Four Warnings

Jesus.

So this started two weeks ago where Russ started out with the genealogy that's found in Matthew 1.

Thankful that he did that, and I did not have to do that.

And then last week, Pat talked through Matthew 4, where Jesus calls the disciples for the first time.

And then this morning we will be, it's kind of a Sermon on the Mount sermon, but we're going to focus at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

But before we get there, as we're going through this series, Summer with Jesus, I want to share one of the probably the most memorable summers of my life.

This was the summer of 2014, which was the summer from my ninth grade year into my 10th grade year of high school.

And this summer is not memorable because of a vacation or something fun that happened or some some great times with friends.

It's actually memorable because it started with a police officer showing up at my house and letting me know me and my friends got caught doing something we we shouldn't have been doing.

That's a pretty memorable summer.

And I'm not going to tell you what we got caught doing, but I will tell you that it resulted in some court appearances.

It resulted in 20 hours of community service.

And it resulted in a Walton County version of the Scared Straight kind of thing.

But Walton County version so you can only imagine what what that's like.

But this is what how my summer started out in the summer of 2014.

And some of you right now are are questioning why you let your middle and high schoolers hang out with me on a weekly basis.

But before you maybe pull them out of our student ministry, I want to explain why this is probably the one of the most influential summers of my life.

It was not fun, but it was memorable and influential because this summer was full of loving discipline and warning from the the police, not so loving there, but full of discipline and and warning from the police, warning from the scared straight program where you know they were saying if you don't if if you don't change you're just going to end up back here.

So some warning from there but more importantly and probably more influential was the discipline and and warning that I received from my parents which to be honest with you I was way more scared of than anything the police could could ever do to me.

But this summer this this loving discipline and warning that I received from my parents that summer was probably the most influential thing that I've ever had to go through in my life.

My parents obviously grounded me for the summer took away everything I had from my phone they took away my dirt bike which was like the highest level of punishment at the time I didn't see my friends for the entire summer.

I wasn't allowed to go anywhere, talk to anyone now at the time this was the the worst summer of my life just sitting in my room the entire summer knowing my friends were having a good time and I didn't fully understand the significance of what was happening in my life.

But but asking you now and now looking back why why did my parents do this?

Why did they discipline me in that moment?

Because they love me, right?

That's what you tell all your kids when you're getting on to them it's because I love you and you think that's going to make it better in the moment but it doesn't but one day they'll realize you did it out of love.

My parents disciplined me and warned me because they loved me.

The more I reflect on that summer the more and more I see that my parents have this deep, this unexplainable unconditional love for me.

My parents disciplined me but at the same time they never condemned me.

My parents warned me that if I continued to make decisions like I had made then I would end up ruining my life and I couldn't fulfill what God had planned for me.

There's no way I could walk in his will in his plan and continue doing the things I was doing.

But even in this warning my parents never gave up on me.

They never rejected me never pushed me away my parents did these things because they they had a love for me that was deeper than the decisions I made.

They had a love for me that was deeper than than the things I did on the weekends with my friends.

They had a love for me that was not dependent on my actions but because they loved me they disciplined me and warned me that if I continue to do the same things over and over again then I would ruin my life.

And they did this because they wanted me to experience all that God had planned for my life.

They wanted me to experience the goodness of God they they wanted what was best for me in that moment.

So as I look back on that summer that was so miserable at the time I'm so grateful for the impact that it had because I did silly things when your middle and high school students come to me and start talking about silly things I can say hey I did that.

It didn't work out it's not great.

You see so God uses these these things that are broken in us for the betterment.

But as a result this summer was so influential because of loving discipline and warning so this is why I'm sharing all that exposing myself and my parents is because of this the Bible the this the scripture that God has given us is full it's so full of loving, discipline and warning.

Because God's love for us is deeper than we could ever imagine and he wants us he has a desire for us to experience the life he has planned for us.

And because of that deep desire to be with us he's going to warn us when we're making decisions we shouldn't make or doing things we shouldn't do because he wants us to experience the life he has planned for us.

