Bill Johnson - How to Walk in the Abiding Presence of God
Not since the Garden of Eden had any human being experienced what Adam experienced until Jesus chose the twelve. The atmosphere of Heaven itself permeated their beings; they lost the appetite for every other form of life. If you can imagine living in that kind of place of overwhelming connection with the person of God himself within reach and then hearing him say, «It’s to your advantage that I go.» Good morning! It’s so wonderful to see you. I just love being together. You know, not everyone gets close enough to fall in love; it’s a great privilege to be part of a family. I look forward to being together every week. This week, you guys messed me up, though. I just want you to know that I remember the first morning coming to the prayer meeting. I was ready to cross the light and saw a traffic jam for a prayer meeting. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen—it messed me up! I sat at the traffic light watching this stream of cars pile in one after another, then pulling in behind them and making it up the hill, where I saw a mom with, I think, three small children crossing the road as we all crammed into this room to pray. Thanks to all of you who were able to be here; it impacted me so deeply. The prayer part of the church actually moves me and excites me and stirs me more than any other. It’s hard to explain the impact it has on my heart and my thinking.
I know Chris and I often reference a school we attended called Weaverville, and I spent 17 years in that school. We learned so much in those years. Right after I got there, I knew prayer was critical, so we started Friday night prayer meetings. Initially, we started them at 11 p.m. because we didn’t want anyone missing time with their family. We just didn’t want them missing sleep, so it was very calculated. We would meet for hours and pray together into the night, and that prayer meeting went on for 17 years. In the first, probably, 15 years, there would be usually three or four people, maybe up to a dozen, and sometimes only one; sometimes I was the only one there. If I was out of town and Chris was leading, sometimes he was the only one there, but we would pray on, and it shaped us. It shaped the entire life of the church. Being involved with that prayer meeting and that gathering made it clear to me how what happened on Friday would affect what happened on the following Sundays. There was a direct correlation between the prayers and what we experienced, and really, it was an experimentation because if you didn’t get a prophetic word right or you didn’t get whatever right, you know, with three people in the room, it didn’t really matter—they all love you anyway, so you just get over it together and learn from it that way.
I remember Vernett Tomkins was a huge part of the Bethel history and a great minister of the Gospel. I don’t know if I have ever met anyone who, in their preaching, hit the bullseye more consistently than she did, and she’s a dear friend. She’s not able to travel anymore, but I remember she would train people in many things, but specifically in prayer. There was a particular season where she wanted to train people just to pray for pastors. I remember getting this note—this letter—from someone who was trained by her, and the note said that this lady was committing 15 minutes every day to pray specifically for me for one year. Wow! I can tell you, you might have thought I just won the lottery! It was honestly one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received in my life. It moved me so much that some months later, I met this person and thanked them for the responsibility that they picked up to pray. The whole mission of prayer is just not understood by very many of us; it’s the great privilege, the great opportunity, and the great mystery because it’s so difficult to see cause and effect immediately. Cause and effect means I pray this, and by this afternoon, I see this happen. While that does take place in our lives, and I’m thankful for it, most of the time, it’s seasonal influences that take place. We pray into this, and a shift slowly begins to occur. It’s hard to get people into that lifestyle.
The disciples were so moved by Jesus’s lifestyle that instead of asking him to show them how to raise the dead or how to heal the sick or how to preach to multitudes or walk on water, the only thing they ever asked him to teach them was how to pray. In their three and a half years of observation, they came to the conclusion that it was all about this. Wow! They asked him.
This week, I am so thankful for Dan and the whole church team that put this together! It rocked my world. It moves me deeply to see people who just want to pray. It’s hard for me to describe! I’ve been a little snotty and weepy all week. We could end this day by just snotting a lot and weeping a lot. That sounds kind of gross, though, so let’s not do that. But I’m not saying it won’t happen, I’m just saying it’s not my plan. I really am thankful for all of you who were able to come and pray. We’ll be doing it again soon. The fast part? Not so soon, I hope! I’m telling you, «fast» is the wrong name; it is anything but fast! It’s the slowest thing ever—it’s like watching paint dry or watching grass grow or something. It’s not fast at all. I’m proud to announce I didn’t buy any cookbooks on this particular fast. I have matured so much that this is now two fasts in a row where I didn’t buy any. I didn’t tell you about the last one last year when Benny was sick; I did a long one and did buy one cookbook. I am growing; I’m just growing!
