Greg Laurie — A Second Chance at Easter
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We're gonna be at John, Chapter 21 for our Easter message of 2017. The title of my message is "A Second Chance at Easter". I love Jordan's story. She went to church on Easter, and she felt like she was home again. Maybe that's how you feel because there might be some of you that have a similar story. You were raised as a believer, but you've walked away from that and you've not been as close to the Lord as you once were. You wonder, "Have I strayed so far would God even welcome me back again"? For others, this is all new to you. You have never been to this church and for some of you, you've never been to any church.
Here's what I want to say to you today. Welcome home. This is your home. Yes. See, the church is a family. I'll admit, a dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless. It's God's family, God's forever family. We want you to be a part of it. You know, when I was a kid, I was looking for a family. It's because I really didn't have one. I never had a father. I was more like a parent to my mother than she was a parent to me with all of her divorces and alcoholism. Throughout my childhood I was searching for a father, a mother, a family. I found it when I came to Christ and I met other followers of Jesus Christ who became my brothers and sisters, you see. "Greg, wait a second. What about the hypocrites in the church"? Hey, don't worry about it. There's always room for one more, okay? Come on in. Join.
I recently read a letter from a young lady that wrote me that had a very hard childhood. Both of her parents are raging alcoholics. She was the second of four children. They occasionally went to church, but she said she never heard the gospel. When she was nine, her mom and her dad and her younger sister were in an alcohol-related car crash and tragically, her father and her sister died. Her mom was in critical condition. She finally recovered, tragically to only go back to drinking again. She really did not care for her three remaining kids. One of this girl's sisters was so despondent by this she committed suicide at the age of 20. Then the girl who wrote me started having suicidal thoughts, wondering why was she even put on this earth, to suffer like this? Then to make matters worse, her mom got behind the wheel of a car, drunk again, and this time she killed someone else on the road. Her mother was sent to prison.
You wonder, "Can this story get any worse"? God specializes in intervening in tragic situations and turning them around. Her mom's in prison. That's right. By the way, you're way more responsive than the first service. They were so dead, unbelievable. Thank you for that. It was early. It was early. Anyway, what I'm saying is true. It's bad. Her mom's in prison, but God intervenes and she hears our radio broadcast and makes a commitment to Christ and she stopped drinking. She starts praying for her daughter. She prays for her daughter who wrote me this letter for five years, and finally the daughter came to Jesus. The daughter wrote, "I lost two sisters, but the Lord has given me now many sisters in Christ in the church". She found her home, and you can find your home as well. I love how when Jordan came to church she saw the words on the screen, "We're glad you made it". Then the pastor said, "It's never too late to come back home".
That's so true because Easter, among other things, is about second chances. I want to tell you a Bible story. When I tell my grandkids Bible stories I'll say, "How many of you want to hear a Bible story? Raise your hand". I'll say it to you. You want to hear a Bible story? Raise your hand. Good, good, okay. I've got a good one for you. It's a story of a guy who crashed and burned spiritually. He loved Jesus, but he was self-confident and prideful and set the scene for his own fall. His name was Simon Peter, often referred to as St. Peter. Yes, he was a saint, but he was a saint who fell because even saints can slip. Really, what is a saint? It's just another word for believer. I heard a story of a Sunday school teacher that was talking to her class about saints and she said, "Who can tell me what a saint is"? A little girl raised her hand. The teacher called on her and the little girl, thinking of the apostles on the stained glass windows at church, said, "A saint is someone that the light shines through".
That's true. We're all saints. You don't have to call me St. Gregory if you don't want to, but I am a bonafide, living saint. If you put your faith in Christ, you are too. So was Peter, but he had a big fall. Of course, he was far from perfect. In fact, the faux pas of Peter were legendary. Did you know that more ink is given to Simon Peter and what he said in the gospels than any of the other apostles? You know why that is? Because Peter was always talking. You always knew where you stood with Peter. Do you know someone, or maybe you are that someone, that has to offer your opinion on everything even when you're not asked? That was Peter. He always had something to say, providing running commentary. One of the epic Peter moments is when Jesus takes Peter, James, and John aside. They fall asleep and He goes and He's transfigured, meaning that He was shining like the sun. Peter wakes up. He sees Jesus.
