a look, behold God's love." And it's important for us to understand that this is not just an exclamation of joy at the magnitude 164 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:38,000 and the gift of God's love, but it's also a reminder for God's people that we must be continually looking to God's love. 165 00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:46,000 Because what happens over time is that some of us can lose our wonder at the love of God. We sort of become accustomed to it. 166 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:53,000 And I remember when I first moved to Winchester, and I moved from Vermont, and the area in which we lived was pretty quiet. 167 00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:59,000 There wasn't a lot of major traffic near us. And I remember in the parking lot standing here, 168 00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:05,000 and you could hear 81, and sometimes you could hear 50, and there's all kinds of sirens because the fire station's right over here. 169 00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:12,000 And I remember going to sleep those first couple months, and you just hear the traffic noise, right? 170 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:20,000 Just going by, and then you hear the sirens. And then guess what? After a few months, guess who doesn't hear the traffic anymore, right? 171 00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:26,000 But then I'm reminded of this because my parents come down to visit and go, "How do you sleep with all this traffic noise? 172 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:34,000 We're going to be in the basement," right? And what happens is, over time, we become accustomed to things that at once stood out for us. 173 00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:42,000 And one of the reasons why we must be continually seeing or beholding the love of God, and that's why John is telling us this, 174 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:49,000 is because it is easy for us to sort of fall into this place where we take it for granted. 175 00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:56,000 We can also, I think, become proud and sort of feel deserving of the love of God, right? 176 00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:06,000 There's that moment in Star Wars, right? Han Solo is about to be lowered into the vat of carbonite, to be frozen and returned to the bounty hunter. 177 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:13,000 And Princess Leia looks at him, and she goes, "Han, I love you." And he just goes, "I know," right? 178 00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:23,000 Like, there's a tendency sometimes to look at our lives, and God, we hear about the love of God, and we go, "As he should," right? 179 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:35,000 I know. I deserve this. It may not be sort of a puffed-out chest, nose-in-the-air kind of pride, but there is a picture and sort of an attitude that we can develop that says, 180 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:40,000 "Yeah, I've done pretty well. I do deserve the love of God." 181 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:49,000 Now, the other side of that is that sometimes we feel so broken, and we say, "How can I ever be loved by God?" 182 00:52:49,000 --> 00:53:03,000 Just as the pride is a deep belief in our own goodness, the brokenness is also a deep belief, but it's a deep belief that my brokenness goes too deep that God would love us. 183 00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:16,000 And Jesus wants us to make sure that we understand that this kind of love for both the proud who think they deserve it and the broken who think that there's no way they can earn it, that there is a Father who loves them. 184 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:21,000 And if you remember this, this is a very familiar story to us in Luke chapter 15. 185 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:31,000 As Jesus speaks both to the proud, those who thought they deserved salvation, and in the background there's a bunch of sinners who have no hope of salvation, and they're listening well. 186 00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:50,000 And he tells the story of a father who has two sons. And the younger son essentially rebels against his father, tells him he wishes he was dead, takes his father's money, goes to a far off land, and lives in absolute rebellion against everything the father has spent his life doing. 187 00:53:50,000 --> 00:54:00,000 That son ends up with no money in the midst of a famine, taking care of pigs, which would be horrendously humiliating for a Jewish person. 188 00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:07,000 And he looks at the pigs' food and he's so hungry, he goes, "Man, if I could only eat some of that food." And then he decides to go home. 189 00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:17,000 And he comes up with a plan to try to earn back his place in the father's house. And before he can get there, his father sees him coming from a long way off. 190 00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:29,000 And in the most undignified way, especially in a culture that emphasizes dignity and solemnity, the father pulls up his robes and runs 191 00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:36,000 and wraps his arms around his pig-smelling son and brings him in and cleans him up and gives him a new robe. 192 00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:43,000 And as the son tries to blurt out, "I'm unworthy. Can I earn my way back?" The father showers him with love. 193 00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:49,000 But then there's another brother, the brother who thinks he has earned it all and deserved it all. 194 00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:56,000 And so in the midst of the celebration, he's standing outside bitterly. And the father, what does he do? He goes to the proud son. 195 00:54:56,000 --> 00:55:03,000 And he encourages him and he entreats him. And he says, "All that I have is yours." 