Special

You a bit, there is an e contact card, a welcome card that you can fill in on our website, and we'd love to hear from you. And, we're actually just going to read the last, the last section of John 17 from verse 20 through to the end of the chapter. This is on page 1085 if you've got 1 of the, table bibles. And, here is the lord Jesus Christ, coming towards the end of his earthly ministry. Just hours away from being crucified for our sins, and he's, praying now.

He's praying to his heavenly father. And we're invited into this wonderful scene and we're gonna pick up the prayer in in verse 20. My prayer is not for them alone. Jesus said. I pray all so for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be 1 father.

Just as you are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be 1 as we are 1 I in them and you and me so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory.

The glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous father, though the world does not know you. I know you. And they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known.

In order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Well, my name is Pete Woodcock. I'm 1 of the elders of the church, and it's a great privilege, to be having a look at John's gospel. We're between series. We're starting up a new series.

I I thought we're starting it up next week. In, Matthew's gospel, we're gonna start looking at some of the parables, isn't it, in Matthews Gospels, so it's quite exciting. So that's what we're doing. So this is a sort of Yeah. Well, some of us have been in John for quite a long time because we've been at contagious and, and I thought, well, 1 more hit at John, it'd be worth it.

Let's pray, father help us now, please, to hear your word, encourage us knock out those idols that need knocking out, that we may be true worshipers of you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, a few years ago, I had some, fluttering heart sensations. And I just put it down to intogestion. And then I sort of thought a little bit more carefully because I remember an incident when I was a teenager and I realized that my advice about hearts and, and fluttering things in inside you wasn't wasn't very good because, my girlfriend at the times, grandmother said to me, in the morning that she she had, you know, felt heart problems.

And I said, I think it's indigestion. I was like a 17 year old boy. I I guess that's interject uh-uh, interjection. She died of a heart attack several hours later. So my advice isn't particularly very good when it comes to heart.

And I remembered that. So I thought, well, I better go to the to the doctor. And, the doctor said, oh, well, you need a, an ECG and sent me for an ECG, a sort of scan thing of your heart. Or whatever. I went, to the hospital.

It was a 20 minute proceed procedure. She wired me all up, measured me out, took the heartbeat. The funny thing was that when you're there, it's like taking your car to the MOD, you know, you hear the clunk. And when you take it to the garage, there's no clunk. And so my heart seemed to be alright.

And that's why it went on for 20 minutes. She said, oh, I'll keep taking it. She then printed out, the, the heartbeat, and then put it in an envelope and said, take that to your doctor, and he'll tell you what to do. Well, when I got home, I thought, well, I sort of feel quite good. I opened up the envelope myself, I read the the read the thing, the heartbeat looked all normal.

So I didn't bother to go to the doctor. The year after that, I had the same thing happen. It was a fluttering my heart, and I thought I better go back to the doctor. And the doctor said Hold in. Didn't I send you last year for an ECG?

And I said, yeah. He said, where are the results? And I said, well, look, you know, seemed alright to me. I opened it up. I, I read it.

And he said, are you trained as a doctor? And I said, no. No. No. But It was alright.

You know, that it all looked. He says, do you know anything about an ECG? So I don't even know what it is really, to be quite honest with you. He says, do you know how to read read the results? So I said, yeah, I think I do actually.

Because they were sort of fairly even. The rebuke came. Now the truth is, this is the funny thing here. I actually know the doctor knows better than me about my heart. I I actually really believe that.

If you said to me, does the doctor who's trained in these areas know better about your heart than you do, I absolutely would agree. Yes. Of course, he does. But my behavior says that I didn't. That's strange, isn't it?

That we can be like that? I absolutely know he knows better. But nevertheless, I took it in my hands to do the reading And my behavior says I didn't believe in him. Now that just illustrates how stupid your pastor is. How mad I am and how foolish.

But let's shift things a little bit. Let's make Jesus the doctor. Jesus the doctor, the doctor of our soul. Let's make him the doctor. And let's ask the question.

Are you like me with my heart and ECG when it comes to listening to the doctor? You you say you believe that Jesus is the great, physician of the soul, the great doctor of the soul. You say that, and you really believe that. But in the nitty gritty of your life, Is it you who interprets what's going on? You might say, look, I believe in Jesus.

