Would you be Christs Disciple — Luke 8-9

0:00 Alright. Well, let's let's pray here as we get started for our our morning Bible Bible topic. Our heavenly father, we pray, we ask father that you would give us your message that you want us to hear today. Father, we know that you love us. We know that you have given your word for a specific purpose to reveal yourself to us.

0:24 And father, we're just... We're sitting back right now and we're asking what is your word for us this morning? What do you want to speak or impress upon our heart? We pray just now. We commit ourselves to you.

0:36 We pray this. We ask for your help. We recognize our dependence on you, and we pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. For those of you that are joining us today which by the way, welcome again and how could he not know Steven?

0:54 You know, but great to have you with us. Liberty alumni. We've been going through Luke. We're in Luke chapter nine and so if you want to turn there, go ahead and turn there. Luke chapter nine is where we're going to be this morning and we're going to be picking up right where Todd left off last week.

1:13 We went through verse 50 and this this particular chapter is one of those long ones. Chapter two was 80 verses. This one's 62 verses. A lot of verses to cover. So, we couldn't expect for one fellow to cover all the all the verses in in in one message except for maybe Ray.

1:35 He could probably do it. He's good at he's good at making making tracks and bringing out the good points. Now, we're in chapter nine and verse 51. Let's read there through the end of the chapter, just a few verses. And it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly looked or set his face to go toward Jerusalem.

1:58 This is speaking of the Lord Jesus, that when His time was come. Verse 52, And Jesus sent messengers before His face, and they went and entered into the village of the Samaritans to make ready for Him. And they did not receive him because his face was as though it would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this or observed this, they command... They said to the Lord, would you have us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elijah did?

2:29 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, rebuked John and James and said, you do not know what manner of spirit ye are of, for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And he went to another village. Verse 57. And it came to pass that as as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, will I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man, referring to Himself, has nowhere to lay His head.

3:06 And He said to another person, follow me. But this person replied, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at my home and at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

3:40 I believe that once we kind of observe this whole chapter, chapter nine, one of the themes that pops up is this word discipleship. Doug Torok started this off all the way back in chapter one. In fact, or excuse me, all the way back in verse one. If you look at chapter nine and verse one, it says this, then he called his 12 disciples together And the word disciple is right there. He called the disciples and Doug did a nice job of saying to asking us this question, are you a disciple, a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?

4:15 Or are you a casual believer? Jesus called the disciples. Jesus is calling the disciples and so as we we track through this chapter nine, we see that this is the topic, discipleship. Now, as we come to our portion in verse 51, it it came to pass when the time had come. I want to take that little phrase, and it came to pass when the time had come.

4:45 This is referring to the Lord Jesus. In fact, we're we're saying, okay, look, we started back in Luke chapter one and say about the first three chapters of Luke chapter one or Luke chapter one, two, and three, we get the birth of the lord Jesus. God sending his son to Earth. We have the whole story of of Mary and Elizabeth and John John John the Baptist. All that's going on in the very first part.

5:13 Then, chapter four is a transition or a pivot time where he goes into his earthly ministry. He starts out in the wilderness and then he sets out and starts teaching, starts performing miracles, starts revealing who he is. Now, we come up to chapter nine and verse 51. This is another pivot point, okay? And you say, well, we see all the things that he's been doing.

5:58 Now, he's going to set his face toward Jerusalem. He's going to go to the cross. And I wondered like, how can we identify with this? How can we how can we make this a little bit more real and connect with this? Now Justin, can I put you on the spot?

6:13 How old are you? Five. 35, okay. I was guessing, I was hoping you were 33 to be my so go ahead and stand up, Justin. Stand up.

6:26 Here we got Justin. We all know Justin, and to know Justin is to love Justin. Now, maybe those can remember back like how many years ago did you come here to the chapel for the first Probably about fourteen. Fourteen? Yeah, fourteen years ago.

