GO - Proclaim Kingdom

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If you are here for the first time, you chose the right time.

We don't meet here on Sundays. We meet at Kingsway and Imperial.

Right at the corner there's a church called Forest City Church.

That's where we normally meet.

So this is, like I said, George and Anna's other church.

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You're making me too short. I'm taller than you.

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Jared, I wanted to know why my parents gave me an easy name like Jacob.

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All right, guys, John 18, verse 37.

John 18:37

Hey, can I have a little more volume? Otherwise I might start shouting.

It is love.

John 18, 37.

John 18, 37.

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So they're having this discussion between Pilate and Jesus about kingdoms.

Because Pilate was appointed by Rome to rule that part of the world.

And so if you go to verse 36, it says,

Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.

So guys, here's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying,

actually, Pilate, you're right. I am a king. And this is the reason I was born.

One, yes, I'm a king and I have another kingdom that I want to bring into this world.

That's one reason I was born.

The second reason I was born is because I came as a king to testify to the truth.

Two things, eh? First one, yes, I'm a king.

I love the fact that the cross overshadows the manger. That's the way it should be.

We romanticize Christmas to a point where the little baby Jesus overshadows the risen Christ.

Shouldn't be that way. We have 364 days to read the Christmas story and we should.

It's part of the Gospels. But the Christmas message is really not about baby Jesus.

It's about the Christ who rules with absolute sovereignty.

And he is the one we're going to talk about today.

And so here's what he's saying. He's saying, I am king and that is the reason I was born.

I was born to come to the earth as a king because I'm bringing to the earth a kingdom that has existed from everlasting to everlasting.

And then he says, the second reason I'm here is yes, I am king and I am going to testify to the truth.

I'm here as a witness to the truth.

And then you go to Isaiah 9 verse 6 to 8 and that's a passage everybody knows.

Isaiah 9:6–8

Isaiah 9, 6 to 8. And it says there, for a child has been born to us, a son has been given,

and the government shall be upon his shoulders. Again, this is idea of rulership.

The idea of government being on your shoulders was the idea of a ruler who carries all authority and all rule on his shoulders.

That's the idea.

So, however we look at it, you must realize that one of the reasons Christ came to the earth,

one of the reasons he was born was to come here as king to bring in a kingdom and to testify to the truth of a kingdom that existed before and now exists here on earth.

And that's what we want to talk about today.

Isaiah 9, 6 to 8. Unto us a child is born, but unto us a son is given, and the government, as in all rules, shall be upon his shoulders.

So, Christmas announces the in-breaking of a kingdom,

Christmas announces the in-breaking of the kingdom of God, not with a coronation, but with the cry of a baby.

Christmas announces the in-breaking.

Guys, just imagine this, eh? For years and years and years, this kingdom that existed before never came to the earth the way it came when Jesus was born.

It's an in-breaking. It's like someone breaking glass or breaking a door and entering with force.

You must realize the force of this kingdom. It didn't come in like one of those cats that just creeps into your house.

It didn't come in that way. It came with force, eh?

It's an in-breaking. It's a breaking of everything that was status quo.

One of the things God loves doing is interrupting status quo. And He usually does it by the Spirit.

Look at the force with which Jesus appears.

He appears in the womb of a woman who is not married, who is young, who is betrothed,

who will now have to face a life where she'll be slandered as having slept with someone,

a child conceived illegitimately at a time when Herod is slaughtering children.

The moment you think kingdom, you must think conflict. You must think hostility.

You must think opposition. And in the midst of it, it begins to rip off its shirt like Incredible Hulk and show you what muscles it has.

There's a force to this kingdom. It's an in-breaking. Christmas is not a soft story.

It's a violent, tragic circumstance in which it comes forth.

And those that stick with it have the ability to see it.

Passivity has nothing to do with Christmas.

There's a force to this day, man.

Everything about Christmas is a disruption of status quo. Who gets to see the child first? The lowest of the low.

Shepherds. Who gets to see the child first? Magicians from the East.

Everything about this is wrong.

But in the presence of all this is one who is bringing in a kingdom that has always existed

and that now is being ushered in by Christ. And it is not through a coronation.