Because God loves us so much he disciplines us and warns us to walk in obedience to him because he knows that's what is best for us.

So however even though the Bible is full of discipline it's full of warning from from God from the words of Jesus even though it's full of all these things we typically do one of two things with it either we use it to to condemn someone and bring people down scare them into hell or we don't use it at all.

We just kind of ignore it and we kind of forget that the God we serve is perfectly just He is full of righteous anger.

There is a reason why Scripture is full of discipline and warning.

So this morning we'll be looking at the end of Jesus's famous Sermon on the Mount where Jesus lovingly out of pure love for us gives us four warnings that have to do with the way that we're living out our faith and following Jesus on a daily basis.

So before we we read these my prayer is that we would read them through the lens of a loving God who has a genuine deep desire to spend eternity with each one of us to welcome him or welcome us into his kingdom.

But on the other side of that we would read this and take it seriously through the lens of the fact that we serve a God who is just perfectly just who cannot allow sin to go unpunished and unpaid for that we would read it through a lens of a God who is who is full of righteous righteous wrath.

I pray that we would allow scripture to pierce our hearts to the point that we have a healthy fear of the Lord as we walk in obedience to him.

So with that being said let me let me pray um before we get into this Father we thank you for scripture and we thank you for the words of Jesus that that we have as a result of it.

And this morning as we walk through Matthew 7 and we wrap up and kind of look at the end of Jesus' famous Sermon on the mount Father would you convict us would you pierce our hearts?

Would you speak to us through your Holy Spirit open our eyes open our eyes to to to what our life looks like let us examine our faith and the ways that we are walking it out and and actively living in obedience to you Father I pray that you would show us your love your unconditional steadfast love through this text but you would also open our eyes to how serious how serious this is that it is a matter of of life and death that there is eternity with you and there's eternity away from you.

So just speak to us through your spirit give us wisdom and understanding and open our eyes to who you are.

We love you and pray these things in Jesus' name amen.

Amen so like I said this morning we will be spending our time reading through Matthew 7 13 through 29 if you want to pull that up and we're going to be looking at four warnings that Jesus gives at the end of his sermon on the mount.

Before we get there our big idea one thing I kind of want you to leave here walking away with is this is that Jesus leaves no room for middle ground.

Jesus leaves no room for middle ground.

So as we read through these four warnings there's kind of something I just want you to look out for and know going into this because it'll begin to stick out.

I want you to notice how each warning each of these passages that we're about to read are arranged in paired contrasts.

So what that means is that each warning that Jesus gives us does not have a both and conclusion.

So it doesn't have a both and answer.

There's not two answers to the the warnings that he gives us instead the conclusion and what each of these warnings lead to is an either or decision.

An either or decision there is either one of two outcomes in these warnings that Jesus gives and this is not a popular idea obviously in the culture that we live in there is honestly no such thing as this anymore of not having a middle ground in some form or fashion but how in these warnings Jesus leaves no room for middle ground.

These are paired contrasts there is one of two outcomes one of two decisions that we can make as his his followers there is a clear distinction we're going to see as we read through these between the life of a believer and the life of an unbeliever there is no both and it is either or you are either a believer a follower of Christ or you are not.

There is no middle ground between the two.

So we're going to see that this last section of Jesus's Sermon on the mount it's a call for decision for decision and application of what he is teaching.

So we're going to start out Matthew 7 verse 13 through 14 says this He says enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:13–14

So warning number one that Jesus gives here is that there's two paths and two destinations.

Two paths and two destinations.

In this first warning Jesus keep things he's keeping things pretty simple he said there's a narrow gate that leads to a difficult way and there's a wide gate that leads to an easy way.

The people that go through the narrow gate are very few.

The people that go through the wide gate and the easy path are many.

The wide gate and the easy path in in this this warning I believe represents just the way of the world this this world this culture that we live in.

The gate is wide enough for people with all kinds of beliefs to enter through it.