I didn’t tell Chris—I have a confession to make. It’s embarrassing. I admit I was in a meeting this week. I had my iPad open in the meeting, and Chris jokingly said, «Are you buying cookbooks?» I said, «No!» and closed my iPad. I didn’t have a cookbook up; I was looking at a pizza oven! It’s important for me to keep food items in front of me when I’m fasting; it lets me know I have a future and a hope! That’s right! I had somebody come to me this week and say they’ve been looking at cookbooks all week. They said, «I get it, this makes sense!» I said, «I know it does; it just keeps hope alive!» I’ve planned the rest of my life around meals. You know, it dissipates after a week—but it’s all right! I should get scratch-and-sniff stickers for cookbooks, no, no, that wouldn’t be good for me. I would not make it through that!
Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4, if you would, please. By the way, we have a whole bunch of our leaders from our Bethel churches here. Why don’t you guys stand up so everybody can see you and bless these folks? We have leaders here from all over the country! It’s good to see you guys! They are here today all at once, and it’s a privilege for us to have most of them here. I am so thankful for you all. I have the privilege of meeting with them online somewhat regularly, and it’s such an encouragement to me to see what God is doing in and through them. These are amazing stories that we hear week after week after week.
I just heard one of the most extraordinary stories over at Twinview this morning about a grandmother of one of our students with stage-four leukemia who was given, I think, four months to live. She came from another country and watched, I think, the student—or somebody—in a graduation and something to do with communion. She watched them go through the communion service; they do not speak English, but they asked for a copy of the graduation—it was graduation! The grandmother was watching the graduation and watching something to do with communion, not understanding anything that was being said. Over the next four weeks, she gradually improved until, after four weeks, the doctor said she no longer had leukemia from watching a communion service in another language! She said after the service she watched a video and told her granddaughter, «I can feel something happening; something changed!» Every week, the blood report showed everything was improving, and I think it was after four weeks that she was completely healed—four stages of King Jesus! Thank you, Lord!
Wow! I accidentally went grocery shopping on an empty stomach, and now I’m the proud owner of aisle four! My family loves it when I go grocery shopping because I have a gift for going when I’m hungry—which is almost always—and I would come home with multiple layers of cookies. I was especially good at cookies and ice cream!
How to prepare tofu: Step one: throw it in the trash. Step two: grill some meat! Water is the most essential element of life because without it, you can’t make coffee. «No thanks, I’m a vegetarian!» It’s a fun thing to say when someone tries to hand you their baby! Now you see why I didn’t want to read it; I skipped over wisdom and read it anyway.
Last one! Hey guys, when a woman is mad, just tell her that she’s overreacting. She’ll realize you’re right and calm right down! If you believe that, you won’t!
Matthew chapter 4. I imagine we’re going to read about the calling of four of the disciples. I imagine probably most everybody in the room, at one time or another, has tried to imagine what it would have been like to be one of the original twelve disciples. They were not the cream of the crop. Jesus didn’t whittle down 10,000 applications to these twelve finalists; in many ways, he actually chose the least qualified—four fishermen, a tax collector, a political zealot, and the list goes on. He chose these people who were so mundane that their life story would have been the most boring thing in the world to read. But he chose them. And one of the most important lessons, I think, in studying discipleship is learning that these twelve guys belonged before they believed. They actually started following someone without a destination in mind.
I’ve told you in months and years past that in our culture—in our lives, whether we realize it or not—we’re mostly goal-oriented. We save money to buy a car, date someone hoping to get married, or attend school for a number of years to take home a degree that enables us to get a job. We have goals in mind; we have a journey that concludes with a goal. While we are a people that have deep affection for the outcome, God values the journey. What God values and we value are oftentimes very different, and he celebrates the journey because it is in the journey where the relationship is built. It’s in the journey where trust is built; it’s in the journey where we become acquainted. And if ever there was a story in all of human history where that principle could be taught, it was in the calling of the twelve because they were to follow this one man who, to them initially, was a stranger. They were to follow him without any destination in mind because it was not about where they were going, but who they were going with. They knew that well enough from the beginning to leave everything and follow.