It is an in-breaking of the kingdom of God through the cry of a baby.

So how did the kingdom break in? Go to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, verse 1 to 5 and verse 14.

John 1 · chapter mention John 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 1, verse 1 to 5 and then 14.

John 1:1–5

I'll read it from the message.

The word was first. The word present to God, God present to the word.

The word was God in readiness for God from day one.

Everything was created through him. Nothing. Not one thing came into being without him.

What came into existence was life and the life was a light to live by.

The life light blazed out of the darkness. The darkness couldn't put it out.

And then go to verse 14.

This word that we were just reading about became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.

We saw the glory with our own eyes. The one of a kind glory like father, like son, generous inside and out,

true from start to finish. Awesome, eh?

And then John points him out and says, this is the one I told you about.

That's how he comes to the earth. That's how he brings in the kingdom.

One man brings in a kingdom that has existed from the beginning and will exist forever.

One man brings it in.

What we need to understand is, yes, it's not none of us are Jesus.

But we need to understand that in most situations, it takes only one man or one woman to initiate an in-breaking.

And that one man and one woman will face scorn, will face accusations, will face slander, will be flawed, will make mistakes, will fall.

But that one man or one woman always brings in the in-breaking of the kingdom.

It's just the way it works.

Because the Christ in you is sufficient.

And the thinner the veil of the flesh, as in, if you've learned how to subdue or live by the Spirit, not subdue the flesh,

if you've learned how to live by the Spirit, you will find Christ revealed even more.

And so this one man brings the kingdom into the world.

And so there are three things that we need to remember.

Whenever we think of life in the kingdom or life in Christ, these are the three stages.

If you want to function well in this kingdom, then one, you have to be disestablished from the kingdoms of the world.

You have to be disestablished, as in, can you undo the effect and the influence, the ambitions and the success,

the lure and the seduction of the kingdoms of the world?

There is a scripture in Revelation 11.15 which says this,

Behold, a time has come now where the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ.

The first thing I need to do is disestablish myself, pull myself out of that matrix.

We teach our children that, eh?

To do well in the world, to listen to the world, to listen to the experts.

Disestablish yourself. It's not to shun the world, but to disestablish.

Your roots no longer belong in the world.

They are not of the world, though they live in the world.

Disestablish yourself from the world.

The second thing is, deeply establish yourself in the kingdom of God.

Deeply establish yourself in the kingdom of God.

Roots have to grow.

And when the roots don't grow, it's only a matter of time before a gust of wind blows you down.

And third, manifest kingdom life in the world.

Manifest kingdom life in the world.

Manifest it. Show it.

Show it in how you take care of someone you don't know.

Show it in how you put warm clothes on someone, not because of charity,

but because your desire is that anybody who is...

You know what it is to be cold, and you therefore want someone not to be cold.

It's never love somebody instead of you.

It's always love somebody else as you love yourself.

It's not instead of.

It's always as.

Love your neighbor as yourself, not instead of yourself.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Just like you desire warmth.

Desire warmth for your neighbor.

Just like you desire companionship in a place that is strange.

Desire companionship for your neighbor.

Just like you desire a good education for your children.

Desire a good education for their children.

Just as you desire security.

Desire security for them.

That's where it begins, eh?

So Christ comes in the flesh.

And guys, when you read Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

go to Romans chapter 8, verse 2 and 3.

Romans 8:2

I'll read verse 3 first and then read verse 2.

Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Something else happens with Christ coming.

Romans 8.

And this is one of those Selah statements.

You'll have to go and think about it.

I'll read it from the New English translation and the message.

Romans chapter 8, verse 3.

Romans 8:3

God went for the jugular when he sent his own son.

Let's start at verse 2.

Look at this, eh?

A new power is in operation.

Guys, guys, right now, right now, there's a new power in operation.

Here.

Go back to some normal version.

Let's try NIV.

Because we are familiar with this word,

so let me read it from a familiar translation.

Through Christ, the law of the Spirit who gives life

has set you free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do

because it was weakened by the flesh,

God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh

to be a sin offering, and so he condemns sin in the flesh.