I'm sure you do. I read his words every day. I believe in the scriptures. I absolutely believe in I memorize the words of god. I read them daily.

I pray them through. But when it comes to the real personal realities that hit you, the crisis moments in your life, Are you interpreting the scripture like I was interpreting the ECG on your own with a bias towards what you think? Or is doctor Jesus really saying? I tell you what the problem is. This is 1 reason why we need bible preaching community.

It's not just up to us to read the Bible and to hear sermons on our own. We need Bible preaching community to make sure that we're not just listening to the Bible, the ECG, and just making our own assumptions from it, we need viable community to help us see what's going on and interpret the Bible as god wants it to inter be interpreted to ourselves. Now a lot of us, go through from time to time and perhaps are going through, for long periods of time, dark times, depression anxieties, confusions of mind, great discouragements, and maybe even physical illnesses. We go through those things. And our culture speaks into every issue.

You've only got to Google or something. You will have thousands and thousands and thousands of words that will help you out with depression and anxiety and so forth. And so our culture will always speak into those things. And some of those things will be helpful. Of course.

I mean, we believe that in 1 sense all truth is god's truth and even an atheist or even a unconverted or even pagan counselor if they're speaking truth, it's truth. They're speaking. And that's god's truth. And there'd be help It's because they may have studied the brain or depression or anxiety, and they may understand that there are certain, you know, 4 point plan if you put this in when you're when you're in a panic attack, these things are helpful, and they've studied loads of people on that. And there would be some very helpful stuff there.

Of course. But doesn't god, doesn't Jesus the great physician? Doesn't he have something to say? About mental health issues. Doesn't he?

Is it only the world that has anything to say? Doesn't Jesus know how we tick. Isn't he worth listening to even above the advice of others? That's the point I'm trying to make here. Our culture will give us much advice but it's worth sticking at first of all what the scripture says.

And not doing it individually, doing that within a community of people that are into the word of god. Psychiatrist his name is he's JT Fisher. He writes this about Jesus. This is amazing, I think. If you were to take the sum total of all authoritative articles ever written by the most qualified of psychologists and psychiatrists on the subject of mental hygiene If you were to combine them and refine them and cleave out the excess verbiage, if you were to take the whole of the meat and none of the parsley, And if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure scientific knowledge concisely expressed by the most capable of living poets, you would have an awkward and incomplete summation of the sermon on the Mount.

As the teaching of Jesus. And it would suffer immeasurably through comparison. For nearly 2000 years, the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless yearnings. Here rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimism, mental health, and contentment. He's talking about the sermon on the Mount.

He's saying that Jesus has something to say about every issue that we ever go through. He's saying that he's the great physician of the soul. He's saying that he's worth listening to. He's not saying that there aren't others to listen to, but he's saying he's worth listening Now we're at the end of this, prayer that Jesus prays. This is the night, as as Tom said, the night before the crucifixion, and he's praying to the father.

He's just washed the disciples' feet, in chapter 13. He's spoken to them about the coming of the Holy Spirit. He's prepared them for his going away, and he's prepared them for his long centuries until his second, coming. And so he prays in chapter 17, is this amazing prayer. It's in 3 sections.

The first part of the prayer, he prays for himself. He prays that god will own him. He prays that even the world that rejects him, that god wouldn't reject him. He prays that He would glorify god by his crucifixion. The second section of the praying, you can see it.

It's divided up in your bibles, I guess. He prays for the 11 disciples. 1 had already gone and betrayed. He doesn't pray for him. He prays for the 11 disciples.

He prays for their purity. He prays they wouldn't become worldly but godly. The third section, though, this last section that Tom just read to us, He prays for all future believers. Now the whole prayer is for us, of course, but this is absolutely focused in on us. If you're a believer in Jesus, he's actually thinking of you.

That is extraordinary, isn't it? 2000 years ago, before the cross, Jesus has your name in his mind when he prays this. And he's praying the priorities he wants us to have. This is worth listening to, isn't it? Isn't it worth listening to?

I remember I mean, this is a bit idolatrous, but I remember there was a big preacher back in the last century called Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones. Never heard of him? He was like, you know, the big free church preacher. Yeah. Westminster Chapel full of people, 2000 people every week listening to him breach, yeah, in very in very difficult times and even through the war years.

Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones. And we his daughter comes here sometimes. That's wonderful, isn't it? And, and loves us as well. And even said that, and, I mean, this is all rubbish, but I asked her to write this I asked her to write, my father owes everything to Pete Woodcock.

She she was fun anyway. Of course, he didn't because I never met him. But he was a great preacher. And I and someone told me, they he was staying overnight. He'd preached a sermon.

They were staying overnight, and they wanted to know what he prayed before he went to bed. And so this pastor and his son crept up and were listening at the door to doctor Martin Lloyd's Jones's prayer. All they could hear was good night, lord. That was the prayer. It's lovely.

These are the prayers of Jesus. Wouldn't you department here? What's and for you? What's he praying for me? So let's have a look at his prayer.

Verse 20. My prayer is not for them alone. That's the disciples. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. So he's still praying for the 11, but he's now praying for you for future people that are gonna believe.

And he's praying for us before we were even born. You see, he's watched over us. He knows everything about us. Before your dad's sperm hit your mom's egg, Jesus had already prayed for you. I mean, that's a thing, isn't it?

Before your grandad sperm, hit your grandma's egg if I can be even more feeling a bit wrong now. He prayed for you before your great grandest, and we could go on. Yeah, here's a physician who knows all your medical history before you were born. Why wouldn't we listen to him? He knows everything about you.

He knows how you were formed. He knows who has influenced you. He knows who has hurt you. He knows who has broken you. He knows the situations you are right in now.

He knows the circumstances that have brought you up and down. And and all kinds of things. He knows you and prayed for you before you were even conceived. And he says, here's what I'm praying for you. These are the big things I want you as the physician of your soul.

These are the big things I want you to get. There is a word to listen to. Above every other word, there's words everywhere, but there is a word you need to listen to above everything else. There's a name that you need to belong to identify with above every other identification in your life. Above every other name.

There's a name you need to belong to. And there is a purpose for you to live for. They're the 3 things he prays, prays, prays for us. And I think he's gonna show that if we can get those into our very soul, they actually help us to deal with whatever issues we're going through. First 20 and 21.

Look at it. My prayer is not for them. That's the disciples. I pray also for those who believe that's us in me. Look, look, through their message.

There's the word. Through their message. That's the word. You gotta hear that all of them may be 1 father just as you are in me, and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me? There's the 3 points in that verse I'll show you.

If you are a Christian, it's because of the word of the apostles or the the through their message, the word of the apostles. The word of the apostles has come through the centuries and it came into your ears and into your heart and you believed it. There's the word to live by. Be a pastolic word. The words of the apostles, the 1 that Jesus set apart.

It's their message that Jesus gave them. And he prays that we would be 1 with the apostles message. You see that? It's not just something we sort of believe, but we're actually at 1 with it. Yeah.

We're 1 in mind. We're 1 in doc in. We're 1 in opinion. We're 1 in heart. We're 1 in practice.

We're 1 in praise. That we are really 1 with this. It's not just that a doctor gives you pills, but actually you take the pills. You're 1 with his diagnosis you're taking it. Just as Jesus and the father are 1.

So Jesus obeys the father lives out the words of the father. He says, I want you to obey the apostle teaching. That's the Bible, the scriptures. I want you to be at 1 as I am at 1 with the father and I'm living out the And I'm obeying the father's words, then I want you to be at 1 with the apostolic teaching. Yeah.

Then look at verse 21 and 23, that all of them may be 1 father, just as you are in me, and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me I have given them the glory that you gave me that may they may be 1 as we are 1, I in them and you and me so that they may be brought to complete unity, then the world will know that you set me and have loved them, even though you have loved me. So the message, the word that he wants you to hear is the apostolic word. But not only that. He wants you to be at 1 with the apostolic word, And by being at 1 with the apostolic word, you are at 1 at unity, complete unity with the others that are believing that word. That's the church that you're at 1 with them.

That's the family you belong to. That's the preaching community that you belong to. The family that's your identity that you are at 1 with those that believe the word. If you're not at with those who believe the word, if you're an individual and say, I can just receive the message of the apostles. You can't.

