“Guilty as Charged” - Luke 9 - October 5th, 2025 - Pastor Scotty Brown

So if you have a Bible, we're going to be in the gospel of Luke looking at this.

We had left off last time where Jesus had sent his disciples out, and they went everywhere.

It says in verse 6, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

And that seems to have an effect, right?

Either good or bad.

I don't know about you, but times when you share the gospel with people and they snarl like a pit bull at you,

or they many times weep and are overwhelmed with the truth of the gospel.

And really everything in between.

Now, what's interesting is Jesus did not just take a seat and kick back when he sent out the disciples and his apostles.

But in Matthew chapter 11, it says, now it came to pass when Jesus,

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

finished commanding his 12 disciples that he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.

You know, I've noticed something in the Christian life.

It's, we're not entitled to any R&R.

Right?

It's those times when we, now, don't misunderstand me, there are times that we need to take a break and be refreshed and all that.

but to think that you deserve some R&R, I don't know that that's biblical.

We see David, right, when he thinks he needs to just kick back and not go out when the kings go to war.

And he kicks back in his cruising around.

He's restless.

He's on the top of his house checking things out.

He's the king so he can kind of see down into bathrooms where women are bathing.

And we know it was, it has.

hamstrung him, right? It beat him up. It beat his family up, thinking he was okay with kicking

back. And I don't think the Lord calls us to kick back, because when you kick back, you get your

butt kicked. Spiritually speaking. And so Jesus, he just, he joins him. He goes out. And it's getting

so, it's such a movement that it actually starts to shake.

the halls of government. Imagine that. Our halls of government have been shaken the last little

bit, haven't they? Whether it's a National Guard in Portland or all of this administration

showing up at Charlie Kirk's funeral and proclaiming the gospel, absolutely incredible.

I mean, I went back and listened to Marco Rubio. The man has a future as an evangelist.

you know so if secretary of state or whatever he is doesn't work out

you know rubio's got a great future proclaiming the name of the lord jesus

because he nailed it and so and this is what happens here

and we're just going to read three verses this morning out of out of luke nine and it's

we're going to start in chapter nine verse seven and it says now herod the tetrarch heard

of all that was done by him and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

John the Baptist, that is, and by some that Elijah had appeared and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.

Herod said, John, I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?

And so he sought to see him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. Thank you that we.

we are a people, Lord, who are in great need, Lord.

And just as we look at this man's life, Lord,

and even our own lives,

and looking back and remembering what you've forgiven us of, Lord,

and it's absolutely overwhelming,

the grace and the mercy of Almighty God,

but also as equally as it is overwhelming, Lord.

it's terrifying that we would stand before you in judgment and justly so and yet you see fit to give us an

opportunity to come to know you and the power of your resurrection Lord and the the expectation of

your imminent return and Lord I just pray that today as your people we would live in that place

of expectancy Lord and urgency and Lord that you would speak to our hearts as we as we look at a few

verses from your word this morning to just to be encouraged to live another week and walk day in

and day out with our God and not be ashamed of the king of kings and the Lord of Lord. So may we have

your name on our lips, Lord. May we be quick to give an answer for those who ask of the hope that

lies within us and that you would empower us by your spirit to do so. And we pray it in Jesus'

name. Amen. Amen. So he, it, it,

The news traveled to the administration of Herod Antipus.

And R.C. Sproles says this about these three verses.

He said, this brief interlude that Luke inserted here before his account of the feeding of the

5,000 calls attention to a significant moment in Jewish history.

It was so significant that it was recorded not only by the New Testament,

Testament, but also in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus, with respect to the death of

John the Baptist under the order orders of Herod the Tetra. This account comes to us from the

superintendents and inspiration of God the Holy Spirit and bears the full mark of divine truth and

authority, which I urge you to receive as such. And so I thought that was quite interesting that

that Josephus actually

because really this is one of the most

grisling

events that we read about

in the New Testament is the

imprisonment in the

killing of John the Baptist

and this guy

he had an issue with John

and John it's interesting

John wasn't doing a bunch of miracles

right he was just

proclaiming right

the kingdom of heaven is at hand

repent, right, repent. You who are guilty. Is anyone in here today not guilty? We're all guilty,

right? We've all been found guilty in comparison to the word and the law of the God of heaven.

