The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Isaiah 9:6quoted to name Jesus as wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, connecting to the Christmas season
6 For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
large crowds follow Jesus from great distances and evil spirits declare him son of God
7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, from Judea,
8 from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came to him.
9 He spoke to his disciples that a little boat should stay near him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn’t press on him.
10 For he had healed many, so that as many as had diseases pressed on him that they might touch him.
11 The unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, “You are the Son of God!”
12 He sternly warned them that they should not make him known.
read as a closing benediction about the Son of God giving us understanding to know the true God
20 We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was a conversation-style Wednesday night study through Mark 3:7-35, the first week of Advent. Pastor Carl walked through three connected scenes: the massive crowds following Jesus, His choosing of the twelve, and the confrontation with religious leaders who accused Him of working by Satan's power. He closed with Jesus naming His true family as anyone who does God's will.
What was said
The sheer scale of the crowds following Jesus sets the opening scene. People traveled from as far as a hundred miles away, on foot, just to see Him. Pastor Carl put that in local terms: walking from Jackson to Star Valley Ranch is about 54 miles and seventeen hours. That kind of distance shows how widely word of His miracles had spread, and how desperate people were to get close to Him.
When Jesus chose the twelve, Pastor Carl paused on the word "apostle" versus "disciple." Every follower of Jesus is a disciple, but the twelve were also sent out with authority to preach and cast out demons. That distinction matters for how we read the rest of the chapter. He also noticed that Jesus gave James and John the nickname "Sons of Thunder," and he sat with that for a moment, pointing out that nicknames signal real affection and friendship, not just formal appointment.
The sharpest turn in the chapter comes when Jesus' own family says He has lost His mind, while the religious leaders go further and say He is working by the power of Satan. Pastor Carl noted the irony: evil spirits were the ones declaring Him the Son of God, while the people closest to Him and the leaders most trained to recognize Him were doing the opposite.
Jesus answers the accusation directly with a logical argument: a kingdom or a household divided against itself falls apart, so Satan casting out Satan makes no sense. He then says the stronger man has entered the strong man's house, and Pastor Carl named plainly that Jesus is that stronger man in the illustration. He is waging war against the kingdom of darkness, and the evidence of it was right in front of the Pharisees.
That brings the hardest statement in the passage: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Pastor Carl was careful here. This is not an accidental sin or a passing doubt. It is deliberate, sustained rejection of the Holy Spirit's work, giving Satan credit for what God is plainly doing. The conversation that followed brought out the distinction between an atheist who has not yet encountered that conviction and someone who has felt the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin and actively refused it. Ray added that John's upper room discourse describes the Spirit's work as convicting of sin and illuminating God's righteousness, and that blaspheming against that is choosing to stand alone against it, not a stumble someone falls into without knowing it.
Pastor Carl closed the scripture reading with Jesus redefining His family: anyone who does God's will is His brother, sister, and mother. He reflected that for some of the disciples, following Jesus would have meant being cut off from their own families. But Jesus was offering them a family of faith in its place. The passage ends with a preview from Mark 4: the more closely you listen, the more understanding is given, and the more you reject, the less you retain. That principle, one member called it the "more light principle," is what explains why the disciples kept saying yes while the Pharisees moved toward plotting His death.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The crowds traveled up to a hundred miles on foot just to see Jesus. What do you think drove people that far, and what would it take for you to make that kind of effort to get to Him?
Pastor Carl pointed out that evil spirits were calling Jesus the Son of God while His own family was saying He was out of His mind. What does that contrast tell you about how belief and unbelief can work, even among people who are close to the same events?
We're gonna play. Hope was born. Hope hope was born. Hope was born. Come not found.
He is. And then let's end with I want to know you. Hello, everybody. Happy Monday. Glad you're here.
Big thank you to Nancy, and thank you, Monique, for your help back there in the kitchen too. Yes. We got drums tonight, and we're in the gospel of Mark conversation style. Before we get to the scripture, would you worship in song with me together? We're starting Christmas songs.