Guys, think of it this way.

Now go to the message, and we'll read it from it.

Go to the message.

Romans 8.2.

A new power is in operation.

The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind,

has magnificently cleared the air,

freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny

at the hands of sin and death.

God went for the jugular when he sent his own son.

He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant.

In his son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition

and entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity

in order to set it right once and for all.

The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature,

could never have done that.

The law always ended up being used as a bandaid on sin

instead of a deep healing of it.

Guys, think of it this way.

Here's how you can define the law of sin and death

and the law of the Spirit of life.

The law of sin and death is very simple.

Every time you sin, sin has the binding authority to bring you death.

Just think of that for a second.

It isn't complicated.

Sin has the binding authority, as in it has the authority and the power

to bring death to you.

It is so powerful that there is not a single person on the earth

that is going to escape it.

That's the binding authority of sin.

There is not a person on earth.

Forget a person.

There is not a thing on earth.

Forget a thing.

There is no inanimate object that God has created.

Forget inanimate objects.

There is nothing in creation that can escape the binding authority of sin.

It's going to decay and destroy and kill everything.

That's the law of death.

And now, with Jesus arriving in flesh,

it says in the message that a new power is in operation.

And what is that new power?

It's the law of the Spirit of life.

What does that mean?

That now there is the binding authority of the Spirit of God

to bring life into every life, every person, to the earth, to creation,

to everything you do, He can bring life.

If you think death can be brought,

then you must understand that the Spirit brings life.

Every time you look at your body and you see sickness and disease,

know that the Spirit of life has binding authority,

as in authority that can absolutely wrap you up and bring life.

Every time you have a sinful habit or an addiction that you cannot escape,

know that the Spirit of the living God has binding authority to make things new.

Every time you think you cannot change your thinking,

know that the Spirit of God brings in a new power

that now operates that can change.

Every time you look at 20s and 30s that cannot find God

and are going down the wrong way,

you know now there's a new power in operation.

Where? Through you, through us.

How did it come about?

Simply because someone came down in flesh to destroy the law of sin and death.

The more we get aware of it, the more we live in its reality,

the more you will begin to believe every second of your life

that life can be breathed into me even though I'm dying.

You will die because of your sin, I will die because of sin.

That will happen.

But Paul put it this way, even though my outer man is decaying,

in the inner man I become more and more powerful,

more and more strong, more and more Christ-like.

Treasure in jars of clay.

There is a Spirit right now operating here.

It's called the Spirit of Life in Christ.

There is nothing that the Holy Spirit does not want to breathe life into.

How did it all start?

God breathed life.

How did it all start?

Chaos was brought into order.

You think He has changed?

If there's anybody who does not change, it is the Spirit of God.

My words will do nothing.

Why? Because John 6.63 says,

the flesh profits nothing, but the Spirit gives life.

All I have to do right now is stick to the Scriptures.

Trust that the Spirit of God will hold your attention.

And let the Spirit of God go to work,

because there is a new power in operation in this space,

called the Spirit of Life in Christ.

And He is enough to put a stop to the spirit of death.

What does death look like? Decay, damage, disease, the demonic.

That's what death looks like.

Death is not someone dying.

Death is damage. Death is decay.

Death is disease. Death is demonic.

And then you have the Spirit of God.

And He's operating right now.

So what does kingdom mean?

We say that Jesus says in John 18.37,

For this reason I was born.

One, to usher in the kingdom of God

that has been from everlasting to everlasting.

Two, to usher in the truth, to be a witness to the truth.

And He's not backing away from the claim that He was a king, eh?

That's a discussion He and Pilate are having.

So how do you describe kingdom?

Guys, kingdom is not a realm.

First, kingdom is the rank, the authority, the rule,

the sovereignty exercised by a king.

Kingdom is not a place. Kingdom is not a realm first.

Kingdom is first, the rank, the authority, the rule,

and the sovereignty that a king exercises.

Now you can see why we can sing songs like,

Your name, what's the rest of the words?

Sorry?

Tony, shout it out loud, I can't hear it.