So this Herod, no doubt, is convicted by the preaching of John that says he was a tetrarch,

and that in the Roman Empire was a governor of one of the four divisions.

of a country or province there in the Roman Empire.

Herod the Great's kingdom was divided into four parts

after creating the Herodian tetarchy.

Herod Archilus and had Judea and Samaria and Adyumia,

and Herod Antipus, that's who we're reading about here,

received Galilee and Peria.

And Philip was given the North Eastern territories,

and Herod's sister Salome was granted the remaining holdings.

And so they had been given power from Herod the Great.

You guys remember who he was, right?

He's the dude that had all the babies killed in Jerusalem.

Just a murderous dog.

And so, you know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

We inherit sin from our parents.

It's all our parents' fault, right?

And so it is amazing how many people, they, to this day, you know, they're in their 30s and 40s.

It's those old mom and dad's fault.

They didn't give me that ice cream going when I wanted it.

That's why I'm this way.

No, you're that way because you want to be that way, right?

So repent and come to Jesus and things will be better.

Now, so this power is divvied up between the offspring of Herod the Great.

And it's interesting.

Lord Acton said this, and I think the first time I heard it was from Chuck Colson,

but power tends to corrupt.

And absolute power corrupts absolutely, right?

And that's so true.

When people come into power and they don't know how to handle it,

It just pride enters in.

I remember hearing the story of Edia Mean, we were in Uganda.

And Ediamin was a high-ranking officer in Uganda.

But he ascended to become king or president of Uganda.

And it's interesting, Uganda was just flourishing.

The Indian people had come, and industry was just booming in Uganda at that time.

I think it was Churchill that said,

Uganda is the pearl of Africa, just an incredible, where we were, they got like 50 to 60 inches

of rain a year. You could throw seeds on the ground and things grow there. It's right on the equator.

It was brilliant. But Amin went crazy. And he just started killing people. Anyone who would disagree with

him. He gave the Indian people like nine months, you get out of my country, I'm killing you.

He just started killing people. It's a, it's, I'm, I.

I know I preach it and I say all that the depravity of men is just depraved.

I know that's, I know how profound that sounds, but it's really true.

And so this power that was given to these guys, obviously it had gone to his head.

And we don't read it in Luke, but we're going to turn to, so if you have a Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

14 is where we're going to look and we kind of get the account of what Herod does with John the Baptist.

And I'm just going to read through it the 12 verses there in Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

And it says, and at the time Herod the Tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, this is John the Baptist.

He has risen from the dead and therefore these powers are at work in him.

For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of

Herodius, his brother Philip's wife. Well, that's interesting. Because John had said to him,

it's not lawful for you to have her. And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude

because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of

Herodius danced before them and pleased Herod. Therefore, he promised with an oath to give her whatever

she might ask. And so she, having been prompted by her mother, said, give me John the Baptist's head on a

platter. And the king was sorry, nevertheless, because of the oaths, and because of those who sat with him,

he commanded it to be given to her. And so he sent and had John beheaded in prison. And his head was

brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And then his disciples came,

and took away the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.

And so pretty graphic.

We hear of others being killed, but not quite as gruesomely as this, right?

In the whole Charlie Kirk saga, they likened his death to that of Stephen, right?

When they stone Stephen for giving one of the greatest Bible studies probably in the New Testament,

He goes from Abraham all the way through.

And an incredible study of the Word of God, and it cost him his life.

And it's interesting that those who follow Jesus seem to be okay with that.

And so here we have this king having a really hard time with this guy calling him out on his sin.

Yeah, people don't like to be called out on their sin.

I don't even like to be called out of my sin, and I got lots of it.

But it's necessary, and then what do you do with that?

See, you're faced with a decision when you're called out for what you do,

and it says here that Herod was perplexed in verse 7.

Perplexed.

Now, I was thinking that that was fear, but when I looked at it in the Greek, it says,

listen to this, being perplexed, one who,

goes through the whole list of possible ways and finds no way out, right, and finds no way out.

How can I cover my sin?

Well, you can't and get away with it, right?

Or in this case, he was wanting to shut John the Baptist up when John told him, hey, it's not lawful for you to have your sister, your husband's wife, your sister's, your husband's sisters, how's that, my brothers, they're, yeah,

one of them women.

