HiddenTreasure | Part 3

I have the privilege to continue this series called Hidden Treasure. Everybody say hidden treasure. In this, we're unpacking some of the parables of Jesus. And if you're not really familiar with scripture, it's crazy to think that in the New Testament,

the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, one third of Jesus' teachings as recorded in those books comes in the form of parables. It's a lot of content. And a parable is really an everyday story used to illustrate spiritual truth. Jesus lived in a storytelling world

where literacy was rare and words in print or on scrolls were rarer still. And in his parables, he focused mostly on the kingdom of God and the God of the kingdom. And in these parables, he would also bring those listening, his audience to what we could say was maybe a crisis of decision.

At the end of most parables, was this thought of okay, what do I now do with what I just heard? There was an immediacy to his teaching through these parables. And so each week we've been unpacking

a parable. The one that we're gonna focus on this week is gonna speak to every single one of us. Because if you're a follower of Jesus, let me just ask you this question. You're a follower of Christ, you're a Christian. And you read your Bible,

and sometimes when reading your Bible, you see things in scripture that are actually really exciting and you're going, man, I so want that in my life. But then you look in the mirror going, just

not there yet. Like, there's I'm just not has anybody else, like, experienced that? You're like, you see it in scripture, two of us. Thank you so much for making me feel good right now. Like, and you just say, I'm just not there yet. Well, this parable explains a bit of why there's a struggle in this.

And if you're not a follower of Jesus, maybe someone, you know, bribed you and said, hey, come to church. I'll take you out to dinner first. Make them pay. When you go out to dinner after church, make them pay up. But the other thing is, when you do consider receiving

Christ in your life, this parable is gonna show you some of the foundational stuff that's necessary to encounter God in your life. Like, literally. Because this parable basically is gonna show us that the posture or the openness of our heart can determine

the depth of God's work in our life. We're gonna look at the parable of the sower in Matthew chapter thirteen. So if you have a Bible with you, go to Matthew chapter thirteen, first book in the New Testament. While you're turning there or scrolling there on your app, if you don't have a Bible accessible,

the scriptures are gonna be on the screen. And we're gonna have a lot of Bible verses that we're gonna talk through in these next few minutes. I hope that's okay if we still use the bible in church. Anybody good with that? Okay. Alright. Good. So go to Matthew 13.

While you're going there, I get the privilege and even the responsibility, I guess, to work with a handful of churches. And I just love it.

It's it's thrilling to see how God works. And I get to be in different contexts and with different churches that have different expressions. All, you know, following Jesus and teaching the Bible, but different flavors.

And one of the questions I love to ask pastors when we sit down and just have some chill time together, is I say, you know, when you gather together, when we gather together like this at a church service, who's your target audience? And the response is quite diverse.

Some of my friends who are pastors will with passion say, well our church services are for the church. Meaning, they're for the believers. So therefore, I mean, the church isn't a building, it's people. So when we gather together, we're gathering to worship God,

to serve one another, and to grow spiritually. How many of you would say, yeah, that sounds like that's what we should do. Anybody? Like, raise your hand. This is participatory. Okay. Just three of you believe in having church for the church. Okay. Let's keep going. Let's see what the next one is. Then now, then some of them, my pastor friends with passion, will say first, they'll say, we do church for the unchurched.

Meaning people who are not followers of Jesus. Because Jesus came to seek and save the lost. So what we do is we tell our folks, hey, you invite your friends, invite your family, you do what you can do, we're gonna do what we can do. We're gonna create an engaging

experience that's relevant for someone who may not have a relationship with God. How many you say, man, church for the unchurched sounds pretty good to me too. Because I think that's even biblical. Like, a few more of you. Yeah. So what so here's the question. Who's our target audience?

When we gather together like this, who is the target audience? But when Jesus was teaching these parables, most often, a large crowd would gather around. And I think Jesus would have a pretty clear response if we were to ask Him, who's your target audience? Because when He taught these parables, in these crowds

was a diversity of people. Just like here at Rock Point and all the other great churches here in the Southeast Valley. Jesus would have people listening to him who were maybe spiritually curious. Maybe they just kind of stumbled upon this gathering of people like, what's going on here? They're curious.