Yeah, but what's the words? Your name is?

Derek, you're the singer.

Your name is the highest,

Your name is the greatest,

Your name stands above them all.

Yeah, it's putting to shame every other rank, every other authority,

every other ruler that thinks he rules, every sovereign,

any fiefdom, any power is put down.

Another song that talks about it is,

Above all powers, above all thrones.

That talks about the same thing.

So kingdom is not about a realm.

It's about rank, it's about authority, it's about sovereignty,

and it's about rule.

Psalm 103, verse 19.

Psalms 103:19

Just go to Psalm 103, verse 19.

Psalms 103:19

I'll read it from the NET, New English Translation.

Psalm 103, verse 19.

Psalms 103:19

Look at what it says,

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,

his kingdom extends over everything.

Is it true that his kingdom at present rules over all the earth? No.

So it's not a realm.

It's rank, it's sovereignty, it's rule, it's authority.

He has authority over everything guys.

That is why a day is coming.

Perhaps not in our lifetime, perhaps in Phoebe's lifetime or Mia's lifetime.

A day is coming when they will hear a voice from heaven saying,

Behold, the kingdoms of the earth or the world have become the kingdoms of our God and Christ.

That day is coming.

Why? Because there is one who has absolute authority.

So kingdom refers primarily to reign, not to realm.

It will be a realm when we finally go to heaven,

but right now it is, hey, there's nobody else who has clout, authority, rule, sovereignty like me.

Please get used to it church because it's your appointed time.

You know, it's only in the kingdom of God that morality and authority are directly proportional.

In the world, it doesn't matter.

You can be corrupt and you can still rise in authority.

In the kingdom, morality or purity and authority are connected.

No purity, no exertion of authority.

Strange, eh?

The citizens of Babylon can live any which way they want and have power, wealth and authority.

But when it comes to the kingdom, purity and authority are totally linked.

You can't separate one from the other.

So one of the things we have to do is that, guys, the gospel, Jesus talked about the gospel of the kingdom,

as in, hey, I'm a king.

I was born for this reason.

But one of the things that's happened, and I've talked about this before, is that we present Jesus as,

hey, Videsha, do you want to receive Jesus into your life?

And Jesus says, hey, I'm a king.

Hey, Videsha, do you want to receive Jesus into your life?

And she then receives Jesus into her life and she's personally saved.

That has very little to do with Bible truth.

Jesus was not trying to do that.

Jesus wasn't saying, invite me into your life.

Jesus was saying, hey, Megan, I've got a kingdom.

I'm inviting you into the kingdom.

And the only way you can enter this kingdom is if you, like a child, will receive my rule.

We've got to go back to this as a church.

We are not asking people to invite Jesus into their lives.

Our witness to the truth is this, that there is a kingdom ruled by a king called Jesus.

He is inviting you into that kingdom.

If you want to enter that kingdom, you have to, like a child, receive the rule of the king.

That is the gospel of the kingdom.

We've got to stop this other spin on it because it makes salvation personal

and makes it something where you invite Jesus.

Now, Jesus is saying, I'm inviting you into a kingdom.

Change it around. It's important.

I'm inviting you into a kingdom.

One of the ways we display this kingdom is through signs and wonders,

which is why signs and wonders are essential to Christianity.

We never see it in its fullness.

The only time we will see the kingdom in its fullness is when this earth is done and that happens.

Not this. This is where we are at right now.

Eden is shut.

Cain has murdered Abel.

The Tower of Babylon is being built.

Noah's come and go and they bring rest.

God establishes the covenant.

Some people get into the boat, some don't.

But a day is coming when that will happen, when Eden will be restored.

That day we will see the kingdom in its fullness,

where the trees, where the leaves of those trees are for the healing of the nations.

But till then, people still need to have a partial taste of the kingdom.

And that partial taste of the kingdom is only through signs and wonders and compassion and power.

And that is why I say it is our appointed time.

Twenty years ago, a man walked into the church like this and his name was Keith Abraham.

And he said, this church has wells of healing.

Every time he sings that song saying, dig up the wells,

I think of healing being splish splashed upon people.

