Opposing Pure Worship - John 2:18-25

1:39My question to you: as we gather in this season of worship and celebration of Christ's first advent, we just sang some beautiful songs. And my question is: was your worship this morning pure? Was it real? Are you here truly one who worships? Is that a characteristic, a disposition? Or are you one who, though you may be sitting here today, are one who are opposing Christ's purifying work in your life? Are you one who opposes Christ's zeal for pure worship in the world? You know, it's 2 Corinthians 11:14 says that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and so as do his ministers. He appears to be something good, and yet he is something very, very contrary to God, antagonistic. And it's true, I think, of many of his so-called worshipers. Worshipers are oftentimes not what they appear to be. Maybe you're not what you appear to be. You know, there's a Thing is counterfeit worship.

3:03There are those, we can speak of crimes in the world of blue-collar crimes and white-collar crimes, right? The blue-collar crimes are the ones that maybe a thug goes down because he takes a gun, goes into a convenience store, and says, Give me all the money in the cash register. And so, for $43, he makes off and ends up in jail. That's a blue-collar, low-level type crime. But then there are those white-collar crimes, right? They're able to manipulate stocks and cook the books to literally bring in millions and hundreds of millions, if not billions, of money. Those are professionals. Those are the same heart as the thug on the street, just better at it. Well, I think the same is true about those who oppose Jesus. There are those kinds that, like an angel of light, that are counterfeit, and they oppose Christ on an incredible level, on a very skilled level. In fact, I want to share with you how to oppose Jesus today.

4:17I'm maybe going in the reverse way, right? I'm going to teach you today how to oppose Jesus and how to be very good at it. And if that's you, if you want to oppose Jesus and you want to be very good at it, then listen up. Listen up because I've got the information before you. Now, of course, I don't want you to oppose Jesus, right? And I'm telling you, I'm doing that reverse psychology type thing. I'm showing you what it takes to be really good at opposing Christ with the hopes that you'll see some of the evidences in your own heart and that you will run from them as quickly as you can. Well, last time, if you remember, where Jesus is there at the temple and pick it up in verse 13. Remember when and where Jesus went? He went to the temple. The Passover was near. He goes up to Jerusalem and he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep. So he goes to the temple. Look at verse 14. We see what Jesus found. In verse 15, we see what Jesus did. In verse 16, we see what Jesus said. And in verse 17, we read why he did what he did. He went in, he cleansed the temple, and then it says why he did it. In verse 17, because zeal for your house will consume me. Of course, the disciples remembered an expression that was taken from Psalm 69. That's the text that is leading up to what has taken place. In Psalm 69, David is in distress, and it's a precatory psalm. That is, he's praying against his enemies. He starts out, and let me just, you don't have to turn there, but I'll read to you a portion of it. He says, Save me, O God, for the waters have. Have threatened my life. I have sunk deep in mire, and there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, and a flood overwhelms me. I am weary with my crying. My throat is parched. Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs on my head. Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies. And why? What is David facing? What is going on? Why has this opposition come against him? And in verse 9, he gives the reason. Why do I have so many enemies? Why are so many people coming against me? For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. What David is saying is the reason I am suffering such persecution and such hostility is because I am zealous that pure worship happen in Israel.

7:07Who knows exactly what all was going on at the historical situation, but somehow David was doing some things associated with temple worship or trying to bring about temple worship as it would get built by his son. But the idea there was this zeal, this zeal for the name of the Lord. And because of that, David received. Great deal of antagonism. And that's exactly what happens with Christ. As he comes into the temple, he sees them totally profaning the temple. He drives out all the sheep, all the oxen. And by the way, with the number of people that were coming, it would have been quite a pretty big spectacle because of the number of worshipers that would come and have to buy some of these oxen and some of these sheep and dove. There would have been a whole bunch. I mean, it was quite a scene. And so it's with that background. Let's read our passage this morning. Verse 18. The Jews then said to him, What sign do you show us as your authority for doing these things? Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, It took 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days? But he was speaking of the temple of his body. So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name, observing the signs which he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, was not entrusting himself to them. For he Knew all men, he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. This morning, I want you to see the opposition that Jesus faced so that you will rid yourself of every hint of such opposition from your own heart. So we've seen where Jesus went, verse 13, what Jesus found, verse 14, what Jesus did, verse 15, what Jesus did, verse 16, why Jesus said and did these things. And in verse 18, we're going to see the response to what he did. So the first way you oppose true worship or the opposing pure worship deals with the opposition of what I'm going to call protectionism, a religious protectionism. Notice in verse 18, the response, the Jewish response to Jesus cleansing the temple or clearing everything out. In verse 18, then the Jews said to him, What sign do you show us as your authority for doing this, doing these things? So Jesus kind of threw it in their lap. What he did demanded a response. He came and totally cleaned the practice. These are the authorities that had given their approval to such activities in the temple courts. And here comes Jesus totally overturning that, literally, overturning templates. Tables and pushing them out. And so they say, Who do you think you are?

