Let Those Men Go

We are living at the end of time.

And if ever there was a time for us to

be in our Bibles, understanding the books of Daniel and Revelation,

it is right now. The three angels' messages, the third angel,

I believe, in a very short period of time, it

could be two years or five or even less, I

believe the mark of the beast issue will be hitting

this country I'm not a prophet, but prophetic time, we're

right before it. We live in Revelation 13, 11, and

Daniel 11, 40.

And it's the very next event.

So let's focus in, and let's allow the Bible to

do its work in our lives so we can be

ready for Christ's coming.

Let's pray.

Father, as we open the Word of God today, we

need focus. We need obedience. We need faith. We need

the Holy Spirit. We cannot do this of our own.

So give us Jesus and His name.

Amen.

Now before I proceed in the message today, we have

two ministers from another denomination here present.

Would you stand? And Pastor Stoyan, help me know their

names again.

Say them loudly. My hearing's bad. It's not your fault.

I still can't hear. You'll have to. Dennis and Mario.

Dennis and Mario, we are very grateful you visited us today.

We hope you come and visit us much more.

We are going to get into the Bible, okay? And

let's pray. All right.

The title of the message today is Let Those Men Go.

We live in a time when people live chained by sin.

Our freedom in Christ was not cheap.

It was bought by the blood of the Son of God.

And God has brought us to a knowledge of the

So we can be set free to live for the Lord.

So the title is, Let Those Men Go. Both Peter

and Paul knew that Jesus died on the cross to

set us all free. I don't know about you, but

that deserves an amen because it's truth. We are not

to be chained Christians.

We're not to be Christians that.

Go around life figuring out that we somehow have to

do what this person says or that person says, and

we have no freedom. In Christ, we are free to

live for God a life of integrity and obedience because

the Holy Spirit has taken the chains away. It's not

the kind of freedom the world offers, the kind of

out-of-control freedom that goes for the quick fixes of Hollywood,

that goes for the media entertainment notion of what it

means to be free. or for the free sexual lifestyle

in our secular culture. God calls us to obedience that

is not slavery, but is.

Freedom in Christ.

Freedom that takes the reins of an out-of-control life, a

freedom that boldly lives for God because the soul has

been set free. Hope is the thing with wings that

makes the soul to fly. And for freedom, Paul says,

Christ has set us free. Now both Paul and Peter

provide the two great texts for freedom that are found

in our New Testament. Take your Bibles, turn to Galatians

Galatians 5:1

5 verse 1, and here we have the Apostle Paul.

For freedom, Christ has set us free. What's the purpose

of setting us free? Freedom. God wants us to be free.

He doesn't want us to have.

A religious experience that's legalistic, but He also doesn't want

us to have a religious experience that is libertine and

does whatever it wants to, neither are freedom. For freedom

Christ has set us free. Stand fast, therefore, and do

not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Now, Peter

has the other great New Testament text on freedom. 1

1 Peter 2:16

Peter 2, verse 16. Live as free men. This could

be translated, live as free people. Yet without using your

freedom as a pretext for evil, but live as servants

of God. Now there are two extremes that exist in

the Christian church. The Pharisee extreme and the Sadducee extreme.

The Pharisee extreme is to the right. The Sadducee extreme.

Is to the left.

Both will take you to the wrong side of things

and your soul will be lost if you go into

either philosophy. The left says it really doesn't matter. All

that matters is love, love, love. If we have enough love,

we'll be good people. And by the way, I'll go

do this. I'll break the Sabbath. I'll You watch that

awful thing and live like the devil. But the Lord

understands that's the left. The right is different. The right says, well,

if you don't have a perfect track record, God can't

accept you. So you never have joy and freedom. That's legalism.

When you feel like you have to earn your way

to heaven. Friends, when we walk in the Holy Spirit,

we're not trying hard. We're focusing on Jesus and obedience

is the fruit of a life in love with God.

A life that focuses on the cross of Christ. A

life that is surrendered is a free life. And so

Peter and Paul both agree. Live as free men, yet

without using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but

live as servants of God. Living for God and losing

self is true freedom. Serving yourself without God is pure slavery.

