God is Good God is Great | Everlasting Father - Isaiah 9 | December 14

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We are looking at Isaiah 9.

And this prophecy about the coming Messiah, the coming King,

and the different names that are associated with who he is, who he will be.

And last week we looked at the idea of Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God,

which we took together, one, because we had to finish our series in Acts at

the beginning of Advent, but two, because these names really belong together.

And even though some of our Bibles separate Wonderful and Counselor from each

other, that kind of belong as two groups of names, Wonderful Counselor, one name, Mighty God.

And we have this idea of the Wonderful Counselor, the God who knows the way.

It's not that he wants to give you advice necessarily or just answer your prayers

for the direction of your life.

He does that as well, but he really wants to lead us into his wisdom.

And so this idea of Wonderful Counselor is that God knows the way to his wisdom.

He knows the way into his presence. He knows the way to life everlasting.

And he wants to lead us towards his miraculous wisdom.

So that's the idea of wonderful counseling. And the reason it goes with mighty

God because it's not only does he know the way, but he alone is strong enough.

He is able to take us on that journey to bring us along on the way.

He alone is the victorious warrior who knows the way and is able to lead us along it.

And so these are names for God. You could call them titles for God if you'd like.

And all of those things are true, but essentially we're not just doing an Advent

series or Christmas series or whatever you wanna call it, even though we've

probably preached on this particular passage several times before in the church's history.

And in your life, you've probably heard it even more times, but we are kicking off.

An idea that will continue into the new year as we look at these names of God,

these ways that he chooses to identify himself to us and discover that,

as we know the names of God, we actually get to know the fullness of who he is.

He chooses these ways, these revelations as a way for us to get to know him

and to trust him in fullness.

And so that's why we're embarking and we're starting here. It just happens to

be Advent is a great place to start with the names of God.

I'm actually calling this series, I Believe God is Good, God is Great,

which should remind many of us who grew up in the church of prayers that we

learned as we were little kids.

And as we learned those prayers, we probably never really associated the ideas

of good and great as names of God.

We probably didn't really associate much depth to that prayer at all as a kid.

But there's so much wisdom in that idea that goodness and greatness are not

just descriptions or adjectives of God and His character. They are names of who He is.

And as He invites us to know Him and trust Him, what we discover as well is

that to the degree that they describe Him even more so, He brings fullness to

what it even means to be good and what it means to be wonderful and what it means to be great.

So we actually learn what those terms mean as we look at Jesus,

as we look at God and we discover and we trust and we draw near to him.

So that's where we started.

And we're going to continue like Miss Sandy said, to look at the term everlasting father,

as we go down the list in Isaiah nine, but first Elliot actually sent me a sermon

this past week, which was pretty, pretty inspiring and convicting and challenging.

I know he got a lot out of it. But in it.

The speaker begins with sort of this, not necessarily critical,

but strong look at our culture in modern times.

And what we see all around us, we see so much good and so much fruit and so

much revival happening, but also we are in a time of such extraordinary evil.

And perhaps that could be described of every generation that's ever lived, but it feels tangible.

It feels more It feels like the darkness is growing and it feels like in our

culture, immorality is praised and maybe 50 years ago it actually benefited

you to be a Christian in business and in the world and in America.

But now of course that is not no longer the case. And so it just seems like

there's increasing opposition to the gospel in this country while even while

there are more open doors and amongst the younger generation,

there are more people coming back to the church.

We feel that it feels like there's a tangible opposition and yet.

In this diagnosis, this is exactly where we as believers are called not to withdraw,

but to press in and to take a stand.

In Daniel chapter 11, it talks about the enemy, the evil one,

Daniel 11 · chapter mention

the character in this particular time.

It says his army will take over the temple fortress, pollute the sanctuary,

put a stop to the daily sacrifices and set up the sacrilegious object that causes desecration.

And he will flatter and win over those who have violated the covenant.

But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

And the wise among the people shall make many understand.

And so even in the midst of this growing darkness, this opposition,

we see in Daniel's words to us that it's not just for us to be convicted and to take a moral stand.

That's not what we're talking about, but for those who specifically know God,

to be empowered by the spirit of God, to speak the words of God to these people,

that they might know him.

And that's exactly what we're talking about. This correlation between knowing

God, not just about him, but experiencing his presence.

And we do that as we learn about who he is and as we know his name.

And this is what the great motivation of the Christian is to know God more and more.