So, let’s read. We’re going to read just the story of four guys, which will in some way represent the twelve. Verse 18: «And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers—Simon called Peter and Andrew, his brother—casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. He said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' They immediately left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers—James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother—in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.»
It’s hard for us to imagine the moment that these four—and ultimately all twelve of these guys—were in because they were being called without an explanation. They weren’t taught a class; they weren’t given a promise; they weren’t told, «If you do this, I will do that.» There’s none of that. There was something in the voice that they would later learn what it was. In John 6:63, Jesus said, «My words to you are spirit, and they are life.» My words become presence, and that presence gives life. They would soon discover that, but in this moment, all they know is that when Jesus spoke, something changed around them.
Later, actually in John chapter 6, we find a moment where perhaps as many as 20,000 people were gathered at one particular event, and Jesus was telling everyone the most offensive sermon he ever gave about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, which we did this morning, but he didn’t bother to explain it. The multitudes left, and he was left with twelve. He asked them, «Are you leaving as well?» Peter got it right again. He said, «Where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life.» Jesus just explained that my words become presence, and that presence gives life. Peter, I think, is saying, «Where are we going to go? You’re the only one who, when you talk, we discover why we’re alive. You’re the only one who speaks, and life becomes available to us.»
Imagine these twelve people, all in different places of responsibility in life. Jesus comes up without any explanation. There are no miracle meetings or anything that would attract them to this particular person or time, and he just says, «Follow me.» There was enough in those two words to give them the courage to leave everything. For the fishermen, it was probably multiple generations of fishermen. That’s just how it worked. You had a trade; you passed it on to your children, your grandchildren. When they left their boat, they left their nets, they left their father, and they were breaking a cycle of life that, I’m sure, brought great disturbance to the family line. It was a cost for them. It was a very intentional decision. It was not a weekend mission’s trip; it was a lifestyle change—from fishing, from collecting taxes, from whatever, to following this person we don’t yet know who he is. They belonged before they believed. They followed this Jesus and eventually came to the place where they were asked by Jesus, «Who do you say that I am?» and they would say, «You’re the Son of the Living God; we know who you are.» They came to that place, but it was a journey of being with this person who, every single time he talked, changed the atmosphere. It could have been one-on-one; it could have been with the twelve around a campfire; it could have been in front of 20,000 people—but every single time he talked, something happened.
I doubt that they always understood it. In fact, I assume that most of the time, they caught a glimpse of a portion of what was happening—enough to keep them intensely focused but always mystified and stunned and surprised by the supernatural activity of everywhere Jesus went. The miracles were daily, and perhaps on some days, minute by minute, maybe in groups or crowds, they were allowed to see things happen that no human being had ever seen in all of human history. They weren’t qualified for this. You’ve got to understand that when you realize you’ve been given a privilege to partake in something that you have no qualification for, it immediately causes you to be indebted to this one. I think it’s out of that that Peter yells at one point, «We’re willing to die for you! I’ll die for you today!» They were zealous in their devotion to this man who changed the atmosphere of every room he entered, and they watched as miracles took place. They watched as life-threatening storms came to an end where he would walk on water. The food would be multiplied. They saw these things happen day after day; their minds were completely blown!
He works so far outside of anything they could comprehend. They are immersed in presence; they are immersed in a lifestyle that no human being has ever seen or tasted in that measure in all of history. They are exposed to something that has made everything else illogical and has made everything else an inferior option. So, we come to the last week of Jesus’s life, and I want you to go to John 14. In this period of time, he gives some of the most glorious instruction in all the Bible. It’s this middle section of the Gospel of John. In chapter 14, we find, in verse 16, Jesus tells the guys, «I’m going to pray the Father, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever.» Look at it again: «I’m going to ask the Father, and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever.» The word «helper» there is the word «Paraclete,» and one of the definitions of that word that I am embarrassed to say I didn’t know until this week is that it can actually be translated as «legal advocate.»