196 00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:08,000 You see, there's a son in his pride who thinks he deserves everything. 197 00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:13,000 There's a son in his brokenness who thinks that he has no place at the father's table. 198 00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:19,000 And both of them need to see the love of the father. And so John is saying, "See! Behold! Look!" 199 00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:27,000 Don't take it for granted. Don't let pride overcome you. Don't let despair push you away. 200 00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:36,000 See the love of the father. And then take a look at this. He says, "Let's take a look at the greatness of God's love." 201 00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:44,000 See what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called the children of God, and so we are. 202 00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:49,000 Right? This is earth-shattering news that we should be called the children of God. 203 00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:57,000 And so over our time, since I've married Rachel, we have caught a lot of dogs that have escaped from backyards in our neighborhood. 204 00:55:57,000 --> 00:56:05,000 Some of them are repeat offenders. But what happens, you see a dog running, so we head out with treats and we grab a leash. 205 00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:09,000 Sometimes we borrow a leash from our neighbors across the street. We capture the dog. 206 00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:14,000 We put out a little message on the lost dog pages and eventually the dog finds its way home. 207 00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:19,000 And some of these dogs are amazing. Some of these dogs are real annoying. 208 00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:24,000 There was one little dog that I finally caught, and I was like, "Man, I don't know what to do with him. 209 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:28,000 We can't bring him in the house because Kaiser doesn't like dogs. We don't have a crate. 210 00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:32,000 I'm not going to chain him in the front yard." So I put him in the big room downstairs. 211 00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:38,000 I said, "It's all cement. Nothing he can do about it." Locked the door. We went to take pictures and put it online 212 00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:42,000 so somebody could find him. Next minute I'm sitting there in the house looking out, 213 00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:46,000 and this dog just comes walking out the basement door. And I'm like, "What?" 214 00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:51,000 And what he had done is somehow got a running start, and this is like the size of a large squirrel, 215 00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:59,000 leaped through the window into the kitchen, down the hall, smashed into the crash bar, and headed out the door. 216 00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:04,000 I was like, "Get the logging chain because until he goes home, we're going to make sure this guy isn't running away." 217 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:09,000 And as a dog, we finally found his owner. I was very, very glad to return him. 218 00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:16,000 So I was very glad to help the dogs, but in 99% of the cases, I don't want to adopt any of them, right? 219 00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:22,000 Do you see what's happening here? God could have simply pulled us out of our sin. 220 00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:27,000 He simply could have rescued us. He could have forgiven us. He could have helped us. 221 00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:32,000 He could have set us back on our feet, but that is not what he does. 222 00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:42,000 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. 223 00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:48,000 God doesn't just help us. He doesn't just clean us up. He doesn't just try to find us a safe place. 224 00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:55,000 But what he does is he brings us into his family. 225 00:57:55,000 --> 00:58:01,000 Do you ever consider the fact that God could have just done that? He could have simply saved you. 226 00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:08,000 He didn't have to bring our dirty, sin-laden carcasses into his house and make us his children. 