6:50 Like almost half of his life ago, right? He came in, he wooed a young lady. But here we see him, we come and we're like, here he is, he's got four young children, he's great husband, a provider for his family, we have a relationship with him. And so now if we... If Justin were to tell us, if Justin were to tell us, hey, my time has come.

7:19 I'm going to the cross and I'm going to be sacrificed on your behalf. This is what was happening. See, Jesus had been with them. All He had been with the disciples. He'd been there and now he's and now the statements, it it he says, the time has come.

7:36 I must go toward Jerusalem and we say they didn't understand it. No, they didn't understand it. In the same way that we wouldn't understand, why is Justin saying he's going to go sacrifice himself for us? But then, feel the emotion of that. Like, man, we would hate to see him go.

7:54 We would say, no, don't go. And so, go ahead. Sit down. Thank you. Give him a hand for help.

8:04 You see this? This is Jesus. He's going to the cross. When his time was come, there's some other verses in scripture. You won't turn.

8:17 I just put em on here on the on the screen for us. It remind me of this. Galatians four four, but when the fullness of the time was come, god sent forth his son made of a woman under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoptions of son and because you are sons, God has sent forth His spirit of His son into your hearts. The time had come. This is what Jesus is referring to.

8:45 Matthew one twenty one tells us and oh, this should be he. And he shall bring forth a son, or no, she... Yeah, she's... Sorry, it was right. And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

8:59 And look at... Here's the mission, for he shall save his people from their sins. The time had come that Jesus would save his people from their sins. Luke chapter 19, which we'll get to soon, it says, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. In this chapter as well, we read it already, For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

9:26 You see the time had come for this, The time had come. Romans eight or thirteen eleven says, and that knowing the time, that now is high time for us to wake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armors of light. You see, we're thinking about Jesus' statement in the context of discipleship.

9:57 He's saying the time has come. I'm going to pave the way to redeem all mankind. I'm going to pave the way for you to have relationship with the holy god and I'm going to pave the way for you to be put into service of the king, to be put into service of being my disciple, being a Christ follower. And so this is what we see, and it came to pass when the time had come. The next little phrase that we read in verse 51, it says that...

10:49 He said, If I be lifted up, I will draw all people, all men and women to myself. If I be lifted up, even as Moses lifted up the serpent on the wilderness, just look unto me and you will be saved. He's fulfilling his purpose. He's going to the cross. He's lived this perfect life.

11:09 He says, Father, not my will, but Thy be done. Jesus has given us an excellent example of the follower of an obedient one, of a disciple himself. He says, I will be lifted up and we just sing about the cross. Jesus, when I should be received up, referring to the cross. Oh, couple other things about that that that refers to is that yeah, He died on the cross, but He was buried, right?

11:46 Three days later, that He should be received up, refers to His resurrection. The power of His resurrection. God was pleased with the death of the Lord Jesus and He raised Him from the dead that He should be received up. The Father's receiving Him back. Jesus had done His will.

12:05 Jesus had completed His task. Jesus had made the payment for sin and the Father says, I will raise you again. He was received up. And then what do we read in Acts chapter one in verse eight? Where we where we where we Acts chapter one gives us the explanation of His ascension.

12:25 He was received up into heaven. You said, you're right. He was lifted up on the cross. He was put in that tomb but he was raised up by his father and then he says, I go to the father and if I go to the father, I go to prepare a place for you and if I go, I will come again and so he's been received up once again into heaven, the ascension. And then, even as we think about being received up, where is he seated right now?

12:54 He's seated at the father's right hand. He's seated there, king of kings, lord of lords. Yes. Jesus said and it came to pass the time was come that he should be received up. And then he says, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

13:15 My version you're the word here, the Greek word steadfastly, we don't use that word a whole lot, but he steadfastly set his faith to go face to go to Jerusalem. It's not recorded a lot in the in the New Testament. In fact, whenever we think about Jesus setting his face steadfastly, I mean, it just means intent. He's focused. He's going.

13:37 Nothing's going to get in his way. He's got that initiative. In fact, he so much so that the people in in Samaria said, well, he's not going to stay here. He's going to Jerusalem. There's the next time this word is used is in Acts chapter one and it and it says, why stand you gazing, steadfastly looking like why are you looking?

