Who Do You Say That I Am?

Who do you say I am? Through the words that Jesus put to his disciples in Mark chapter 8, our text this morning. Mark chapter 8, verses 27 and 29 through 29. Who do you say I am? Who do you say Jesus is? This is the question that we all must answer.

And the very way you answer that question says everything about who you are and your eternal destiny. Your evaluation of Jesus Christ is your evaluation of yourself. Who do you say Jesus is? The way you answer that question judges you. Do not think that Christ is judging us, particularly with that question, but by your answer, you judge yourself.

Are you honest with the information? Have you assessed correctly God's testimony of Jesus? Or are you relying on human testimony? What is it that is shaping your faith and understanding about who Jesus is and therefore who God is? Mark's Gospel. I'm using this opportunity, this little preaching opportunity that I have here in July to go deeper into Hebrews, even though we're not even looking at Hebrews.

I don't want to leave the theme of Hebrews. We left Hebrews with one of the exhortations about make sure. That none of you have an unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God, an evil, unbelieving heart. And then in Hebrews 11 is going to come back to that theme again and say, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

And so, what I'm doing in these couple little preaching slots that I have is looking deeper into faith. If ever there was a gospel you need to get your mind around, it's the gospel of Mark. It's very simple, it's very straightforward, and it speaks to faith. What is faith?

You can come away from the gospel of Mark with an understanding of what faith is, what it looks like, the content, and all of that. And so, before I jump back into Hebrews in August, I want us to go deeper into this theme of faith. Mark's gospel has two acts, two acts in gospel.

If it was a drama, a stage play, it would have two major acts. The first act being that act that brings Jesus as the Christ to be confessed as such by his disciples. Mark 1 says this: Mark 1:1, in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Acts.

It's about the gospel, the beginning of the good news about Jesus, who is the Christ. Act 1, the Son of God, Act 2. Act 1 ends with Peter's confession of Christ in our text this morning. And Act 2 ends with the Centurion's confession: truly this man is the Son of God.

Mark chapter 8, verse 27. Let's look at these verses. Jesus went out along with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way, he questioned his disciples, saying to them, Who do people say that I am? He told them, saying, They told him, saying, John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, but others one of the prophets.

And he continued by questioning them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said to him, You are the Christ. You are the Christ. If you'll remember in Mark's Gospel, it was given to the disciples to understand the mystery of the kingdom of God. Jesus tells him such in Mark 4 and verse 11.

He says, To you it has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God. Everybody else is going to get things in parables, but to you, the mystery, there are two fundamental aspects. Aspects of the mysteries or mystery in the kingdom of God. That is, who Jesus is and why he came.

Fundamental to understanding the kingdom of God, who Jesus is and why he came. You see, we cannot know anything about the kingdom of God unless God opens our eyes to it. You cannot understand the universe around you unless God opens your eyes to see it. That's exactly what He does with Christ.

He sent Christ into the world to open our eyes so that we would understand God, we would understand ourselves, we would understand the universe around us, we'd understand what God expects of us and what God has done for us. But before the disciples can fully understand why Jesus came, that's going to come later, they must first know who He is.

And Jesus helps them to get there by asking this probing question: Who do you say I am? It's the central question of Mark's gospel. It's the central question of life. It's the central question of humanity. All humanity will be divided around this world. One question. Who do you, very personal, say I am?

You see, the demonstration of Jesus' authority and the testimony to what he did demands a verdict. It demands an answer. Who is this individual that stepped onto the pages of human history? Who we proclaim and who we have heard proclaimed throughout our lives. Who is this individual where even time itself is divided before he came and after he came?

Who is he? That's the question that Jesus wants you to answer. In fact, you already have an answer to that. But he's going to probe into the disciples. They already had an answer, but he wanted to probe them further into their response so that they could see their answer.

See, there comes a time in all of our lives when we must take a long, hard look at the claims of Jesus. We must take a long, hard look within ourselves. And we must decide whether or not we're going to commit ourselves to him. Is he worthy of it?

Is he really who he says he is? Well, something happened this year. I inherited our family farm. It's in southwest Arkansas. It's been in the family for generations. One of the things that's interesting about it is that it's right near the border. It used to be a border town between the United States and Mexico.