There were folks in the crowd who were definitely convinced. And then there were probably those who could really care less about spiritual things and what he would have to say. So who's his target?

Jesus' teaching would always include everyone, but he always had a very targeted audience in mind. And in just a moment, I think we're gonna see who that is. So go to verse one of Matthew 13,

and let's dig into this thing. It says this. The same day Jesus, that same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.

Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. I mean, we can picture this quite easily, right? So many people are coming around. It's almost like he's like, woah, I'm going to start wading in the water here. I'm just going to sit in the boat and give a little bit of space here.

And, and then it says this in verse three. Then he told them many things in parables saying. And then he proceeds in the next five verses to tell a very simple story.

And if you can refrain from reading it, some of you can't. You just have to read it right now or it's going to bug you. Go ahead. It's all good. I'll give you a moment. Alright, you're good. You got it. He tells this very simple story. Keep in mind, as I tell it as well,

that everyone who was listening to him fully understood the basic meaning of the story. Or they understood the story. Because their culture was an agricultural culture. There was no confusion as to this basic story. Jesus says, a farmer goes out to sow his seed, to plant his seed. And in that time,

often the farmer would have this big huge pouch over one shoulder with a big bag full of seeds and walk along the pathways in between where everything grew and would just kind of cast seed onto the ground. And so Jesus says, the farmer goes out to sow seed.

Some of the seed fell on the ground, on the on the on the path, on the hard path that people walk on, and that seed was eaten by the birds. They'd come and swoop down and eat that seed. People are like, yeah, seed all the time. Jesus says, the other seed fell on soil that was really shallow and rocky,

And it grew really fast, but because it had no depth, the sun scorched it and it withered and died. And then he says, and some seed was cast, you know, put in the ground, but the weeds grew up with it at the very same time, choked it, and it was unfruitful. There was no harvest.

And then he says, then there was seed thrown on good soil, and that produced a harvest. Some 30, some 60, some a hundredfold. Everyday story. Not complicated whatsoever. Then he says something really interesting. Look at verse nine. He says, whoever has ears,

let them hear. So it's at this point, Jesus makes it clear that this everyday story, he's trying to use it to communicate a spiritual reality. Whoever has ears, let them hear. Now keeping in mind his audience. The curious, the convinced, and those who could really care less. And Jesus teaches in a way that's

relevant for everyone, but he targets those who are hungry. He says, whoever has ears, let them hear. He's evoking those who are hungry. And our big idea for this conversation is, to the hungry, Jesus is life changing. Everybody say that, to the hungry, Jesus is life changing.

Let's dig into this. Let's unpack it because Jesus has a really interesting exchange with his disciples that I gotta be quite honest with you. Is kind of confusing and somewhat complex. I'm intimidated to try to teach a little bit of this about what we're going read. Because it sounds like a riddle.

Sounds like a guy that's a million times smarter than me trying to confuse me. And I'm like, okay, let's try to get this point across. Let's dig into this. Go to your bible in verse 10.

And here's what he says. These next five verses. It says, the disciples came to him and asked, why do you speak to the people in parables? Like, yeah, why? I mean, think about it. Maybe you think about it for yourself. Maybe you invite your friends and your family to Rock Point and you've invited them 25 times

and they've never taken you up on the offer. I mean, you're like, hey, gotta come to Rock Point. It's it's Easter. It's Christmas Eve. It's we got a big festival. We got a great something going on. A great message series. You keep inviting. You keep inviting. And on the twenty sixth time, everybody comes.

It's like, woah, man. Everybody come. I told them I take them out to lunch. I meet them in the lobby. I'll sit with you. And they're here. And then you're like, yay. Hey, so glad you're here. And on the inside, you're telling yourself, man, I hope pastor Bill's message really hits home today. Man, I hope it's relevant.