10:36Who are you? I mean, what sign do you show us? And it's evident that they knew Jesus was a miracle worker. You see that in Nicodemus comes. I mean, obviously, in verse 23, he is performing signs up there at this feast, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread that would have followed. Nicodemus comes in chapter 3 and verse 2 says, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs unless God is with them. So they know, they know he is a miracle worker and doing things. But they say, what do you show us?

11:16What are you going to show to us that proves you have the authority for doing these things? It's obvious that Jesus' actions offended them. Who do you think you are? You offend us by what you're doing. We approve this. Now you owe us a sign. You can't just come in here and clean house without proving your authority. So what sign are you going to give us? It's interesting, really the practice itself, if they had been thinking, they don't look at the merits of what he did. Yeah, probably a thinking, a spiritually-minded person would probably say, you know what, you're right. That. Totally needed to be cleaned. That place needed to be gutted. The action alone was right. Regardless of who you are, it was right because it profaned the temple. That's not the direction they go. They're like, we authorize this. Prove yourself to us. Isn't that about the way we think sometimes? God, who do you think you are? Prove yourself to us. How are you going to. Of course, none of us would ever put God on the spot and ask Him to prove Himself to us, right?

12:33Right? Hopefully not, but we do. I think many of us will challenge God at times. God, if you'll just open the heavens and just make yourself known to me. Come on, show me who you are. God, if you're real, you step in, show me something on my terms that I can get my mind around who you are so that you can be the God I want you to be. That's basically what they're saying. Show us a sign on our terms. We're the ones to be convinced. Prove your authority. So now look at, so in verse 18, we see their response, and in verse 19, we see Jesus's answer. Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. It's interesting how he changes, he says, destroy this temple, this one, this temple. And he uses a different term for temple that has been used previously. When he's not just talking about the temple, he's using a word that's not just describing the whole temple complex, as it was in verse 14. And he found in the temple, that is, in the temple complex, those who are selling oxen. It's a different word that is used for temple there. He uses the word naus that is really a reference to the exact holy place, or the holy of holies, or the holy place. It's the word that speaks of that actual place of God's dwelling, a little more intimate word for our central specific location for God's dwelling. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He says, You want a sign? I'll give you a sign. You destroy, I will raise. You see the action going on there? You destroy this temple, I will raise it up in three days. There's the sign.

14:42Look at the Jews' answer to Jesus' answers in verse 20, 21. The Jews then said, It took 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days. But he was speaking of the temple of his body. They were offended. You can read what's going on. It took 46 years, and the temple was in the making. 46 years. And you could read it in the making, or it had reached a completion point. It will be further developed all the way up until nearly 70 AD when it is destroyed. But it's been 46 years in the making. This is a big, elaborate structure. And you're going to come in here and raise it up in three days. They take offense. They take offense. They totally missed what Jesus was saying, but it's evidence that they took offense because in Mark 14, 58 and 15, 29, they come back and there's these accusations that swirl around that Jesus said, I'm going to destroy this temple, and in three days I'm going to raise it up again.