It was his brother Philip's wife that he coerced to leaving.

And that's adultery.

That's just gross, right?

That's wicked.

The Bible condemns it.

Scripture condemns it.

You don't do that.

And so he goes, okay, well, I'm going to shut this guy up.

Luke 320.

We read it when we went through that.

that he shut John up in prison, like you can shut the word of God up by putting somebody in prison.

Or you can shut up a movement of young people in America by assassinating somebody.

Right?

It's not going to happen.

In fact, just the opposite happens.

Have you seen that?

Have you noticed that?

Right?

It's like trying to put a fire out with a five-gallon bucket full of gasoline.

Right?

It doesn't work.

And especially, right, when it comes to the Word of God.

Because the Word of God grows, Acts 1920 tells us,

so the Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

Right?

The Word of the Lord goes right through prison bars.

Right?

It can't be shut up.

And that's what he's trying to do.

He shut John up in prison.

And the Word of God is it can't be harnessed, right?

because it grows.

And secondly, it runs swiftly.

Second Thessalonians 3 1 says,

finally, brethren,

pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly

and be glorified just as it is with you.

Is the word of the Lord a glory to you?

Do you chew on it on a daily basis?

Because if you don't, you're missing out, right?

You're spiritually starving, you're spiritually anemic if you're not reading the word of God on a daily basis.

Now, some of you might be pointing a finger at me right now saying,

well, Scotty, we heard about you not reading your word for a couple days.

Sinner?

What are you doing talking to us about this?

Just because, because I'm a sinner too, and I know it don't work.

And it was all my wife's fault.

I told you that, right?

Is that stinking milk cow?

I told, I come in the bathroom, I says, I haven't read my Bible in two days because I've been milking your cow.

But it runs swiftly and is glorified.

You can't contain or you can't keep the word of God in.

It's going to go out and it's going to do its business, right?

And it doesn't come back void, right?

The word of the Lord goes out.

It will not return to him void.

It changes your life.

It comes and goes as it pleases.

It's powerful and it's sharper than a two-edged sword.

That might ring a bell to some of you, right?

That's Hebrews 412.

It's alive.

It's active.

It's sharp.

It's piercing.

It's dividing.

It's discerning.

The Word of God.

I just want to go, oh!

right now.

That's my Jimmy Swagger

impersonation.

Maybe I should choose somebody else.

Right?

And it cannot be broken.

The Word of God cannot be broken.

John 1035, read it and weep.

That's what it says.

The scriptures cannot be broken.

And this has,

Herod has gone to great lengths to cover his sin.

He's bit off more than he can chew.

It started with John, and now he's seeing this Jesus,

and no wonder he is perplexed.

Because this guy's not only speaking the Word of God,

that he's raising the dead, he's healing the lame and the blind.

Proverbs 2813 says,

He who covers his sin will not prosper,

But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

You want mercy?

That's what I want.

I need mercy.

Right?

I get all hoity tooty sometimes and I see things people do and I think, justice.

Man, I want justice.

I want justice for everybody but me.

Because me, I want mercy.

Because I know what justice would be.

And if you look at that clearly, right, we don't want total justice for our enemies, right?

Some of them, like I think it was Abraham Lincoln when a mother came to petition the president for her son who had committed a capital crime.

And she asked President Lincoln to pardon him.

he says ma'am i can't do that i wish i could because he does need a little bit of killing

right he does need a little bit of killing i think we all deserve a little bit of killing

but that ultimate justice that would ascend us into the abyss and separated from god

forever i don't think that we're even our worst enemy we should desire that for

Proverbs 1221 says,

Be sure of this, the wicked will not go unpunished.

They're not going to go unpunished.

We see people doing all kinds of wild things in the world.

And sometimes it appears that they're getting away with it.

They're getting away with nothing.

Right?

Because the Bible says that everything in our life,

and that's in that Hebrew's passage in chapter four,

Right. Everything in our life is open, open and naked before the one to whom we must give an account.

And this Herod is obviously ignorant of that.

Now, it's interesting. He didn't want to kill John because he feared the people, right?

He wanted to maintain a popularity.

But it didn't seem to be the case with Herodius.

She wanted to kill him.

Does this couple remind you of a couple in the Old Testament?