It was the first Sunday in Advent on Sunday already. Glory
to God in the high he is. He's on earth, good willed toed man. And all I'm in words sing the chorus of joy because hope was born this night. I can hear the Christmas bells ringing as softly church choir sings. It's the song used to praise the ancient days Oh, was born this night.
There are angels in this place, and my heart resounded to praise. Like a shepherd so scared I'll rejoice and declare the hope was broken this night. Glory to God. Glory to God
God, thank you that we get to sing your praises. We get to sing about this this shore and certain hope in you. And, Lord, I just as we sang that song and thinking about the the the birth announcements, to the angels and, scared at first, but just elated with joy because they recognize your grace. God, may we recognize your grace tonight, in our conversations and the scripture, and and really leave this place encouraged. In Jesus' name, amen.
There's so many good verses I could share about this this song, but here's one. Here's one. And it fits the season well from Isaiah. And he, Jesus, will be called wonderful counselor. Thank you, God, for being our counselor.
Mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. He is.
Just come to Jesus and find his grace to see. Oh, for the whole thing. Praise for the weary. Hail and for the hurting. So this is what he is.
Oh, lord, as we open up the word tonight, may this song that we've just sung really come to life that we would know you as comforter, counselor, prince of peace, author and maker of everything, defender, deliverer, king of kings, helper, and healer forevermore, savior and shelter through every storm. God, may we see it in scripture, but also the evidence of your goodness in our lives too. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Can have a seat here for a moment. Alright. Here we go. Gospel according to Mark. So we're up to chapter three, tonight, verses seven through 35.
This is where here we go. Large crowds follow Jesus. Jesus chooses the 12 disciples. The religious leaders accuse Jesus of getting his power from Satan, and then Jesus describes his true family. So I'll share some thoughts as we go.
Okay? And then, I'd love to just open it up for conversation at the end. And, maybe we're hearing I hopefully, we're hearing the same thing. And, and, also, if there's some things that you're like, hey. You missed this.
This is something that really meant something to me in these verses. Please share at the end. So let's see what the Lord wants to show us tonight. Starting, with chapter three verse seven. This is what it says.
So large crowds followed Jesus. So Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, the Sea Of Galilee. A large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from East Of The Jordan River, and even as far as north as Tyre and Sidon. Alright.
So real quick. This kinda helped me. Here's a map to show that. This is not a Ray standard map. Ray is really good at maps.
But this one is one that I found. So you can see Sidon about 50 miles Northwest of the Sea Of Galilee up there. You see Lebanon and right near, right below that. And then I do Maya about a 100 miles to the Southwest. So that's a long way.
That's that's a really long way, especially when traveling by foot is your main, you know, source of transportation. So per for, perspective. So if, Aaron was to walk home tonight from, from here to Star Valley Ranch, that would be about 54 miles on foot, seventeen hours of walking. And I would imagine the terrain kind of similar, Ray, as mountainous. So why did they travel so far?
Well, here it is. The news about Jesus' miracles had spread far and wide, like that far, hundreds of miles, and vast numbers of people came to see him. So people wanted to see Jesus for themselves. So verse nine. Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him.
And I, you know, I I just want to to consider these things and think about them for a minute because Jesus there were so many people that Jesus had to have an escape route. I mean, that's that's a lot of people. Just something to consider. Verse 10, he healed many people that day. So all the sick people eagerly pushed forward just to touch him, just to touch Jesus.
Verse 11. And when those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them on the ground, throw them to the ground in front of Jesus shrieking, you are the son of God. But Jesus sternly sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was. Mark has mentioned this a few times now, especially about evil spirits and Jesus' authority over them. So more on that later.
Next, Jesus chooses the 12 disciples. So we're picking up in verse 13. After Jesus went up on, went up on the mountain, he called out the ones that he wanted to go with him, and they came to him. They said yes. And then he appointed 12 of them and called them his apostles.