15:55Kind of a false rumor. They distorted the version. No, Jesus said, You destroy the temple, and I will raise it up. That's the actual story. But they were wanting to make Jesus out to be an enemy of the temple. And so they found information in his response that would substantiate a claim that he's saying he's going to destroy the temple and in three days raise it up. But the bottom line is they didn't hear what he was saying. They were blind to his words. They were also blind to the Mao. Practice that was going on in the temple. They couldn't see how this desecrated his temple, how this hindered pure worship. I think sometimes we could be guilty of the very same things, totally blind to the practices in our lives that are hindering God's sanctifying and purifying work in our lives for pure worship. God is zealous for pure worship. He wants your worship and he wants it to be pure. This is why he sent his son, so that he could redeem you, so that he could give you a covering, so that he could sanctify you, so that you could grow in your ability and knowledge to worship him. Because if your worship is right, everything else is right. As long as the fundamental problem in humanity is that worship is out of order, and because worship is out of order, there's chaos across the globe. They didn't believe. They didn't believe. Such is the danger of spiritual blindness. They were blind to the malpractice of what they were doing. They were fine with desecrating the temple, but they were offended at the idea of someone destroying the temple.

17:41They had no problem with desecrating the temple, and they had no problem with killing Jesus, the true and ultimate dwelling place of God. But such is the case of spiritual blindness. They didn't hear, they didn't believe. They asked for a Sign. And Jesus says, okay, here's the sign. You know, it's an incredible sign, if you think about it. Even if they misunderstood what he said, that should have been a reason for follow-up conversation. Okay, you want a sign? I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm going to wipe out this whole complex, and in three days, I'm going to raise it up again. That should have at least, that's an incredible sign.

18:24Instead of kind of coming against him, they should have said, okay, explain what you're saying. That would be pretty remarkable. Yeah, if you could do that. And perhaps in the discussion, what should have triggered a quest for more information, they just stubbornly suppressed what he was saying because they didn't want to hear. They didn't want. They were looking for excuses to oppose him. They asked for the sign. He said he would give him one. They said, that's preposterous.

19:00Suppress the truth because in their hearts they opposed him. They missed the whole point. Such is spiritual blindness. Jesus told them. He openly predicted his death and resurrection right there, openly in the temple. He said, Let me tell you what the ultimate sign of my authority is going to be that proves this. And I'm going to give it to you. You want a sign? Here's what it's going to be. You self-avowed authority. Of this temple will kill me, the ultimate dwelling place of God. You will kill this tabernacle where God is dwelling. You will destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

19:55You will destroy. I will raise. You will destroy. That's something you can do. That will prove that you are murderers. I will raise. That will prove that I'm doing something only God can do, and therefore I am God in your midst, and therefore I have indisputable claims on this temple and how worship is going to be done. That's my authority. I'm going to do something that only God can do to demonstrate my godness among you, and therefore prove. You profess to worship me here. I'm going to prove that I have a right and authority of what goes on in your worship life. That's God.

20:40He has the right to your worship. He is your creator. And you will know that. You will certainly come to know that one way or the other. Let's go on to verse 22. So we look at, we've seen Jesus' answer, we've seen the Jews' answer to Jesus' answer, and now we're going to look at the disciples' recollection, sort of a parenthetical thought that John inserts here. Verse 22. So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

21:27The disciples missed the whole point, too. They didn't get it either. It kind of flew over their heads. But there was a difference between the disciples and these religious protectionists. The disciples were true learners and followers of Christ, save Judas. They may have missed it initially, but they got it in the end because they had put themselves in a situation not to protect their own religion, but to learn from Christ and to let Christ shape their religion, to shape their relationship with God. That's the relationship that they put themselves in.

22:13They remembered. Look, they remembered. Look at the mechanics of the word. It's beautiful how the word works. The implanted word, what initially went over their head, they heard it, but it went into their lives. It went into their soul. They heard it, and it sunk down deep in good soil. And the implanted word, at the appropriate time, brought to their minds. It's a passive action. They remembered. The word sprung to life. The light came on, and they believed. And look at the two things that they believed. They believed the scripture. Isn't it interesting how the word confirmed itself? They believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. You know, one thing I pray for this church, one thing I pray for myself, and I pray that this will be true about us to the core of our being, is that we will all desire to follow God's will as Jesus did. That we will read and obey Scripture the way He did.