You can't. You can't receive the message of the apostles as an individual. In order for you to really receive the message of the apostles, you have to be at 1 with others that receive the message of the apostles. You cut you haven't received it if you're just an individual listening to the Bible. Just as the triune god is united.

First 23, I in them. God in them. Look at verse 23, the second half, then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. This this is your identity now. The very word that you need to listen to, he's emphasizing will bring you into the family, and god will be your father and father god will love you as much as he loves the lord Jesus Christ.

Now this almost sounds like blasphemy. I think there's only 1 person here that done a theological, been to theological college. That's you, isn't it Abu? Is there anyone else been to theo theology college? And then we're all useless.

It's only Dean, he he's the great theologian amongst us. Right? Right, Dean. You've been to theological college. I want you to come and smack me in the face.

Right? I really do. I want you to shout at me, tell me to sit down if I'm a heretic here because it feels like heresy, what I'm about to say. I wanted to say this is heresy. Right?

You did all that theology at Oak Hill. Right? God the father loves Christian children, the Christians, us, me, you, as much as he loves Jesus. Is that right? Seems to be what the bible says here, mate.

Seems to be unsure. It's dangerous, it's dangerously close in it. It feels dangerous, doesn't it? That god, the father, loves you as much as he loves Jesus. That's your identity That's the family you're in.

Jesus sorry. God the father is no more the father of Jesus than he than than whatever age round it is now. I'm confused. But you are you are the child. You are the child, and he is your father.

First 22, I have given them the glory that you gave me. That they may be 1 as we are 1. If you're a person who believes the apostolic word, that's the word you need, Then when god looks at you, he sees the glorious lord Jesus Christ, full of glory. The glory god gave Jesus, he sees in you. That's your belonging.

That's who you are. You're a child of god. You don't have to try and find another expression of who you are. Don't call yourself the depressive. I've heard Christian saying that.

Oh, I'm a depressed 1. Stop it. You're a child of god. That's what you are. Don't say I am this 1.

No. No. You're a child. I find your identity is in Christ. And when you're in Christ, God sees you in Christ, and all the glory of Christ that the father has given Christ is in you.

It's extraordinary. I've told this story before, but it's 1 of my favorites. When I first became a Christian, I think it was the first prayer meeting I'd ever been to. If you've never been to a prayer meeting, you should come because good things happen. So it's Wednesday.

Here, 8 o'clock, come at quarter 2, get a drink and just see whether we have a prayer meeting like this. I think it was the first prayer meeting I ever went to. I mean, the idea of going to a prayer meeting had just been converted at 19, and I was going to a prayer meeting. What on earth is a prayer meeting. I didn't even really know what it was.

Anyway, it was quite lively. And I sat there and there was a bloke who got very cited in his prayer. Do you remember you remember, Tom and Jerry? Anybody know Tom and Jerry? There's a dog in Tom and Jerry called butch.

Remember butch the dog? And he had a little son And if anybody touched the sun in Tom and Jerry, like the cat touched the sun, and the mouse would work it so the cat touched the sun. Do you remember the phrase that that butch would use. Do you remember? That's my boy.

Well, this bloke was in the prayer meeting and he got really cited by this whole thing that the father, that we were children of god and god's our father. And he said god, and he stood up and I I sort of the first prayer meeting. God, you put your hand on my shoulder and said, that's my boy. And I thought, gosh, this is amazing. And that's what Jesus that's what God has done because of Jesus.

Look at verse 24. Father, I have sent those you have given me to be where I am. And to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. The father gave you to Christ. Your past is sorted.

Yeah? Stop looking back to the past or look back to this past. Go further back. Okay. There's things in your past that trying to make you something.

Trying to keep on affecting you. Go further back then. Just go a little bit further back and you'll see the father god gave you go back to that moment, revell in that. When the past comes to take you over and the vicious things have happened in the past and satan's reminding you of things in the past and the flesh is reminding you of things in the past. Just try and push back.

Go back. Go back to the past and see the father saying, this. Is the 1 I want you to die for. Yeah. Given.

Look at verse 25. Righteous father, Right's father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. There's all no no no there. Yeah. Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge stuff, intimate knowledge of god.

That's the present. So when the present is dark, remember this. Go back to the past, but when the present is dark, no. I know you. You know me.