227 00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:17,000 And he does so because of his love. And so, when John says, "Behold the love that the Father has given to us," 228 00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:26,000 it is so great that he didn't just save us, but that he brought us into his family. 229 00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:38,000 What's interesting about this is this love is a little bit strange. Maybe a better way to say it is sort of unfamiliar to the world in which we live. 230 00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:45,000 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God, and so we are. 231 00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:51,000 The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 232 00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:57,000 Every family is very, very different. And I remember, and this memory has sort of burned into my mind, 233 00:58:57,000 --> 00:59:07,000 I went to stay with my friend in Vermont when I was probably Evelyn's age, and they had a dairy farm, and so it was very, very different. 234 00:59:07,000 --> 00:59:14,000 Like, we didn't wake up at like 7:30 or 8, right? It was like 0 dark 30. It was probably like 4:30 or 5. 235 00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:19,000 We're out, and there's no breakfast, right? It's just straight to the barn, and we're milking cows. 236 00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:26,000 We finally get done milking cows at like 8:30 or 9, and we go inside, and then we eat breakfast, and we have a cup of coffee, 237 00:59:26,000 --> 00:59:32,000 and we go out, and we do a bunch more chores, and like one, we come in, and we eat lunch, and we go back out. 238 00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:37,000 About 4:30, we're milking cows again, and at 7:30, like, I'm ready to cash in for the day, right? 239 00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:42,000 It's like, we're going to watch the Farm Report on TV, and then we're just going to just pass out and go to bed. 240 00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:48,000 And it was so different from how it was at home, right? The food was different. The wake-up time was different. 241 00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:57,000 The chores were very, very different, right? And it was very, very strange to me. 242 00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:05,000 But if you're around that, it becomes familiar, right? We're familiar with our families. We may not be familiar with other families. 243 01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:11,000 And what John is saying here at the end of this verse, the reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him, 244 01:00:11,000 --> 01:00:17,000 is that the love of God is strange to those who have not experienced it. And part of the reason that the love of God 245 01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:26,000 is strange is because we've become accustomed to love that is shallow and weak, and God's love is so much deeper 246 01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:35,000 that it overflows into the lives of His people, and they overflow in love toward each other, and they overflow in love toward the world. 247 01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:40,000 And the picture of what John is saying here is, "Look at this love. It's huge." 248 01:00:40,000 --> 01:00:45,000 But it's going to be strange, because people haven't experienced the love of the Father like you have. 249 01:00:45,000 --> 01:00:53,000 They didn't recognize Him when He was here. Don't expect them to recognize you when you're here as well. 250 01:00:53,000 --> 01:01:01,000 This brings us to the assurance of God's love. In 1 John 3:2, it just says this, "Beloved, we are God's children now, 251 01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:07,000 and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, 252 01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:13,000 because we shall see Him as He is." This sounds a little strange, doesn't it? 253 01:01:13,000 --> 01:01:19,000 We're God's children now, but what we will be has not yet appeared, and He's going to appear, and we're going to be like Him, 254 01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:25,000 and we're going to see Him as it is, which means that maybe right now we're not seeing Him quite as He is. 255 01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:31,000 The other night, I was sitting outside. It had been really, really hot all day. It was probably like 8:30 or so. 256 01:01:31,000 --> 01:01:36,000 The sun had kind of started to go down. I was sitting in the shade, and there was a nice breeze, and I'm sitting there going, 257 01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:41,000 "Man, it is really, really nice out here." And the reason it was nice, and the reason it was comfortable, 258 01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:48,000 was because the heat that had been so oppressive was gone. Because I'm sitting there in one lawn chair, 259 01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:54,000 and Ranger is sitting there in the other lawn chair, and we're grumbling about traffic just like me and Grandpa used to do. 260 01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:59,000 The only thing that would make it better, right, is I don't know if you guys have this right now, 261 01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:05,000 but we have like a million mosquitoes everywhere. It is so bad, I'm sitting there slapping mosquitoes everywhere. 