The Philippian jailer had lived his hard life of jail

service to Rome. His job was to keep people inside

the jail. There are pastors and teachers today, theologians, philosopher kings,

who work in the field of religion, who do exactly

what the Philippian jailer did. They spend their entire life

keeping people in jail religiously. I've seen pastors... who keep

seekers for truth in jail by refusing to share the

loving and powerful gospel of Jesus Christ that can set

them free from personal guilt. Dear heart, if you are

serving God because you are afraid of God, you are

not serving God.

Did you hear me?

We have been told in the spirit of prophecy that

the person who serves God out of that kind of

motive has the character of a rebel. God does not

want fear to be the basis of our love for him.

He wants us to come to him because he died

for us.

He loves us. He is morally a humble, good being.

And when we respond to God as truth, our lives

are motivated by truth and love. And thus we have

the law of God in our hearts. The very center

of the book of Hebrews is Hebrews 8 verse 11.

Hebrews 8:11

The chiastic sinner. And the very central phrase of the

entire epistle is.

They shall all know me.

We know God when we see the truth in the

eyes of Jesus. And thus we are drawn to God.

Before the cross, we all lived for the wrong reasons,

like fear. We all lived thinking that maybe God was

out to get us. The law had its wrong impact

until we saw the lawgiver hanging on Calvary's cross again.

And when we see the lawgiver on the cross, the

law has a different character. When Jesus died on the

cross for our sins, it meant that God the Father,

God the Son, God the Holy Spirit loved us more

than our disobedience. He was not willing to let that

stand between us. He took the weight into himself so

that we could come to God. Ellen White, Manuscript 101, 1897.

Theology doesn't get much better than this statement I'm getting

ready to read to you, which is not on the screen.

I forgot to make a slide of it, so I'll

read it to you. Manuscript 101, 1897. The emancipation papers

of our race were signed by the blood of the

Son of God. How do you like that? The emancipation

papers of our race... were signed by the blood of

the Son of God, and a way was opened for

the message of hope and mercy to be carried to

the ends of the earth. Now whoever will may reach

forth and take hold of God's hand and make peace

with him, and they shall make peace. The heathen are

no longer to be wrapped in midnight superstition. The gloom

is to disappear for the bright beams of the sun

of righteousness. When Jesus hung on the cross, his hand

reached to the, to the entire west, the east, and

around the world. And he signed the eternal covenant, the

emancipation papers of the human race with his blood, so

that in Christ we are free. In Acts 16.27, when

God sent the earthquake that shook up the jailer, when

Paul and Silas were singing hymns and fetters, the earthquake

didn't kill anyone that night. The earthquake set them all free.

The Greek text says literally all their fetters were loosened. Now, friend,

when God allows an earthquake to come into your life,

God is not trying to kill you with that earthquake.

God is trying to shake you up so the fetters

that have kept you bound in life fall off and

you are set free. For freedom Christ has set us free.

When the jailer realized that no one ran away that night,

he asked Paul and Silas, men, as it is in

my translation, what must I do to be saved? And

I asked that question years ago when I was walking

home from a school, my high school there in Galax, Virginia.

And my life had come to its end at the

age of 15. I had childhood depression. my family system

was awful, my mother struggling with mental illness, my stepfather abusive,

and I just wanted to get out of town. And

I remember coming to a bridge, staying over the bridge,

looking down, and right around 3 o'clock in the And

all the muck from the furniture factory started coming down

the creek. And as I was looking at my reflection

down there, I realized that suddenly it looked awful. Have

you ever had a time when you looked in the

mirror and you didn't like what you were seeing?

You ever had that time?

I was looking in the mirror in a stream and

suddenly it was garbage. And I remember just saying, if

there's a God up there, save me. I knew nothing

of theology. I knew nothing of the Bible. but I

knew I needed help in my life, that I couldn't

fix the mess of my life. And God took that prayer,

and in a short period of time, within a few months,

He had led me to my biological father who had

accepted Christ, who I learned was praying for me right

at that time of my life in Loma Linda, California,

after he was newly converted. I had known my father

since I was a child, didn't know if he was

alive on earth, and God had put my life back

together again. Because I prayed the simple prayer, oh God,

if there's a God, save me. Friend, God is in

the saving business. God is not out to let an

earthquake in your life destroy you. God is in the

business of making sure you can make it if you

come to Jesus Christ. And so when the earth shook,

their fetters fell off that day.