We're known. We're known by god. God knows us. It's an intimate word. Look at verse 26.

I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. That's the present that you may know that you're known and that you may know that you're known and loved. Yeah? That's what you gotta fight with. When the presence is dark and and anxious, then the physician of the soul says, look back in the past.

Go back further. Go back further. Yeah? Father handed you to Jesus. Now look, look, now what's going on in the present that all these things are coming at me, what am I?

I'm loved. I'm loved. Yeah? It's extraordinary. Jesus has made a note, so that's the past and the present.

But there's the future there as well. Did you see verse 24? No. It's verse 24. I think it is here.

Father. I want those, you have given me to be where I am and to see my glory. There's a future there as well. So your identity is being a child of god. Your past and your present and your future's all sorted out.

Yeah? Keep reminding yourselves of these things. Be magnetized by these things. Be taken up by these things. Allow the community to remind you of those things.

When you're forgetting them, when things are taking over your mind, ask the community to say brother, sister, can I remind you of these things? Don't despise someone who comes with the word of god into your mind. And says, let me just remind you of who you are, what Christ has done, what god did in the past. That's who you are. God is now father.

You're in the family. You're a child of god. But then in that, there's the mission. The purpose. Look at verse 18.

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. Look at verse 21, the last bit. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me? First 23. Second bit, then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as as you have loved me.

When we're united to the apostolic word, we're united with Christ We're in the family of god where the children are god. The mission that Christ had is our mission. That's our purpose. It's not all about me. It's about his mission.

His purpose. So I hope you see that. He's praying for us that we'll hear this word above every other word that will identify with the name above every other identity that we'll know this purpose. And that leads me onto this word glory. So I hope you're still with me.

How long have we been? On the word glory. Now the the word glory and those of us who have done contagious know that that word is sort of sums up John's gospel in many ways, and it seems to sum up everything that Jesus is praying for. So let's just have a think about the word glory, and we're gonna see those same 3 things again, I think. Look at verse 22.

I have given them the glory that you gave me. I mean, did you did you just hear that? Did you hear that theologian? Verse 22, I have given them the glory that you, that god gave me. I have given them the glory that you gave me.

That they may be 1 as we are 1. Now what is the glory that Christ has given us, them? But what is the glory of Jesus? The glory of Jesus is his cross. Now you get this throughout John's gospel.

You get it at the beginning of his prayer. Look at verse 1. Father, the hour has come, That word hour has come is always talking about the cross, the crucifixion. I can prove it to you if you want, but it's known just verse after verse. The hour has come, and then what is it?

Gloryify your son that your son may glorify you. Yeah. The So the glory of Jesus is the cross. He never really talks about I don't think Jesus ever the word crucifixion. I'm not sure.

Maybe wrong on that. He talks about glorification. The glory of Jesus is that he obeys the word of god and dies on the cross and rises again and makes a people for himself. So his glorious work is the cross. He obeys the father's word He brings people into the family, and that is his mission.

They're the 3 things that Jesus has been praying for us. Word name mission. Word belonging purpose, whatever you want to call it. Says I've given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be 1 as we are 1. The word that the father gave Jesus Jesus gives to his disciples.

Look at verse 8, for I give them the words you gave me. The word the father gave Jesus, he gives to the disciples. The name that the father revealed to Jesus, Jesus reveals to his disciples. Look at verse 26, I made you known to them. The mission that the father gave to Jesus, Jesus gives to these disciples, look at verse 18, as you sent me into the world, I send them.

Jesus is now sharing his glory. The glory of his cross across shaped life of dying to self and rising to Christ. Jesus is saying, as the father gave this to me, I'm giving you the glory. That's the life I want you to live in this world. That's the life I want you to live.

I want you to know the word I want you to know who you are, and I want you to take that word out to a lost generation, and that will be dying to self. That's the glory. So that's the prayer for you. That's his prayer for you. And as you work those things out, and as you're committed to these things, then the doctor of your soul works in you.

Don't you believe that? Don't you believe that he can help you with whatever I'm not saying you don't take pills. I'm not saying you don't go to the doctor. I'm not saying you don't get medical advice. I'm not saying I didn't say that.