I hope it's not about money. I hope it's something that we can all relate to. Right? And you're like, oh, it's so good. And you get all your family here, you're taking up a whole section, and Bill gets up, and he just speaks in parables. And you're like, come on, man.

This is the twenty sixth time I've invited them, and now you're talking in gibberish. What's going on? I mean, maybe that's what some of the disciples were thinking in this moment. Jesus, look at your crowd. Why are you speaking in parables? This is your moment. Say it with clarity. Who are you and what's the deal?

But he speaks to them in parables. Let's keep on reading this. Verse 11. To the question, why do you speak to them and the people in parables? Jesus replies, because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you but not to them. Now, I don't know about you but that doesn't sound fair.

What's up with that? Well, it's important to know that when scripture says the secret of the kingdom of heaven, what it's doing is it's God is now beginning to reveal something. He's not concealing

it. He's I'm gonna say it this way. He's concealing it no longer. He's now revealing it. So when it says there's a secret, it's not gonna be hidden. It's not you know cat and mouse, hide and seek. God's now beginning to reveal it. Okay? So he says this in verse 12.

And it gets confusing. I'll just be honest with you. He says, whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables.

Though seeing, they do not see. Though hearing, they do not understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. He quotes some Old Testament Isaiah stuff, which says this. You will be ever hearing but never understanding. You'll be ever seeing but never perceiving.

Why? Why are they not hearing? Why are they not perceiving? Well he tells us in verse 15. For this people's heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, everybody say otherwise.

Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them. Jesus is saying to those who are genuinely listening and sincerely seeking, God will reveal himself to them.

That's what he's saying. He's not saying God's playing favorites and hiding truth from people. He's saying if you have an ear, hear. We got a home for Christmas. Our son Dylan, he every year we give our kids, we don't do elaborate Christmas things. But every year we say, okay, what's your big gift?

And the big gift can be maybe like, as they got older the price increased you know, maybe a couple $100 or something like that. And this year Dylan's big gift, he wanted Bose noise cancelling headphones.

And every time you know, I fly quite a bit and whenever I'm flying and I'm sitting next to somebody or I see some of those Bose noise cancelling headphones, I'm so jealous. I'm I'm just like, I see them and I'm like, man, you suck.

I really want those. I've got my little $25, you know, bluetooth things I cram in my ear, you know, and they hurt half the time. And so we got Dylan these Bose noise cancelling headphones and they are incredible.

And you know, you put them on. If you've ever experienced them, you put them on and you flip this little switch and they turn on. It's like they suck to your head and you can't hear hardly a thing. It's like you're in your own little world now. Well, problem with this with this is Dylan wears them around the house.

And it's just crazy. We'll be sitting down. I'm watching TV. Maybe I'm watching a, you know, a game or something. He's sitting across the living room. And he's kind of watching to you, but he's, you know, messing around on his phone. And I'll just start talking to him. I'm halfway into what I'm saying and then it just hits me. He has no clue I'm even talking right now. He cannot hear a thing. And then I'll sit in my chair and I'll be like, hey, yo, he can't hear. And I start doing this and waving at him. And he'll look and he'll go, what? And I'll say something, he'll say, uh-huh or ah or ah and close it out, he's done. That's it. And then he'll walk around the house with his headphones on and he'll walk by and say, hey, man, you got to work tonight? What time you got to work? And he didn't hear a thing. And I run past him like, hey, woah, woah, woah. What time do you have to work? He can't hear a thing. What Jesus

is saying in this when he says, he who has ears, let him hear. What he's saying to his audience of the curious, the convinced, and those who could care less is spiritually speaking, many of you are wearing noise canceling headphones right now.

And you can't hear, you see me talking to you, but you can't hear what I'm saying because you don't want to hear what I have to say. You just don't want to. And Jesus is kind of sifting out those who are hungry and those who were not. That's what that means. He speaks in parables to provoke the hunger within,

so that those who are hungry will lean in and say, tell me more. I don't understand. What are you trying to say? I want to listen to you. I'm here to learn from you. Will you tell me tell me more? He's provoking their hunger.

So what's it mean? Well, let's try to unpack this simple little parable. Let's go and let's read some bible verses.