Now, that's hard for me to understand and you Texans to understand. It's right up there near the Red River, which used to be the dividing point between the United States and Mexico. So it's really close to a border town, very close. And there's this little community near there called Crossroads.

And you know what it is? It's just a pair of roads that cross each other. That's all it is. Crossroads. And those crossroads, those people that would come, would come to those crossroads. And there's a point at which if you're going to go into Mexico, you're going to continue in a southerly direction at those crossroads until you hit the Red River where you'd take a ferry across.

And you would be in Mexico. Crossroads. We all come to crossroads in life. One would have to decide, especially during the time of the Texas Revolution: am I going to continue and go into Mexico knowing it is going to be hostile to settlement by a bunch of gringos?

Well, Davey Crockett came through those Jim Bowie came to those crossroads, landed them at the Alamo. You know the history. But I think about the crossroads in a much more significant way, in a spiritual way. We all must come to the crossroads in life of deciding who Jesus is.

Do you have an opinion of Jesus? Yes, you do. The question is: are you aware of your opinion of Jesus? Is it the right opinion of Jesus? And let me ask you this: Is your life consistent with the confession you make about Jesus? Is he a teacher? Is he a great teacher?

Are you letting him teach you? Well, then, if you don't let him teach you, you're really a liar. I don't believe he's really a good teacher. Do you believe he's the Christ? The head of all humanity, King, Lord. Then, does your life consistent with that confession of him as Christ?

You see, at some point, no more data is going to be given to you. No more information is necessary. No more discussions, no more deliberations. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, or do you not? You have to make a judgment. Some point, you come to that crossroads.

You don't necessarily know when that is. Come to those crossroads. And the Spirit of God is expecting an answer. Who do you say Jesus is? This is what Jesus demanded of his disciples that day on the way to Caesarea, Philip. Philippi. Remember last time we looked at this peculiar miracle of Jesus opening the eyes of a blind man.

It's the only miracle like it. He led him out of the city of Betsaida, took him to a place where there were shade trees, and he spit in his eyes, spit upon him, and he began to see, but only kind of in a blurry fashion. And Jesus touched him again, and then he began to see everything clearly.

What happens right before this miracle? Jesus is saying to his disciples, Do you still have a hard heart? Do you still not see? Do you still not understand? And then after this miracle, this blind man in stages, then Jesus leads his disciples out of Israel, much like he led the blind man out of Bethseaida and took him to a quiet spot.

So he takes his disciples out of Israel to Caesarea Philippi and he presses them, Who do you say I am? And they're going to get it. You are the Messiah. But they still have a lot to learn about what following the Messiah involves. So though their eyes are opened, they are dependent upon Christ to continue to open their eyes to show them what following him really means.

Many of you make a profession. Many of us here, Jesus is Christ. He is the Son of God. He is my Lord. He is my King. And often we need to, we wrestle when the day of trouble comes and the day of trials come and we wrestle and think, well, somehow maybe he isn't.

But is your life consistent? Jesus is concerned that our lives be consistent, that we first of all know who he is and that our lives are consistent with him. With it. So then you come to this crossroads. Who are you letting shape your view of Jesus? Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say I am?

And the question really boils down to even a couple more questions that are more fundamental. Who are you letting? Shape your view of Jesus. That's the heart of the passage this morning. Who are you letting shape your view of Jesus? Jesus wanted his disciples to think through their answer.

He wants us to think through our answer. And so when you start thinking through the possibilities, who is Jesus, you really bring that to your thinking, you come to a crossroads. And either your eyes are going to be forced open to who he is and the incredible possibilities there are in following him, or you're going to have to close your eyes more tightly.

And so our text this morning centers around the two questions that Jesus asks his disciples in our text. And the same he asks of us today. So first of all, is your view of Jesus shaped by who people say he is? We come to the first question of Jesus.

Who do people say I am? Look back at verse of Mark 8, 27. Jesus went out along with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea. Philippi, and on the way he questioned his disciples, saying to them, Who do people say I am? Who do people say Jesus is?