And every action that flows out is flowing out of that knowledge of who God

is as we grow in our depth of understanding and our love for Him.

And so being a Christian is not about our comfort. It's not about routine.

It's not about moralism.

It's not about all these things that we can try and build our life around and

call ourselves a Christian, but it's about knowing God intimately in the scripture

and in Christ and in worship.

Through his names and letting that knowledge then shape who we are.

And so that's what we're entering into with this series, that we're letting

the knowledge of who God is, through His name, shape who we are.

And I love this Psalm. I also read this past week, I have on my phone,

just lots of verses that at some point I memorized and I'll scroll through.

And this one popped up. This is Psalm 9, 9 to 10. The Lord is a shelter for

the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

And those who know your name, trust in you. For you, O Lord,

do not abandon those who search for you.

So to know God's name is more than just some information download into us,

but it's to know him in depth and in truth and to not shrink back as we stand and move forward.

And through this knowledge of his name and who he is, we as Christians today

have that opportunity to step in the promise of the New Testament that Jesus

spoke that we would see greater things than this.

We get the opportunity to step into that promise as we get to know him and because

we get to know him. But for today, we have this name, Everlasting Father,

this prophecy spoken over the coming King, Jesus.

And so let's just be reminded of those words in Isaiah chapter 9.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

Cain is going to come and read them for us once again. So we have some remembrance of them.

Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever.

The land of zebulun and naphtali will

be humbled but there will be a time in the

future when galilee of the gentiles which lies along the road that runs between

the jordan and the sea will be filled with glory the people who walk in darkness

will see a great light for those who live in a land with deep darkness a light

will shine you enlarge the nation of israel and as people will,

They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,

and like warriors dividing their plunder.

For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.

You will break the oppressor's rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.

The boots of the warrior and the uniform's bloodstained by war will all be burned.

They will be fuel for the fire.

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on

his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His government and its peace will never end.

He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.

The passionate commitment of the Lord of heaven's armies will make this happen.

Awesome. Thanks. So that's the reminder of where we're at.

Everlasting Father. I know that this has the potential more than any of the

names to be potentially discouraging, not necessarily divisive,

but we all have an experience of some sort with an earthly father.

And I know that a lot of brokenness can come from that.

A lot of love can come from that as well, but we all have this bent associated

with this idea of a father that then we bring into our understanding of who God is.

And whether that be a father who was present or a father who was absent,

a father who wounded us deeply or loving compassion would hold us in his arms

or a relationship that was complicated.

Whatever that may be, we all have an experience in the past with a father of some sort.

And we've met people and you've probably met people as well.

And you might be a person who no longer speaks to their father for one reason or another.

And it may be because of something that they've done that's justified,

or it may be something where neither of you now speak to each other and it's

just pride on both parts.

But we all have these stories and we've encountered these people and some of us are these people.

And when we hear the word father, there is going to be at least something that

stirs within us initially.

And again, it could be warmth and it could be distance and it could be indifference.

It could be that we've tried to put on thick skin and just believe that that no longer affects us.

But when it comes to the term Father more than God, more than Prince,

because we don't have princes anymore, more than any of these terms,

this is the one that brings with it our baggage.

And colors our understanding of what it means for Jesus to be our everlasting father.

In fact, every relationship that we have with humans, for better or worse,

colors our understanding of how we relate to God, unfortunately,

when we should be receiving the perfect relationship of our father and being filled by that.

And I actually think this is a very interesting title for Jesus that he,

that the son of God should be called father seems very odd for a name of Jesus

to be everlasting father.

I suppose that every, every son knows how is it?

Every father was at one time a son and still is in some way. Right?

So it's not unusual for a son to be called a father.

I am a son, but I'm also a father, but it's weird for, Jesus to be called our everlasting father.

And it's a bit different in some ways when Isaiah calls Jesus everlasting father,

he is declaring Jesus complete deity, right?

His eternal nature and his.

Source of life, that he is the protector and provider of his people.

He is pouring into all of these things.

So he is identifying Jesus in this name as God himself.

And if we look through the scriptures, other than the times,

you can encounter people who will say that Jesus never is identified as God

or Jesus never accepts that title, even though in the book of John specifically,

he has called God several times.

But apart from that, apart from directly being called God,

there is this idea, and it's represented by an acronym,

it's represented by the acronym HANDS, H-A-N-D-S, that explains how Jesus throughout

all of scripture and throughout all of the gospels is identified as God,

even apart from those times when he is actually called God.