On one side there's Elijah, the great, miracle-working prophet. On the other side was Moses, the great law giver. If ever there was a time to just take it in, take a picture, post it if you have to, but just be quiet, Peter feels it's a good time to say something. There's Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Peter stands up and says, "It's good we are here". "Let's build three tents, one for Moses, one for Jesus, one for Elijah". You wonder if Moses turned to Jesus and said, "Is he with you"? Elijah might've said, "I'll torch him right now, just like that". No, he wouldn't have done that. "Yeah, he's with me". Peter's not done. "It's good we're here". That was Peter, you see? He would just speak out. On another occasion Jesus said, "I, the Son of man, will be betrayed. I'll be crucified, and I'll rise again on the third day". The Bible says Peter began to rebuke Jesus and say, "Be that far from You, Lord". Imagine that. "Jesus, Jesus. Let me talk to You for a second, buddy. Come on. This is crazy talk. What do you mean You're gonna die on a cross? What are You saying here to us"? Jesus turns to Peter and says, "Get behind me, Satan, for you're an offense to me". Because that is why Christ came, to die on the cross.
Another occasion, Jesus is walking on the water and who asks if he can walk on the water with Jesus but Peter, nobody else but Peter. Jesus says, "Come on". He was nonstop entertainment. That was Peter. I want you to know something. Jesus absolutely loved Simon Peter, and even saints can slip up. They're in the upper room, and Jesus drops the bombshell that one of them is going to betray Him. That would be Judas. Peter sees this as a great opportunity to boast of his great love and devotion for Christ. He says, "Though all deny You, I will never deny You". Jesus said, "Well, since you brought it up, before the rooster crows twice you'll deny three times that you know me". Peter said, "There's no way that will ever happen". No, it was gonna happen. Peter was about to learn that pride goes before a fall. Of course that's exactly what he ended up doing.
Fast forward, Christ is arrested. He's being taken now to the house of the high priest Caiaphas. Outside of his house there's an open patio area where there's a big fire burning and people are warming themselves by it. Peter is sort of following at a distance as Christ is arrested. He goes to the fire and he's standing there. Someone recognizes him and says, "You were with Jesus". The first thing I would've asked if I were Peter would be, "Are there any roosters around here"? "Because Jesus did say very specifically rooster crow twice". "You were with Jesus". "No, I never knew the guy", Peter says. Rooster crows. An hour passes. He could've gotten out of there. An hour passes. Someone else says, "No, I recognize you. You were with Jesus". "I never knew the man". Rooster crows. Then he denies him a third time, the third time taking an oath saying in fact, "I swear to God I never knew Jesus".
At that moment, the Bible tells us, Christ was led out of the house of Caiaphas and He made momentary eye contact with Simon Peter in the glow of the fire. Wow. What kind of expression do you think Jesus had when He looked at Peter at that moment after his third denial? Do you think He rolled His eyes? I think He looked at him with love and compassion. He knew what was coming. He predicted it, but Peter was devastated and he went out and began to weep bitterly because he had failed the Lord. Then Christ is taken to the cross. He's scourged with the Roman whip. Then He is beaten in the face and His beard is ripped from His face. Then He carries that heavy wooden cross to Calvary, and they nail it to Him. He was so beaten and bloodied and marred. His body was so traumatized and His face so swollen that, we're told in Isaiah, you couldn't even tell He was a man. Clearly that man would never live again. Clearly that man would never walk again. That man would never breathe again, and that would've been true under normal circumstances but this wasn't just any man. This was the God man hanging there on the cross, dying for the sin of the world.