They were to accompany, and then he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons. So quick comment there. Those 12 were disciples, and they were also apostles. So they followed him, which made them disciples, but they were also sent out by him, disciple, follower. We would be considered disciples, followers of Jesus.
But apostles were sent out by him to preach and give an authority to cast out demons. So I just I just wanted to point out the difference. We hear apostle and disciple. Every apostle was a disciple, but not every disciple was an apostle. Just wanted to make mention of that.
Okay. Verse 16. And these are the 12 that he chose. Simon, whom he named Peter, James and John, sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them sons of thunder. I love that Jesus gives nicknames.
Nicknames are so personal. They were and they and then they kinda they show they show a friendship, affection. Yeah. So I wanna pause there for a second and show just, two short clips from The Chosen on Simon, Peter, James, and John. And here's here's the first one.
We'll see if we can pull it up. There's the Simon Peter. Simon Peter, one of Jesus' followers. And I've got another clip here on James and John and how they might have been given their nicknames. So I wanna show that one too.
So picking up in verse 18, here are the other disciples that Jesus chose. Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew. Most scholar most scholars believe is also Nathaniel. Bartholomew, Nathaniel. Matthew, we saw a clip on Matthew when he was called from his tax collector's booth.
But I love this. Every one of these guys had a story, you know, of of how they met Jesus, where they were before. Thomas, James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon, the zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who would later betray him. So that's who Joseph Jesus chose. Picking up in verse 20, this is where the religious leaders accused Jesus of getting his power from Satan.
It says this. One time Jesus entered a house, and the large crowds began to gather again. And so he and his disciples couldn't even find time to eat. When his family heard that he what was happening, they tried to take him away. He's out of his mind, they said, his family.
Again, this is really interesting to me. Evil spirits are calling Jesus the holy one of God, the son of God, but his old family his own family is saying, he's he's off his he's out of his mind. Very interesting. And look what the religious leaders say. Verse 22.
But the religious leaders of the law who had traveled from Jerusalem said, he's possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That's where he gets the power to cast out demons. Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. How can Satan cast out Satan? He asked.
A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. Let me illustrate this further.
Who is powerful enough to enter a house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone who's even stronger, someone who could tie him up and plunder his house. By the way, Jesus is the stronger man in this illustration. I tell you the truth. All sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.
This is a sin with eternal consequences. He told them this because they were saying he's possessed by an evil spirit. So that's a very, very serious statement from Jesus right there. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is to give Satan credit for the work of the Holy Spirit. It's it's rejecting the Holy Spirit out of hand, which is to reject God out of hand.
It's deliberate unbelief. Jesus said that cannot be forgiven. A very, very strong warning there. It's a sobering sobering message. And that picking up in in verse 31, Jesus describes his true family.
Then Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside, and they sent word for him to come out and talk with him. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, your mother and your brothers are outside for you. And Jesus replied, who is my mother? And who are my brothers?
And then he looked around him and he said, look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God's will is my brother and sister and mother. So I wanna stop there for now, but, an observation that I I wanna point out is there's an obvious, division that's happening here. Things are escalating very, very quickly here throughout Jesus' ministry because of Jesus' message. His disciples, they're like, yeah.
I'm in. I'm in. The more that they heard and saw, the the more that they believed. But the religious leaders were so opposed to Jesus, they went from angry to plotting his death. And that really is the sobering reality of Jesus' message.
Is it good news? Absolutely, it is. 100%. Jesus is inviting sinners. He's healing the sick.
He's forgiving sins. He's casting out evil spirits. He's setting people free. He's waging war against the kingdom of darkness and Satan. That's what he's doing here in Mark.
In that parable, Jesus is the stronger man. There's no doubt about it. And those who believe in Jesus and do God's will are his true family. There's a lot of comfort in that. I was I was considering that as well that those some of them who had believed Jesus' message, they would have been cast out of their own families.