And so this The sacronym HANS starts with H, which stands for honor.

And this idea that Jesus receives honor that is only due to God.

That Jesus receives worship. He receives, he says, pray in my name, pray to me.

He receives trust, all of these things that are normally reserved for God alone.

He says, believe in God, believe also in me.

So he identifies himself as in unity with the Father and receiving the honor that is only due God.

And if only God deserves divine honor and Jesus is receiving divine honor in

the New Testament, then this is a way that we see Jesus identifying himself as God.

So that's the H, honor. A stands for attributes.

So this idea is that Jesus possesses all of the attributes that are associated

with God himself as well.

That Jesus is eternal, that Jesus is unchanging, that Jesus is all powerful,

that he's omnipresent, that he knows all things.

And there's no created being in heaven or on earth that is identified in this same way.

No angel, no king, no one else holds these attributes, but God himself.

And Jesus is identified as holding all of these attributes. So this is another

way that Jesus identified as God through his attributes.

N stands for names, which is relevant to our conversation today,

that Jesus actually bears and takes upon himself divine names that are reserved only for God.

And one specifically, other than the ones we're going to talk about is judge.

And this is the one that gets Jesus in trouble quite often.

But also Jesus is called the Lord. He is identified in the same way,

in the proper name given to God himself.

He's identified in this idea of Yahweh as Lord. He receives the name that is

above every name. He's Alpha and Omega.

And this is not something you can accidentally do.

And the Bible written by people who are geniuses, but also inspired by God himself,

you're not going to encounter Jesus being identified by one of these names on accident.

So Jesus is in all the names shared with the Father in the everlasting sense,

he carries the authority and compassion and divinity of God himself.

D stands for deeds, that Jesus performs the deeds that only God can do.

We see this in scripture as he is identified as creating all things,

as he is identified as giving eternal life, life that is everlasting,

that he commands nature, that he judges the world, specifically as he forgives sin, right?

This gets him in trouble with some of the Pharisees as he pronounces forgiveness of sins.

And then they stand in arms, making him, because they're saying that he is blaspheming,

making himself one with God, because only God can forgive sins.

That Jesus works the works of God because he is God himself.

And then S stands for this idea of sustaining, that Jesus upholds all things

by his power, his powerful word.

In Hebrews chapter one, it says that he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

And only God does that. Only God can do that.

In Colossians, it says that in him, all things hold together,

that Jesus is not merely the one who initiated creation and was integral in

that process, but he is the one who is currently sustaining creation right now.

And so, hands, if you want to take that with you, is a way of just us thinking

about how do we know that Jesus is God, other than the fact that he's called God?

Because people deny that. It's because he is honored as God.

He shares the attributes of God.

He is named by the names of God. He performs the deed of God and He is identified

as the one who sustains all things.

And so this is, it is not, this title everlasting father is not an accidental

oversight by Isaiah or by the writers of the Bible,

as we describe Jesus as the everlasting father.

Isaiah is describing God's nature in His role.

Through the God-man himself, Jesus. And this idea that Jesus is both fully human and fully God.

And in that, we share this idea that if you want to know what the Father is

like, then we look at Jesus.

We can get so caught up in defending how God is real, and that's its simplicity.

The Bible says, look at Jesus. If you want to know the way that the invisible

God acts in this world, then he chose to manifest himself, become human and

demonstrate and reveal to us his character and fullness through the person of Jesus.

If you want to know what the father's like, look at Jesus.

And we then dispel all of those ideas that we come into, that we bring into

this idea of God as our father, that we pour into this word.

We see a father who is present, has not absent. He didn't abandon us.

He will never and has never left.

He's that extravagant father in the parable of the prodigal son, right?

That more accurately could be described as the prodigal father who waits.

And while the son is still far off, while we are still far off,

sprints and embraces us.

And that idea of the shepherd, the horrible shepherd who leaves the 99 to pursue

the one, because in reality, we are all the one.

And that shepherd follows the sheep in every place it has wandered to pursue

it and to be there present.".

He's Emmanuel, God with us. He's a father who protects. He's not a father who abuses.

He's not a father who neglects, but he's a father who protects his children.

He protects you from the power of sin.

He protects you from the enemy. He protects you from yourself.

He protects you through suffering.

God is, Jesus is our everlasting father who protects us. He's a father who provides for us.

He provides more than just our daily needs as we pray in his prayer.

He provides us our identity. He provides us belonging.