Then Jesus, as He said He would, rose again from the dead. Mary Magdalene was first to the tomb. In Matthew 16 we read that as she came to the tomb, it was empty. The angel said, "Don't be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified, but He's risen. He's not here. See the place where they laid Him, but go and tell His disciples", listen, "and Peter. Tell the disciples and Peter He's going before you into Galilee. There you'll see Him as He said to you". That brings me into my first point, point number one. Easter is personal. Easter is personal. Notice the angel said, "Go tell the disciples and Peter". By the way, you could insert your name there. "Go tell the disciples and Greg. Go tell the disciples and Mary and Brittany and John and Josh and Mortimer". There's a Mortimer somewhere. "Go tell them". Is anyone here named Mortimer? Raise your hand, Mortimer. No Mortimers in this room. Okay, but somewhere there's a Mortimer watching online, who knows where, but they'll go, "I'm Mortimer". Okay. It's personal. You ever see those billboards and they'll have these words on it, "Your information here". "Your information here" or "Your name here". The idea is this billboard's for rent, and you can put the name of your business up there if you like. The same could be said of this. Your name here.
Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead for you. Easter is personal. He did it for you. Paul put it best when he said, "He loved me, and He gave Himself for me". Sure it's true that God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son, but He also did it for you as an individual and that's what's so amazing about this. Yes, Easter is personal. By the way, God knew exactly what He was getting when He chose you. Jesus told Peter what he was gonna do. Jesus knew Peter better than he knew himself, and God knows you better than you know yourself. Sometimes people rush into marriage, and they really don't get to know the other person. I recommend you take your time, by the way, if you're not married. If you're single, just, you know, get to know this person because I'll have people come up to me, "Greg, will you marry us? We're in love". "How long have you known each other"? "A week". "Wow, you're talking about marriage after a week"? "Yes"! "Okay, when do you want to get married? In a month? Oh, wow". I'll say, "Why don't you slow down a little? Get to know each other a little bit more". See, Benjamin Franklin had it right when he said, and he said this to me personally. One bald guy to another. Benjamin Franklin said, "Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterwards".
A lot of times it's the opposite. Our eyes are half shut before we get married and then we marry this person and we're like, "Who is this person that I'm in this house with"? Yeah, it's sort of a shock, but God knows what He's getting. I remember an episode of The Simpsons that I often watched for sermon prep. This was involving Lisa Simpson, the sister of Bart. She was in class and it was Valentine's Day. She wanted to give a valentine to a boy she liked, but the rule was you have to give a valentine to everybody. Remember that? Did you have to do that too? I did. She gave one to everybody and there was one little boy in the class, sort of a nerdy little boy named Ralph Wiggum. He got Lisa's valentine which had a picture of a choo-choo train on the front. You open it up and it said, "I choo-choo-choose you". Little Ralph took it literally, and he thought Lisa was in love with him. The rest of the episode's about Ralph pursuing Lisa and her saying, "No, no. That wasn't really personal. I gave one to everybody". Here's a reality. God knew exactly what He was getting when He cho-cho-chose you, you see? He loves you because Easter is personal.
Number two. Easter is practical. Easter is practical. The message from the angel was, "Go tell the disciples and Peter". Why do you think Peter was singled out? Answer, because Peter needed a special word of encouragement. Maybe you need that today as well. Maybe you've fallen short. You didn't plan on it, but it happened. Like Peter, you've been hanging out with the wrong people at the wrong places, resulting in you doing the wrong thing. That's what happened to Peter. He caved in to the peer pressure of the crowd, and he ultimately denied Christ. He had so many regrets, and he was never able to say he was sorry. Imagine Peter's shock when he heard this message. An angel says, "He's risen. Go tell the disciples and Peter". Peter would've said (howling). That's Scooby Doo (howling). "And Peter? Me too"? "Yeah, and Peter". Can you imagine if you got a text from Heaven? You got a text. "Wow, I don't know this number". It says, "God in Heaven". Would you read it? Peter was getting a message from Heaven.