Let's go down to verse 18. Jesus says, listen then to what the parable of the sower means. And I'm gonna read about five verses here. So hang with me. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their hearts.

This is the seed sown along the path. Everybody say,

Verse 20. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word. Again, the word of the kingdom, the kingdom of God, the God of the kingdom, you know, all that kind of stuff. This is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy,

but since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Everybody say, verse 22. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word,

making it unfruitful. Everybody go, Verse 23, but the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a 160 or 30 times what was sown. And I really think that the meaning of this parable is that Jesus is saying

that the work of God in your life will always face resistance. And the work of God in your and my life begins in the heart, but the heart has many rivals. Everybody say rivalry. I grew up in Michigan. And as a person growing up in Michigan, during football season,

professional football, we didn't really have a whole lot to cheer for. It's kind of like the highlight of my childhood was Barry Sanders on TV. That was that was kinda it. So

college football was kinda king during football season. I'm a Michigan State Spartan fan, but I always knew when it was rivalry week. And rivalry week in Michigan was the University of Michigan against Ohio State.

That's the rivalry. And I'm telling you what, there's a church I'm gonna go to in a couple weeks that I go to often. And without exaggeration, they always, they kind of, I'm known as the guy that always has the Ohio State jab. And so I'll throw something in the message, I'll jab,

and I kid you not, it's almost a standing ovation. I mean, it's that crazy. Big, big rivalry. Now, let's bring it, in season, maybe a little more relevant for here in the valley. Here's a rivalry that's kinda gets heated every now and then. This is a good rivalry.

Come on. Any D backs fans in the house? Come on, make some noise.

Hold on. Hold on. Rewind the tape. Let's try that again. Any D backs fans in the house at all? Okay. There we go. Any Dodgers fans in the house? Come on. Alright. Alright. Nice. Good rivalry. Here's the deal. I'm learning as I go that it's better for me to try and stay neutral when it comes to sports when I'm teaching the Bible.

Unlike what pastor Bill will do, I'm trying to stay neutral in the sporting arena when I'm up here teaching.

So but I do need to let you know that I have absolutely no control while standing here over any subliminal messages that might go on while I'm teaching today at all. I have no control over it. Okay? I'm just staying neutral. Alright? But we all know what rivalries are. Right? Everybody say rivalry.

In this parable, Jesus is really communicating to use our modern language. There's rivalries in our hearts. Be aware of them. And here's one of the I'm gonna point out a few of these rivals that you and I have to do business that that resist

the work of God in our heart and in our lives. And the first one is this. It's the rival of apathy.

Everybody say apathy.

Let me reread some scripture to you. It's not on the screen, but it might be in front of you or you've already heard it. Here's what here's what he says in verse 19. Anyone who hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what's sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

Now, remember his audience. The disciples would come to him a lot and say, what were you trying to say? We don't get it. So he's not saying a lack of understanding is a problem. What he's saying is that those who don't understand and don't care to find out the answer, those are the ones where the seed gets stolen away.

There's no desire for truth and that's the apathy. Those are the noise canceling headphones. And apathy is just a rival to what God wants to do in our heart. God can't do a whole lot when we are full of apathy. Here's another rival. The rival of convenience. Everybody say convenience. Convenience.

Verse verse 20 says, the seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution, watch this closely. When trouble or persecution comes, why? Because of the word, they quickly fall away.

Jesus is saying that when you and I begin following him and embracing his teachings, that there will be resistance in trials and things coming against you because of your faith. Because of your choice to do what he says. Because of your decision to follow Jesus and his teachings.

They're gonna come against you and it's gonna be a test of loyalty. And it's the test of convenience. And if our Jesus is not condemning us, I don't think. I think what he's saying is, hey, follow me. Follow me, but just know this, that if your faith and your trust in me is only as deep as it is convenient,

you're going to quickly fall away because it will become inconvenient at times. Anybody ever experienced that? Like following sorry, if if you're not a follower of Jesus, let me just warn you right now. Following Christ is inconvenient. That's inspiring, isn't it? But

how many would raise your hand and say, it's true. It's the truth. And Jesus is saying, if the depth of our faith is only convenience, you're gonna fall away. Be aware of it. It's a rival. We have the rival of apathy, the rival of convenience, and I would call this, the next one, the rival of distraction.