Just saying, right?

Jezzie and Ahab.

Jezebel and Ahad.

That very wicked woman who wanted the head,

she wanted to kill Elijah so bad she could taste it.

And she was so murderous that when her husband was pouting one evening,

she asked him, what are you pouting for?

He goes, I went to that Naboth and asked him to sell me his vineyard, and he wouldn't sell it to me next door.

He'd go great with our little piece of property we got here.

She goes, well, I can fix that.

So she goes and hasn't killed.

There.

Right?

There's nothing worse than a wicked woman.

I mean, wicked men are bad, but wicked women take the cake.

And it's interesting, those two parallel each other so nicely, right?

Because she wanted to kill Elijah, and the scripture tells us that John the Baptist

came in the spirit and the power of Elijah.

So here's this woman, this Herodias, with the same murderous spirit is what Jezebel

was.

Solomon was right when he said there's nothing new under the sun, right?

Nothing new at all under the sun.

So he is confused and perplexed about this Jesus.

And it said in verse 8 and some, and by some, Elijah had appeared in others that one of the old

prophets had risen from the dead.

they knew this was of God, right? The people did. The people that heard of it and no doubt Herod

being perplexed, they knew that it was something that just not normal. That's kind of like what we've

seen going on in this country in just the last few weeks since the murder of Charlie Kirk.

Right? It's like, it's like the side, you know, you got to choose sides. What side you're on?

Some of are going, couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

guy, right?

Others are

are grieved and motivated.

Some have picked up Bibles that haven't picked up a Bible in years.

Some people show up at church.

Whatever it takes, right?

And he's confused by these miracles because obviously John

didn't do things like this guy and no doubt sending his apostles out, it was just compounded.

And it was in his face. He couldn't deny it.

Wersby says, Herod's conscience was no doubt convicting him.

And he was wondering if perhaps God sent John back to judge him.

Herod kept trying to see Jesus.

But Jesus, unlike some modern religious celebrities, did not make it a point to go out of his way to mingle with us.

high and mighty. Jesus called the evil king of fox and was not intimidated by his threats.

When Herod and Jesus did finally meet, the king hoped to see miracles, but the son of God

did nothing and said nothing to him. Evil king Herod, by mocking and clothing him with a

purple robe and showing contempt for Jesus had silenced the voice.

of God.

It is a horrific and fearful thing

for us to get into that place.

And I know I can be here so fast

that it just horrifies me.

It scares me to death

that I could harden my heart like that.

And yet I know I can't.

And so can you.

And the fear of the Lord,

the Bible says, is the beginning of wisdom.

And we have to stay.

in that place of fearing him and bowing our knee and walking humbly before our God,

especially in these days because iniquity is abounding.

And Jesus said, he made a proclamation.

He said in the last days that the love of many will grow cold because iniquity abounds.

And as we see it abounding, you guys, it is hard not to get embittered.

Right?

it's hard not to want justice.

But I think the Lord would have us.

No, you stay humble.

You keep your hands like this.

You keep your hands lifted up and surrendered to your God

in these days in which we live.

Because it's going to be way too easy to go the other way

and to harden our hearts and not hear him.

Do you imagine?

Jesus standing before Herod and him just bouncing questions off the forehead of the king of glory.

And the Lord never said one word.

He'd gone too far.

He had gone way.

He'd gone too far.

People ask, can you go too far?

Yes, you can.

You can go too far.

And it's like the Lord, he's so faithful to whisper and whisper and whisper and then sometimes get a little louder.

And we just turn a deaf ear and we turn a deaf ear and we turn a deaf ear.

And pretty soon says the Lord goes, you want it?

You got it.

You want it, you got it.

You don't want to hear me.

All the times I've called out to you, all the times I've whispered in your ear saying, turn to me.

Don't do this.

you want it you got it

it

it's interesting

though herod was guilty

he didn't seem to

feel guilty

many people believe that if you don't feel guilty

then you aren't guilty

wrong

now usually when you

feel guilty, it's because you are guilty, right? But I think he was possibly, and I don't know,

I can't say that Herod's in hell right now. It appears, right, from the surface that he was at

the point of no return, that he couldn't turn back, even if he wanted to. We see that through

the book of Revelation when we read about the earth dwellers.

right? The earth dwellers, it's as though they cannot. They cannot repent. All they can do is they can

see what God is doing and then they begin to gnaw on their own tongues, right? As a way of

pacification. That's the only thing they can get close to pacifying themselves because they've rejected

and they've hardened their heart against the God of heaven. And it's very specific there in the

book of the Revelation. And I don't want to go there.