23:21That's what I daily pray for my own life and pray for this body. Well, there is an opposition of protectionism, and I want to take a moment or two just to talk about the danger and folly of religious protectionism. Religious protectionism, or just protectionism, what that does is it makes a person not teachable. And there's many things that we protect. We are fallen beings. We have preconceived ideas of who God is. And God comes into our world and he has given us his scripture. And sometimes we'll read something in scripture or we'll hear something proclaimed and we're like, you know what, that doesn't fit right. I don't like that. Who are you? That's exactly the idea of, you know, I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to allow God to tell me what he is like. I prefer my perception of what I think God should be like. That's what a protectionist does. And that will take present. Preconceived ideas of what God should be like take precedent over God's self-revelation. And friends, we can be very guilty of that. In fact, the whole idea of following is one of transformation, one of leaving where we are, leaving our preconceived ideas of who God is and understanding and letting him shape and fashion us. Let him drive the relationship. Let him expose who Christ is and who God is. Friends, we're fallen.

25:05And many of our preconceived ideas of God come out of the heart of fallen sins, from a fallen being. You know, this will be the first Christmas we'll have without Nancy's mother, Susan. She passed away, went to be with the Lord last January. But she. Was really good about following through with her threats and her promises to her kids. That's one thing Nancy tells us. And there was this one story that really impacted her of this mother who went through a McDonald's. She had this day planned for her kids. She was going to, I guess they're going to go do some kind of picnic. And so they go through the drive-through of McDonald's and they get all this food. You know, you can picture it, the happy meals, all going to have a great, wonderful time out. Kids are back there in the back seat, and all of a sudden they start fighting. And the fight just keeps going on and on. And so finally, she says, you know what? If you don't stop fighting, I'm going to throw this whole lunch into the trash can. What do you think the kids did? She'll never do that. I mean, no way, no way would mom do that, right? So they went back to fighting. Well, as soon as she got the meal, she got out of her car, picked up the bags, went right over into the trash can, dropped them into the trash can. The kids are like, she did it. She really did it.

26:42That's one of those things. And even Susan was saying, I don't even know if I could do that. I don't even know if I would do that. I don't even know if I'd follow through with that. I'd figure some way out. But anyway, the idea is that God, it's God's word. Self-revelation is saying, This is who I am. And when we say, you know what, we don't like that. In fact, I've heard people say, I simply refuse to believe that God would put anyone in hell. You ever heard that?

27:17Well, your God is not the God of the Bible. And you're going to be very, very disappointed because you're going to find out that the God that you created in your own image is not the God of Scripture at all. And you wanted to protect. You were a protectionist. And because of this protectionism, you totally had nothing to do with the true God. In fact, you will be among those of that brood of humanity that put Christ on the cross. It was religious protectionism that crucified him. So there's a folly, there's a danger of protectionism. The idea of seeking to make God in our own image. It's evident that these people probably wanted, the Jews wanted another Moses to stand up on the scene. You remember Moses?

28:13He basically drowned our whole superpower of the day. He drowned our enemies. And so we're looking for some kind of sign that'll come out that would give us reason to follow you. And, you know, maybe something like put Rome out, you know, I mean, totally decimate Rome. And that would be a good thing. Good sign for us and that kind of thing. But they were looking for signs. They were looking for a sign, a big one that would acquire and keep their allegiance. And many people are looking for a God who will give them the signs that and stunts, will do all these sensational stunts that will acquire and keep their allegiance. But Jesus makes it very clear, and the Jesus referred to in the scripture and revealed in the scripture makes it clear that such allegiance is not worth having. He doesn't want an allegiance that comes out of him having to wow you and to do all these little stunts to get you to believe in him. That's not the Christ of Scripture. But ultimately, productionism opposes pure worship. God desires pure worship from his people, and we must be teachable. And listen, it's really foolish to think that you come to Christ and in just a short while, all of a sudden you know everything there is to know about God. Listen, it's foolish. I can look at a microscope. I can look into a telescope and I can say there is so much about God that just blows the mind. And to think for a moment that I've got them all figured out and make him conform to what I think he ought to conform. No, that's you are opposing pure worship. Worship, we are to humble ourselves. We are to be teachable and we are to learn who God is. Is as he has revealed himself. We are to approach him in the way that he says to come, and that is in sacrifice and righteousness, a right covering. There is only one way. And we must worship in the manner he prescribes, and that is spirit and in truth. Anything else, anything else seeks to elevate the worshipper above the true God and opposes Christ's purifying work in the world. So what are you protecting? What are some areas of your life that you're not allowing God to define? Do you have some preconceived theological notions? Maybe it deals with the Trinity. I don't know how three in one. Maybe it has to do with the Incarnation. I don't know how God can come and die on a cross. Maybe it has to do with God's election and man's responsibility. Maybe you get one of those out of the wax so you won't let God inform. Whatever it may be, we are to be the student, and we are to let the God who has revealed himself shape us, not vice versa.

