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1 Peter 5:5-14
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you will turn in your bibles to 1st Peter chapter 5. This is our last sermon. I'm going through 1st Peter. Next week, we're gonna look at Psalm 22, in which if I could have a tattoo, I feel like I can't and I won't. But if I did, it would be from the last words of Psalm 22.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a Psalm that's been very dear to my heart, it's one in which you so clearly see the gospel, so we'll be looking at that next week. Tonight we'll be ending 1st Peter. We'll begin reading in verse 5, Likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves all of you with humility towards one another. For God opposes the proud that gives grace to the humble.
Jeffrey Heine:Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober minded. Be watchful. Your the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Jeffrey Heine:And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Pray with me. Our father, we do ask that you would come and through the power of your spirit, you would make this a holy place.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord that you would come and you would invade not just this space, but you would invade our lives, our hearts, and our minds. Seize them. Take them captive for your glory. Lord, I pray in this moment that my words would indeed fall to the ground, and blow away, and not be remembered anymore, but Lord may your words remain, and may they change us. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen. Perhaps the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me, actually without a doubt it's the most bizarre thing that's ever happened to me, was a time that I was coming home from Northern Ireland, and I got on a, my my last flight coming home, and I sat next to a drunk Satanist of of all the people. The story is really too long to tell, so let me just point out a couple of things. I had missed my original flight, and so I already had to sleep at the airport. And then instead of coming home, they sent me to France.
Jeffrey Heine:And then I was in France for a good long while before I finally got on this flight. I was exhausted. I was so ready to go home. I've been gone for weeks. So I just wanted to go to sleep and, and wake up in Atlanta.
Jeffrey Heine:However, the man who was sitting next to me, he looked a little odd. He he was, he had shaved his head. He was wearing all black. He was somewhat pale, and he was playing with tarot cards. And one of the first things he told me was that he was a Satanist and, that he was obviously drunk.
Jeffrey Heine:And and I felt like I was in the middle of some bad joke, you know, like a pastor and a satanist get on a plane together, you know, and And I I was I thought it was kinda humorous at the time. He wasn't just a Satanist, he was a drunk Satanist, and it somehow made it comical, and, and I just kinda wanted to see, how this thing would end. It didn't end well. First off, I didn't wanna talk to him because I was tired. Alright?
Jeffrey Heine:Maybe I was disobedient as well, but I was just really tired. And so I tried to go to sleep, and, I just put in my earbuds and I laid back, and then there would be no sound. I'd look and he had unplugged them. I'd put them back on, he'd unplug them. Put them back on, he'd unplug them.
Jeffrey Heine:Finally, he just started growling at me. And, and I looked at him at one point, and I just kind of smiled, and he necked me. He just licked my neck right there. He then dumped the entire contents of his food tray on me which I don't know if it's because he was satanist or he was drunk, which one, but things finally escalated to a point where the flight attendant said that I could just sit on the floor by the bathroom aisle I mean, by the bathroom doors. So I sat on the floor for the majority of the flight, because this man was increasingly getting agitated and shouting things.
Jeffrey Heine:Well, when it came time to land, a flight attendant came up to me and said, I'll sit next to the guy. You can sit in a little booster seat. We've already got police waiting for him when we arrive, but you don't have to sit next to him. And I said, you know, why not? I'll sit next to him.
Jeffrey Heine:I'd like to. And so I sat next to him, and there's just about 10 minutes left in this flight and I looked at him and I'd go, hey, I'm a Christian. You know, just you just kinda wanna see what's gonna happen at that point. And, he goes, well I'd like to shake your hand. And so I shook his hand, and I go, I'm actually a pastor.
Jeffrey Heine:He starts clapping really loud. So, the entire plane now is looking at us. He's just clapping really loud and goes, congratulations, pastor. I am so happy you're a pastor and I would like you to bless me. It's like, what?
Jeffrey Heine:He goes, I want you to bless me and I said, I can't. Nope. Sorry. I can't bless you. So he gets really loud.
Jeffrey Heine:I want you to bless me. Not gonna happen. So he finally goes, well, I'm gonna bless you. And so he unbuckles and he stands up. I mean, we are going down at this point, and he grabs my head.
Jeffrey Heine:So I unbuckle, stand up, grab him, and I just pin him to the ground. Sounds a lot greater than it was. Satanists don't get out much. Not really muscular. You know, it's kind of, you know, not very athletic.
Jeffrey Heine:It was kind of a it was kind of an easy thing to do there as I was I was holding him down while the flight attendants come rushing, and we land the plane. And then you know, I finally they let me get off the plane first. I meet my wife, and she's like, how was it? And I said, don't touch me. I was just necked by a drunk Satanist.