Well, Jesus wanted all of his disciples to explore all the possibilities. Let's talk about this. On the way to Caesarea, Philippi, it's north of Bethsaida, by about 25 miles. He's going to the villages. Notice that. Not to the city itself. It's a ministry retreat. Disciples have been ministering for a long time in Israel, and now they've seen all kinds of things.

And now he is taking them alone to be with himself. And notice where this conversation happens on the way. On the way, he questioned them. It was on the way as they were going, spent a lot of time walking. It was on the way that they talked about who Jesus was.

So Jesus, you know, he searches hearts. That's what he does. He questioned them. Notice. And on the way, he questioned his disciples. He questioned not just one question, but it's a continual action. He began questioning them and kept questioning them. Who do you? People say that I am.

And so, very familiar with the God of the universe. Remember, 1 Chronicles 28:9? The Lord searches all hearts, and all includes us. He still does. He searches our hearts. And he understands the intent of the thoughts. God understands us, knows us better than we know ourselves. But in the New Testament, we see this same kind of searching.

Jesus also does. Revelation 2:23, Jesus says, This, all the churches will come to know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. Jesus searches the heart, God with us, it's what he does. And that's what he's doing on the road to Caesarea Philippi.

And that's what he's doing this morning. He's searching all of our hearts. Who do you say he is? Who do I say he is? Who do people say he is? But notice how he's opening the eyes. And bringing his disciples to faith. He's engaging the mind. He doesn't bypass the mind.

You see, Jesus had been for quite some time doing all kinds of miracles in the land of Israel. And it was time they had seen enough, enough information was given. It was time for them to make up their minds. What's your public confession of me going to be?

And he started this conversation with the question: Who do people say that I am? How do people account for all the miracles and all the things that they have heard and seen? How are people processing it? And what conclusion are they coming to about who I am? Who do people say that I am?

And so that leading question leads them and us to survey all the possibilities. And there's quite a range of answers. Look back at verse 28. They told him, saying, John the Baptist, others. Say Elijah, but others one of the prophets. Throughout Jesus' ministry, the opinions of Jesus ranged wildly.

They went from complete indifference, some sympathetic, some elated, and some outwardly and viciously hostile. All of this whole spectrum happened throughout Jesus' ministry. But at this point, still he hadn't come up to Jerusalem, still, there's a positive. In Mark 8, there's still a fairly popular opinion of Jesus.

Look at the answers the disciples gave. John the Baptist. Remember, Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist, raised from the dead. Elijah. Remember, he's a noble figure from Israel's history who was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire. His appearance was expected before the coming great day of the Lord.

Another, say, one of the prophets, not a prophet specifically, but one of the prophets come back to life. Matthew records maybe Jeremiah, maybe come back to life. So, all these opinions seem to be, on the surface, complementary. I mean, to liken Jesus to John the Baptist, to Elijah, or one of the prophets, ranks him among some of the most esteemed individuals in human history.

But there's a problem with all of these answers. They're inadequate. Was he a teacher? Yes. Was he a prophet? Yes. But so much more. These views, public opinion, fail to recognize Jesus' uniqueness. They put him into a pre-existing category, but he's not going to fit into our pre-existing categories.

Christ is a unique category. Nobody else has occupied that. The Son of God is a unique category. Nobody else occupies that category. Yes, he's a great prophet. Yes, he's a great teacher. But he is far more than that. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And here, specifically, the Christ is the confession he's looking for from his disciples. You see, he is unique. Isn't put into old wineskins. And so he's not going to allow himself to be defined by something other than who he is. He has a unique relationship with humanity. He is Christ.

He has a unique relationship with God. He is the unique Son of God, God of God. We do not define him. We either believe him or not. So if Jesus were to ask us that question today, how might we answer it? Picture yourselves, picture us on a journey walking with Christ, come to a shady spot, and he asked us, who do people of your time say that I am?

Well, you could imagine there's a lot of answers that could be given. We might start with sort of that agnostic view. Well, Jesus, honestly, there's a lot of people who don't really care very much who you are. They're not giving very much thought to it. That you're really not worth taking seriously.

They're the agnostic. They don't know what to think, and they don't really care to get over what they should think. They just say, they're content to say, I don't know who Jesus is, and that's enough for me. He isn't worth taking more seriously than that. Not that big of a deal.

