Good morning, everyone. Open up your copy of God's Word to John chapter 3.
Last week we started John chapter 3 and worked our way through a little bit more of it today.
And then next week we will finish it.
Thank you for the music and leading us in that beautiful, directing our hearts toward God.
Today we will be in John 3, 11 through 21.
Just by way of reminder, the Gospel of John is one of the clearest portraits of Jesus Christ,
one of the best clear visions we can have of Him as the Son of God incarnate who came to dwell among us.
And John focuses not just on the identity of who Jesus is,
but he also does it in such a way where he demands a response to it,
to either receive or reject the Son of God.
And last week we picked it up with this conversation that he has with Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees.
He's in Jerusalem.
He has just commenced with the cleaning out of the temple and his righteous anger.
And Nicodemus, it says a little earlier, came to Jesus by night,
hoping probably to avoid the dangerous implications of other people, particularly of his own order, the Pharisees,
seeing him interact with Jesus.
But Nicodemus seems to be actually intrigued.
He wants to hear Jesus out, take a closer look at who he is and his claims.
And we learn a lot of very serious things that you cannot miss if you want to be saved,
if you want to have a relationship with God through Christ.
A lot in this interaction.
But the one we looked at last week is how can a fallen, dead sinner enter into God's kingdom?
How can the rebels of the king actually be at peace with him and then enter into God's presence?
And we looked at this last week, but the answer simply is you must be born again from above to see the kingdom of God.
And Jesus goes at length to explain that to him.
But clearly Nicodemus picks up on some things he's saying, but he still is confused.
He doesn't quite know exactly what Jesus is saying.
He gives him analogies from this world, talking about birth and how that connects to a spiritual birth that we must have.
Then we go on in verse 11 today.
Let's pick it up in verse 11.
Let's read our text together.
This is Jesus going on, but verse 11.
And truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen.
But you do not receive our testimony.
If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe me, how can you believe me if I tell you heavenly things?
No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world.
And people love darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
Join me in another quick word of prayer.
Father, we just put this text before you and ask that you would work in our hearts and our hearing,
that your Holy Spirit would apply the word in the right way to each individual this year.
In Christ's name, amen.
So, we see now in this text, sort of a turning away from just the conversation with Nicodemus
to our Lord's discourse on the true meaning of what salvation actually is.
And this is the news of the gospel, the glad tithings of salvation.
And a lot of you have grown up hearing a lot of this stuff for most of your life,
especially from John chapter 3.
And so, lest you be tempted to be too familiar, you know, John 3.16, blah, blah, blah.
Don't do that. Refuse to do that.
And why do we need to hear the gospel daily?
Why do we need to be reminded of the gospel daily?
As it has been said, because we forget it almost daily.
And our lives reflect that very often.
Like, how many of us could actually sit down with someone who doesn't know and explain the true Christian gospel?
How many of you are convinced that you believe the gospel, but your life and what you love and what you chase after doesn't really reflect that belief?
It contradicts it.
And how many of you could be thinking that this is sort of just going back over something that you already know?
Don't be tempted.
The important thing is if you actually have believed the gospel and you attend church Bible studies and meetings and learn from God's word,
you might try to be a better person and have an adequate understanding of what the gospel message is.
But for some reason, you begin to think, is this all there is to it?
Is there more to being a follower of Jesus?
But your life simultaneously is characterized by a lack of joy and a lack of peace that's promised to those who do believe the gospel.
A lack of consistent spiritual growth.
It seems like the Christian life is reduced to a bunch of do's and don'ts.
Trying to be good and trying not to be bad.
And this is a failure to actually understand what the gospel is.
This one man said the gospel is not just the ABC of Christianity.
It is the A to Z of Christianity.
Paul refers to the gospel in a lot of rich language.
Romans 1.9, he calls it the good news of his son.
Romans 15.16, the good news of God.
1 Corinthians 9.12, the good news of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4.4, the glorious good news.
Ephesians 6.15, the good news of peace.
And then, of course, Revelation 14.6, the everlasting gospel or the everlasting good news.
But just a reminder before we start to unpack this, David Pryor wrote this.
He says, we never move on from the cross.