Jesus' message was very divisive, but they had a family of faith now. There would have been comfort in that. But for those who didn't believe or refused to believe in spite of the evidence that they saw firsthand, they were setting themselves up against God's kingdom. And that's a really hard teaching. So, Jesus is gonna further explain the kingdom in chapter four but I wanna end with a verse that we're going to look at next week because I I believe it's describing why the disciples are going, yep.
I'm in. While at the same time, the pharisees were plotting to kill Jesus. And it's, Mark four twenty four and twenty five. So we're gonna see this later. But it it kinda puts all of this in perspective for me.
Jesus says, pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding that you'll be given, and you'll receive even more. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening so think of the pharisees who saw with their own eyes. They heard with their own ears.
Those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. I think that's exactly what we're seeing here. So for me, that helps me to understand why the disciples would go, yep. I'm I'm I'm in. The more they saw, the more they heard, the more they believed, the more understanding they got.
While at the same time, the pharisees were plotting to kill Jesus. To those who listened, more understanding was given. To those who didn't, what little understanding they had was taken away. So I'm gonna end I'm gonna end with that, and I'd like to to pray on on what we've read and and seen, and then, open it up for conversation if there was a a comment or a a verse or or something that grabbed your attention. So would you pray with me?
God, I thank you for this scripture tonight. The good old gospel story, the good news. God, we hear of the message and the miracles, I do pray that our our hearts would be open to receive, that we would gain more understanding. You say the closer we listen, the more understanding will be given. Lord, that we would draw close to you as we hear the good the good news of the gospel and find comfort too from being a part of your family.
Even when the message and you, Jesus, can be divisive depending on whether we believe or not. Would you help us? And would you got a conversation in Jesus' name? Amen. So, again, here's here's what we covered tonight.
The large crowds follow Jesus, and then Jesus chooses the 12. The religious leaders accuse Jesus of getting his power from Satan, and then Jesus describes his true family. So you heard from me, but I would like to open it up to you. If there's anything else that you'd like to to add or a verse that caught your attention, I'd love to hear your thoughts. It's not a have to, but I always love to hear from you.
Yeah.
Oh,
yeah. Of course. Something that just oh, it's kind of a cool thought that I it's fun to think about and imagine looking down that name and and the the clip also kinda helped me think about and visualize it. But, like, looking down the name of disciples, I know a lot of people with those names. And I I don't know a Bartholomew, but but, like, it's just cool.
I think, you know, like you mentioned, all each of these guys have a story, and it's just kinda cool to think about. I don't know, just like they they all were coming to him with different stories and backgrounds and strengths and weaknesses, and it's kinda cool to think about nicknames and, like, you know, how you and Monique, you mentioned, like, it's there's this affection that comes from giving nicknames. What would Jesus what nickname would he give me or, you know, give any of us? You know? And would the what you know, out of love, would that be out of would that be based on our strengths or maybe our weaknesses or I don't know.
Just kinda cool to think about. And, yeah, that's basically all I had to say. No. It's It was just kinda neat to imagine what would he say and what would he see in us that we don't that we don't see. Because, you know, clearly, James and John, they're just ready to, you know, fight, and and they're just like that's just their natural instinct, and he's just like, slow down.
And then, you know, he that was a big eye opening moment for them. They're like, yeah. We are wow. We did jump to jump jump the gun there, and we are sons of thunder. You know?
So Yeah. It is a cool nickname. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. You probably would have called me a turkey, I'm sure.
Yeah. I probably wouldn't have that cool nickname if
I if she
just gave me a nickname. But yeah. Anyway, just it's it's fun to imagine and think about.
It is. It is. I I that that caught me too, Gannon, that that Jesus gave nicknames. And nicknames, they they they show affection. You know?
When I'm playing hockey, everybody's got a nickname. I I didn't even realize that that, you know, Butters was, you know we called the guy Butters. It was Brian Butler. I didn't I didn't know that. And it's always known as but Butters, you know, and chili.