Then might say, well, then there's the view held by many atheists. Well, perhaps they'd say that, Jesus, you are a historical person, but you're not supernatural because there really isn't anything outside of our realm. So that's an opinion going around today. We see that everywhere. But then, might say, but then there's this whole spectrum of views of who Christ is that have come out of these so-called Christian sects or cults.

There's some errant views. Christ, there are those held by the Mormons. They would see you as the firstborn child of Elohim. First spirit child of Elohim. The offspring of a God and his heavenly wife, or one of them. Maybe the elderly brother of mankind. Or maybe there's another group out there that is in line more with the Christian scientist view that Jesus is definitely a divine manifestation of God, but he's not the totality of Christ.

Or maybe there's another view out there that. You are more in line with the Jehovah's Witness view that you're a perfect man. You created everything, but you yourself were created. You created everything but yourself. You're not God in that perfect man. We could add to that a whole lot more.

Or we might say, Jesus, and there's all these other world religions have an opinion about who Jesus is. We might say, consistent with Islam, Jesus, they say that you are a messenger of God, a prophet, certainly not God. Maybe there is then a Hindu kind of view. You are one of many deities.

We could even say that there is the Jewish view today. You are a false Messiah. We could add to these, beyond the world religion, many other views of Christ. Who do people say I am? Well, some would say you're a great revolutionary, some a great teacher, some a supreme.

Moral example. All of these last few may seem to be complimentary or an attempt to be complimentary, but they're not compliments because they deny his uniqueness. For one of my children to say, well, my dad is my friend, is great. It's true. But I'm also their father. And so if they deny me being their father as a friend, they deny who I am.

If they just stop, well, my dad's my friend. And I hope that's true. But there's, I have a unique relationship. Christ has a unique relationship to humanity. Christ has a unique relationship to God. And he wants his disciples to see it and to understand it and to follow him as such.

You see, the hostility to Jesus really comes down to his unique claims. It's not that he's a great teacher. It's not that he did miracles. It's not that he was a historic. It's not any of that. It's those unique claims. Jesus God being God and accepting worship as God.

Jesus being Lord over. Humanity, king over humanity, and teacher. The teacher, the one who is to shape your view about the world and about God. You see, that day on the road to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus was not content with the answers of popular opinion. So he keeps going in his questioning.

He asks the disciples a more direct question: Who do you say I am? Look back at verse 29. And he continued by questioning. So he kept going in this questioning, but who do you say that I am? And this leads to my second question to you today: Is your view of Jesus shaped by who God says he is?

That's the second question. Is your view shaped by who people say he is or by who God says he is? Notice the directness, but who do you say? That's very direct, very personal. Jesus isn't content with what others say about him or what you think others say about him.

He's interested in what you say about him. And especially you who claim. To be his disciple. That's what he's interested in. You who are following him, who do you say he is? Have you been able to connect the dots of who Jesus is and what this implies for your life?

That's the question he's putting to his disciples. You're struggling to see. But if anyone should have understood who Jesus was, it would have been the disciples. Think about what they have seen. They saw demonstrations of Christ's authority far more than the crowds or anyone else. Remember, they were amazed at his teaching.

In Mark 1, his teaching had authority. In Mark 2, verse 10, authority to forgive sins. They witnessed Jesus' claim to be able to forgive sins and then a powerful demonstration that he has authority to forgive sins. Obviously, that came from God. Mark 3, they witnessed the authority he had.

To cast out demons and Mark 4, the authority to silence even the wind and the sea. So, if anyone should have a right understanding, it would be the disciples. And the same is true for anybody who has received the testimony of the disciples. We do not walk with Jesus like his disciples did, but we do have a record of their testimony.

The decision comes down to us: do you believe that testimony or not? But Jesus is just as much interested in you this morning and how you answer this question: who do you say that Jesus is? He's just as interested in your answer as he was his disciples that day in Caesarea, Philippi.

It is the faith of his disciples that he is most interested in. And to this point in Mark's Gospel, we don't have a record of the disciples expressing their faith in that overt way, a confession. We don't have their public confession yet. But he brings them to it in our text.