262 01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:09,000 The thing that would make this good is not adding something to it, 263 01:02:09,000 --> 01:02:16,000 but taking something away from it, right? Some things are wonderful, not because they show up, 264 01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:23,000 but they're wonderful because they leave, right? And you may say, "Well, I know some people like that." 265 01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:31,000 One of the things about this verse is that it shows us that in His love and in His assurance, 266 01:02:31,000 --> 01:02:37,000 there are things that God removes from us that bring to us a great benefit. 267 01:02:37,000 --> 01:02:41,000 The first thing that He shows us He removes is uncertainty. 268 01:02:41,000 --> 01:02:45,000 So I want you to look at the beginning of this verse on the screen here behind me, 269 01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:51,000 and I want you just to sort of fill in the blank as I read it. There's only one word that you need. 270 01:02:51,000 --> 01:02:55,000 I'm just going to start at the beginning. We're just going to read a couple of words and then respond. 271 01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:59,000 We don't do a lot of responsive kind of questions, but we're going to give it a try. 272 01:02:59,000 --> 01:03:03,000 So I'm going to read it, and then when I stop reading, say the next word. 273 01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:14,000 Beloved, we are God's children now. Like tomorrow? Next week? Maybe sometime in the future. 274 01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:23,000 Do you hear what we just said? Beloved, we are God's children now. Isn't that wonderful? 275 01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:31,000 Not someday, but now. The second thing that this removes from us is discouragement. 276 01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:39,000 So look at the second part of this verse, "And what we will be has not yet appeared." 277 01:03:39,000 --> 01:03:43,000 But that we know when it does appear we will be like Him. 278 01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:48,000 There's times where we're tired and we're broken and we're feeling our failures. 279 01:03:48,000 --> 01:03:53,000 Maybe we've failed, maybe we've sinned, maybe we've hurt others, and we just feel broken. 280 01:03:53,000 --> 01:04:00,000 But listen to the promise of hope that is here for us in our discouragement is that God will take that away. 281 01:04:00,000 --> 01:04:06,000 What we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him. 282 01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:10,000 And so on one hand God is giving us certainty that we are His children now, 283 01:04:10,000 --> 01:04:16,000 and what we are right now will not be what we are in the future. 284 01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:25,000 And then He just says this: that the distance that sometimes we feel is so great in this moment God removes, 285 01:04:25,000 --> 01:04:30,000 because then, when we know, we shall see Him as He is. 286 01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:36,000 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, he says it this way: 287 01:04:36,000 --> 01:04:46,000 "We see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. For now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." 288 01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:52,000 First century mirrors were not great. We have high definition mirrors in comparison. 289 01:04:52,000 --> 01:04:55,000 We can see all the details, all the blemishes. 290 01:04:55,000 --> 01:05:01,000 You get a piece of hammered or polished metal, and you can sort of see a general idea, 291 01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:07,000 and you're trying to look and you're trying to see, and you can't see very well. 292 01:05:07,000 --> 01:05:15,000 And Paul says there's a day coming when we will see clearly, as if, face to face. 293 01:05:15,000 --> 01:05:20,000 What I want you to understand, the reality is that God is not distant. It just feels like that. 294 01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:24,000 Because we can't see as clearly. The other day I was sitting outside with Ranger. 295 01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:26,000 In fact, it was like last night, we're sitting out with Ranger. 296 01:05:26,000 --> 01:05:31,000 And I look around, and I don't see him anywhere. And so I'm calling him, "Ranger, come!" 297 01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:36,000 I'm beeping his caller so he knows it's time to come home. And I'm looking around, I look behind me, I look next to me, 298 01:05:36,000 --> 01:05:41,000 and I'm just yelling for him, "Where is he?" And I'm getting ready to go search for him. 299 01:05:41,000 --> 01:05:44,000 And I look down, and right underneath the edge of the picnic table where I was sitting, 300 01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:48,000 two little paws just sitting there underneath. Couldn't see him, but he was right there. 301 01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:56,000 And for many of us in this moment and in this life, right, we see in a mirror dimly, see some outlines, we can see some shapes. 