Jeffrey Heine:I I love this story because, you know, one, it's the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me. You always have the one up when people go, man, did I have a bad flight? Like, really? Uh-huh. Oh, but the the other reason I like this story is because, it makes such a caricature of evil.
Jeffrey Heine:It makes a Satanist, Satan, his followers, evil, just kind of funny. You know, like not really a power that you have to, you have to battle with. It's comical. You know, we we like to do this with our image of Satan. You know, we like to dress him up, you know, all wearing all red.
Jeffrey Heine:He's got a little tail. He's got little horns. He's got a little pitchfork, and he's just kind of a funny little character, and we wanna make him comical. Or or you know, sometimes we go the reverse and you know, picture of Satan is from horror movies in which, you know, you have some child speaking in a low voice, maybe with eyes that glow in her head spinning around or something. And but either way, it's not real.
Jeffrey Heine:You you know it's not real. It's just a just a caricature. It's it's funny when you see that. In life, you just feel like it'd be so much easier if that was the case because you would feel safe, you would feel in control, but that's not the case. Peter ends his letter here with a warning to Christians to be on the lookout for the devil.
Jeffrey Heine:Let me just state the obvious, really obvious, but there is a devil. There's a devil named Satan. Satan is a supernatural personality that is opposed to god, And Satan hates you because god loves you. Satan is a being with incredible power, and he is capable of tremendous evil. One of the definitions I heard of Satan, another pastor gave this, but he said, Satan would want to lift up the mountains and throw them at you if he could, and he could if god doesn't hold back his hand.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter, when he's talking about Satan here, he he says, if you're not thinking about him and and if you're not thinking about him correctly, then you need to wake up. Wake up. Says be be sober minded, meaning that you need to come to a clear understanding of who he is and how he affects our lives. Satan isn't some joke. He's not just some caricature.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter knows this firsthand. Remember on the night that Jesus was betrayed? You look at Luke 22, Jesus tells Peter, says, Simon, Simon, because behold, Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you return, strengthen your brothers. How would you like it if Jesus had said that to you?
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus's words aren't always that comforting. You know, he tells Paul, I will show you how much you must suffer for my name's sake. It's not like the call you want. He tells Peter, you know what? Satan has asked to have you, and I'm gonna let him.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm gonna let him, and he is going to sift you. Do you know what to sift wheat looks like? Means you chop it down, you put it on some stone, get a big stick, and you just start whacking it. You just start hitting it. This is what Satan did to Peter.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter, he he wasn't watchful like he tells us to be here. If you remember, when they went to the garden and Jesus said, watch out, keep alert, pray. Peter fell asleep. He wasn't on the lookout, and and Satan came and sifted him. Peter fell asleep.
Jeffrey Heine:Later that night, Peter would actually abandon his lord and savior Jesus. He he'd be so scared that he would actually swear. I don't I don't even know who this man is. Peter says, Satan is like a lion. See now, that's a really unusual image to use of Satan, a lion.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, throughout scripture, Satan is described as a serpent, but Peter uses the image of a lion because he's thinking a serpent. That's that that doesn't do it in my case. He he was more than a serpent. He was a lion and he was coming after me and he wanted to devour me. In verse 9, Peter goes on to say that we are to resist this devil.
Jeffrey Heine:Resist the this devil, this lion who stalks you, hunts you, who is hell bent on devouring you. You are somehow supposed to resist him. I'll confess when I when I was studying through this week this week and I just read this, I laughed initially when I came to this. Because last week, if you remember, I'm I'm teaching, we're sheep. That's what we are.
Jeffrey Heine:Calls us the flock of God. We're sheep. Picture a little fluffy sheep and picture a lion. And Peter's going, resist him and he will flee from you. Like, not a chance.
Jeffrey Heine:How can a sheep fight lions? Peter tells us at the start of this section, the verses 5, says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him. So so in those verses, Peter tells us what we need to do is to humble ourselves.
Jeffrey Heine:We need to cast our anxieties onto him and then, Peter goes on to tell us that Satan wants to devour us. He's like a roaring lion and so and my question to you is, is Peter just changing topics? Does he say you need to be humble, you need to get rid of your anxiety, period. Now let's let's move to the next topic and let's talk about Satan and how Satan wants to destroy your lives. Is this 2 completely separate thoughts?
Jeffrey Heine:Now I don't think it is. I I think this is flowing right into the other. You wanna resist the devil. You wanna resist his schemes. You wanna stand firm against him.
Jeffrey Heine:Well, you better be humble. You better get rid of your anxiety. That's how you can fight him. Pride and anxiety are 2 ways that the devil gets into your life and destroys you. All of you've heard the phrase, the devil made me do it.