I know in Scripture that Jesus advocates for us; I understand that concept, but I didn’t realize it was in that word «helper» that he’s our actual legal advocate. So, you have somebody dwelling in you that is fighting on your behalf legally in the courts of Heaven. It’s an extraordinary gift. Jesus says in this moment, he says, «I’m going to ask the Father, and the Father is going to give you another helper.»
There are a couple of different words that could be used here, but Jesus used a very specific word. Let me show you the one he didn’t use: Behind the drum is a little chair that the drummer sits on. He sits on a chair, and you’re sitting on another chair. That word «another» is not the one Jesus used because that one’s different than the one you’re on. They both have the same function, but they’re different. When Jesus said «another,» he used a word that says, «It’s exactly the same.» It’s like your neighbor sitting on one that’s just like yours. We bought them that way for this sanctuary; they’re exactly the same. So, when Jesus says, «I’m going to send you another helper,» I’m going to send you someone that is exactly like me—no variation! There will be a seamless connection between what you’re experiencing right now and what’s about to happen! Wow!
Now, he warmed them up to this idea, and he starts here: another helper. Chapter 16 is where he presents them with an idea that I would like to suggest is about a million times more mind-boggling than walking on water and growing back limbs and multiplying food. He’s about to present them with the most challenging idea that has ever entered their mind. Chapter 16, verse 7: «Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away. It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him.»
You have to understand something: In the Garden of Eden, before Eve was created, Adam would walk in this place of pleasure and bliss, and in the cool of the evening, God himself would come and walk with Adam through the garden, this place that God had created for the two of them to enjoy absolute perfect Paradise, and they would walk together in perfect harmony. I love the saying: The God who is everywhere wants to be somewhere! He manifested with Adam, and together they walked.
Not since the Garden of Eden had any human being experienced what Adam experienced until Jesus chose the twelve. He was the living tree of life who was with them day after day after day. The atmosphere of Heaven itself permeated their beings, and they lost the appetite for every other form of life because of this. If you can imagine with me living in that kind of place of overwhelming connection with the person of God himself within reach and then hearing him say, «It’s to your advantage that I go.» If ever there was a thought impossible to comprehend for the twelve, that was it—how is it possible to sit down with you across the table at any moment of the day and ask you anything and have you look into the deep of who I am and speak the exact words that I need? How is it possible that phase two is better than this?
In John 14, we didn’t read it, but Jesus announced to his disciples, «You know the Holy Spirit,» which is interesting because they didn’t know! He was saying, «You know me, so you know him.» Then he makes a statement: «The Holy Spirit, who is with you, will be in you.» The disciples were becoming introduced to something that was so far beyond comprehension that in this moment, Jesus shocks them by saying, «I’m going to move you into a position that is more profitable than what you’ve experienced the last three and a half years.»
Here’s what’s my take: in recent weeks and recent months—actually, I’m embarrassed to say, but I’ve had more times than I can count where I’ve said, «Jesus, I wish that you were here in the flesh sitting across the table from me because I’ve got things I want to ask you; I need help; I don’t know what I’m doing! I absolutely do not know what I’m doing!» And then I remember again, «It’s to your advantage!»
So, here’s the deal: as we know, you can starve to death with a million dollars in the bank if you don’t access what he’s made available. You live an inferior life to what he designed you for. If my experience is not better than having Jesus sitting at the table across from me, then I am not accessing what he put in my account! Wow! That’s it. Something has to change, and it’s not him!
He puts something into an account; he puts something into the last will and testament you’re sitting in the lawyer’s office, and he’s reading to you what you’ve just inherited. It’s absolutely mind-boggling! The Holy Spirit is actually called so many things. This week, I was making a list of everything I could find in Scripture that gave us a name or a responsibility that the Holy Spirit himself had, and it’s just mind-boggling to see what we’ve actually been gifted with. This person is not a force; he’s not a cosmic fog; he’s not an «it.» He’s a person who is exactly the same as Jesus, and he is God on Earth. The Father is in Heaven; the Son is at his right hand, and the Spirit of God is God on Earth. This Holy Spirit, who indwells us, has the ability to manifest the nature, heart, and will of God into the Earth through us.