302 01:05:56,000 --> 01:06:05,000 The reality is that one day we will see the reality that God is not distant, but he is here and near and with us. 303 01:06:05,000 --> 01:06:11,000 And what John is doing in this moment, he's trying to remove our uncertainty that we are God's children now. 304 01:06:11,000 --> 01:06:17,000 That God is at work to grow us and to sanctify us, and what you are and your disappointment now will not be what you will be. 305 01:06:17,000 --> 01:06:22,000 And there will be a coming a day where we shall see clearly. 306 01:06:22,000 --> 01:06:33,000 So John has said that we are to look. He's expounded to us the greatness of God's love, the strangeness of God's love that doesn't always make sense to the world around us. 307 01:06:33,000 --> 01:06:42,000 He's pointed us to the wonder of the future. And now he tells us this, that God's love transforms. 308 01:06:42,000 --> 01:06:48,000 He's told us to behold, to see the greatness. It's different than anything you've ever known. 309 01:06:48,000 --> 01:06:53,000 It's a future without mosquitoes, one of nearness and completeness. 310 01:06:53,000 --> 01:07:03,000 And there is certainty that you are God's children now. And now he says this, "And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." 311 01:07:03,000 --> 01:07:10,000 Right? Notice that there is a transformation for those who know the love of the Father. 312 01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:18,000 There's a transformation in our family that we become children of God. There's a transformation in the brokenness of life. 313 01:07:18,000 --> 01:07:27,000 There is a transformation in our holiness. And notice the source of this transformation, "Everyone who thus hopes." 314 01:07:27,000 --> 01:07:35,000 And notice John doesn't say, "This transformation is for those who hope in their own goodness or their own strength or their own accomplishments." 315 01:07:35,000 --> 01:07:51,000 He says, "Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure." To the extent that you see God and His love will be to the extent that your life is transformed. 316 01:07:51,000 --> 01:08:02,000 So I've talked a lot about Ranger this morning, and he is a cattle dog. Both his parents were cattle dogs of different breeds, but he just loves to chase and to herd. 317 01:08:02,000 --> 01:08:07,000 Children he sees as wobbly sheep. But there is a remarkable habit that he has picked up. 318 01:08:07,000 --> 01:08:12,000 And I remember the first day we took him out of the front yard, and I'm walking him, and all of a sudden he stops. 319 01:08:12,000 --> 01:08:23,000 And if you've ever watched a bird dog, they put that front paw up, and they point, and their tail goes out, and he sees a robin in the front yard, and he points exactly like a bird dog. 320 01:08:23,000 --> 01:08:29,000 So I take a picture and send it to my friend Shane, and I say, "What kind of dog did we get from you?" 321 01:08:29,000 --> 01:08:34,000 He's supposed to be herding the birds, not trying to flush the birds. 322 01:08:34,000 --> 01:08:46,000 And the funny thing about our dog is that his mom, the red healer, the other dog that lives in the house is a full-blooded bird dog, who does exactly that all the time. 323 01:08:46,000 --> 01:08:54,000 And so this little dog who's made to herd and to chase and to move animals, because he's been around, 324 01:08:54,000 --> 01:09:02,000 another dog who likes to flush and chase and point at birds, he's developed those same kinds of habits. 325 01:09:02,000 --> 01:09:10,000 You see, we become like what we follow. We hope in those things that we surround ourselves with. 326 01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:17,000 And for some of us, that may mean that we need to remove some things from our lives. 327 01:09:17,000 --> 01:09:28,000 That we're not hoping in Him, we're hoping in something else. But for others of us, it might mean that we need to add some things. 328 01:09:28,000 --> 01:09:39,000 We might need to reinforce that hope through His Word, through His people, through prayer, through repentance. 329 01:09:39,000 --> 01:09:45,000 And so the question for us as we look at the love the Father has for us is simply this: 330 01:09:45,000 --> 01:09:52,000 Are you putting your hope in Him? As everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure, John is saying, 331 01:09:52,000 --> 01:10:00,000 Where are you putting your hope? Is it in Him, or is it in all of these many different things that are vying for your attention? 332 01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:13,000 Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank You for Jesus. Thank You for grace. I thank You that there is hope. Help us to see the love that You have poured out into 333 01:10:13,000 --> 01:10:20,000 into our lives, that You have adopted us as Your children, that we would look and we would see and we would be reminded that it would 334 01:10:20,000 --> 01:10:28,000 not become familiar, that our pride would not stand in the way, that our discouragement would not cause us to run and hide, but that You would 335 01:10:28,000 --> 01:10:37,000 give us assurance and closeness. Most of all, would You transform and change us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 336 01:10:37,000 --> 01:10:44,000 We're going to stand, and we're going to sing "I Set My Hope on Jesus." 337 01:11:07,000 --> 01:11:32,000 When the questions come and doubts remain, I set my hope on Jesus. For the deepest wounds the time won't heal. There's a joy that runs still deeper. There's a truth that's more than all I feel. 338 01:11:32,000 --> 01:11:57,000 I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first? I set my hope on Jesus. 