Only into a more profound understanding of the cross.
And if you're growing spiritually, your sin that is making you feel small, a greater understanding of your need for salvation,
you get smaller and God's salvation and God gets bigger.
And so, we're going to look at this through three points today, walking through our text.
Point number one, it's all just right out of the text.
The Son of Man has come from the Father.
This may be one of the most important ones for us to understand, all that's important, but we have to understand who Jesus is.
And we see this very clearly in verses 11 through 13.
We just read it.
In verse 11, you see that Jesus hones in on the idea of one's belief is tied to their spiritual ignorance.
Nicodemus is missing the heart of the matter.
He fails to understand Jesus' teaching.
He's failed to believe in Jesus' witness, what Jesus is saying.
And if you look at the verses, verses 11 through 13,
the word you, the pronoun you, used four times is actually in the plural.
So, he's not just saying you, Nicodemus, but he's speaking about a characteristic of the nation of Israel in general.
Y'all, you do not believe in what I am saying.
And he is supposed to be this great teacher of the nation of Israel.
He is the top of the line.
He is a Pharisee.
And Jesus is saying, look, if you don't understand this,
what your own scriptures teach,
and I'm using earthly analogies here,
if you can't understand this,
how will you understand a greater teaching
about heavenly things that are pertaining to God's glorious kingdom
and that no one can enter into it except through new birth, new spiritual birth?
So, he's laying this out very clearly.
But one verse he really looked closely at,
he tells Nicodemus something astonishing.
All right?
He says this in verse 13.
Look at verse 13.
No one has ascended into heaven
except he who has descended from heaven,
the Son of Man.
So, no one,
absolutely no one has ascended to heaven
or descended from heaven
in such a way as to come back
and talk about what heaven is like
other than Jesus.
He has come from the Father.
Heaven is his true home.
There he dwelt eternally
with the Father and the Spirit,
which is in John 17.
Totally content in the Godhead.
Jesus absolutely insisted
that no one,
no one has ascended to heaven
in such a matter
as to come back and talk about these things.
He's saying,
there isn't anybody,
like I'm it.
He alone was in heaven
prior to his incarnation.
And the wisdom writer,
something really,
a great connection to this,
the wisdom writer
in Proverbs 30,
verses 3 and 4,
he says,
I have not learned wisdom,
nor have I knowledge
of the Holy One.
He's saying,
I don't really understand God.
Like,
he is so lofty.
Then he makes this point,
who has ascended to heaven
and come down?
And in his mind,
like,
yeah,
no one has.
Like,
no one has actually dwelt with God.
But,
Jesus is saying,
yes,
actually,
I have,
the Son of God.
Therefore,
Jesus alone
possesses true knowledge
and wisdom of God.
He makes these exclusive claims
all throughout the Gospel of John.
Many exclusive claims.
Let's just look at a few of them together.
He says,
no one has ever even seen God.
No one has,
except the Son.
John 1,
18,
which we read about earlier.
No one has ever seen God.
The only God
who is at the Father's side,
He has made Him known.
There's one.
Also,
everyone,
it says in John 6,
45,
46,
everyone who has heard
and learned from the Father,
Jesus says,
comes to me.
Not that anyone
has ever seen the Father,
except He who is from God.
Talking about Himself.
He has seen the Father.
If you want to honor the Father,
Jesus says,
whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father
who sent Him.
That's John 5, 23.
If we claim to love the Father,
you must love Christ
whom the Father sent.
John 8, 42,
if God were your Father.
He's talking to a group of Jews
and leaders
that don't believe in Him.
He's saying,
if you love the Father,
you would love me.
For I came from God
and I am here.
I cannot do this
on my own accord,
but He sent me.
And if we want to come
into the Father's presence
one day,
if we want to enter
into the realms
of eternal glory
to be with Him,
Jesus says,
I am the way,
the truth,
and the life.
And no one comes
to the Father
except through me.
John 14, 6.
He also says
in John 14, 9,
do you want to see God?
Do you want to see God?
He says,
whoever has seen me
has seen the Father.
So if Jesus is the only one
who has come from God,
then His authority
on all things and matters
pertaining to God,
He holds absolute authority.