14:05 Why are you why are you so steadfast on watching Jesus go? Don't don't look. Don't look up. Go look out. I'm gone away.

14:14 I'm coming again but I want you to go and he gives that great commission. Then the other time it's mentioned is Acts two forty two, and they continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread, fellowship, in in the apostles' doctrine and prayers. Jesus was set steadfastly and you know he did it. You and I have this opportunity to be steadfast in these things, doing the work that he's given us to do, following the principles of of being together for to remember Him, to work together like we did for VBS, to meet together to pray, to have times like this where we're taking the word and we're looking at it, we're understanding what these phrases could mean to us. It came to pass when the time had come that he should be received up.

15:30 In the book of back to verse one, Jesus called the disciples and gave them power and authority and they go. Then Herod gives this inquiry like he wants to see Jesus, he wonders who this is. He's the same guy that had killed John the Baptist. His disciples report back. They come back and they report all the things that they've been able to do under His power.

15:53 Then we have the feeding of the 5,000 plus. We're tracking right through the chapter and Jesus asked, whom do people say that I am? And then he says, who do you say that I am? And we hear this response. Peter saying, thou art the Christ of God.

16:11 That's how it's recorded for us in Luke's account. The son of man must suffer and tell of his of his death and resurrection or Jesus tells of his death and resurrection. We we have that little snippet in there. Then, Jesus says this, if any man will come after me and deny himself and take up his cross, he must do it daily and kind of a sub a subset to that is whoever shall save his life shall lose it. Whoever shall lose his life shall save it.

16:41 Jesus in the same, this kind of belongs to that other session. What advantage is it to a man if he gain the whole world and shall lose himself or is a castaway? Whoever shall be ashamed to me, of him, the son and the father will be ashamed at his at his coming and his glory. So, the next next little thing we see is the transfiguration. Jesus with Moses and Elijah and we we notice these these few things.

17:08 They speak of his deceased. Peter and John fall asleep. God the father overshadows him and speaks out of heaven. This is my beloved son. Hear him.

17:17 Jesus cast out a demon from a man's only son that the that the disciples couldn't cast out. Jesus tells the disciples, I will be delivered into the man's into men's hands, but they understood it not and feared to ask him. And then the disciples reason, maybe that's too light of a word, they argue or debate who shall be the greatest. Jesus takes a little child and gives them an object lesson about the least being the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And then we've got John, the last little thing that we looked at last week was that John says, who is this guy?

17:51 I I forbidden him to come with us and Jesus says, forbid him not. For he that is is not against us is for us. Now, that was a rapid over fire, a big overview of Luke chapter nine until we get to verse 51. Now, there's a lesson in every one of those statements. Every one of those little captions.

18:17 Jesus called the disciples, be a true disciple versus a casual believer. Herod's inquiry, the world will oppose you. Now look, this is discipleship 101. Okay? This is discipleship maybe two zero two, maybe three zero three, maybe four zero four, okay?

18:37 The disciples had something to report back to Jesus. What do I have to report? I'm a I'm I call myself a disciple. What do I have to report? Jesus fed the 5,000.

18:49 The disciples got to see that. I had this little statement, the servants knew. This is a reference back to when Jesus turned water into wine. The scripture is clear. It says, the governor of the feast did not know where the water came from but the servants which drew the water knew.

19:05 Now the disciples, they get to see Jesus feed 500 or 5,000 people plus women and children. And so the disciples knew, they saw the power of Jesus. They saw him feed the 5,000. They saw him raise Lazarus from the dead. They saw him calm the storms.

19:23 The disciples knew, the servants knew, do you? Do you know his power? Do you understand his power? Do you see him working in your life? This is a disciple.

19:33 If you're working, if you're following Jesus, you will know just like the servants knew. You will see things that happen that you say are unexplainable because I know this is God. There's no other way to explain it but that God's at work in and through us. Jesus asked this very important question, who do people say that I am? How do you answer this question?