Years ago, I was at a Billy Graham board meeting. I've had the privilege of serving on Billy's board for well over 20 years. He was still preaching at this point. This was late 90's. I'd been helping him a little bit with this message prep because I was doing crusades at that point and I was giving him sort of current illustrations to use in his sermons. One night at dinner I said to Billy, "Billy, if I can help you with your sermons, I know you have a crusade coming up. If you need any help, let me know". Billy said, "Okay". I went back to my room. It was late, around 10:30. I'm getting ready to go to sleep, and the phone rings. Dennis Agajanian, my friend, would often call me after the board meetings and say, "How did it go"? He would always call me doing the voice of Billy Graham, and he does a very good Billy Graham voice. Dennis calls me. I answer the phone. "Hello"? "Hello, this is Billy Graham". I said, "Well, hello, Billy Graham. How are you"? "I'm wonderful. I was hoping you could help me with my messages". I'm flipping the channels on my TV. I know it's Dennis. It's Dennis goofing around. Yeah, whatever. I actually said, "Yeah, whatever, Billy". You know? Flipping, flipping, flipping. "I just could use your help. I would appreciate it a great deal". I'm listening and suddenly it dawns on me I never told Dennis I said that to him. This is Billy Graham on the phone! I'm disrespecting him. All of a sudden I shaped up. "Yes, Mr. Graham, I can".
Imagine. "Go tell the disciples and Peter" is the message from the angels. The Lord knew he would fail, so he was giving him another chance. Peter and John sprint to the tomb. By the way, in John's Gospel, he mentions he beat Peter to the tomb. That's the perk of writing your own gospel. You can be inspired by God, but you can throw in little details like that. "Yeah, I beat the old dude. He was kinda slow". Both of them come and see the same scene. It's an empty tomb. It's a tomb of a wealthy man, belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. There's an area cut out to lay the body in. Jesus was wrapped in bandages, almost mummy-like, if you will. The bandages are still there, as though He's still in them but the body is gone. John comes to the tomb, looks in, sees the body is gone, immediately gets that Christ has risen, and takes off. Peter comes in, chest heaving, looks at the same thing and the Bible says, "He wondered in himself what was happening". Little skeptical. "I don't know what's going on". As he's leaving the tomb, guess who he encounters? Jesus. They have a private conversation that we don't know anything about. We just know that Jesus appeared personally to Peter, and no doubt that is when Jesus extended to Peter forgiveness.
Peter probably thought, "I'm all washed up. I'll never do anything for God again. I'm no longer an apostle". God had other plans, and that brings us to John 21. By the way, that was the intro to the message, okay? John 21, Verse One. "Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. Several of the disciples were there. Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon Peter", who was clearly the leader of the gang, "said, 'I'm going fishing.' 'We'll come too', they said. They went out into the boat, and they caught nothing all night. At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who He was. He called out, 'Boys, do you have any fish?' 'No', they replied. Then He said, 'Why don't you throw out your net on the right side of the boat, and you'll get some.' They did, and they couldn't haul in the net because there were so many fish in it". We'll stop there.
I love this. Have you ever just felt like you wanna just put a "Gone Fishing" sign up and disconnect? That's how these guys felt. They didn't know what to do. They didn't know what this next step was. They went out fishing and they caught nothing. Kind of a picture of their lives, really a picture of our life. When we leave Jesus out of the equation, things just don't go well, do they? You know, maybe you'll have that success or maybe you'll have a failure but whatever it is you have, when you have it without God you really have nothing. Life goes so much better when we listen to Him, and most importantly, do what He tells us to do.
I heard the story of a lady that was at the airport. She was waiting for her flight, and she went to one of those little cookie stores and bought a bag of cookies. She had a few minutes. She sat down at this big sort of community table. There were other people sitting there, including a man across from her. She sat down, pulled out her iPad, was gonna check up on her social media. As she's doing so, she reaches into her bag to get her first cookie. Much to her shock, there's a man's hand in her bag and he's reaching for a cookie too. She looks at him like, "What are you doing"? He takes the cookie out and eats it without any embarrassment. She takes her cookie and eats it. "Who is this guy"? She reaches in for a second cookie. He reaches in too. She reaches in for a third. He reaches in for a third. This happens, so they get to the bottom of the bag and there's one cookie left and he gets it first. He smiles, breaks it in half, and gives her half. She snatches it, eats it, walks away in a huff.