Now it talks about these people in Romans chapter one.

If you have a Bible,

you turn there real quick,

you might want to underline some of these things

because obviously Herod and Herodius,

right, they swung for the fence, right?

Their sin was murder,

sexual perversion, adultery.

He got his jollies off on this girl doing a dance,

and because of his lust,

He promised her up to half of his kingdom, right?

The guy was, he was gonzo.

As perverse as you can possibly get and still stay alive

and then wanting to the head of John the Baptist.

So in Romans chapter one, Paul writes, and it says,

And just as they, who are these?

These who harden their heart and rejected the Lord.

and they did not see fit to acknowledge God.

God gave them over to a depraved mind,

to do what should not be done.

They were filled with every kind of unrighteousness

and wickedness and covetousness, malice.

They were rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility.

They are gossips.

Well, that's one we don't hear about.

It's just got to be talking about somebody.

You know, you need to nip that in the bud.

The way you talk about people, they're just like you.

So when you're talking bad about them, who are you incriminating?

Yourself.

Slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil,

disobedience to parents, kids, listen.

Senseless, covenant breakers, heartless, ruthless.

Although they fully know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,

they not only do them, but also approve of those who practice them.

This is a giving over.

You want it?

You got it.

And God will do that.

Unless we humble ourselves.

right he's so he's so drawn to those who would humble themselves and say oh god forgive me

paul says of these people in first timothy chapter four verse two speaking lives in hypocrisy

having their own conscience seared with a hot iron i don't know if you've ever dehorned cattle that way

but that's how you stop the bleeding.

You just sear it.

Imagine having your conscience seared.

It doesn't bother you, right?

The things you laugh at, the things you desire.

So this dude and his wife were guilty.

Though they didn't appear to feel guilty,

so the feelings of guilt are subjective, right?

Guilt itself is objective because you can not feel guilty and be guilty.

And so they were guilty.

You and I were guilty.

Some of us of these things that these two were guilty of.

But so too with forgiveness.

forgiveness. Forgiveness is objective. Now, you can not feel forgiven and be forgiven. You ever had that

happen? Right? Yeah, Lord, I look back. That's not always good, but sometimes it is. Right? We have to,

we have to kind of sift through that with the word. I look back and learn from those things that I have

done that were just so wicked and I don't want to go there again. Right? I want to recoil.

from that.

Sometimes we call it the good old days.

And I still think about, God, how could you have forgiven me for that, the way I treated

that person?

And yet, he's willing.

Because, like I said, it's objective.

It's how you feel about it is irrelevant or beside the point, according to 1st John

1, 1,9, right?

if we confess our sins he is faithful in just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness it's god doing all the work all we have to do is that god i sinned i sin against

you please forgive me that's all this required if it's with a sincere heart and who knows that but

you you're the only one that knows that you know if you're being sincere you know if you're being

sincere with the Lord? Why is that we try to hide things from God? I still don't get this.

You're trying to hide things from the Lord? When you're in your car going your own way or in the

dark or out of town, Pastor Gordon used to tell us the people, the men, especially in the city

of Idaho Falls, their faith has a 50-mile radius. Once they get outside of 50 miles, anything goes.

that's true that's true among Christians

like God's not 60 miles out there

listen the only remedy

for this this guiltiness that we see in these people

who seemingly heart has hardened their heart

but I totally believe that if they would have had a face to face with Jesus

and Herod instead of wanting to see Jesus do a miracle would have bowed his knee

and say, oh Lord God, forgive me a wicked man.

I think God would have forgiven for cutting John's head off?

Absolutely. John's got it made.

He's in the presence of the Almighty.

Right? He was gathered to his people.

the weight was upon Herod, not on John, because he was a truth teller.

He told him the truth, and he let the chips fall where they may.

Oh, the church would be that way, that we would be that way.

Because when we seek forgiveness, you guys, it is.

is the place where God shines with his mercy and grace.