20:12 Jesus is Lord. He's the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Hey, if that's true, if Jesus is my lord, my king, my savior, my master, then I'm his disciple. How do you... Are you living that out?

20:27 Are you a disciple or a casual believer? The son of man must suffer. Jesus did what he said. We can have this confidence. Everything Jesus said, he did.

20:41 Everything, if we examine the book of Luke and everything we track through there, that Jesus said He was going to do something, He did it. Now listen, the same is true. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go I will come again. Jesus is coming back. Jesus says, He who has the Son has life but he who has not the son does not have life but the wrath of god abides on him.

21:06 Choose life. Choose to follow. These people, the the disciples, they were faced with the same issue. Should we follow our our passion of fishing, industry, get great wealth? Should we follow prestige, learning?

21:26 Should we follow you you fill in the blank. Matthew, the tax collector, they all had to face this and they understood like, what they were pursuing, the life that they were living up to the point to where they met Jesus, all that paled in comparison with what Jesus had to offer. Follow me. Follow me. Be my disciple.

21:48 He did what he said. We can have the confidence that Jesus is who he said he was. We can have the confidence that Jesus is coming back. We can have the confidence that Jesus is the same Jesus that storm that calmed the storm and raised Lazarus back to life. Will you follow him?

22:04 Now, here here's where we get into that 300 level course, okay? Jesus said, if any man come under after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. I I just say the lessons here are self evident. They're all the things that Jesus was saying. Look, it's contrary to man's thinking.

22:23 Man's ways are different than god's ways. God said, my ways are not your ways. You think differently. I have a different scale. I have a different economy.

22:32 In My Kingdom, the last shall be first. In My Kingdom, if you're trying to save your life, you're going to lose it. In My Kingdom, if you'll lose your life by giving it to Me, you're going to save it. In my kingdom, you could gain the whole world and lose your soul. That's terrible.

22:49 In my kingdom, come to me, seek first my kingdom and and my righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. And then in my kingdom, don't be ashamed of me. Don't run from me. Receive me. There's a day coming where we'll stand before God.

23:07 He'll ask us that question. Who was Jesus? What did you do with Jesus' offer, His free gift of salvation? There's a few more lessons that we hear, the transfiguration. This was validation.

23:21 Moses representing the law. Elijah representing the prophets. Jesus' validation, it's like this little mini object lesson. Jesus being on the mountain, Jesus in all His glory, Jesus comes down to go to the Garden Of Gethsemane and to go to the cross to receive his disciples, god the father is saying, look, hear him. See what he's doing.

23:45 He's leaving the glory. He's going to the cross. I'm going to raise him up. Validation. Validation of of all of Jesus' purpose.

24:22 The disciples reason. This is, okay, this is 400 level, right? 400 level class. We get distracted. Human distraction.

24:33 We think of like, how could the disciples do anything different than follow Jesus with their whole heart? How could the disciples get caught up in a in a debate about who's going to be the greatest? How could the disciples hear Jesus teaching and say like, hey, can I sit at your right hand? Can I be the first? It's like the human distraction and we all struggle with this, right?

24:57 We all struggle. We get distracted whether it's about self. Well, it's primarily about self, right? I mean, that's the human distraction and then, the kind of the lesson kind of continues in the last thing. Forbid him not for he that is not against us is for us And we we draw a lesson here about pride and humility.

25:20 John thought he was better. Jesus says, let's include him. Would you follow Christ as a disciple? This is the theme of our topic or our chapter today. Now we leave this little portion here as we we go through.

25:46 Well, look at look at verse verse 53. Back to Luke chapter nine now in verse verse 53. And they did not receive him because his face was as though it would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, will thou have us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did? This sounds like that human distraction again, doesn't it?