"How dare that man eat my cookies right in front of me! Who did he think he is? Who does he think he is"? She gets her seat in the plane. She sits down and reaches into her purse and finds her bag of cookies. See, things were not as she thought. He was not eating her cookies. She was eating his. He was nice enough to share the last one with her. That's how we are with God. "It's my life! It's my future! My money! My cookies"! No, news flash. You belong to God. If you've given your life to Jesus Christ, the Bible says you've been bought with a price. You belong to Him. When you leave Him out, things will not go the way they're supposed to go. That's what was happening with the disciples. "Have you caught any fish"? Jesus asked. I love that he said "boys" too because he was sort of in silhouette form. It was early. "Boys", He calls, "have you caught any fish"? "Who's He calling boys? We're adult men out here". Then John realizes it's the Lord, and they make their way in and they're hauling this massive net teeming with freshly caught fish.
Here's the scene they see, Jesus sitting by a fire. He's made them breakfast. I bet Jesus was a good cook, don't you think? Probably made them some bacon. No, probably no bacon. That's not kosher. Fish and eggs, hopefully some eggs, I don't know. I like eggs in the morning. They're there. It's cooking. Here's the amazing thing. This is God incarnate, the creator of the universe in human form who has just gone to the cross. He's been crucified. He's risen again, listen. Those nail-pierced hands was making them breakfast. They come up and they sit down by the glow of the fire. It was deja vu time for Peter because he remembers the last time he saw Jesus in the glow of a fire. He was denying Him. He would probably look up at Jesus and Jesus would look up. Peter would probably look down just embarrassed, ashamed, not knowing what to say.
Now Jesus breaks the silence with these statements and we go back to John 21, reminding us of point number three. Easter is powerful because Jesus says in Verse 15, "'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?' 'Yes', Peter replies. 'You know I love you.' 'Then feed my lambs', Jesus told him". I want you to notice one thing. "Do you love me more than these"? The old, prideful, self-confident Peter who said in the upper room, "Though all deny you, I will never deny you", would've said, "Of course I love you more than these. No one loves you like I do". The newly repentant, humbled Peter just says, "Lord, I love you. I'm not gonna boast of my love at the expense of others". Jesus says, "Feed my sheep". You know what that means? He was back in business again. Jesus not only forgave him. He was recommissioning him for service again. God will do the same for you. He will forgive you and then you can start this new relationship with Him again. Just as Jesus called to the disciples from the shore saying, "Come and have breakfast", He's calling to us to have a meal with Him.
The Bible uses the picture of having a meal with someone as friendship and fellowship. I don't like to eat with people I don't know. Someone will come up to me and say, "I'd like to take you out to lunch and talk to you about a business proposition". No, thank you, because if they pay for the meal, I'm kinda beholden to them and I have to listen to their spiel and that gives me indigestion. I go out and eat with people I like. I go out to eat with members of my family or friends or people I'm close to. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. If you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, have a meal with you". The same offer to the disciples is on the table for us right now, bringing us to that third point, Easter is powerful. It's not only personal. It's not only practical. It's powerful. Now when I say Easter is powerful, I don't mean Easter itself but I mean what Easter commemorates which is the resurrection of Christ. Easter is about hope. Because Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead, we have hope. He died so we could know that we would live forever in Heaven, and you know what?
We live in a super scary world right now, don't we? Have you noticed? Things are really unhinged at the moment. Rising tensions in the Middle East with our conflict with Syria. Now we have new friction with Russia, and now we have a new conflict with North Korea. I read that Google searches for the phrase "World War III" have hit the highest peak ever. People are alarmed. They're concerned. What's going on in the world? Is this gonna be it? We live in an uncertain world with a lot of fake news, a lot of bad news, a lot of scary news. I have good news in a bad world. Jesus Christ is risen again, and Christ is coming back again. The message from the angels 2,000 years ago at the empty tomb still resonates today in 2017. They said, "Don't be alarmed". Don't be afraid. From the Greek, "Don't panic, it's organic". No, I made that up, okay. No, but it's okay. Don't worry. Don't be afraid.