And he loves to show mercy.

The problem is, is we don't beg for it enough.

We don't beg.

I'm not a beggar.

Yes, you are.

We're all beggars.

Every one of us.

Begging God for his mercy on our lives when we know,

really in our heart of hearts,

we know what the just punishment would be for each one of us.

But when people refuse to seek forgiveness, they forfeit, listen this, they forfeit eternal life.

When they refuse to seek forgiveness.

And that's just not from God, right?

A lot of times it's hard to seek forgiveness from each other.

Why do we do that?

We just stiffen up like a board, and we will not.

turn. I'm going to hang on to this because they're wrong. Not me. No, you are. Right? Because you're called

to love your enemies. Called to keep really short accounts. Pray for those who spitefully use you.

Right? Don't look for an opportunity to slash their tires.

Jesus told the Pharisees

Listen, you guys, go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

Be merciful.

I was just talking to a grandparent this morning.

Yeah, you show mercy.

Our grandkids are sinners.

I don't pray, justice.

on my grandkids?

I pray for them to humble themselves before the Lord Jesus and walk with him.

They might have to do that many times a day, just like their old grandpa.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

God can show mercy to those who humble themselves.

Yes, I believe that if Herod and Herodius would have bowed the knee before Jesus,

he would have granted them forgiveness.

And I don't know about you, but that is an incredible freedom, right?

I mean, the first time I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive me was with the Baptist prayer,

preacher in a little prayer room off to the side. This old man got down on his knees with a

nine-year-old boy. And he led me in a sinner's prayer. And I remember the ride home, my parents,

we were going through hell. You know, my parents were going through divorce and my mom was

struggling and dating and we were subject to all kinds of stuff. And I remember driving home

with my grandparents sitting in the back seat and I felt like a feather. Right. It was like all

that weight had just been lifted off of this nine-year-old boy.

And I don't know how wicked I was at nine, right? I was a lot worse at 23.

But I was forgiven. I had been set free from the guilt. Now, the feelings would come and go.

But the fact is, is I cried out to Jesus. And he lifted my sin off of me.

Jesus says you don't want to die

being weighted down with your sin

you don't want to die in your sin

no you want to get it off of you

maybe you just need to come to Jesus and just confess it today

Lord I just been

and I'm talking to Christians here too

not just people who aren't saved

Lord I've just been chippy

I've been bitter I've been anxious I've been whatever it is

just would you lift it off of me

That's what Jesus is talking about when he says his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

I think the New Testament calls and thanks be to God for his indescribable gift of forgiveness.

What a precious, precious gift you and I have.

Would you all stand with me, please?

let's pray

Father

we're so thankful for this mercy

you've extended to us your people

Lord and maybe some today

they just need to come up for prayer

just to be encouraged

maybe just to confess

your word tells us to confess

your faults one to another

Lord and when we can identify with one another

we're not alone in this battle

we're not alone

in our sinfulness, Lord.

We're rubbing shoulders and we lift our hands and praise you as collectively as a body of Christ

that's been forgiven by, for all kinds of things.

None of us have arrived.

And none of us will arrive, Lord, until we're with you.

And we're separated from this flesh, Lord, this.

this body of death that Paul talked about.

Who can deliver us?

Jesus can.

And so, Lord, we love you.

We pray that you'd go before us, Lord.

And I pray that we'd have a message, Lord, to share with the people that we encounter throughout the week.

Lord, that you're so good.

No matter what we've done, you're willing to forgive us.

And there's so many examples in your word, Lord,

that reminds us of that.

How sweet it is to be forgiven.

Thank you, Lord, for washing us and hearing us.

And I just pray for those right now that need that, Lord,

that you would just give them courage to come up

and be with the prayer team.

If the prayer team would come up now, that would be great.

And they could just encourage those hearts that need to know,

they need to know that they're forgiven.

And so, Father,

this, give you this week.

Pray that you go before us.

Give us a hunger for your word, Lord,

that we would write it truly on the pages of our heart.

Lord, and that we would see ourselves,

Lord, right in the middle of it,

just knowing that you're doing a work in each and every one of our lives.

We're in process.

We're growing.

We're being sanctified.

We're being saved.

We're being renewed day by day as we walk with you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Let's worship.

you know,