31:13Or maybe it's maybe you don't want God to, maybe your preconceived ideas of right and wrong are off. Maybe legitimate and illegitimate relationships. What areas of your life are you protecting? That's what a protectionist does. Well, there's a second area of opposition. We must move along. There's the opposition that Jesus faced in his day was first the opposition of a protectionism, and the second opposition was that of superficialism. Superficialism. Look back at verse 23, and notice that many believed in Jesus. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs, which he was doing. So he was there. They believed. They were watching him. He was doing a lot of signs, a lot of miracles. John doesn't go into the description of them, but he just says there were a lot going on, and people were observing, and people were believing in him. It was a festive occasion, just in its own right. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was a joyous celebration. Then you add to this all these wonderful signs. I mean, you can imagine there's a lot of euphoria going on at this occasion. And so many got swept away. Many believed in Jesus. But look in verse 24 and 25. Jesus didn't believe in the many. Many believed in Jesus, but Jesus didn't believe in the many.

32:53Verse 24, but Jesus, on his part, was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men. And because he He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. You see, Jesus was and is omniscient, he knows all. He knows what's in fallen humanity, he knows us thoroughly, he knows us individually, he knows our nature, he knows us thoroughly, completely, and totally. And he knows that enthusiasm for the spectacular is not genuine conversion.

33:33Genuine conversion involves what he's going to go on in chapter 3: spirit baptism, being born from above. John has already said, John the Baptist has already pointed to him and says, Here's the true baptizer, the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. You must be baptized. You must be cleansed. You must be renewed, transformed like the water into wine. You must be transformed from the old into the new by a work of the true baptizer. That is what is necessary for genuine conversion. Enthusiasm is not necessarily evidence of true conversion. But basically, what Jesus is saying is, Jesus did not trust, or Jesus didn't believe in their belief. Jesus didn't trust in their belief. And so, right here, right here, at the very beginning of John's gospel, John. John introduces us to a theme that's going to be true in Jesus' time, and it's going to be true throughout the church ages, and that is that there will be a presence of superficial and artificial faith that doesn't save. And I am scared to say this, but I think, in truth, I can say this: there are those here today who have a superficial and artificial faith. Last week, we had three testimonies last Lord's Day evening, if you remember. And you remember what Russell McGee said up and who gave the third testimony? He said, Oh, it looks like this is false conversion night. Three testimonies in a row of people who had a period, had a superficial profession at one time.

35:16It's very common. And yet, it is this superficialism that opposes pure worship. It's not just the religious protectionists, these superficialists also opposed him. Let me just comment a couple of, make a couple of points on the dangers and folly of religious superficialism. First of all, the adherence to Christ is based upon a fleshly foundation. Maybe it's an enthusiasm for the spectacular. Maybe it's some kind of social acceptance that we could be guilty of, or maybe it's some kind of appeasement of our conscience. Maybe there's other kinds of superficialism. Self-serving reasons why people would nominally adhere to Christ.

36:09But another danger is that there's an ease at which one could be misled. If you trace these same crowds, they will end up being part of that machine and play a critical role in crucifying Christ. And another problem with folly and danger of religious superficialism is you lack the ability to stand in the face of trial or the face of temptation. This is this stony soil or the thorny soil where they were choked out or quickly died. Trendy Christianity is what we have a problem with in our culture today, and it appeals to those who love the crowds. And I'm talking both teachers love crowds and there are individuals who love crowds. They love to be part of a big movement, right?