And so we have to listen to Him.
We have to trust Him
if we are to be saved
and if we are to know God.
It's a very exclusive claim
He makes before going on
in this passage.
So what are we going to do
with that reality
that He is the true Son of God?
There's two options.
This is the next two points.
But number two
is receive the Son,
be saved,
and have eternal life.
Receive the Son,
be saved,
and have eternal life.
And this goes on
from verses 14 to 18.
And He gives,
Jesus gives this veiled prediction
in verse 14.
He refers back to Moses
and the children of Israel
when they were wandering
in the desert.
So He's going back
to the Scriptures.
He's saying,
I love this just like Jesus
to teach us something
from the Scriptures
to help make a point
in the Scriptures.
And when they are wandering
in the wilderness
in such a barren land,
God graciously feeds them
manna from heaven.
And instead of being grateful
for His provision from them,
instead,
they are ungrateful
and they begin grumbling
and complaining against God.
And as an act of judgment
and ingratitude,
God sends fiery serpents,
poisonous snakes,
among them,
in which many perish.
Realizing the error of their way,
they cry to Moses and say,
hey, like we repent,
we repent,
like, you know,
we beg you to intercede
for us to God,
for Him to lift His judgment
in which Moses does
and God does.
But a brief verse or two
out of Numbers 21,
this is Jesus referring back
to what happened.
Numbers 21, verse 8,
the Lord said to Moses,
make a fiery serpent,
set it on a pole,
and everyone who is bitten,
when he sees it,
shall live.
So Moses made a bronze serpent
and set it up on a pole.
And if a serpent bit anyone,
he could look at the bronze serpent
and live.
So they had to,
by faith,
trust in what God had said,
gaze upon this fiery serpent,
this bronze serpent,
by faith,
believing that God would heal them
if they looked upon
the serpent on the pole
and then they would live physically.
So Jesus is saying,
those who look upon Christ,
the connection word here
is lifted up,
as Moses lifted this
bronze serpent up.
Those who look upon Christ,
who would be lifted up
on the cross,
for the sins of many
would have eternal life.
So Jesus builds out from this
to explain the true meaning
of salvation.
And that gives us to verse 16,
one of the most well-known
in the world,
probably.
So much so that WWE wrestlers
and baseball players
have it on their,
you know,
tattoos and stuff,
but very,
not implied what that meaning is.
But verse 16,
let's read it,
for God so loved the world
that he gave his only son
that whoever believes in him
should not perish
but have eternal life.
All right?
So God was moved by his love
for a sinful world of humanity.
And really quickly,
I didn't come up with this.
It was more,
I heard it from
Sinclair Ferguson.
But just three really good points
on what love actually is.
He implies,
the greater the lover,
the greater the love.
And so,
there is no being
in all existence
that has the capacity
for love
with such immensity
and vastness as God.
God, indeed,
is the definition of love.
As it says in 1 John,
God is love.
And he demonstrates
his great love for us.
So there's no greater lover
than God himself.
The second principle was,
the lesser the object,
the greater the love.
It's relatively easy
for us to love people
who love us.
That's what Jesus said.
Like, yeah,
of course you're going to love people
who love you back.
But,
not that so with God.
We have wrongly turned
God's love,
often,
as an echo
of our own excellence.
God loved me so much
because I was so important.
I was so valuable
and he couldn't spare me.
That's not the case.
The truth is
that his sin
had made us unlovable.
If everything in the Scripture
is true,
then we were rebels
against God.
We were depraved
in our minds
and our hearts.
And we sought
to overthrow
his rightful rule
in our lives.
So,
he chose
to set his love
on the most
less of objects
possible,
following humanity.
And then lastly,
the greater
the expression
of that love,
the more marvelous
the love.
And what was the expression
of God's love?
It wasn't just sentiment,
it was action.
He sent
his only son
to die
on a blood-stained cross
for us.
So,
those three things
what we see here,
God's love
has expressed
his desire
to welcome sinners,
embracing them,
cherishing them,
and giving eternally
of himself
to them.
And he did so,
again,
not because we were lovable.
We were not lovable.
1 John 4,
for this is from God
because God is love.