26:10 It sounds like the pride rearing his head again like, hey, they don't they don't they're not with us. Let's zap em. Jesus reminds him, this is... You don't know the spirit the the manner of the spirit that you are. For the son of man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

26:29 Now Jesus is wanting his disciples. He's wanting any that will take up their cross and follow him. That he's wanting them to follow. He wants followers. And we get into this last little section where we see three examples of people that are following Jesus or they intend to follow Jesus And then he he gives three statements if you will.

26:56 That that kind of pinpoint or come to their their direction. So, look at let's look at verse 57. And it came to pass as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow you wherever you will go. Does that sound familiar like another fellow that would say that? Peter, remember Peter?

27:24 Lord, even though none other follow you, I will follow you wherever you go even unto death. Wasn't... We don't know. We don't know exactly who this is except in other gospels it seems these were people that were already following and he's making this claim, I will follow. I will follow you.

27:42 And we can appreciate his sincerity, his zeal, his enthusiasm. I will follow. We would do well to say that. I will follow. Jesus brings this up and he says this, Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.

28:08 Maybe this is a reference to the fact that Jesus had nothing to hold Him back. He had no he had no weights. You know, when we hear in in in Hebrews, let us lay aside every weight, every hindrance. Jesus had no hindrance. He says, I got no place to lay my head.

28:29 I got no bed. I got no house. I got no bills. He's unencumbered. He's unencumbered.

28:36 And is he saying, like, you gotta you gotta live life just the way I do in order to follow me? I don't think that's the point. But I do think he's saying live life in a way to where you're not bound, you're not restricted, you're not held back. Remember the parable of the sower? The cares of this world were were coming up and choking.

29:01 It was like the thorns and the thistles. They were choking the word of God. They were choking the good soil. They were choking the heart. No...

29:12 Live unencumbered. I will follow, live without the, live without the weights. Lay aside the weights. That's the first thing he tells us potential disciple. In the second scenario, Jesus initiates.

30:00 Once the funeral is over, then I'll follow you. You see that? It's not just saying like, It doesn't sound cold or heartless like his dad is in the grave and he let me go to the funeral. It's not. It's like, let me tend to my parents.

30:15 Jesus said, let the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Now doesn't it sound harsh? Doesn't it sound like, wow. We had referenced earlier in in Luke where he says, if you want to be my disciple, in comparison, it's like you would hate your father. Love for me is going to be so great that if you were to compare your love for me to compare to other significant relationships in your life, it would be as if you would hate those people because you love me so much.

30:51 And maybe that's the sense here is that let the dead bury their dead and but you go and preach the kingdom of God. You be a disciple. You take the message of salvation to the world. You follow me. G Campbell Morgan made this statement about about this initiative here.

31:13 Christ's call to discipleship is superior to the highest and most beautiful of earth's relationships. I appreciate that. It gives us some understanding like we would say, I I love my mother. I love my father. I love my spouse.

31:33 I love my children. Christ's call is superior to any of those relationships And as we think about it we say, yeah, that's true. But what happens? We end up letting those relationships trump our relationship with God. And so and it's well meaning, well intentioned, it happens to us all, it's common but we this is why we go back on those lessons.

32:04 Seek first the kingdom of God. This is why we say, let him take up his cross daily. This is why we say God I want to be before you. How do you want me to handle these relationships? What do you want me to do here?

32:15 What is your will in my circumstance? And we're seeking God. Now I can't tell you that like God's will is the same for you as it is for you and is for you. I can't say, Hey, you should be doing this and you should be doing that. What I can tell you though is that you can take and get before the Lord and say, Lord, I want to be your disciple.

32:36 Ask the Lord, what do you mean by like in comparison, I should hate my my spouse because my love is so great. How what what let god reveal that to you. Let him show you what that is. Let him show you how to play that out. You see, he's given these examples for that very reason.

33:00 The guy says, like, I I want to follow you and he's like, hey, look. Remember, even the foxes have a home but with me, I'm so unencumbered. I'm able to do the father's will. Jesus, I hear your call. I want to follow you but let me go take care of my family first and he's saying, look, in comparison, in comparison, I need you.