He provides us purpose.

In our relationships with our earthly father, sometimes perhaps we have adopted

a name for ourselves or perhaps dawned an identity of shame or regret or hurt.

But he is the father who provides us with an identity beyond all others.

He guards who you are, that you are his child. You are forgiven,

you are loved, you are secure.

He is a God and a father who gives us what no earthly father can.

He gives us a new name. He gives us a new life. He gives us a new family.

He gives us a new future, not accusation, no failure.

Nothing can rewrite the name, the new name that God has given us as his,

as our everlasting father.

And, and although that in our time, this is the identity of Jesus we contend with most frequently,

that a human could be God, that Jesus could somehow both be fully human and fully God.

We can accept that He could be fully human, a good moral teacher,

but we encounter a culture that refuses to believe Him as God,

although that's where we are, in this early beginning days of the new church,

what they struggled with most was believing that Jesus could be human,

that he could be anything but God.

They could more easily believe that a spiritual being came down and pretended

and looked like he was human.

So for them, it was a different struggle, even though for us,

we struggle in our culture to believe Jesus is God.

The first heresies of the church were all about the questioning of Jesus' humanity.

And so they denied that, that powerful tension that God, Jesus is fully divine and fully human.

And so everlasting father, isn't just this proclamation by Isaiah,

that we have a coming King, that God himself is coming to rescue us.

It's a proclamation announcing the humanity of Jesus as well.

And this is kind of the point in Christmas, I was thinking about it,

where perhaps this is, most of you know, I like Christmas, but Christmas music,

all that kind of stuff that comes with Christmas, I'm not the biggest fan of.

And perhaps some of it has to do with this idea of, it's a little bit awkward

and weird that we are celebrating the birth of a baby that happens thousands of years ago.

Like it's the baby part of this holiday that makes it kind of strange.

And for me, because of the generation I am, I am colored by the movie Talladega

Nights and the prayers and that to the little infant Jesus.

And, you know, I probably have it written down where eight pounds,

six ounce, six ounce Jesus, right?

Like that's the part of Christmas that's weird, the baby Jesus.

But, and it's still kind of weird, but it's also because it conjures up these

ideas of, you know, chubby baby angels and diapers and all that,

all that kind of weird stuff that comes along with, with these holidays.

But it's, it's not so much the baby aspect that's important.

The baby aspect is, is important because what we're acknowledging is the humanity,

So that's why we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Not because it's important for us to remember a baby, but it's important for

us to remember that Jesus came in His fullness as God, that He laid down His

authority in a sense, right?

Not in the sense that all authority was still given to Him, but He humbled Himself

by taking the lowly position of a human, and even more lowly, a human child.

And it's such an important aspect for us to not forget that we're celebrating

the incarnation of God into humanity.

And so it is important to remember the baby Jesus, but it's even more important

to remember that Jesus was fully human and to acknowledge and recognize him

as fully human and as fully God,

because this passage in Isaiah nine starts out unto us, a child is born unto

us, a son is given. Jesus came in humility.

He came as the incarnate God, Emmanuel, God with us.

And again, like Christmas, isn't mainly about a baby being born.

It's about God himself coming to us and taking on that low position.

This is the fullness of God as our everlasting father, his humanity,

his deity, and all the wonderful things that come with it.

I have one more thought as we, as we talk about this idea of everlasting father.

It's actually a Hebrew word. And I know that I've mentioned this before because

it's something that has particular importance and meaning to me over the years

as I've come to understand this word and what it means and how it's used and

how it still applies to us today. And it sounds kind of funny.

I'll invite you to say it with me for those who love participating. The word is heini.

So I invite you to say it together. Maybe I'll just give you a countdown. Thank you.

Spelled like that. Hey, Nene. So three, two, one.

Hey, Nene. Sounds funny, but it's a beautiful word. It's a beautiful idea.

We see it. So it means here I am, but it means here I am in spoken in the context

of relationships specifically between a mother and their child or a father and

their child, this parental relationship.

And it's intimate and it's personal. And this idea of a mother or a father calling

out to their child, where are you?

And their response being, here I am, hey, Nini.

So we see it all throughout the Bible. We see it in Abraham in Genesis chapter

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

22, when God called Abraham as he is calling him to even sacrifice his son, Isaac.

He says, Abraham and Abraham's response is, hey, Nini, here I am.