I've got to find my spot here. Just give me

a second.

When the jailer realized that no one ran away that night,

he asked Paul and Silas, men, what must I do

to be saved? And they answered back, believe in the

Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.

That very night, Paul preached the gospel of God to

the whole house.

They all believed. And after they washed Paul.

And Silas from their wounds, because they beat them up

pretty bad, they were baptized into Jesus Christ. Wham, just

like that, baptized into Jesus Christ. The prisoners baptized the jailer.

Now think about that. The jailers here, the prisoners must

have gone down to that stream that they had prayed

at where they found Lydia. And they baptized them. And

then God set this jailer free by those who were

technically in prison. Friends, God didn't force them to be

free that night. They chose Jesus. And who set them free?

Was it Paul or Jesus? It was Jesus.

They didn't blame the preacher or anyone else for their slavery.

They thanked God for Jesus who had set them free

by faith in his blood. And they were baptized. You know,

how can you tell if someone is truly converted?

Have you ever asked the question, oh, they're religious. It's

not because they have a Bible and they know a lot.

How can you tell if someone is truly converted? Friends,

you can tell by their attitude. If they are free.

If they genuinely love people. If they're not manipulative. if

they're serving not for what they can get, but what

they can give, that's a converted heart that has been

set free. Acts 16.34, look what happens next. Then he

brought them up into his house and set food before them,

and he rejoiced with all his household that he had

believed in God. I mean, I'd like to have been

there as they were eating that food. I don't know

what they served Paul. Paul maybe had to instruct them,

I can't eat the pork, but I'll eat this. Because

he was true to biblical principles. But they had a feast.

And that wonderful jailer said, praise God. That me and

my family, we now believe in God. The jailer discovered

that night that Jesus had signed the emancipation papers of

the human race that had set him free. The Greeks

and the Romans were superstitious concerning earthquakes. When an earthquake hit,

they thought something would cause the earthquake. No earthquakes until

Paul and Silas came to town. And suddenly you have

a big earthquake. Got their attention. Acts 16.35. But when

it was day, the magistrate sent the police saying, let

those men go.

Now there's a lot here. I want to unpack it.

The Greek word used here for magistrate was often used

to describe a military leader. In the context, these nervous

military leaders from this garrison city, this city, military city

of Philippi, sent the police with the message for the jailer.

The Greek word translated police literally means one who holds

the rod, a big stick. Have you ever seen someone

with a big stick in their hand and they were threatening?

Have you ever seen that?

Has anyone ever been threatened by someone with a stick?

Now I had an experience once where I needed a

big stick. I was in Rome, Italy.

Diana's dad had put me up in a hotel for

a couple of weeks and And I got a chance

to see all the great historical sites of Rome, to

go to Torre Polici, to see the Waldensians, where they

had taught the Bible up in the northern Alps. But

I was taking pictures like crazy. And I had my camera,

a big camera bag with me, and a tripod.

A monopod, actually, just a single pole.

I was walking along the Tiber, the dirty, smelly Tiber River.

And as I was walking along it, suddenly two thugs

appeared right there on the road.

I said, oh, no.

I've got this expensive camera equipment. It's easy to throw

me in the river. Nobody's around. They're walking toward me.

What do you do? Well, I'll tell you what I did.

I took my monopod. It was a stick. I kind

of rolled it out. I started doing this. Like, come on, guys.

That's what I did. And they turned around and went

the other way. Why? Because I carried a big stick.

And that's the fact.

So the Greek word for police here is literally the

big stick men.

Years ago, I don't.

Recommend this, there was a movie called Walking Tall about

the true historical figure of Buford Pusser. And Buford Pusser

was famous for a big stick. He would carry a

big stick and he would go into the brothels and

he would hit the pimps. He would catch the murderers

and whack them and spank them. And anyone else who

was on the wrong side of The law, of course,

people like watching that on television.

I don't.

He used the big stick. Well, that's the kind of

people that showed up to the jailer. Let those men go,

and they probably had the big stick in their hand.

The jailer was relieved to see Paul and Silas released.

But there was a lesson yet to be learned by

all those who had laid their hands on Paul. When

the jailer first asked Paul, Men, what must I do

to be saved? The jailer said literally in the Greek language, Lords,

not men, but lords, what must I do to be saved?