Jeffrey Heine:If you haven't, become a parent. You hear that. I mean, the the devil may be hitter, you know. It's a lie. The devil doesn't make you do anything, but you can sin and you can give the devil a foothold into your life to where he begins wreaking havoc and having influence.
Jeffrey Heine:If you look at Ephesians 426, you'll find phrases like this, be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Paul says, don't let the sun go down on your anger because if you do that, you're giving the devil an opportunity. So he's saying, you sin. The devil doesn't make you sin. You sin but when you sin, that gives the devil a foothold into your life.
Jeffrey Heine:You're giving the devil an opportunity. You'll find this several places in scripture. You can find this in 1st Corinthians 7 when Paul's talking to married couples and he says, married couples, if you are going to abstain physically from one another, know that if you do that, you're giving Satan a foothold into your life to tempt you. So don't do that, except for maybe a short season of fasting and prayer. In 1st Timothy 3, Paul says that an elder cannot be a recent convert.
Jeffrey Heine:Otherwise, they might get puffed up. He says, that would lead to the condemnation of the devil and a snare of the devil. So the sin of pride opens the door to where the devil can come in and lay his snares. So, the sin is ours. The devil doesn't make you do it.
Jeffrey Heine:The sin is yours but when you do those sins, you open up a door that the devil can come in and when comes in, he's a roaring lion and he wants to devour you and so, the question is, how can we get rid of some of these sins? In particular here, Peter saying, how can you get rid of pride? How can you get rid of anxiety? Because that's how we resist the devil. So, in these last words of this letter, Peter tells us pride, anxiety are going to be ways that Satan is gonna try to get in your life and destroy you.
Jeffrey Heine:So if you wanna resist him, get rid of him. So let's look at these two sins of pride and anxiety. For verse 5 again, verse 5 says that, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Or in other words, if you're proud, you're not going to receive the grace of god. Now, I know know the reason you're not gonna receive the grace of god a proud person won't is because a proud person is self sufficient.
Jeffrey Heine:A proud person believes that they are who they are, not because anything that god has done. They are who they are because of what they have done. They're a self made man or a self made woman. They've worked hard. And if they receive God's favor, well, they've earned God's favor.
Jeffrey Heine:So a proud person doesn't believe they need grace, because they think they have the strength to be a good person all in themselves. And hear me. I I know we have a number of non Christians here, and thank you for coming. Those who are not Christians and you're just interested in the faith, let me be as clear as I can about this. Do not think that becoming a Christian is just mustering up enough strength to become a better person, and think I can do this.
Jeffrey Heine:I can turn over a new leaf. I can become a better person. Peter actually warns you against that. It says, if you think you can do that, that you could be a self made man or self made woman and that you could do change all your own, then what you're saying is you don't need a savior, and you're setting your ups yourself up to resist God's grace. That is not Christianity.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter can speak to this firsthand. You know, once again, on the night that Jesus was betrayed, do you remember what Peter said to Jesus? He's, you know, he kinda got Jesus to the side. He said, you know, Jesus, just, you know, just come between us. I'm looking at these other 11, and, if they fall away and it's looking like they're going to, just just know that I won't.
Jeffrey Heine:Okay? Just know that I won't fall away, that I won't deny you, that even if it means going to my death, I'll stand by you. So so Peter, filled with pride, he says this to Jesus. He's saying, I'm not weak like these other guys. I'm looking around this room, and I'm thinking, I'm not like these people.
Jeffrey Heine:I am better than them. I'm a strong man. I'm a brave man. But the truth is Peter was a lamb, and he was going to the slaughter before a lion. In no way was different than those other disciples.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter did not have a chance on his own. But this is what pride does. When we're filled with pride, we look around at other people, and we say, you know, thank you god that I'm not like them. Thank you god that I'm so much better than them. I I mean, I'm actually a pretty good guy, and when you begin to think that, you begin to shut out god's grace in your life.
Jeffrey Heine:And Peter's problem is what I would call he was spiritually middle class. He was spiritually middle class. I I grew up middle class, and I also grew up in the church. I grew up with a really strong work ethic. My dad was very, very poor.
Jeffrey Heine:He actually did not even have indoor plumbing until after college. He brought indoor plumbing into his parents' house. And always had this idea, if you want something, you work for it. You work hard for it. And I also knew I had a calling to the poor as a Christian, and and so we we helped out the poor, but I always looked down on the poor.