He indwells me; he empowers me; he encircles me; he leads me. This Holy Spirit is the seal over my life. If you look at it this way, you’ve been adopted by a heavenly Father, and the Spirit of God is the legal document that says the adoption was successful. His abiding presence is the evidence you belong to the Father. He’s a seal: seal of identity, seal of security. But it goes on to say that he is the down payment. I bought a car here just maybe three months ago. I love my car—not agape love, because that’s probably wrong—but whatever kind else fits, I love my car! I’m so thankful for my car, and I went with a very significant down payment.
Now, when I made this down payment, what I did was say, «Here’s this, and more is coming.» What I didn’t do is bring a bunch of oranges and say, «Next week I’ll send you apples; here’s fish; next time I’ll send you vegetables.» I was going to send you more of the same! So when the Holy Spirit was given to us as a down payment, it was the initial evidence of the most mind-boggling concept I think possibly in all of Scripture. That’s an extreme statement, but think about this with me: the Bible says we are heirs of God! Yes, the Bible says you inherit God! Just to make it worse on the brain, he inherits us! Ephesians 1: the glory of the riches of his inheritance in the saints! Hallelujah!
I don’t understand any of it! No, I don’t! I don’t understand it at all! But in some ways, I almost would rather not, because as it is, I’m speechless! I’d probably be more speechless if I understood it. But we are heirs of God! So the Holy Spirit has been given to me as a down payment of what it will take eternity to discover. It will take eternity to fully receive what has been promised: heirs of God!
So the Holy Spirit is the initiation into eternal purpose, eternal design, eternal process. God and Satan are not opposites. That’s right! The war is—it’s so funny to hear people talk about this. The war has never been between God and Satan because it wouldn’t be a fight! Honestly, it wouldn’t be! All God would have to do is take a breath and destroy the entire demonic kingdom! The demonic kingdom has been allowed to remain because it’s our school for reigning and ruling throughout eternity. Every day of your life, through decisions, through strengths of faith and obedience, you’re learning what it’s going to be like to rule and reign with him. Without that kind of training, all you’d be qualified to do is sit on a cloud and play a harp, and that is not God’s design for you! That makes this world look pitiful! It is so industrious! There is so much purpose in life in every single thing done that your entrance into Heaven will be the most satisfying, fulfilling thing because you’ll find out why you were created in the first place!
We taste of it here; you discover it there, but it’s the Holy Spirit who trains us. It’s this relationship—this seamless relationship with the Spirit of God—that makes what the disciples had within arm’s reach of Jesus look inferior! So good! He indwells, he empowers, he encircles, he upholds, he instructs, he imparts, he leads! He led Jesus, Luke 4 verse 1, into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. That doesn’t sound very nice! I thought he was the comforter! He is! He just plans to make you uncomfortable first!
How many of you have seen God moving and it made you feel uncomfortable? If it hasn’t, you’ve not really seen a move yet because it’s intimidating! He leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Why would he do that? He only leads us into places where we are equipped and prepared to win! Let me read this interesting verse. I’ll just read it real quickly; if you want to write it down, it’s in Psalms 105. This is a fascinating verse that I saw a number of years ago that really affected me deeply! He says, verse 24 and 25: «He increased his people greatly so they grew in number; he made those people that increased in number stronger than their enemies.» Then he turned the heart of their enemies to hate his people.
For me, that’s divine humor! He increases the number of his people; he made them stronger than the enemy, and then he irritates the enemy enough to attack! Why would he do that? Now, I’m serious—why would he do that? This is Scripture! Why would he take Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, never to fall? He won’t lead you into a place where you cannot thrive! See, the reason anxiety and fear are so disturbing is that I forget my tools when I get in the middle of a conflict. And when I’m anxious, I forget the things he taught me from the last battle that I came out of with all these weapons and tools and insights and understanding of how he works. Suddenly, I don’t remember any of them, and I go, «Why?» Because anxiety and fear have taken his place! Wow!
He only leads us into places where we’ve been trained to win. The Scripture says I will be led forth with peace, which for me means I’m not going anywhere. Peace doesn’t take me; he leads. Jesus leads him into this conflict because, in Jesus’s yieldedness to the Father, he humiliates the powers of darkness. God can wipe out darkness with a breath; he has chosen to wipe it out through the obedience of those made in his likeness who worship by choice! Jesus; Adam and Eve’s descendants couldn’t get the victory that God had prepared for them, so Jesus became a man and did it in our place so we would inherit the victory and exercise the triumph that Jesus won! Yes! Every single victory experience in life was first obtained at the cross and the empty tomb!