33:39 Let but but he goes ahead and puts his exclusion or his restriction right upfront But let me first go bid farewell to those that are at my house, that are at my home or at my house. And Jesus said to him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of god. This was a reference to the fact that nothing hinders. Nothing hinders. You know, we started today's lesson in verse 51.

34:17 And the last phrase of that was Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. Let's see if you agree with this. All three of those scenarios that he gave like the first one says, I'm I'm unencumbered. Jesus lived that. The second one was about let me go bury my let me go bury my father, tend to my father.

34:43 Mary is still living. We don't know about Joseph but Mary is still living. Jesus didn't say like, oh father, let me take care of my mother Mary before I go to the cross. Look what he's doing. He's setting his face toward Jerusalem.

35:00 He's going to do the father's will. Mary will come to him at one point and say, Jesus I'm concerned about you. You've been going, you've been teaching, there's so many demands on you and and the... One of the disciples comes says, your mother's at the door to see you and he says, who is my mother? Now he gently cared for her as he's on the cross.

35:25 He tells John take care of my mother. See it's not, he doesn't say disregard your family relationships, he just says put the Father's will in front of your own. Put the Father's will in front of these relationships. Order them. Order them.

35:44 Don't let other things trump me. This is true satisfaction. This is true happiness. This is true fulfillment. And then the third example, Jesus says, no man that puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

36:04 Look, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. He never looks back. He never looks back. He only looks forward. Even on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

36:18 Father, into my... Into your hands, I commend my spirit. Jesus has that focus. Some of you recognize the name Bill Borden. He was born in the late eighteen hundreds and a tremendous missionary story.

36:38 I thought about like who who could we who could we use as an example? You can plug a lot of missionaries. They and I thought about like, okay, why don't like like David Livingston or Amy Amy Carmichael, Cory Ten Boom or or the the martyrs And we say why do they stand out to us? Why are we intrigued by their story? Well Bill Borden, he was a fellow that his dad owned the Borden Dairies, a multimillionaire in the late 1800s.

37:07 And his present, his graduation present from high school was a trip around the world. All expense paid trip around the world. I don't know who are our graduates this year. Did any of all get that? But as he went around the world, he saw the dying people.

37:24 He saw a world that needed Christ and he was convinced in his heart that God was calling him to be a missionary, to take God's message of salvation to the world. Came back home, he shared this with his in fact, he wrote a letter to his parents while he was abroad. So when he got back from his trip, said, I want to go. They discussed this. He listen, first go to college, then you can choose to do what you want.

37:45 But we really want you to take over the business, son. You're primed for it. He goes to Yale. Read his story, can't go into all the detail, he's most famously remembered for these three comments that he wrote in the leaf of his Bible. No reserve, no retreat, no regrets.

38:12 You see, Bill finished college. He graduated from Yale. He started a Bible study on Yale campus with about 130 students in his first year as freshman. And when he was a senior, there was over 1,300 students attending this Bible study on the campus of Yale University. Now this was back in the late 1800s.

38:30 He goes to be a missionary, but he contracts meningitis when he went to learn a foreign language in Egypt. He died five years after he had made that commitment to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But in the flyleaf of his Bible were these words, no reserves, he's leaving all behind, no retreat, whatever stands before me, I'm keeping my face set and no regrets. He wrote that at the end of his life where he knew he was dying. A young man, no regrets.

39:08 In his diary, we say, when was the turning point for this kind of a situation, this kind of decision, this kind of commitment to Christ. And it was that first year of Yale where the Lord showed him, he was he was studying the word, hearing the Bible teaching, and he's... And he wrote down this in his diary. I will say no to self and yes to Jesus every time. That's discipleship.

40:02 Like we can hold our self up and then we can hold you next to us and we see there's no comparison. Self, vain, empty, hopeless, god, beautiful, hopeful, loving, almighty, eternal. Father, we pray that we would yield to you. Whatever our case is this morning, we would yield to you. We would say yes to you.

40:30 Father, give us a right understanding about ourselves. Give us a right understanding about what it's like to walk in relationship with you. We ask this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.