Not that we
have loved God,
but that God
loved us,
right?
And he sent his son
to die for us.
So,
it magnifies
God's great love
to lavish it
on lesser
deserving
rebels
and sinners
that have been
against his good rule.
It shows us
how great his love is
because he loved
his enemies.
That's the point.
Not because we were
valuable,
but because we were
enemies.
It magnifies
God's love.
God's love
for the world.
We see this
in the next part
of the verse.
In the context,
for Nicodemus,
a Pharisee,
and for other Jews
to hear,
the phrase
that God
loved the world
would have been
a shocking
and astonishing
statement
for any Jew
to hear
because many
of them,
most of them
maybe,
wrongly interpreted
the Old Testament
and other Jewish
writings.
They thought
that God's love
was exclusively
just for the
nation of Israel.
And one time
when you read
in the scriptures
the term
the world
or all men,
it was often
used by the New Testament
writers to correct
the false notion
that God's love
was only for
the people
of Israel.
So they use
such phrases
to show
that Christ
died for all men
without distinction,
Jews and Gentiles,
people from
every nation
and tongue,
not just for all men
without exception,
meaning each and every
single individual
walking the planet.
But,
again,
this can't be
overemphasized.
Nicodemus would have
been like,
whoa, stop,
wait a minute,
what are you talking about?
It would have been
a mind-boggling thing
for him to hear.
But as we know,
the scripture teaches
from the Abrahamic covenant
all the way
to the end of Revelation
that God desires
to collect a people
for himself
from every language,
every nation,
every tribe,
every ethnic group,
every tongue,
and he will do it.
That's his promise.
He's going to do it.
And so,
that is his love
for the world,
this terrible world
that we live in.
What was the expression
of that love?
We see in the next part
of this,
that he gave
his only son.
Not mere sentiment,
again,
but he actually did something.
He sent his only son.
This implies,
like,
his only unique son.
God gave us
his most treasured
possession,
his son.
It says in John 5,
20,
that the father
loves his son
and shows him
all that he is doing.
And before all creation
and eternity past,
when the son dwelt
perfectly alone
with the spirit
and the father,
John 17,
5,
Father,
glorify me
in your own presence
with the glory
that I had with you
before the world existed.
And then,
at Jesus' baptism,
we read,
that a voice came
from heaven.
This is my beloved son
with whom I'm well pleased.
Listen to him.
So,
the father loves
and cherishes
the son.
His most valued possession.
This is what he gave
for a fallen humanity.
When it says
that God so loved the world,
it's saying,
in what way
did God
love the world?
How so?
That he gave
his one
only unique son
for us.
And then,
the next part of this,
that whoever believes
in him.
It just simply says
whoever believes in him,
not how does
one believe,
how does this
take place,
but just saying
whoever does
will be saved.
So,
the word believed
here is a key word
that we can't miss.
It's used seven times
in this context
to emphasize
our reaction
or our response
to what God
has done.
All right?
It's our response
to God's great love
and sending Christ.
But,
the Greek word here
means a deep confidence
to be fully persuaded,
fully entrust.
It means to be
fully persuaded
in such a way
that it affects
how you live.
So,
it's not just
a mental ascent
to knowledge.
It changes
how you live.
Right?
So,
here's an analogy.
I hate to use
this analogy.
There's so many
analogies out there
that relate to
airplanes and parachutes
and jumping,
but,
I don't know.
Here we go.
I think it's probably
one of the best ones,
but,
let's say that you
were going to go
skydiving
and you had
the best instructor
on the planet
with you,
the skydiving instructor.
And he says to you,
do you believe
the parachute will work?
You say,
I guess it will.
Yeah,
I've done what
I'm supposed to do.
And,
do you entrust
yourself to me?
Do you believe in me
as your instructor?
Absolutely.
You're the best.
All right,
let's jump.
And then you go,
whoa,
not quite ready,
not so fast.
This is,
I'm not ready.
And then he goes,
well,
it's okay.
Look,
I'll be jumping
with you.
But,
but then you say,
what if I mess up
and I descend down
into a death spiral?
And he goes,
don't worry.
Like,
I promise I'll be with you
and I'll make it right.