You see, everybody who comes to Jesus must separate themselves from the majority opinion of who he is and publicly confess him for who he has revealed himself to be. That's the crossroads in life that we come to. Faith will and does express itself in public confession. See, the public has a much better idea of whether you're a true follower of Christ or not than you might realize.

Find it didn't take very long when I took a new job for people to figure out that I was a Christian. It wasn't necessarily what I said. Oftentimes it was what I didn't say. But it didn't take long. You see, the public has a pretty good idea of whether or not you're truly a follower of Christ.

You see, what Jesus was doing that day was he was calling the disciples off of the sidelines as passive recipients, passive spectators of what Christ was doing into active confession and active participation from merely hearing to doing, from merely doing. Merely hearing words about Christ, but letting those words transform them.

That's what a follower is: a person in transformation process, Christ. But he wants his people to publicly identify with him. That's what he was after in his disciples. And this is what he looks for in us. And just a few verses later, if you look over at Mark 8:38, Jesus says these words: Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man, will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Christ is very much interested in our public confession because faith expresses itself publicly. So, back to the question to you: What is your public confession of Jesus? Who is Jesus? Who do you say that he is? Look at Peter's answer at the end of verse 29. Peter answered and said, You are the Christ.

You are God's anointed ruler over humanity. Christ. Is Greek for the anointed one. It's the same equivalent as the Hebrew Messiah. Same concept, God's anointed one over humanity. You can be sure that the disciples' view of Christ was shaped by certain Old Testament texts like Psalm 2, which speaks about God and his anointed one, God and his Christ, his Messiah, whom the world takes opposition to.

The opposition to God is manifested in opposition to his Christ, to his anointed one. And they're saying, Let us throw off their chains, their fetters. Let us cast them and their cords from us. In Psalm 2, verse 6, God terrifies them in his fury and says, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain.

You are my son, verse 11. Today I have begotten you. Verse 8, ask of me, I will surely give you the nations, and the very ends of the earth is your possessions. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. Now, therefore, kings, show discernment.

Take warning, O judges of the earth, worship the Lord with reverence, rejoice with trembling, do homage to the Son. The king is also God's Son. The unique anointed one is also the unique Son. So the disciples rightfully understood this coming program of the ruling and reigning of God's Messiah.

They understood that. And they also would have understood that he was to come through David's line. Verses like Jeremiah 23, 5, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.

When I will raise up. They understood the Davidic line. They didn't understand the resurrection part. They didn't understand the resurrection part because they couldn't get their mind around the crucifixion part. Even though Jesus would repeatedly over and over tell them, yes, Christ, you got that right. But the Christ must suffer.

That they had to get their minds around. Peter's conversation. Confession represented the disciples. And in Matthew's gospel, Jesus really commends Peter. Matthew 16:17, Jesus said, Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. So the reason why Jesus commended Peter's confession is because Peter had let God shape his view of who Jesus was.

He took in all that God had been saying through the scriptures and through what was happening around him, through the miracles, through Jesus' teaching and self-testimony of who he was. All of that, Peter was taking in and said, You are the Christ. His view was not shaped by public opinion, but by the Spirit of God.

What about you, who has shaped your view of Jesus? Man or God? Well, you're never going to understand your universe until you let Jesus open your eyes to see who God is. Well, the disciples got it. That brings us to the end of Act 1 of Mark's gospel.

Their eyes were open, partially. They needed to next understand what following him meant. These conversations on the way are going to continue. The next four chapters of Mark's gospel are all going to be focused on the disciples. Do you really know what following the Messiah is about? He is reconciliation-minded.

He has left all to do the glory. He loves God supremely. He will lay down his life in obedience. Do you really want to follow a Messiah like that? You see, the disciples were convinced they had found the Messiah. And they had focused on, yeah, he's going up to Jerusalem.

We know he's going to reign from there, and he will. Everything that's been said about his rule and his reign is certain. And the disciples understood that. And they were thinking, okay, he's going to go up there. He's going to be celebrated. And we're going to be celebrated there along with him.

That was the thinking that Jesus said, yeah, but you have to get something first. There's great suffering that the Messiah is going to go through. The world doesn't love Messiah. There is a hostility against the Messiah. And as followers of Christ, you're going to feel that hostility. And that's to what he has to open their eyes.