339 01:11:57,000 --> 01:12:16,000 I set my hope on Jesus. When I feel the fight and sink within, I set my hope on Jesus. 340 01:12:16,000 --> 01:12:43,000 Though the shame would drown me in its sea, and I dread the wave of justice, I will cast my life on Calvary. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. 341 01:12:43,000 --> 01:12:50,000 I set my hope on Jesus. My God, my only trust. You set His heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. 342 01:13:13,000 --> 01:13:20,000 Though the world call me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. Though it offer all its vain rewards, I set my hope on Jesus. 343 01:13:20,000 --> 01:13:38,000 Though the world call me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. Though it offer all its vain rewards, I set my hope on Jesus. Though this heart of mine is prone to stray, give me grace enough to fill in. 344 01:13:38,000 --> 01:14:06,000 I set my hope on Jesus. Though this heart of mine is prone to stray, give me grace enough to finish, till I worship on that final day. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. 345 01:14:06,000 --> 01:14:34,000 My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first. 346 01:14:34,000 --> 01:14:44,000 I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. 347 01:14:44,000 --> 01:15:02,000 We are so thankful that you are here. VBS starts tomorrow morning. 348 01:15:02,000 --> 01:15:10,000 We want to encourage you to pray for that. We are very thankful for everybody who has worked so hard to this point. 349 01:15:10,000 --> 01:15:20,000 If you are a VBS volunteer, just a reminder, we've got some name tags for you. They identify you as an official volunteer. 350 01:15:20,000 --> 01:15:28,000 That's one of the procedures and precautions we're taking this week. If you haven't gotten one yet, I don't think anybody has. 351 01:15:28,000 --> 01:15:36,000 They're downstairs in the big room. Grab one. Write your name on it. Make sure we're wearing it during the week. 352 01:15:36,000 --> 01:15:41,000 You can grab it in the morning as well, or you can do it here after church. I can help you find those. 353 01:15:41,000 --> 01:15:49,000 We just want to make sure that we're all identified so we know who is the official volunteers during this week. 354 01:15:49,000 --> 01:15:55,000 I would just encourage you to be in prayer. If you have neighborhood kids you want to invite, they can register online. 355 01:15:55,000 --> 01:16:01,000 They can show up, and we'll try to register. I think we have some forms outside as well. 356 01:16:01,000 --> 01:16:11,000 As well, there won't be any Wednesday night Bible study this Wednesday because we're going to be very tired from BBS in the mornings. 357 01:16:11,000 --> 01:16:19,000 Also, next week, this doesn't necessarily affect us in a big way as a church, but there is a camp coming, a Christian camp, 358 01:16:19,000 --> 01:16:27,000 that spends their time, their camp week, going around throughout the community, helping people fix and repair their homes. 359 01:16:27,000 --> 01:16:33,000 So they're going to be staying at Shenandoah. They're going to be going out doing their mission work during the day, 360 01:16:33,000 --> 01:16:40,000 and then in the evening, starting next Sunday evening through, I think, Thursday evening, they're going to be at the church. 361 01:16:40,000 --> 01:16:46,000 They'll have dinner at the church, and then they're going to have a worship service here, and then they're going to go back to their dorms 362 01:16:46,000 --> 01:16:56,000 and then get up the next morning and do it all over again. So I would just encourage you to be in prayer for that work camp that is coming into town. 363 01:16:56,000 --> 01:17:07,000 We're going to go ahead and have a word of prayer, and then I'll read from the end of 1 John, and then we will sing the doxology and be dismissed. 364 01:17:07,000 --> 01:17:14,000 Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and your church, your people. Be with the endeavors that we have undertaken. 365 01:17:14,000 --> 01:17:23,000 May we glorify you in all things. May your word be proclaimed to the children in the area and to their families. 366 01:17:23,000 --> 01:17:30,000 May they see the good news of the gospel. Just take care of us. Watch over us. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you. 367 01:17:30,000 --> 01:17:33,000 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 368 01:17:33,000 --> 01:17:42,000 John ends his letter like this, "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true, 369 01:17:42,000 --> 01:17:49,000 and we are in him who is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 370 01:17:49,000 --> 01:17:53,000 Little children, keep yourself from idols. 371 01:17:53,000 --> 01:18:11,000 Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. 372 01:18:11,000 --> 01:18:22,000 Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 373 01:18:41,000 --> 01:18:43,000 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 374 01:19:11,000 --> 01:19:40,980 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 375 01:19:41,000 --> 01:20:10,980 Father, Son, Holy Ghost. 376 01:20:11,000 --> 01:20:40,980 Father, Son, Holy Ghost. 377 01:20:41,000 --> 01:21:10,980 Lord, Son, Holy Ghost. 378 01:21:11,000 --> 01:21:40,980 Lord, Son, Holy Ghost. 379 01:21:41,000 --> 01:22:10,980 Lord, Son, Holy Ghost. 380 01:25:11,000 --> 01:25:40,980 Father, Son, Holy Ghost. 381 01:25:41,000 --> 01:26:10,980 Son, Holy Ghost. 382 01:26:11,000 --> 01:26:40,980 Son, Holy Ghost. 383 01:26:41,000 --> 01:27:10,980 Son, Holy Ghost.