37:04There's something trendy. There's something that's easy to be part of a great movement, but what's very difficult is to withstand great movements that oppose true Christianity. That is what is challenging. And trendy Christianity will quickly, quickly melt away in the face of real persecution and real temptation. I know. What it is like to be superficial. I was a superficial friend, and it's one of these stories in my I've probably shared before, but it's one of those things that really sticks with me from my fifth grade year. There was this little boy who came to school, his name was Danny, and there was something wrong with him. Something was wrong with his head, it was shaped, and just there was something from a distance, you know, something's not right here. Something's not right here.

38:06And, but he wanted, like any boy, he wants to have friends. He wants to have friends. Now, we didn't tease him, we didn't make fun of him, but we like to play cars. We all had these little, we had these matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. Well, Danny wanted to be among us, friends with us, and he had this collection of cars that blew everyone else away. And so he started hanging out with us, and he would give us his cars. And one by one, over a period of time, he gave, here's a young boy just wanting friends, and he gave away something that was very precious to him. He gave away his car collection.

38:53And it meant a lot to him, and his mom got on the horn after some. Time and tried to retrieve some of those cars, saying those were very important to him. But you know what? As soon as he stopped giving us cars, guess what? Our interest in him went away. I say this to you, young people. I say this to everybody. Pay attention to those who are around you who are hurting. There are those, the world is filled with them. And young people, go out of your way. There is a crying and hurting souls all around you that desperately want friends, want someone to take an interest in him. I was a superficial friend. In fact, my whole group of friends, we were just a bunch of superficial friends. We had interest in him as long as he had these nice little cars to give us.

39:50And then when that was gone, our friendship was gone. That is a picture of the crowds in John's gospel. As long as they were getting something out of Christ, they would adhere to him. But their adherence was weak. It was like gluing two blocks of metal together with some Elmer's glue. It's not going to adhere. Well, such was the nominal adherence. But in John's Gospel, neither the protectionist nor the superficialist were genuine believers. The protectionist opposed Christ from the beginning. The superficialists turned on him in the end, and they were both party to his crucifixion.

40:38These are the two big groups in John's gospel: the religious leaders and the superficialists, the protectionists and the superficialists. Which one are you? May you run from every vestige of superficialism. May you run from every vestige of protectionism and let God reveal himself to you and worship him accordingly. Listen, if you want to oppose Christ, here it is. You want to oppose Christ? You want to be a professional opposer of pure worship in the world? Then did this. Do not let the word of God change your understanding of God.

41:26Stick with your preconceived idea of what God should be like and stay there. Stay there. Don't let the word of God inform who God is. Be a protectionist. Hold on dearly. Let your feet not move. And you'll be a master at opposing pure worship. Oh, you can look on the outside like you really worship him, but you will. Do more to oppose pure worship than those who outright deny the existence of God. Second thing, if you really want to oppose Christ's, oppose pure worship in the world, follow Christ only when it serves your interest to do so. Be a superficialist. Serve Christ only when it's convenient for you to do so. And when there's immediate rewards, do that. And you'll become a professional, a professional, a master at opposing pure worship in the world.

42:45Listen, we still carry around the flesh, and we must continually learn to crucify our protectionism and our superficialism. I explain all this today because I don't want you going there. I don't want you to be professionals. I'm scared to death of the professional that could be in me that opposes pure worship. And I'm saying, let us not go there. Let us do whatever it takes and not be a protectionist or a superficialist, but let us welcome Christ's purifying effects, his purifying ministry. He is zealous for our pure worship. Let's give it to him. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for revealing yourself to us. We thank you for these words that connect us to Christ, that connect us to you. Father, that give us insight into who we are. And Father, we just ask for you to take the liberty to do and accomplish anything in us that needs to be done. We ask that this would be a place of pure worship. I know we're not going to be perfect. But, God, even in our imperfection, you have made a perfect solution. So may we always come to you, Father, and may you continually be purifying our worship, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you take a moment to continue in prayer?