I mean, that's just that's what that's what we call them. Yeah. Any other thoughts?
I think what stood out to me was similar along those lines, like, in the first part where large crowds follow Jesus, and it made me think about Jesus, his personality, and, like, how yeah. Just kinda maybe thinking a bit more in different passages what his personality was like, thinking about personalities that don't like crowds and don't like being the center of attention or a lot of people or and so just thinking, like, how God maybe chose his human personality and and how he, like, just yielded to his father in those, like, very human personality things. So, yeah, it was interesting to think about and Yeah. What they may be. Yeah.
I really wanted to call you mom.
I do
have some nicknames, but I won't share them.
Anybody else?
So I actually like your guys' because they're a little more refreshing. But one hit me one a little more serious at first, and then I think it became a little bit more encouraging. So, Carl, you had shared in Mark three twenty eight and twenty nine. It says, truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven of the children of man and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.
So that one at first, and I appreciated that you kind of described what that eternal sin was. It's like an intentional disbelief or unbelief of who God is. And I think that verse first also hits, like, pretty heavy and really serious. And I think all of us have known people in our life who at some point in their life, whether that's the end or somewhere in there, they've taken that approach or they've they've really stood in unbelief. And I think that's hard.
That's really hard to watch. Mhmm. And to acknowledge is is something people can face. So that is the heavy part of that verse for me. But I also think in a lot of ways, it's there's something really encouraging in that verse, and that's just that and maybe Ray or Carl, feel free to describe a little more of the eternal sin.
But if if that is the the eternal sin, then it also gives a little bit of hope, I think, maybe if I'm not misinterpreting to the fact that we can still approach God with our sins and receive his forgiveness even no matter how how they feel at the time or if they feel heavy. We can still bring them to him because we're believing in him and not having a staunch unbelief. Yeah. Does that make sense?
I agree with that. Absolutely. I and I this isn't, like, an accidental sin. This is very, very deliberate unbelief. And consider his audience, you know, the pharisees who had seen these miracles with their own eyes.
They had heard of Jesus in the Old Testament, the old prop in the Old Testament prophecies, seen the miracles, heard the message, and said, no. And they they plotted to kill him. Mhmm. So this isn't, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an an accident. I don't think that we need to go, have I committed this?
This is this is very intentional.
If you go to John, the upper room discourse in John where he's describing the role of the Holy Spirit and he says that it that the spirit will convict you of your sin. Like, you'll have a conviction. Outside of that, you might think, well, I might have done something wrong but whatever. Everybody does something wrong. That's not the same thing as the Holy Spirit convicting you that that is sinful.
That you are a sinner and the recognition of that that I am a sinner, that I sin before God. It's him initiating that by his Holy Spirit he convicts of sin and you can say, ah, whatever and you he's I've heard it described as gentlemanly like he's not going to force you to believe in it. He's not going to force you to hand over your burden but if visited by the Holy Spirit with just the conviction of your sin, the convincing of God's righteousness, the illumination of his word, all these things are in that upper room discourse. That that's what the Holy Spirit's work is and blaspheming against that is actively working against and rejecting that. I I'll stand on my own.
Thank you very much. No thanks. That's the that's what I believe that is.
Which is an important distinction. Right? Absolutely. And then come around. Yeah.
Yes. But that's different than
than I was gonna ask I was gonna ask miss McMillion over here if she'd look up the verb tense and see. I'm I'm pretty sure that it's a continuous action verb there, but,
yeah,
it's I would I would think it's probably anyone who is continuously blaspheming against rejecting out of hand. I
was I was just saying the difference between you can be a staunch atheist and speak against God or the Holy Spirit and say that it doesn't exist, but that's different than think what you were just talking about, Ray, is that I don't think that the staunch atheist that is talking against God and the Holy Spirit is outside of God's grace or outside of the grace that's gonna bring him around eventually. And I can speak firsthand to that. And so it's different than having that conviction and then rejecting it. And so it's maybe a semantics thing, different stages of it, but I don't think that any any atheist is outside of God's grace or unwillingness to turn around.