It's this intimacy of the father. And in that idea, we know through the story,

we poured into this idea of here I am by Abraham is also the idea of trust in God,

knowing that whatever happens, God could restore the miracle that He had promised.

It's trust and it's obedience and not needing the fullness of understanding.

It's that trust that a child gives a parent. Hey, Nene.

We see it in Jacob in Genesis chapter 31, as Jacob is going back and he's gonna

Genesis 31 · chapter mention

meet his brother Esau again for the first time after all of the deception and

all of the hurt that he's caused in his life.

And in a dream, God calls to him and his response to God is, hey, Nene.

Jacob is fleeing uncertainty, he's fleeing. He's afraid of his confrontation

with his brother coming up and his response to God is here I am.

Almost signaling in that trust, this readiness that my God, my father is going

to take me through. I'm going to surrender my fear.

I'm going to surrender my hesitancy and I'm going to walk in obedience and confidence.

That there's this courage rooted in relationship in that word, here I am.

We see it in Moses in Exodus chapter three, when God called to him from the

bush, Moses, Moses, his response is, here I am, here I am.

And Moses at this time in the wilderness is a shepherd. He doesn't know the

call that God has on his life yet.

He hasn't encountered that. He's been wandering in the wilderness.

He's been separated from his princely attire and his princely station in life

for many years at this point.

And yet we see this encounter with God and we see an openness from Moses.

And even though he protests his inability to carry out the call in his life

that God has given him, there's this posture of availability, even in his,

his failure to see his qualifications. There's availability in that cry.

In Samuel, when the Lord calls to Samuel, when he's young and he hears,

he thinks it's his master calling him.

So he goes and talks to the priest and he's like, I'm here, you're calling me.

He's like, I didn't call you. And that happens several times.

And finally he's like, maybe the Lord's speaking to you. And so when the Lord

calls him again, he says, Hey, here I am to the Lord.

And so Samuel's young and inexperienced at this point, but he answers that call

of God with the attitude of a servant, the attitude of a child ready and open,

willing to serve, ready to hear, ready to obey.

And Samuel doesn't understand what his role is going to be.

We don't have the foresight of God to know all the details of our lives,

but he positions himself to learn and be humble and sit.

Perhaps the most famous, if you've ever heard this word talked about,

it's probably been Isaiah 6, where God calls to Isaiah,

and that famous response, here I am.

This is Isaiah saying, when God says, whom shall I send?

His response is, here I am, send me.

And Isaiah was just in this crazy vision where he saw the throne of God.

He was convicted by it. He was in some ways, perhaps terrified by it.

And we see in this response, rather than just, we we've seen the princess bride

many times in this church, right?

It's like the go-to movie if we're going to have a movie night. And,

that whole idea of Wesley saying, as you wish, being him saying, I love you.

Like here I am, Hey Nene becomes this way of response saying, Father, I trust you.

We see that in Isaiah. We see that in these other characters.

My experience with this word that I remember most clearly is many years ago.

Now we were meeting at the apple barn.

It was probably during COVID or shortly after.

And before service, those of us who were kind of gathered together for Sunday

school or whatever it was at that time, we, instead of sitting around and talking,

what we did is we spread out and we prayed.

And so I wandered up near the apple barn, near Johnson Hall,

up kind of some of the trails there.

I saw a deer in the woods like four feet from me. It was all misty.

It was a beautiful day in Valley Cruces.

And I had encountered this word previously, so it was already fresh in my mind,

but as I'm praying, what I felt was in my prayer to God, here I am,

what I felt like, and I can only describe it as this, and I am,

as many of you know, the most rational, cynical person that you could possibly ever meet.

But in that moment, on that day, I could feel only what could be described as

the heavy weight of the father's hand on my shoulder, responding, here I am back.

And it was the most tangible experience of that word, reassuring me in that

call to him, I'm right here still. I haven't left you.

And so that's my experience with this word, because the reality is this is not

just the way that we respond to God, but this is the word describing how God responds to us as well.

And this is the word we see in perhaps the most tangible display of what it

means for Him to be our everlasting Father.

In Isaiah 58, it says, then you will call and the Lord will answer and you will

cry for help. And He will say, hey, Nini, here I am.

That God promises His immediate personal presence in our lives as we call on Him.

Just as we say it to Him, He's saying it right back to us, that I'm not distant,

I'm not far away, I am near, and I haven't left you.

Isaiah chapter 65, before they call, I will answer. And just listen to that,

Isaiah 65 · chapter mention

before they call, I will answer.