Everyone say distraction. Here's what Jesus said about that. In verse 22, the seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word making it unfruitful. He's basically saying there's competition

to the fruit in your life and it's the distraction of being more worried than you are trusting in who God is. More worried about life than focusing on who he is. Or pursuing stuff more than pursuing Christ. These are things that will choke out the word, the the the word and the work of God in our life. It's arrival.

It's arrival in our heart. Jesus is saying, beware of distraction. It's going to come. It's gonna be there. So here's the thing. I mean, how many you guys are like like me and you think, I I struggle with all of these. Like anybody say, man, I at times struggle struggle being spiritually apathetic. Anybody?

Like, I mean, right. Anyone else say, I struggle at times by just, you know, with things that are convenient. Like I crave comfort more than I crave the inconvenience of following Jesus. How many would say that's I wrestle with that at times? Yeah. How many of you would also say, man, I I am distracted

by stuff. Stuff isn't bad, but I let stuff become the thing in my life and it's distracting. Either worrying about things that I can't control or wanting something that maybe is a bit out of reach financially or whatever it is, and I get distracted by those things. Somebody else say, yeah, man.

Jesus is just saying, in my opinion, he's not he's not saying, you know, if you wanna follow me, you'd better never be apathetic. You better be on fire for me twenty four seven or you're just a loser. I don't think he's saying, hey, if you want to follow me and you want to go to heaven,

you better reject convenience and comfort and take up your cross in a painful way and die for the sin of everybody else. You better never be comfortable or you know. I don't think he's I don't think that's his tone. I think his tone is saying, hey, when you follow me, just know this.

There will be things that will resist the work of God in your hearts. And when we're aware of them, we can deal with them. Don't be unaware. Don't be unaware of apathy and convenience and distraction. Because when you know they're there, we can do work against them and win that battle. Because he goes on to say,

he says in verse 23, but the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop yielding a 160 or 30 times what was sown.

I wish you would have described it a little more. Like I'm thinking Jesus, what's the qualities of the soil, the good soil? Give me like the eight or 800 things that we can just check off the list and be good soil. How many of guys want to be good soil?

I mean, come on. But he he doesn't. He just says, you hear what I'm saying and you understand it. Here's the here's what I think is the key. And we've kind of alluded to it, if not even been very clear on it. Is that when we don't understand, we lean in and we ask and we seek truth and we find it out and we pursue it.

When I first gave my life to Christ for the first season, like the first year specifically, I was I'm kinda I'm a I'm a I'm never the smartest guy in the room. But sometimes I'm the most curious and I ask a lot of questions. I have more questions than I have answers. Just be warned.

I have a lot of questions. And when I put my faith in Christ, I made the decision, I believe by the grace of God, I wanna know what I've just done. I mean, I've literally prayed this prayer saying, Jesus, I choose to for you to be Lord of my life.

Forgive me for my sin. I believe you're the risen Christ. I wanna follow you. I wanna give my life to you. And I walked out of that prayer going, what's this mean? What do I do? And I literally dug into the scriptures. I was like a monk for a year. Mean, that's what I felt like. I had a full time job,

but I'm like reading my bible before I go to work. I'm reading my bible at lunchtime. I'm at church every time the doors open. I'm reading my bible every single night. I'm doing bible studies. I'm not saying that we have to all all have to do this, but I will tell you this. In my experience, God revealed himself to me

based on my level of hunger for him. And I would suggest that if you want to really see God more clearly, increase your hunger and get after it. This is my experience. He will reveal himself to those who are seeking him. You could say it this way, those who seek him will see him.