Jeffrey Heine:Because I was I was middle class, and I would look down and think, you know, if you worked hard like me, you know, if you studied in school like me, you know, you wouldn't be in the position you were in, and I just so looked down on the poor. I I would think I'm here. I'm where I am by my own effort. How arrogant is that? The spiritually middle class do the same thing.
Jeffrey Heine:We look around at others, and we, like, how can they fall into that sin? How can they do that? You know what? I I am doing really well by my sheer willpower. I can pull this thing together.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm not like them, Lord. And when we do that, the flow of God's grace is stopped because we say we don't need him to change. Peter then goes on after talking about pride. He talks about anxiety in verse 7. Says, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Jeffrey Heine:So, we are not to carry our anxieties. We are to cast our anxieties. We we are to throw our anxieties on to Jesus and let him carry them for us. Because our anxieties are too great for us. They are too burdensome for us.
Jeffrey Heine:They they will weigh us down. Our anxieties will suffocate us. And I know some of you are suffocating under anxieties right now. Peter says there's no need for this. You you you need to cast these things on the lord.
Jeffrey Heine:That word cast, the other time it's used in scriptures just when they were to cast a blanket on a donkey for somebody to ride. And so you're you're you're taking something here and you're putting it on another to bear the weight. Says do this, cast your burden onto the Lord. Cast your anxiety onto him. Now this call to cast your anxieties onto the Lord isn't a separate call than the one for you to be humble.
Jeffrey Heine:You need to see these two things together. Look at verse 6 and 7 again. I'm always gonna point you point you to the text point you to the text. I want when y'all leave redeemer, not for you to think, you know, that was a good message, but for you to be able to go back to the text and understand the message. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god so that at the proper time, he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
Jeffrey Heine:Casting all your anxieties on him is how you humble yourselves before the Lord. This is what humbling yourself looks like. Casting our anxieties on god is when we acknowledge, god, you're in control, not me. You're the one who rules, not me. And it sounds kind of easy, you know, just kind of cast, you cast, but but how actually do we cast our anxieties on the Lord?
Jeffrey Heine:I wanna put just point out a couple of things. 2 things that you need to do in order to get rid of your anxiety. 1st, and this is gonna sound like it's out of left field, a little strange, but you need to accept the fact that your anxiety is a gift from the Lord. Your anxiety that you're suffering is God's gift to you. It's a gift that God gives to you to expose your idols and to get you to reach out to him.
Jeffrey Heine:So whenever you feel anxious, you feel that you immediately immediately when you feel that anxiety, God is exposing the the idolatry in your heart, what you go to for self sufficiency, what you go to to satisfy you, what you build your identity on. You you realize those things immediately when you feel that anxiousness. So if you're anxious about your weight, I'm really anxious about my weight. Well, then it shows the idol in your heart is your appearance. You really care what you look like to other people.
Jeffrey Heine:And if that goes, your whole identity crumbles. So when you feel anxious about your weight, that's a gift from God to expose an idol, now build your identity on Christ. If you're anxious about money or your lack of money, instantly, God is revealing to you an idol in your heart that you believe money is how you're sustained in this life. Money is what brings you security in this life. So he exposes that idol in order for you to call out to the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Anxiety is a gift from him. He is using it to get you to recognize all of the false gods in your life and then to get you to call out to him. And think of it this way, and when you feel anxiety, anxiety is god's invitation for you to come with him come to him, and let him carry that for you. So next time you feel anxious, thank thank God, thank you for letting me feel anxious. So now I can come to you and let you carry this.
Jeffrey Heine:2nd, you need to remind yourself that God is in control of your life and that he cares. Matter of fact, he cares about your life more than you care about your life. Verse 6 says that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of god. I love that phrase, the humble under the mighty hand of god. You see, your entire life is being lived out underneath god's mighty hand.
Jeffrey Heine:There's not a aspect of your life that is not explicitly in his control. You know, we're as we're preparing for 9 listens and carols, I've already been thinking about some Christmas things, and one of the things that I'm always amazed about in the Christmas story is that God can change the heart of the mightiest person in the land, Caesar Augustus, can put it in his heart to have a census of his entire empire. So you dislocate 1,000 upon 1,000 of people who are having to travel everywhere, a massive disruption to the entire empire just so he can move a little carpenter and his betrothed wife from point a to point b. I mean, just just think about that. All the moving parts that are happening just so god can move from point a to point b, a little couple.
Jeffrey Heine:And when you think about that, I and when I think about that, I think, okay, I can never know what you were doing in my life. Ever. You know, whenever people come up and you're like, you know, share what the lord's doing in your life. The first thing you should say is, I have no idea. Because our vision is so limited, but we have a God who is in control over all of this, and he can move nations, get them to do what he wants, just to move a little individual from point a to point b.