We just read, then you will call and the Lord will answer.

But this chapter says, before they call, I will answer.

While they are still speaking, I will say, hey, Nini.

That God isn't just responding, that He's initiating His presence with us,

reassuring us that He's with here, right here with us. And it's not a condition of our readiness.

And it's not a condition of our desire.

It's not a condition of our want and our wills, that He is always listening. He's always available.

It's this profound promise of God as our everlasting Father,

His availability and His presence.

It's it's it's convicting as as we earthly fathers and mothers when we encounter

our children ada was whistling this morning and jenny was like when did you learn how to whistle,

but when i when i say she was whistling for those of us who are here what i mean was she was going.

And i could we sang i could sing of your love forever one time in college,

we sang that song and we tried to just sing as long as we could before people

noticed that we were literally singing forever. It was that, but whistling.

And I was just like, stop. So us as earthly fathers and mothers,

we so often respond to our children with, I'll try or maybe or stop or not now,

or ask me again, I'm busy.

And yet we encounter Jesus as our everlasting father available and willing before we even ask,

to respond with his, hey, knee, knee, knee. Here I am always,

when you're broken, hey, knee, knee.

When you're ashamed, hey, knee, knee. When you're alone, hey, knee, knee.

When you're wandering, hey, knee, knee.

That God's love is not occasional. It's not circumstantial.

It is eternal. And there's no moment when Jesus stops being our everlasting

father, who loves us, who pours out his heart for us, who becomes the father

that we've always longed for.

And he'll never leave. He'll never change. He'll never stop loving his children.

And this love, unlike any other, unlike anything else, is nothing we can earn.

Every act of obedience that we have, every response of our own,

as we say, hey, nee, nee to him, anything that we do, any love that we have.

None of it, none of it can earn the presence of God or his love as our everlasting father.

Our service to God is not so that He would love us.

It is the response because He loves us as His everlasting Father.

Every heartbeat, every breath is in response to God.

Every part of the universe has moved out in response to the words spoken by God.

God acts first in all things.

We know that specifically that we love because he first loved us,

but in all things, God acts first.

He calls, he loves, he pursues, he listens.

God acts first so much so that Martin Luther could say all our works are the echoes of his mercy.

Everything we do is the reverberation of God's love and mercy in this world.

And if we really grasp that,

if we just really set out to understand that the symphony of this universe is

all in response to God's initiating love.

That even when we fall, even when we wander, even when we are broken and discouraged,

even when we doubt, even while the storm around us rages in this world,

that our God is saying to us before we even ask, right, I'm here,

right here, right now, I'm with you.

So our question, the question for us in this season with this title, everlasting Father.

Is not so much asking God where he is.

We see that a lot in the Psalms. I will say this for everyone,

in case I haven't said this out loud.

Sometimes the Psalms are wrong and they're in there to be wrong because they're

expressing the raw emotion of someone who's hurting.

And so when David cries out, where are you Lord, you've abandoned me.

The truth is not that God has left, but the truth is that we all feel bad sometimes.

And so when we hear those words, and when we cry out that ourselves,

the question is not God, where are you?

The question is, what is our response going to be to the God who's saying over

and over again, here I am to us?

Will we say, here I am, meaning that I'm fully present, that I give you my attention,

that I'm ready to listen, that I'm available and willing to say,

Hey, Nini, here I am, Father. Father, I trust you.

Despite how I've been hurt in the past, despite what I'm feeling now,

despite what I have anxiety about for the future, can we say,

Father, I trust you. Here I am.

Can we say, Hey, Nini, this morning?

And this is what I want to do as we turn our attention to communion,

is if Brianna, if you could just play for a little bit before we start singing.

And as Bri plays, as you guys sit there, I would love for you to just pray that

to God. Hey, Nini, here I am.

And I would love for you to invite him just to reassure you,

to lay his hand on you and to hear those words that have already been spoken

over you before you even asked. Here I am right here.

And the part of me that desires magic to be real.

And desires to be awed by wonder and surprised in all of my doubting and rationality,

that part of me longs for you to experience the heavy weight of the Father's

hand on you this morning,

reassuring you that He's right here.

So I invite you just to sit for a few minutes as Brie plays.

As you pray to be responded to with that.

I'm right here, that assurance.

And in that, after a time to respond yourself and come up in gratitude,

thanksgiving, in worship, in remembrance of Jesus, our everlasting father. Amen.