Now this word kurios for lord is used for gods

at times. We know that Paul and Silas were confused

as deities in their movements.

There in the book of Acts. And so he's looking

up to them.

If they have power over the earthquake and they don't

get killed, maybe they're gods, lords. What must I do

to be saved? Now Paul and Silas is not going

to let it stay there. Paul and Silas said, Believe

in the Lord Jesus. You will be saved, you and

your household.

We're not lords. Jesus is Lord.

The jailer and all those who were led to Christ

that night need to know that Jesus is more than

our Savior.

Now hear this. Jesus is Lord.

If you come to Christ and you've given your life

to Christ, but you will not allow Jesus to be

Lord in your life, Jesus is not enough for you yet.

And so Paul has to make the point You believe

in the Lord Jesus, you'll be saved. Not just Jesus.

Don't go telling Jesus how you're going to live your life.

Don't go tell Jesus what your future will be like.

You give your life to Jesus. You make him Lord.

You will be saved. That's what real faith does. So

they need to know that. That Jesus can deal with

the bullies in life. That Jesus can take the abusive,

big stick kind of people out of the picture. And

that Christ can be the Lord that governs our existence.

The keeper of the prison told Paul that they could

go in peace that day. But Paul was not ready

to go without a reckoning for the injustice they had

suffered at the hands of the mob, the magistrates, the police,

and those in charge. They'd been roughed up, beat. They

were bleeding and wounded. And they were going to make

a statement. Acts 16, verse 37. Here it is. But

Acts 16:37

Paul said to them, They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned

men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison.

And do they now cast us out secretly? No, let

them come themselves and take us out. That's pretty bold,

isn't it? Can you imagine? You can go, no, we're

staying in prison. We're not leaving. They beat us up.

They treat us this way. You let them come take

us out of here. Does that sound pretty tough? Of

course it does.

Paul is digging in. Why?

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, darkness cannot drive out darkness,

only light can do that. Paul said, let them come.

Out and take us out.

Now there's a legal context for Paul's refusal to leave here.

I want to share it with you. Under Roman law

in the first century AD, a magistrate or official who

flogged and imprisoned a Roman citizen without a proper trial

committed a serious crime equivalent to treason or capital offense.

Magistrates could be and were put to death for the

abuse of the Porcian and Valerian laws that explicitly forbade binding, scourging,

or beating a Roman citizen since the body of a

Roman citizen was considered legally and religiously sacred. A magistrate

who violated these rights faced heavy fines, public disgrace. It

was called infamia. They became infamous. A loss of office, banishment,

or even capital punishment, execution for an egregious abuse of

power Paul was standing on the right side of the

law as a Roman citizen. The extreme legal jeopardy explains

why the magistrates in Philippi suddenly panicked. Oh my goodness,

what have we done? Look at verse 38, Acts 16.

The police reported these words to the magistrates. And they

were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

Now I don't know how Paul became a Roman citizen.

I don't know how Silas did. Paul was evidently born

with that citizenship based on the book of Acts, but

I don't know the mechanism how his family was brought

into it.

But look at verse 39.

So they came and apologized to them, and they took

them out and asked them to leave the city. Of course,

they want them out of there because if they press

the law, these guys are in trouble. Paul and Silas

didn't let them rush away quickly at all. He said,

you guys want to get rid of us?

Well, wait a sec.

We're going to take our time. in leaving on our terms.

They took their time, and what did they do? They

encouraged the saints. They made sure that the faith of

those newly baptized believers was secure. They made sure that

they had a sense of the power of God to

protect the church before they left town. The New King

James Version says in verse 40, look at verse 40

with me. So they went out of the prison and

visited Lydia, who had been baptized. And when they had

seen the brethren, they exhorted.

Them, and departed.

And that word exhorted is the Greek word for comfort.

They comforted them. Jesus uses the same word in John 14,

16 when he speaks of the Holy Spirit as a comforter.

I have found in my personal life struggle. Has anyone

ever struggled in their walk with God? Am I the

only one here today? You pack of Pharisees out there.

I'm just kidding.

We don't want the Pharisee. Have you ever struggled in

your walk with God? Is it okay to just say so?

Yes. Okay.