You can believe in whatever kind of God you want to or you could even be foolish enough to believe that there is no God at all.

And those who enter through this gate can live their life however they please you can live however you want to they can devote their entire life to fulfilling the desires of their hearts they can say whatever they want to say spend their money on whatever they want to spend their money on and sleep with whoever they want to sleep with.

This is an easy way.

It's easy all are welcome all are welcome and accepted here but because all are welcomed and accepted through this gate there are going to be a lot of people following this way.

There's going to be a lot of people who enter through this gate.

However, this is Jesus's warning to us this wide and easy path all funnels down to one destination and he says it's destruction.

On the other hand the narrow gate the difficult path represents the kingdom of heaven it's the message that Jesus is preaching that there is another kingdom.

There is more to this life than this life.

The gate is narrow.

In fact it is so narrow that it only has one way that you can go through it.

One way there's absolutely no wiggle room as you pass through and enter through this narrow gate.

The only way that you can enter through the narrow gate is by meeting God's standard of righteousness.

The only way we can ever meet God's standard of righteousness is if we have been cleansed and covered and washed by the blood of Christ.

Therefore the only way we can enter through this narrow gate is by placing our faith, our trust in Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 146, Jesus himself says this I am the way, I am the truth and I am the life.

No one, no one comes to the Father except through me.

Now those who do enter through this narrow gate, they now have a difficult path ahead of them.

Entering through this gate and placing their faith in Jesus is only the beginning of the journey.

They now must pick up their cross daily and die to themselves.

They must put to death the deeds of the body and no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

They must live in a world that's full of sin while at the same time being sanctified by the truth of God's word and becoming more like Christ on a daily basis.

They must actively follow Jesus and put into practice the things that they are reading in Scripture and teaching others.

This is certainly a much more difficult way.

It's much more difficult to enter through this gate.

It's much more difficult to walk on this narrow, difficult demanding path however it all funnels down to one glorious one glorious promise and guaranteed destination and Jesus says that is eternal life.

Because this path leads to life this is why Jesus begins this warning by saying enter through the narrow gate Jesus knows that the way to life is difficult.

He knows the only way to true life is through him.

Therefore he's saying hey because I love you I'm going to tell you enter through the narrow gate.

Don't be deceived by the ways of this world and the easy life that you can live but enter through the narrow gate.

Jesus leaves no room no room for middle ground.

He says it's either me or nothing at all.

But he gives us this warning because he knows it's worth it.

He knows this difficult path is worth it and he wants us to experience life with him.

So he goes on to say in verse 15 moving on to the second warning he says beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will recognize them by their fruits are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles so every healthy tree bears good fruit but the diseased tree bears bad fruit a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

And then he says this every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits so our second warning is this there's two trees and two types of fruit in this warning Jesus tells us that there are there are two types of trees there's healthy trees and diseased trees.

There's no middle ground you're either healthy or diseased.

And these trees produce two types of fruit good fruit and bad fruit there's no middle ground Jesus uses this illustration at the beginning he says beware of false prophets so he's using this illustration to warn us against people who who even taking into account what we just read might be people who are leading us into the the wide gate, the easy path leading us to follow the ways of this world.

He's using this to warn us against false prophets people who may seem like they're leading people to the kingdom of heaven but in reality are leading them into the ways of this world leading people to a way of destruction.

So Jesus tells us that that we can recognize these false prophets we can recognize these people that would lead us into the to the to the way of destruction by looking at the fruit of their life we can tell or or come to recognize someone who is truly following Jesus or not following Jesus at all based on the fruit they're producing.

If you want to know whether someone's a disciple of Jesus what he's saying here is just look at the fruit of their life.

What are they producing?

So you think about it I don't know how to identify different types of trees I have no clue.

I know pine trees are pine trees I got that anything else but but if I'm looking at a tree and it's got apples hanging from it what what kind of what kind of tree is that it's that simple when you look at something and you see the fruit that it's producing you know oh that's an apple tree.

Jesus is saying the same applies for people.