Now, one last thought. What did the disciples ask Jesus to teach him to pray? How to pray! This Holy Spirit’s been given, and if we’re not careful, we will think he is present merely for the miracles or he is present merely to show us extraordinary things happen—which nobody in the room likes more than I do! But where my heart has gone to this morning and this week is Romans 8:26, where he says, «We don’t know how to pray as we should.» The Holy Spirit has been given to us because we do not know how to pray as we should!
So here Jesus is answering the prayer of his disciples 2,000 years later by saying, «Here, he knows how to pray! He dwells in you! He will manifest the cry of my heart in and through you to the measure and the degree you yield to the abiding, indwelling Holy Spirit, and he will show you what it is like to implement the will of God, the reality of Heaven on Earth through prayer.» Jesus himself introduced what we call the Lord’s Prayer: «Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be your name! Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.»
The whole plan of God to transform this world into the likeness of that world is initiated by the privilege and the responsibility to pray. And now, we’ve been given the one in the universe who knows how to pray! And he’s indwelling! He will teach any person willing to learn!
I have learned and am learning that to the measure I am willing to engage with him with my affection, in that measure, I will discover what he has for me! Now, I realize that God sometimes just sovereignly invades a person’s life; he’s done that for every one of us. But there’s an aspect of the Kingdom that can only be found through your pursuit of him. You’d say, «Well, Bill, he pursued us, he chose us!» I get that—true! But there’s a Scripture that says, «You draw near to him; he will draw near to you.» It’s very clear! You draw near, then he’ll draw near!
Why? Because there are certain aspects of life that we ache for that cannot be entrusted to anyone who will not run after fearlessly—with reckless abandon—after this thing that Jesus has made available for every single person who heard the stranger say, «Follow me!» and left the boats, the nets, the inheritance—everything else you could put on the list—just to be one of those that knew they belonged even while they were growing in their belief.
It’s this Holy Spirit who introduces us and reintroduces us to the ability to turn affection toward him. The ability, from the heart, to engage with him with a burning heart—maybe a dimly burning wick, maybe a blazing fire—but to engage with him with a heart of affection is the beginning of our training to rediscover the inheritance of God himself. Because when you draw near to him, he draws near to you! There’s unlimited potential in that moment!
Every «yes» in this room has been a shout of eternal purpose and engagement with a person! I pray that this year, I’ve heard prophets declare and I believe it’s true—this is the year of the open door! I believe there are open doors and opportunities that are going to unfold for us as a church body, as a family. I think for every person in this room individually. But here’s my main prayer: Psalms 24: «Lift up your heads, O you gates, that the King of glory may enter in!» Let this year of the open door be the year where the presence of the Father becomes so clearly manifested that we become overwhelmed by a person daily, rediscovering the reality of this inheritance we inherit in God!
Let’s stand. I’m hoping that never again I will pray the dumb prayer that says, «Jesus, I wish you were here in the flesh!» because he doesn’t want to give me the inferior! That’s right! He doesn’t want me going backward in my development! He never wants me to embrace or attach myself to an inferior plan; he wants me continually married to the reason I’m alive! Father, I ask that you teach us about this year of the open door—the open door to your presence—and that you teach us what it’s like to be activated deeper and more profoundly in our affection for you.
Without anybody moving, give me just one more minute. I need to know if there’s anybody in this room who would say, «I don’t know what it is to be a real disciple of Jesus. I don’t know what it is to be a follower. I don’t know what it is to be forgiven of my sin—to be actually born again—but I want to. I know strangely that I’m here for that reason today.» If that’s you and you say, «Bill, I don’t want to leave the building until I know I’ve found peace with God,» then I want you to just put a hand up where you are, just acknowledge that. That’s the cry of your heart today—put a hand up and do it real quick so I can see you where you are. We had a couple in the first service—online too! Yes, that’s right! Forgive me, our online family! Love you guys so much! Please just mark it in the chat box, and one of the pastors will come and help you. All right! Bless you! I love you!