Certainly still reaching out for you.
Yeah. And I so the first part goes to that.
So the first portion of that says that there's no there's nothing that you can do that can't be forgiven. Does that make sense? No. There's no sin that you can commit that can't be forgiven if you're acknowledging that when the spirit puts it puts it in front of you. So, that's that's the point.
It's like you could have done anything and God can forgive that but you have to let him. That's that's I think that's the point. What did it say, miss McNelly? Yeah. Yeah.
One of my favorite part from tonight, I think it's from the the chosen video clip Those when
clips are so good.
So good. They really touched my heart, honestly. I like the fact that Jesus chose us to serve him. The same call that he placed on the disciples right there. Would you follow me?
The same invitation is for us here right now today. And you don't have to go far far to serve him at work in this beautiful community. If we choose I like that phrase when he said, don't you understand that what we do here matters for generations? Man, that's so good. It matters here on this planet Earth that the the fact that the message continues on through us, through others, but also to eternity.
Mhmm. Imagine the the the the the power of testify about Jesus, sharing with your coworker in humbleness and faithfulness and whatever. And that person decides based on your conversation and based on the conviction of the Holy Spirit says, I accepted Jesus in my heart. And and that person stays in eternity forever Yeah. Because you decide to decided one day to say, yes.
I'll follow you. Yes. I wanna I wanna be used by you today. I love that. The invitation that Jesus placed for the disciples, it's valid 100% the same right now Mhmm.
For me and for all
of us
here in this room. Yep. And may may we say yes. We don't have to be called preacher, missionaries, have a degree, doctorate, and all that stuff. Mhmm.
Just wherever you are, you're driving. Drive with Jesus. You go to work. Work with Jesus. You you sing.
Do whatever. You play the man with him. Do it. Serve the Lord today. Amen?
Yeah. That's my encouragement.
Good. So,
Ray or Carl, I've like, the the topic of blasphemy is kind of like I think I've read it as the unforgivable or the unpardonable sin. Mhmm. Is that
Yeah. That's what it'd referring to. Yeah. Yeah.
Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Because in that context of the unpardonable sin, it's basically you know what you're doing.
You know, you're not you're not like, as Blake was saying, the atheist doing it. Mhmm. So what happens to you if you're saved and then you decide to become an atheist? That came that just entered my mind in this conversation. Anyway, just something to think about.
I I'm not I don't have an answer for it. It just came up as a question tonight. Yeah.
It's a little bit usual. I don't speak Spanish very well, but we have someone that is watching. So
She said, it was good to be here with you tonight, and I miss y'all all, and I'll see you before too long.
That's sweet. Alright, sweet. I just got up here without Yeah.
Well, well, come on up. We'll we'll sing one last song here.
One more thing with the your clothes in there where it said that the listen to the words that you hear. Listen and, to the ones who are listening and obeying, more understand will be giving. But for those who are not listening, who are purposefully rejecting, I think it goes to the same point of that Lauren was making. So if you're listening, more will be given. But if you're rejecting it, the voice will grow less and less clear.
And the more you follow after the light you've been given. I I had a professor that used to call principle. If you're a plant that leans toward the light, you get more light. But the not not all of us are that way. So you can reject it, and it'll just be your understanding you thought you had is taken away.
So there you go. I like that. I like to keep it open.
The more light principle. That is true. I've got an orchid at home. It's so happy by the by the kitchen sink. It's the south facing.
And, it's true. It just loves it there, and it leans toward it. More light we have, the more it's given. Let's sing one more song.
Jesus to and no more. Jesus, to know know you. Jesus, to know you. And no more.
I want a benediction, but not that one. I wanna end with this one right here. It's from first John five twenty. And we know that the son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so we can know the true God. God, that we would have that understanding as we seek, as we lean in, that as we pay attention, that more understanding would be given to know you and then know you more.