It's that simple the fruit of our lives helps identify what kingdom we are living for.

The fruit we produce helps identify whether someone is a healthy active follower of Jesus or if there's someone who's walking in the way of the world diseased with the ways of this world.

So then we have to ask the question what is good fruit and bad fruit look like what is what is Jesus talking about when he says there's there's good fruit and bad fruit so I think there's internal fruit that that a follower of Christ will have that that aren't necessarily the the works that they do but it characterizes who they are as a person.

So you got the fruits of the Spirit is kind of one of the first things that come to mind.

Galatians 5 says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

So someone who is a healthy follower of Jesus is going to display some of these fruits of the Spirit.

They're going to be loving.

They're going to be joyful they're going to be kind to the people that they encounter.

However there's also some bad fruit that is kind of internal right before we get to the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5, Paul says this the works of the flesh are evident.

They're obvious they're they're right there in front of us.

And this is what they are sexual immorality, impurity sensuality idolatry, sorcery enmity strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these and then he says this I warn you, I warn you there's that word warning again I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

This is bad fruit that comes from a diseased tree a tree that is not abiding in Christ.

And then you got external fruit that is a good tree a healthy tree is going to produce more fruit the same way a follower of Christ is going to produce external fruit and disciples they're going to produce more followers of Christ they're going to lead people to the feet of Jesus.

They're going to live like Jesus lived.

They're going to love people like Jesus loved people they're going to serve people like Jesus served people.

However you have the bad fruit version of this where they don't have disciples they're not leading anyone to the feet of Jesus.

They're not sitting at the feet of Jesus themselves.

Therefore they're not going to love people like Jesus loved people.

They're not going to serve people like Jesus served people.

But as we read this it would be probably wise if we took some of Jesus' other advice found in the Sermon on the Mount when he says take the speck out of your own eye before taking the log out of someone else's.

So before we start looking at the fruit of other people's lives we have to look at our own lives.

We have to evaluate our own lives asking ourselves what kind of fruit are we producing?

What kind of fruit am I producing as a follower of Christ?

Jesus is telling us in this morning to make sure that we are healthy trees that we are healthy disciples that are bearing much fruit for his kingdom because if not every tree that does not bear good fruit meaning every tree that bears bad fruit or maybe every tree that doesn't bear any fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

And we bear fruit by abiding in Christ remaining dwelling living with Christ on a daily basis.

Jesus says this in John 15 four through five he says abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing.

In short Jesus is trying to tell us in this in this warning that our faith in him just as James two seventeen tells us Our faith in Jesus is dead if it doesn't have the works to follow it.

Faith without works is dead.

Jesus is saying, if you are truly one of my followers, if you are truly my disciple, then you are going to have the fruit to show it.

There will be fruit in your life to prove it, and you will be constantly abiding in me.

Jesus goes on in verse 21 for the third warning.

He says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, ye workers of lawlessness.

So warning three is there's two groups and two judgments.

On that final day, when God does bring perfect, righteous judgment on the earth, there will be two groups and two different judgments.

In these verses, Jesus is trying to teach us that the same way faith without works is dead, works without faith are just as dead.

The same way that our faith must be backed up by works.

If we're working without the faith, then that's just as pointless as well.

Jesus is warning us here that our entry into the kingdom of heaven, into his kingdom, is not based on the works that we do here on earth.

This warning is for the person who might declare that Jesus is Lord, Lord, Lord, or in modern turn, simply just identify themselves as a Christian.

They probably live a really decent life and do good things for others.

They might go to church and they might even serve at the church as well.

However, Jesus is warning us here that the one thing that is missing from their life is the one thing that is necessary to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and that's a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

They may acknowledge that Jesus is God or that God is real.

They may be a good person, however, they don't know Jesus.

They haven't made Jesus Lord of their own life, and Jesus doesn't know them as a result of it.

In this warning, that people are trying to earn their way into God's kingdom based on what they had done.

And if we're reading this, they did a lot more powerful things than what we typically do now.