In numbers it said, the leaders of Israel took their staffs and their shovels

and they started digging and they sang the song, spring up o wells.

This is the appointed time. This is that.

This is that. Press in.

The veil is so thin that if you tear it, you will see it and it will burst forth.

Because the kingdom must be made visible.

And one of the ways it's made visible is through compassion,

through power, through signs, through wonders,

so that the prisoner, the oppressed, the blind of Isaiah 61 can walk free.

And if we don't press into it, who will? If not now, then when?

Who does he choose? Usually the most ordinary, the most unknown.

Therefore we say to people, now that the king is inviting you

and you can only come into this kingdom through receiving the rule of the king like a child,

repent, turn away from your ways to receive the rule of this king.

That's how this works. Change your ways.

Change your ways.

Change your ways.

Change your ways.

Change the way we present salvation.

We are inviting people into a kingdom.

We are not asking them to invite Jesus.

We are not selling heaven.

We are saying there is this kingdom and in that kingdom there is healing.

Well then show me. In that kingdom there is deliverance from demonic oppression.

Show me. In that kingdom there is a preaching of good news.

Where is the good news?

In that kingdom there is a preaching of good news.

Where is the good news?

In that kingdom blind eyes are open.

Show me. In that kingdom there is light and there is life.

Show me.

What a demand to be placed on us, eh?

What a demand to be placed on us.

I love a religion that challenges you.

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

Let's end with a thought.

I talked about this in 2022.

Another way of looking at the kingdom of God.

What is the kingdom of God?

The kingdom of God is God acting as king.

The kingdom of God is God acting as king.

The kingdom of God is God acting as king.

If I looked at your life, if I looked at, if you looked at my life, do you see Jesus Christ acting as King in my life?

If I looked at your life on any given day, not during church, if I visited you and I looked at your life,

or you looked at mine, would you see Jesus Christ acting as King?

The question is what in the world does that look like?

I mean we talked about this two years ago, I said we need to come up with a word called Kinging.

It's not English but God is Kinging. God is Kinging. God is Kinging 24x7. Is God Kinging in my life?

Right now he's having a ball. When this is over and I go home and you see me tomorrow in the middle of traffic,

is God still Kinging? So what does it look like when God Kings? That's the problem eh?

And I can only answer it in terms of a question. What does it look like when God is Kinging?

Does it look like salvation? Does it look like healing? Does it look like prophetic declarations?

Does it look like deliverance? Does it look like mercy or does it look like justice?

Does it look like settling issues of race? Does it look like being environmentally mindful?

Is it a stream or is it a river that's increasing in depth? Is it a mighty waterfall?

Is it always the same? Now you realize that my God you can't take Jesus and miniaturize him,

put it in your locket and say this is what the kingdom looks like because it has so many

expressions through so many people that when it all comes together it's brilliant.

So for some here the kingdom will look like great mercy. For others here the kingdom will look like

ridiculous generosity. For someone else the kingdom will look like just foolish joy. For someone else

the kingdom will look like no panic absolute peace in the middle of a storm. For someone else it'll

look like shucks how do you walk in this kind of righteousness? Your purity is so overwhelming

that you become a plumb line that sometimes rebukes me, sometimes sets an example. The kingdom looks

like people getting healed when a child lays their hand on them. The kingdom looks like witches walking

up on stage and not able to come near you because they've fall down. What does the kingdom look like?

Does it look like a river that's in full flow and getting higher and higher or is it a babbling

brook or a stream where sheep lie down? Guys there's no limit to this and why is there no limit to this?

Because everybody needs to be included. Anyone who has received the rule of the king

gets to participate in this kingdom. This is why he was born.

He was born to bring on to the earth a kingdom that has been from everlasting and will be for

everlasting. I want to be there when they speak revelations 1115 and when they speak revelations

215. Two places in the book of revelation that I want to be. 1115 and I heard a voice from heaven

saying the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our God and Christ. Revelations 215

and I heard a voice from the throne saying behold I have made everything new.

And when he says everything he doesn't mean saving souls. He means the earth. He means

caterpillars. He means cats. He means he means plants with thorns. He means men, women,

he means just everything being made new brought back to pristine condition.