Now, if you're not struggling, it probably means that you

have a wrong view of yourself. The Bible says, and

to the church of Philadelphia, the book of Revelation, you

have but a little power, but you have not denied

my name. It's when you think, oh, I'm the greatest thing.

I'm the Lord's gift to the church. I'm so talented.

What would the church do without me? The Lord can't

use you. It's in humility and brokenness that we are used.

So I have found in my personal life struggle, I

do have those, that Satan stirs up trouble from everywhere,

including the church at times, when he sees that people

are turning to God and coming to Bible truth. I've

noticed that as a pastor. And I have found that

this kind of trouble in the church... often comes from

unconverted saints who aren't saints because they have never allowed

the Lord to have control of their life. They may

look religious, but it doesn't mean they're converted. Friends, I'm

talking to you now. If you are a church member

and you're not in the soul winning business, you're not

trying to use your life to help people come to

Christ that you've never met or family members that you know.

If you're not concerned about that, If you're not focused

on the good work of God that comforts new believers

who need help when they come young and weak into

the church. The work that shares the word of God

with others, that shares through kindness, acts of mercy. The

work that helps them come into the faith of Jesus.

If you don't care about that, just care about your

church position, how important you look and all that.

Friends, you're not a Christian.

You may look important in the church, but you're not

a Christian. It's not a spiritual gift from the church

to have a bad attitude and to discourage new believers

to make yourself look good. It's not a sign of

spiritual greatness to tear down the work of others with

a smirk on your face or a victim stance because

you don't think something went your way. It is not

befitting of a true believer to sow discord when he

or she can build up the body of Jesus Christ

with a humble, selfless mind that makes a difference for others.

It's not the work of God to turn new believers

against the church, the world church, or any part of

its leadership. Sincere, godly members in the church will work

for the salvation of men, women, and children. Here's the

key phrase that I've written in my sermon. With a

good attitude.

Did you hear that? What is a good attitude? How

can you know that you have a good attitude? Let's practice.

You see that smile there in your face? Now, I

have TMJ in my jaw. Most of you don't know this.

I have a jaw that I can't close at all

on one side, and I chew my food. I got

my wife's chewing gum. I went on a pastoral visit

this week, and I could only use one side to

chew the gum. So I have a hard time smiling,

but I love to smile. So let's practice. And my

jaw with my TMJ jaw makes it harder for me.

But we can tell because when we smile, it means

we love people, and we don't fake it. So why

don't you practice one with me, would you? The brother Christopher,

when you smile, it works. Anybody else want to smile

is going up. God wants to see smiling, happy Christians

in their action with others.

It makes a difference.

Many a devil has masqueraded as a saint as he

or she has worked behind the back of God's servants

to bring suffering and misery into the church. May we

never be that way. If you're keeping company with believers

who act that way, don't. The Bible says that People

have a form of religion, but they deny the power

of it.

We'd have nothing to do with them.

So get yourself away from that kind of bad company. I,

for one, believe that God raised up this church, our

little church here, and the world church to be a

light and a lamp for Jesus Christ. If I didn't

believe that, I wouldn't be preaching. Friends, God has comforted

us over the years. I want to ask you to

do something with me. Have you ever had a time

where you really were so depressed? Have you ever had

a time where you're so depressed that you felt like

giving up on God and really calling it quits?

Has that ever happened to you? No?

I'm gonna raise my hands. Happened to me. And when

that time comes, that is a very important time in

your life when you gotta make a decision. Why am

I serving God? Is it for what I can get

out of it? Is it so I'll feel good, so

I'll be blessed? Or am I serving God because of

God And for me, it's a wake-up time where I

have to dig down and say, am I asking God

to give me all these things so I'll be happy?

And that's why I'm serving God or I'm willing to

serve God if I don't have anything. And so it's

a very important time to take notice. And in those times,

I have noticed that what I need more than anything

else is encouragement and comfort. Have you ever had someone

come into your life at that very time and they

encouraged you, they prayed for you, They said, you're down,

but don't worry, you're going to make it. You ever

had that happen? Man, we got to help people do that.

Maybe we should get someone at the door and say,

be encouraged, brothers, you walk in.

But it makes a difference.

But I've had someone during one circumstance who actually told me,

you know, you might as well just forget it and

give up. I remember that. And it was when I

was a young person. I was doing a special music, actually,

on my guitar. and singing, and I didn't do it for.