Healing people, casting out demons, doing many mighty works, whereas some of our arguments would be I listened to Jonah preach on Sunday morning, and I went to church with my family.

Like they were doing incredible things.

However, Jesus still says, depart from me, for I never knew you.

These people had added religion as a part of their life rather rather than just surrendering everything to Christ and actually making Him Lord over their life and having a personal relationship with Him.

We get from this that only genuine faith, genuine faith in the death and resurrection of Christ is the only thing that brings salvation.

And when that occurs, we become people who have faith that that works.

We have faith that goes out and produces fruit.

But the bottom line is Jesus is warning here that there will be a day of judgment.

And there will be two groups of people, two group, one group that knows Jesus, that knows him as their Lord and Savior, and one group that does not.

And those who know Jesus get entry into the kingdom of heaven and eternal life with him, and those who do not know him will be asked to depart from him.

So do you cry out, Lord, Lord, without actually knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord?

And then he wraps up in verse twenty-four.

He says, Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

So in this fourth warning we see this that there's two builders and two foundations.

Two builders and two foundations.

So Jesus ends this sermon on the mount with this warning that leads directly to decision and application, leads directly to him saying, Okay, I've I've taught you, I've given you the information that you need to know.

Now it's your responsibility to make a decision to apply that to your life.

He begins his last warning saying, Everyone then who hears these words of mine, what he's referring to there is everything he's talked about in the Sermon on the Mount.

He's referring to everything he's taught about the beatitudes, about being the salt and light of the world, his teaching about anger, lust, divorce, oaths, judging others, retaliation, loving our enemies, generosity, prayer, fasting, laying up treasures in heaven, and not being a slave to the anxieties of this world.

And now he's calling us to consider what are we going to do with it.

Everyone who hears these words, you have a decision to make now of whether you're going to do it or not.

There is no middle ground.

There is no, I do some of these things, but I don't do others.

I'm not going to get angry, but I'm not going to stop blessing over people who are not my spouse.

I'll be generous, but I can't love my enemies.

Jesus is saying, you either do the things I tell you or you don't.

What we do with the words of Jesus is either wise or foolish.

We either hear the words of Jesus and do them, or we hear the words of Jesus and don't do them.

There is no middle ground.

And he gives this final warning in the form of a parable, this story that has a lesson to it.

It's made up.

There weren't really two men that built these houses.

He made this story up to prove and teach a lesson.

The people who hear his words and do them are like a wise man who builds his house on a rock.

The people who hear his words and don't do them are like a foolish man who builds his house on the sand.

Both of these men in the story built a house.

Both of these men experienced rains and floods and wind.

However, only one of these men still had a house that was standing.

And the same is true for us.

We are all building our life on something.

You're building your life on something.

Every decision you make is you building your life on something.

And we will all endure rain and floods and wind throughout our lives.

If you choose to follow Christ, you will endure rain and floods and winds.

If you don't follow Christ, you will endure rain and floods and winds.

However, what Jesus is saying is those who hear the words of Jesus, when these rains and the floods and the winds come in, we will still be standing.

We will still have something that our life is built upon.

However, those who do not do them will fall and fall greatly.

So if you pair all four of these warnings together, this is what you get from Jesus' teaching, from his words.

A foolish man chooses the easy path, produces bad to no fruit, attempts to earn salvation through self-righteous efforts or gimmicks, and builds his life on a weak foundation, all of which lead to destruction.

That's the warning.

Then he says, a wise man chooses the narrow path.

He understands the importance of producing good fruit.

He heeds to Christ's warning about works without saving faith, and he builds his life on Christ, all of which lead to eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

And when you pair all these together, when you just look at it from 30,000 feet, whatever, however you want to do that, when you look at all these things, you you begin to understand why Jesus is saying these things.

Why does he say such harsh things that that kind of hurt, that kind of brings some sadness and maybe some worry and some fear?

What is the point of all of this?

It's because it's because his warning is full of love.

Full of love, full of grace, full of mercy.