Jeffrey Heine:He is that in control. The mighty hand of god. I also think of Psalm 139. I I love the phrase there. It says he it's a great psalm about the sovereignty of god, and it says, he hems me in from behind and before.
Jeffrey Heine:And then it says, he places his hand over me, and the the word is is the word that's used for when you cup your hand and you smother a bug. That's god's mighty hand, and I love it. It's basically god saying, I'm covering you. You don't go anywhere unless I allow you to go. And you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:Nobody can touch you unless I allow them to touch you. That is the mighty hand of God. But he's not just powerful and sovereign. He cares for us more than we care for ourselves. In verse 7 7, says, we're to cast our anxieties on him because he cares for us.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, if you think of the image of God cupping you, that actually can be terrifying. If you think, God's in control of my life, and he's smothering me. It could be a very terrifying thing unless you know that he cares for you more than you care for yourself. Then it becomes a very liberating thing. You know, when the disciples were on the boat with Jesus and they're crossing over to the other side and the big storm comes in, I love that story.
Jeffrey Heine:The waves are crashing over, and all the disciples are convinced they are gonna drown. And so they they wake up Jesus and they cry out to him. But you know what they cried out to him? Jesus, don't you care? They didn't ask, Jesus, are you able to save us?
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus, are you in control? They didn't ask that. They simply wanted to know, Jesus, don't you care that we're dying? That's what Peter's audience wants to know. They don't wanna just know if Jesus can do something.
Jeffrey Heine:It's like they're in the boat with waves crashing over them. They're losing their jobs. They're losing their friends. They're losing their homes. Some are being taken to the lions, literally.
Jeffrey Heine:They They just wanna know, god. Alright. God, if you are over all this, do you care? Peter says, yes. The Lord cares.
Jeffrey Heine:He cares about your life even more than you do. Hear me on this. Never ever for one moment should you ever doubt that our lord cares for us, that our lord loves us. We don't base our knowledge of that, our understanding of God's love. We don't base it on the ups and the downs of life.
Jeffrey Heine:We don't base it on the ups and the downs of the stock market, the ups and downs of our weight, the ups and downs of how our kids are doing. We don't base it on those things. We base it on the cross. We are always looking at the cross, and when we see Jesus on the cross who died for us, never ever can we doubt that he cares for us. Ever.
Jeffrey Heine:We can also never think for a moment when we look to the cross that we are basically a good self made man or woman who doesn't need any help. That needs to be banished from you. What you need to think is we would be lambs led to the slaughter if Jesus didn't himself become a lamb who was led to the slaughter. You know, both Jesus and Satan are described as lions. You know, Jesus, the lion of Judah.
Jeffrey Heine:Both Jesus and Satan point out your sins. Both of them. They they they expose your sins, but both of them do it for very different reasons. Satan is gonna point out your sins in order to ruin your life. Jesus is gonna point out your sins in order to redeem your life.
Jeffrey Heine:Satan is gonna point out your sins, and then he's gonna appeal to your pride. He's gonna say, alright. You know, you you send there. You can change. You can do so much better.
Jeffrey Heine:No. No. Don't don't you don't you don't need god's help in this. You you can do this. And Jesus is gonna point out your sins, and he's gonna say, don't look within, look at the cross.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus is always the holy spirit is always pointing you and pushing you to the cross. Satan's gonna expose your sin, and he's gonna say, you need to be scared of god. He's gonna grip you with fear, anxiety. God can never love you for that sin. Jesus is gonna point out that sin.
Jeffrey Heine:He's gonna say, there is no need for fear, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You see how the gospel completely demolishes pride and it completely demolishes anxiety or fear? Because when we look at the cross, we think, I am so much worse than I ever thought I was. Pride, gone. Fear is also gone, because you think, I am so loved and I am more accepted than ever thought possible.
Jeffrey Heine:The gospel strips down those things. And the more and more we believe the gospel, the more and more Satan loses that foothold in our life. So how do you resist them? You believe the gospel. Believe the gospel.
Jeffrey Heine:Pray with me. Lord, for those who don't know you, I pray in this moment that they would hear you calling. Or very similar to what we heard from Jimmy earlier, may may dots start connecting. May you open up their minds. May you open up their eyes to where they can see you.
Jeffrey Heine:Do that in this moment, and they clearly understand your gospel. And not just the unbeliever, but Lord for those who do know you, may your gospel be so cemented in us. May it transform us. We never outgrow it. Nobody ever stands on a pedestal before the cross.
Jeffrey Heine:We're all laid low before you. Jesus, we wanna thank you for being the lamb that was slaughtered so that we might have life. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.