Like,
you'll be fine.
I promise.
Don't worry.
I will make it right
and I'll save your life.
And then you say,
I'm sure you'll try your best,
but just to be safe,
I'm going to sit down.
Do you really trust me?
He says,
and well,
apparently not.
Right?
And the difference is
between this mentally agreeing
that the parachute
and the instructor
will save your life
no matter what,
and then actually doing it.
And so,
what we're saying
is that
true believing
in the skydiving
and structure
will save your life.
You have to actually believe that
and you have to actually do it.
Not just have
a mental agreement
like,
yeah,
I think so.
It's actually trusting
in him to do it.
Fully being persuaded.
Not blind faith.
And so,
the results of us
truly believing
in Christ,
the results of that
are that we will not perish
but have eternal life.
Not perishing
as opposed to having
eternal judgment.
Right?
That's what we're talking about.
This is first of ten references
in John's Gospel
where he used the phrase
eternal life.
That is not just
the quantity of life
but the quality
of our spiritual life
with God.
life that we can
experience now
and one day
fully embrace
when we go
into his presence.
A lot of people,
you know,
when you ask the question
what is eternal life?
What is it?
They'll say things like
it means
not going to hell.
It means not perishing.
It means to live forever.
And all those things
are true
but they're the overflow
of something else
which is knowing God.
Jesus himself
defines it
in John 17 verse 3.
Jesus says,
this is eternal life.
I'm about to define it for you.
That they know you
the only true God
and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.
So this sweet,
glorious sharing
of everlasting life
and intimacy
with the Godhead.
If you have that,
yes,
you will be spared.
And then
we go on
to verse 17.
Alright?
Verse 17 here.
We're pulling it together
and we understand
that
if we reject the son
we will not
be saved.
But,
sorry,
I got my notes mixed up.
So,
whoever believes in him
will not perish.
But then we see him
move to courtroom language
in the rest of the text.
Verse 17.
God did not send
his son into the world
to condemn
or to judge the world
but in order
that the world
might be saved
through him.
So here's this
courtroom language
of being condemned
and not being condemned.
So the point here
is not that
God won't ever
judge the world.
He will.
But,
that the time
has not yet come
for final judgment.
So listen,
all of us
are under threat
of judgment already
before Jesus came.
Our sin
had put us
in a perilous position
before God.
So in one way
we already all
stand condemned.
Do you see that
in the text?
We already all
stand condemned
and the way
to not be
is to put
our full trust
in the Savior.
Then it says
if you believe in him
in such a way
where it changes
your life,
right,
then you will
be spared.
So the moment
that we are born again,
the result of that
is faith
in the person
and work
of Jesus Christ
that we truly
have believed.
Jesus says,
in John 5,
24,
like something
actually happened
when you were saved.
This is one of those things
like if you have been
truly born again,
God will finish
this work in you.
Jesus said,
truly, truly,
I say to you,
whoever hears
my word
and believes
in him
who sent me
has eternal life.
They have it
like right now.
Then he says,
he does not
come into judgment
but has passed
from death
to life.
An actual thing
that happens
as a result
of being born again.
So Jesus is talking
about yet
his first coming here,
like in this,
his first incarnation
where he came
to walk among us
and die on the cross
for us.
He didn't come
to judge
then,
but he will
one day.
In his second coming
that will consummate.
So when you see
in verse 18,
whoever believes
in him
is not condemned.
So if we've truly
been born again
and placed our
saving faith in Christ,
we won't be condemned.
So the conclusion
of the suffering
and death of Jesus
is Romans 8.1.
Therefore,
there is no condemnation
for those
who are in Christ Jesus
and to be in Christ
and to have a relationship
with him
by faith.
Faith in Christ
unites us
to Christ
so that his death
became our death
and his life
is now our life.
That's what our faith does.
It unites us
to Christ.
He took the punishment
that we could not bear
and he became the perfection
that we could not perform.
All those things
are what happened
when we received the Son.
We are saved
and not condemned.
But then he gives you
the contrast
in verses 18 to 21.
This is the last point.
Reject the Son.
Point number three.
Reject the Son.