Eyes to. Following Christ isn't about us being celebrated. We are still living in a fallen world. And yes, He is Christ. And we are to continue to follow Christ through a fallen world. We're going to experience the things in a fallen world. We're going to experience the breakdown of the fallen world.

We're also going to experience the hostility in a fallen world, but we're still to follow Christ through it all. He's not taking us out of the world, He's leaving us in a fallen world to publicly confess Him as Christ in the midst of His enemies. Well, that brings us back to the original question that our text is all about.

Who do you say I am? It's the most important question of all time. God requires faith from us. He leads, we follow. It's that simple. Let me tell you what God is not like. Sometimes it's easier to get your mind around what God is not like. Well, He's not like I was 20-some years ago when my wife and I went to a rodeo in Montana.

I know I've told this story before. Tell it again from a different angle. We go into this rodeo. It's a big deal. This is Montana. I had a little office up there, engineering office, and a lot of guys working up there. And it was this big rodeo event, and they had the Bucking Bronco contest for women.

Only one woman signed up for the event. Three belt buckles are given. Three, count them. Three, one. If I could get somebody else who's a woman to enter into it, she would at least come away with a silver belt buckle. And they announced it: we need more women in this thing.

And this is like a big deal, state fair type stuff. And I'm like, Nancy, I want you to get on that bronco. What? All you have to do is fall off. It's not that hard. And she's like, no, I'm not getting on that. She's like, I didn't bring any boots.

Wear your high heels. All you have to do is fall off. It's not that hard. And we went back and forth. But I was serious. I said, look, the belt buckle. Itself is going to be worth 10 times, 20 times the entry fee. And all you've got to do is go, I don't want to fall down in front of all those people.

Don't worry, they don't know who you are. I'll hold the baby. Go. And I kept on. I kept on and on. And I said, look, you may even win the gold. Well, and so it started becoming an issue between us. Until finally I said, okay, that's unreasonable. Because what I wanted to do was to be able to go into my engineering company with my wife's big silver belt buckle and say, look at what my wife just did.

She went over there and fell off a horse and came home with a great big old belt buckle. I mean, Montana, all you cowgirls out here, I mean, you took it. And then, I won't forget that moment when I saw the one entry go out there. Gate was open.

She fell off right out of the gate. We had kind of patched it up, Nancy and I kind of had an understanding. And then I saw that woman fall right out the gate. She didn't make it six seconds or eight seconds. And I turned to Nancy. I'm thinking, you could have brought home gold.

It's like, Nancy, I wanted you to have. A story to tell your kids. She goes, oh, I have a story to tell my kids. But you've got to understand something about God. He doesn't expect us to do the ridiculous for vain, for mere vanity's sake. No, he calls us to follow him.

He knows exactly where he's leading us. He knows exactly what he's trying to accomplish in the world. And he is good to us thoroughly. And it's interesting to note that Jesus was calling the disciples to trust in him before Jerusalem. He wanted them to come to an understanding and a trust in him before the crucifixion, before the resurrection.

Much like he did Mary and Martha specifically. Do you believe that I am the resurrection? He wants us to believe in him before the day of trouble. He wants us to believe in him before we stand in glory before him. Now's the time to confess him. Now's the time to trust in him.

He wants to trust us to trust in him before the day of trouble, before the crucifixion, before the resurrection. He wants us to trust him. Him on the way. He wanted the disciples to trust in him on the way to Jerusalem. He wants us to trust in him at the beginning of the journey, not simply at the end.

And that's what the call is. That's what the call to the Christian life is. To trust him now, before the journey commences again. Who do you say I am? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow our hearts before you, knowing that indeed you are worthy to be trusted. Everything, Father, a whole history itself, civilization, testimony of human history, the testimony of your word, your scripture, testimony of the apostles, testimony even as we understand our own self, Father, all points to you.

You have created us. You sent your Son into the world to open our eyes so that we may know who you are. Because of the fallen effects of sin, we are separated from you. And so, Father, I pray this morning, Father, that you would continue to open blind eyes and to continue your ministry among us, further opening our eyes that we may come to fully trust in you.

We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.