Years after that. I was demoralized by it.

So we should be in the encouraging business, not the

discouraging business. So the key word is comfort. Now, I'd

like to put a couple of verses that we'll end

with on the screen here. Isaiah 40, verse 1. Notice

Isaiah 40:1

this verse. God says, comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

How many times does he say it in the verse?

Two. Go to the next verse.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her

warfare has ended, that her iniquity is what? So when

God speaks tenderly to you and you're broken, what does

he say according to that verse? That her iniquity is what?

My hearing is not the greatest.

Pardoned.

Not guilty anymore. Forgiven people. That she has received from

the Lord's hand. Uh oh.

How much did she receive from the Lord's hand here?

Double for all her sins. Now how is that fair?

God to pay us back double for our sins? Go

back to the first verse. How many times does God

say comfort?

Twice.

How does he pay us back for our sins?

Double. What does he pay us back with? Here it is. Comfort. Comfort.

Listen, if you're broken, if your life is falling apart,

you've let God down, he's going to pay you back

for that all right. He's going to forgive you your sins,

and he is going to comfort you, and he's going

to comfort you a second round so that you know

that he loves you.

And that he is.

Not in the business of trying to demoralize you. The

Bible says a dimly burning wick Jesus would not put

out and he would not break a bruised reed.

God is in the comfort business. Next verse.

The book of Micah ends with comfort. Now the Hebrew

word for comfort is Nahum.

Nahum. We have a whole book of the Bible.

Written about it. Who is a God like thee? Pardoning iniquity.

Passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance. He

does not retain his anger forever because he delights in

steadfast love. Next verse, 19. He will again have compassion

upon us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Thou will

cast how many of our sins into the depths of

the sea?

What does the text say? I need to hear it

from you. How many?

All our sins into the depths of the sea. Verse 20.

Thou will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham.

as thou hast shown to our father from days of old.

And then the next verse. Now let's go back a

little bit. I want to draw something out. Verse 19.

You see where it says he will again have compassion?

You see that in the text? That is the Hebrew

word Nahum. He will again have comfort upon us. Now

this book ends, the book of Micah, and the next

book that follows... was part of the arrangement of the

Protestant canon after the Reformation. But God knew the future

because he knew what the name of the very next book,

because he will again have comfort, Nahum, Nahum for his people.

Go to the very next verse after, there it is.

And it starts by saying an oracle or the burden

of Nahum or the burden of comfort, of compassion. The

very next book is comfort. Comfort my people. Friends, we

are living at the end of time. If we are

left to ourselves, we will be lost because we're not

strong enough to make it. We're not good enough to

make it. We're not perfect enough to make it. But

guess who is? Jesus is. And he has a right

now righteousness good enough for the judgment day, good enough

for every day of your life, and you can be

in Christ.

And when you are in.

Christ, he will comfort, encourage you, strengthen you, and prepare

you for the coming of the Lord. And then we

see that in the story when Paul left Philippi. Paul

left those new baby believers in the full comfort of

the Holy Spirit. The magistrates told the jailer, let those

men go. With dignity, Paul and Silas took their time

to comfort Lydia, to comfort the saints of God, to

comfort those who had been baptized, to encourage them. And

then they left the city of Philippi happy, glowing, full

of new believers. And they took the road to another

place in need of Jesus, in need of the comfort

of the gospel of God.

Let's pray.

Father, as we bow our heads today, I want to

say to you, I need the comfort of God in

my life. If there's someone here who says, I have

been banged up and our eyes are closed, I need

God's comfort in my life. And I believe that God

is that kind of God. He does forgive me. Raise

your hand to God.

Say, I need that. Just raise it right now. Raise it.

No one's looking but God. Now, Father, you know the

hearts of those who've reached out to you. Grant them

that healing in their life. Not because of the preacher.

Not because of anyone but Jesus. And grant us the

power of the word of God to live for you

and love you.

And to be free in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, we're all born on the wrong side

of Eden's door. We can't claw our way back to you.

Thank you for Jesus who came through the door. Thank

you for your heart of love that found a way

to pardon our sins and to give us the Holy

Spirit to become sinless beings one day. We are grateful

you love us in the journey to get there. So Father, comfort,

comfort your people. Hold them this week. In Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name. Amen.