And in this parable, Jesus isn't teaching how to parent. He's not teaching how to have a godly marriage. He's not teaching how to deal with difficult people. He's not teach and that stuff's in the Bible. But in this parable, he's saying, hey, if you want to experience God, know this. The sower went out to sow

and he threw his seed on the ground. And Jesus is saying this rivals apathy, convenience, distraction. But, when you don't understand, it's not because we're wearing noise cancelling headphones. When we don't understand, we lean in and we dig in and we pursue truth and we go after the heart of God. And as we do to that extent,

God reveals to us Himself. I think that's the meaning of the parable. Jesus is basically saying, stay hungry, stay thirsty, and I'll feed you. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. And here's what else He says. And then I'm gonna wrap it up in just a minute. Matthew chapter seven. Here's the promise.

Jesus says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks, receives. The one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. I mean, that's all. He's asking, you know, seek, knock, it's all there. God will respond.

God will respond. Here's what I found is in my own life, I think this is a spiritual principle. When I'm hungry, I flew in today. We had our son Dylan had a we had his graduation, high school graduation last night because we wanted grandparents to be in town and stuff. So that was the day that worked.

And I knew I was gonna be at Rock Point this weekend. So we're like, let's try to do it on Friday night. I'll just I'll just fly in Saturday. Hoping there's no delays or no missed flights. And it all worked. Right? Here we are. So I get into Phoenix and I'm hungry. I hadn't eaten anything. And I went to a restaurant. And

man, I'm just shoving it down. And before I could even finish, I'm full. I'm like, oh. And then I wanted to go to bed. I was so tired. I'm like, short night's sleep. And I I just stuffed myself. And I walked away. I was full. Physically, when you and I are hungry, we feed ourself, we're full. Spiritually, it's the opposite.

When you and I are spiritually hungry to Put it this way. To be spiritually hungry, we need to feed ourselves something spiritual. And when we feed ourselves spiritual things, scripture, church, worship, prayer, all that stuff and more. When we feed ourselves spiritual things, our spiritual hunger does what? Increases.

When we don't feed ourselves spiritual things or when we starve ourselves spiritually, guess what goes away? Our hunger. It's the opposite. So what do we do with what we've just heard? When we walk out of this building in like four minutes, minutes. What do we do? Get hungry.

How do you get hungry? Start feeding yourself spiritually. And feed yourself spiritually more and you're gonna increase in hunger. To the hungry, Jesus is life changing. To those who could care less, we can hear what he has to say and it's like noise cancelling headphones. We're not gonna we're not gonna grow at all.

Who's our target audience? The hungry. Anybody here hungry? Not for dinner. Not for dinner. Let's pray. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much. Lord, thank you for this parable. Seems kind of complicated, but I guess its meaning is not so complicated, Lord. But I I just pray

that it hit home with every single one of us right now. With our heads bowed, our eyes closed, I just want to ask you a question. Just put some feet to what we've been talking about here. How many would say just heads bowed, eyes closed, it's nothing to boast about just between you and the Lord, I'd love to see who's

in this room. How many of guys would say, man, I'm not as hungry spiritually as I want to be. I wanna be more spiritually. Raise your hand if you're like, man, I wanna be more spiritually hungry in my life. Father God, I pray for all of us who have our hand raised right now. God, I pray that

as we take that simple step and consume something spiritual, maybe it was just this church experience. Maybe it's also opening up our Bible tomorrow morning more at home, and then the next day. Maybe it's taking just a minute or two to pray. Maybe it's putting on some worship music at home or in the car and just engaging

in worship and thanking you for who you are. God, I pray that whatever that small step is, God, that you would fill our hearts with a hunger for you. And God, that you would reveal yourself to us to the extent that we hunger for you, God.

And Lord I pray for my friends here. The friends of Rock Point who are just checking things out. That aren't Christian, that aren't a follower of Jesus, just curious. God I pray that you'd put in them a hunger to lean in, to ask questions.

That at least God, they wouldn't go out with noise canceling headphones on, but they'd they'd have a heart that says, okay God, if you're really there, and Jesus, if you are really the son of God, I'm open to hearing from you. Would you prod their heart to be soft and open to you God.

And we thank you for this. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.