That is your job description. I'm here to make everything new. I'm here to walk with him every

day and through little gestures or magnificent gestures through unobserved signs and wonders

unobserved signs and wonders and through massive miracles I'm here to make all things new. And if

how do we do this? One life at a time. One life at a time. Everything in the kingdom works at that

level. There is no macro in the kingdom. It's always micro so that we can get to that place.

It's one life at a time. The nations of the earth one life at a time.

I have come to make all things new. Every time you pray can you pray with the understanding that the

Holy Spirit wants to make things new? As I'm praying for you there is only one desire I have

that there are things that God wants to make new in your life and I'm here to pray that oh God

please bring into this person that which is new from your spirit. Why? Because there is a new

power in operation and what is that power in operation? The spirit of life in Christ. And

what are you coming against? The spirit of the law of death. Man we're a special species eh?

We got God living in us. Christ living in us. We are a gift to mankind.

Someone was a gift to us and we changed.

I remember saying this two years ago and perhaps a few times in between. In the Lord of the Rings

there is a scene where Sam thought he was dead and now he is lying on a bed and he slowly comes

back and opens his eyes and he realizes oh shucks I'm not dead, I'm alive. And then he turns to

Gandalf and here's the dialogue that happens between them. Sam is recovering in a friend's

home. He is injured but will survive. The last he knew the wizard Gandalf had fallen into an abyss

and died. But now at the end of the story he hears a voice calling him back to consciousness.

Gandalf says, well master Samwise how do you feel? Sam lay back and stared with open mouth

and for a moment between bewilderment and great joy he could not answer. At last he gasped,

Gandalf I thought you were dead but then I thought I was dead myself. Then he says his line with

I thought you were dead myself. Then he says his line with, preachers have used

ever since the Lord of the Rings was written. And here's the line, is everything sad

going to come untrue? Is everything sad going to come untrue?

Is everything sad going to come untrue? And our resounding answer as witnesses to the truth

and witnesses to the king who was born for this reason is yes a day is coming when everything sad

will come untrue and we will be restored to how we were supposed to live.

And it's your job and my job to make sure that we partner with the spirit to make things new,

to make that which is sad untrue. When that grips you inside that is when crying will begin.

You know the kind of crying when you see your child hurt or when you see a mask on your child

or a IV tube running to your child? What do you want to do then? You want to do something that'll

make it all go away. It's that kind of thing that grabs you. It's that kind of compassion that would

drive Jesus where he would look at them and he would say it feels like they are a sheep without

a shepherd. Nobody to feed them and then out of compassion would flow power. Compassion is the key

to power. Compassion is the key to power in this season in this appointed time church.

Beg for compassion. Compassion that melts your heart. Compassion that goes the second, third,

fourth mile. Compassion that functions even when you're not noticed. Compassion that does not keep

a record of things I've done and things not done. That kind of compassion releases power even when

you give a bowl of water which is why Jesus said you don't know it but when you gave that guy a

glass of water you were serving me. Beg for the sake because it releases power.

A great is everything sad going to come untrue? A great shadow has departed said Gandalf and then

the wizard laughed and the sound was like music or like water in a parched land and as Sam listened

the thought came to him that he had not heard laughter the sound of merriment for days without

count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known but he himself

burst into tears then as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out

clearer his tears seized and his laughter welled up and laughing he sprang from bed. How do I feel

he cried? Well I don't know how to say it. I feel I feel he waved his arms in the air. I feel like

spring after winter the sun on the leaves trumpets and harps and all the songs I've ever heard. What

does it mean to make the sad untrue? Can this really happen? Can this really happen?

One day the father will welcome all his children home. Set them up in places of their own.

Put them in charge of something. Let me change it. One day the father will welcome you home.

He will set you up in your in a place of your own. He will put you in charge of something suitable

so that you can honor your maker. Then the sun and the spirit will join him and from that point on

there will be no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain and you'll hear a voice from heaven

saying, behold I have made all things new. This is what we're waiting for guys.

I'm gonna sing two songs now as we finish.