Be condemned
and perish.
Do you see
the either or language here?
Like the Bible,
particularly Gospel of John,
doesn't leave that room for us.
We see this in
verses 18 through 21.
Verse 18
is just a restating
of what he already
has said in verse 16.
He sets up
for what Jesus
is going to say next.
So on the other hand,
if you refuse
the Son of God,
if you reject
his peace offer,
then you will not
have eternal life
and you will utterly
perish.
Chilling.
If we do not believe
or fully trust
in Christ to save us,
we are condemned
already.
Meaning people,
all of us,
already stood
guilty before God
because of our sin
and our rebellion.
But that final sentencing
will come later
when Christ returns
and he will consummate
that judgment.
Unbelievers,
those who reject Christ,
that I once was
and many of you
once were,
we were condemned
in that moment.
We are condemned
already before God
because of the sin
of not trusting.
You see that?
Because they have not
believed in the name
of the only Son of God.
So our unbelief
pretty much just
is the high point
of that rebellion.
We already were guilty
but then we rejected
God's only solution
for our absolution
of our sin
before God.
So unbelief
in the Savior
is that high point.
So John,
then under
the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit,
explains why
some people do
and some people don't.
He gives us
some insight here
why some people receive
and why both reject.
But refusal
to trust in Jesus
as we read about
is this cosmic battle
between light
and darkness.
John does this a lot.
He does it a lot
in his letters
as well.
The battle of truth
versus error.
Light versus darkness.
Eternal life
versus eternal judgment.
And Jesus said
later on in John
that he is the light
of the world
and he has come
into the world.
And his light
exposes
whether a person
is righteous
or not.
And it drives them
into darkness.
So they don't only
hate the light
but they hate
the one
who is bringing
the light.
It's a very simple thing.
Most of us
when we have committed sin
we don't want
we want to hide.
It goes back
to Genesis 3.
We want to hide.
We want to run
from the light.
We don't want
to be exposed.
We run
not just from the light
but from Jesus himself
who is the light.
And in verse 19
look at verse 19
whoever does
what is true
comes to the light.
On the other hand
those who trust in him
love him
and obey him
come to the light.
Describing the kind
of judgment
that really does happen
when light comes
into the world.
And it turns
some
of us
into lovers
of the king.
We run into his presence
and others
we run away
from that light.
Proving that
we are condemned.
So it comes
by way of what we love
and what we hate.
Do we love the light?
Or do we hate the light?
Flip over briefly
to
1 John.
This is John's letter.
The same one
who wrote this gospel.
Look at 1 John
chapter 1
verses 5 through 10.
You can see
the language here.
So some of us
are wondering
like most of us
probably here
in this church gathering
have come into the light
and we hate our sin
even though we sin
but we love the Savior
and we treasure his blood
and others of us
still walk in darkness.
So 1 John 1
5
he says
this is the message
we have heard
from him
and proclaim to you
that God is light
and in him
there is no darkness
at all.
If we say
or if we claim
we have fellowship
with him
while we walk
in darkness
we lie
and do not
practice the truth
but
if we walk
in the light
as he is in the light
we have fellowship
with one another
and the blood of Jesus
his son
cleanses us
from all sin.
If we say
we have no sin
we have deceived
ourselves
and the truth
is not in us.
but on the other hand
if we confess
our sins
he is faithful
and just
to forgive us
our sins
and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
If we say
we have not sin
we make him a liar
and his word
is not in us.
So go on
and continue reading
in 1 John
and he just keeps
flushing this out
but very clearly
Christ has come
he is the son of God
he has said
that I am the only way
to have your sin forgiven.
I am the only way
to the father
listen to me.
And then we have
one or two responses
we receive him
and have eternal life
or we reject him
and we are condemned
and we perish.
This is the gospel.
This is it.
This is the message
that we carry forth
from this building
and carry forth
to the nations
that Jesus has come
to give us life
everlasting life
and the motive of that
was the love of God.
The love of God
that was lavished
on sinful humanity
that rebelled against him.
I pray that
you have trusted
and looked at the son of God
and believed in him
that he saved your life.
So let's
join me in a word of prayer
for application
of this word.
Amen.