Jesus warns us of these things because he has a genuine desire to be with you.

He warns you of these things because he wants you to experience life with him.

He warns you of these things because he wants you to understand why he came to this world, died on a cross, and rose from the dead so that we could have eternal life.

He wants us to experience that.

And he also knows what happens when we choose to follow the ways of this world.

He understands how heartbreaking, how dark separation from God is because he was separated from God on the cross.

He understands both sides of this decision.

He understands what it means to be with God and be apart from God, and he wants what's best for you.

He wants you to spend eternal life with the Father rather than separated from all joy and love and peace for all of eternity.

Jesus is warning you because he cares for you.

So then the question then becomes kind of at the end, similar to the end of his Sermon on the Mount, is will you hear these things?

Hear the truths of Scripture, the warnings of Scripture, and will you act on it?

Will you do it?

Will you hear the words of Jesus and act in faith?

So asking the questions, what path are you on?

Are you walking the difficult way or following the easy ways of the world?

What type of fruit are you producing in your life?

Where have you placed your faith?

And which foundation are you building your life upon?

So as followers of Jesus, we we we must be people who enter through the narrow gate.

We must be people who walk in discipline and self-control along the difficult path that goes so far against the ways of this world.

We must be people who are who are producing fruit.

We must be people who, as we live life, people should see the person of Jesus through us.

We must be people who are constantly dependent on the salvation that's found in the blood of Christ, and the blood of Christ are alone, constantly relying upon the sacrifice of Jesus, putting him as God, putting him as Lord over our entire life.

We must be people who not only hear the words of Jesus, but also do them.

So then it comes to the fact that there are people in this room, most likely, that are not that are not following Jesus, that are not true disciples of Christ.

And through his words, through his teaching, it might have been revealed to you.

Well, the good news about it is that he warns us for a reason.

He's warning us of these things so that we would turn and repent, so that we would turn and place our faith in him, that we would be people who enter through the narrow gate, deciding, okay, even though it goes against everything this world is teaching me, I'm going to place my faith in Christ and I'm going to walk in obedience to him.

I'm going to repent for my sin and the ways of the world.

You commit your life to devoting yourself to bearing fruit for God's kingdom rather than just storing up more things that this world has to offer you.

You understand that your works cannot get you into the kingdom of heaven.

And you decide to surrender everything and place your faith in Christ.

And you decide in this moment, as you hear the words of Christ, that you're going to act on them and do them, that you're going to take heed to his loving warning and understand that he wants to be with you and wants the best for you.

And you just surrender and you begin to do the things that he commands us to do.

So the question is, will you hear these things and will you act?

Um, so as the band just kind of leads us in response, um, maybe it's just a time of self-reflection, no matter who you are or how long you've been following Christ, or if you're not following Christ at all, maybe it's just a time for self-reflection.

Of as I hear the warnings of Christ, what is it is my heart convicted or is it hardened against these things?

Am I truly following Christ the way that he explains it?

Am I following Christ in a biblical way, not a Bible belt Christianity kind of way?

So as we just spend time in response, will you hear what Christ is saying to us through his word and will you act on it?

Let's pray.

Father, once again, we we thank you for scripture, and we thank you for the words of Jesus, even though they're hard and difficult to hear, no matter who we are, no matter what kind of life we're living.

But I thank you for the care, the love that is in his voice as he gives us these warnings.

And I pray that as we continue just to reflect on what Scripture says and the warnings that it gives us, that we would evaluate whether we are walking along the difficult path that is a follower of Christ.

And we would examine whether we have fruit in our life to prove the fact that we are actually following you.

Father, that we would examine where our trust is, if it's in ourself, our own works, our own doing, or if it is truly and 100% in the work of Jesus.

And just pray that as we reflect on these things, that as we hear your voice, we would be like a wise man who does what you're telling us to do.

It is that easy.

You give us scripture.

You are so good at telling us what to do.

Just fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we would be wise men who do exactly what you're telling them.

We love you, Father, and we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.