Jesus Christ is here with us right here, right now, and He'll give you a second chance and the guaranteed hope of Heaven. If you have fallen like Peter you can come back, just like Jordan Sparks did last Easter. She'd gone the wrong way in her life, but she came back again. God has given you a message. I talked about a text message from Heaven. Imagine if you got a text from Jesus. All of a sudden it pops up on your phone. Text from Jesus. "Jesus? Who, Jesus"? Yeah, Jesus. Wanna have lunch today"? Now you have an opportunity to say yes or no to a text and here's the problem. Once you read a text, the person who sent it knows you read it. You can't use the "I didn't get your text" excuse or, "There was no cell service". It's popped up. You ever send a text and you get that little caption back and there's these little dots going? You're thinking they're gonna respond. Then it goes for a while. "Come on, respond, respond, respond". Then it just goes dead and disappears. What was that all about? I guess that means no. Jesus says, "Want to have lunch"? You don't know what to say. That's a no then. "I'm not saying no, man. I'm not saying yes". To not say yes is to say no. That's what it comes down to. Jesus said, "You're for me or against me".
See, Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus said, "If you will deny me before people, I'll deny you before my Father and the angels in Heaven". Then Jesus added, "If you will acknowledge me before people, I'll acknowledge you before my Father and the angels in Heaven". He denied Him, but he had a second chance and you can say yes to Jesus today and be forgiven of all of your sin and have a fresh start. Easter is about new beginnings. It's about second chances. For some of you that have never believed, this can be the day when your life changes course and God takes your story and adds new chapters to it that are a whole lot better than the chapters you've been writing previously, but you must come to Him and say, "Lord, I'm sorry for my sin and I thank you for dying on that cross for me and rising again. Now I want to know you in a personal way".
I'm gonna close with an invitation much like Jordan saw or was a part of at the church she went to last Easter, and I'm gonna invite you to believe in Jesus or to come back to Jesus if you need to. Make a decision. We're gonna pray in a moment, and you're gonna make a decision. You're gonna say yes or no to Jesus Christ. If you wanna yes to Him, He's gonna forgive you and if you say no to Him, then you face the horrible consequences of that. Please don't do that. This Easter morning of 2017, this is your opportunity to get right with God. Let's all bow our heads.
Father, thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus. Lord Jesus, thank you for coming and dying and rising again. Now I pray for all that are here and all that are watching on a screen. Wherever they may be, Lord, help them to see their need for you and help them to come to you and believe. We would ask now in Jesus name.
Now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying together, how many of you would say today, "Greg, pray for me. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life. I want Him to forgive me of my sin. I want to know that when I die I will go to Heaven. I've fallen away and I want to come back". This is your chance to do that. If you want Jesus to forgive you, if you want to go to Heaven when you die, if you want to come back to the Lord again, wherever you are, would you raise your hand up? I would like to pray for you. God bless you. Lift your hand up high where I can see it. God bless you and you and you, and God bless you and you. Hands are going up all over the room. I hope yours is one of them. God bless all of you raising your hand.
If you're watching me on the screen, would you raise your hand too? I know, I can't see you. That doesn't matter. The Lord sees you. Just raise your hand. Wherever you are saying, "Yes, I want Jesus Christ right here, right now. Pray for me". Anybody else, raise your hand up. This is your chance to get right with God. Remember to not say yes is to say no to Jesus. You're effectively rejecting His text, rejecting His offer. Is that what you want to do? Anybody else? You want His forgiveness. You want a second chance in life. Raise your hand up if you haven't lifted it yet. Let me pray for you. God bless you. Anybody else? Raise your hand now. God bless you.
Now I'm gonna ask every one of you that has raised your hand, if you would please, I want you to stand to your feet and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer. Stand to your feet right now, wherever you are, even if you did not raise your hand but you wanna make this commitment, a recommitment to Christ. Stand up. Stand up. God bless all of you standing. God bless you. You guys are supposed to be praying. Why are you clapping? Just kidding, okay. Anybody else, stand. Outside watching, stand up. You guys that are watching on screens right now, stand up and I'm gonna lead you in this prayer. I'll wait one more moment. Anybody else? Stand to your feet. Let's get this resolved. It'll be the best Easter of your life. Anybody else, stand. God bless all of you. Now you that are standing, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer and I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. Again, as I pray, pray this prayer out loud after me. Pray this now.
Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the savior who died on the cross and shed your blood for me. I turn from my sin, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. As savior and Lord, as God and friend, thank You for loving me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.