But I am saying that in all our mental health things, this is the doctor to turn to first. This is the 1 to hear. And as you keep thumping those things in, listening to his word, the apostolic word. There are millions of words around you, but these are the doctor's words who knows you before you were born as you keep listening to his word. You'll see who you are in him.

A child of god. And then a bigger mission than self will take over How do we reach the lost? A number of years ago, it was it was it was just I think my I was down to preach, and my mother died. And, we had to get a preacher in. We got Morris Kanard in, Rory's and Steve's dad.

And, he preached a sermon. I think it was on Psalm 88 or something like that. And he preached a sermon about when he was really in darkness in depression, deep depression. And it was very interesting what he said. He he he he said when he was in that dark tunnel of depression, he just just didn't want to read the Bible.

It's very interesting that, isn't it? He didn't want to pray He didn't want to go to church. He's a pastor. And when he was in that, but he knew what he had to do, He knew that that was a battle. You see, satan wants us always to be on a digital 1 He wants us to be at 1 with ourself, and that's an implosion.

And he knew that that was wrong, individualism, turn in on yourself. Just listen to the world's advice. And so he found it very hard to read because it was such dark times, and he is a reader. He reads a lot. So he picked up a children's bible and just started to make himself read a children's bible because he knew he needed the word of god.

He found it impossible to pray, so he just took on children's prayers and prayers of the Psalms in a children's version. He didn't wanna go to church, but he made himself go because there's a community of people that love him and other the word there. And he sat at the back and, and listened. In other words, he did battle. Because he knew this prayer of Jesus for him, he didn't allow those things just to be blasted out of his self.

He turned in the darkness He he he believed in the word. I can't read. So I'll read a children's Bible. I gotta get the word of god in me. I don't wanna go to church.

It's too hard, but I'll go because that's the community of god's people. He was applying this sort of stuff to himself. And I want to say that the more we do that, the more sane we become The more we don't do that, the more insane we will be. Sanity is not a will struck should internal psyche. We're living in a world that seems to be going insane.

I mean, really, there's just mental health issues everywhere. Why? Why? Why? Haven't you noticed that lying and the inability for for leaders to just speak the truth, just simply say what what they think.

Has gone. Why? Why? The first you see, everybody does no 1 knows the answer. But there is an answer as we've moved from Christ, as we've so belittled in our age, in our country, the Bible and what god says and church.

And as the atheists and the humanists, who really are very small group have shouted loudly against the Bible. As we've moved away from that, we don't even know that a leader should be a servant. We don't even know that we should give charity to people. Every 1 of the things that Christianity had bought that made this nation something at least established it in some way as we move from Christianity mock the lord Jesus Christ as we mock him then those things go down. We won't give any more charity.

We won't be a charitable nation. Our leaders are all about self. No one's gonna tell the truth anymore. We're cover up, whether it's concrete or whatever it is. We're gonna cover up.

And there's an insanity coming. Sanity, you'll never find on your own. You'll never find sanity on your own. Jordan Peterson, who's not a Christian, but says a lot of wise things. He says this.

If you're embedded in a a functional social community, if you're embedded in a functional social community, Then everyone around you is constantly reminding you how to be sane. He says they let you know that your jokes aren't funny. Alright? They let you know that you're too irritable or arrogant. And so that holds you together.

There's a thing coming this, and the people are talking about this a lot now. The social, It's called the social, the social disruption of sanity. The social disruption of sanity as you get rid of people not in communities, insanity increases. As people are on their own insanity increases. See, the thing is there's a lot wrong with you.

And there's a lot wrong with me. And I don't see the wrong in me that much until you tell me which a lot of you do. And then I can change. That's the community of the Bible. We're not just saying nasty things.

I don't like you. It's how does the scripture? It's a community of the Bible, and that's what Jesus is praying. That will be 1 with the message, and that will make us 1 with each other. And then the purpose will be let's reach the lost.

Do you see what I'm saying there? So we need community around us to get perspective. You can't get it on your own. I I may have said this. A load I haven't said it for ages, but I I I at once when I I I had a a sort of a sabbatical, a month off, and I I just sat in the garden and thought for a month.

And, read some books, but just made mostly just thought. Try to make myself think. And some it was like a eureka moment for me. I mean, you may be obvious to you, but I suddenly realized I'd never seen myself ever. I've never ever seen myself, ever, never, never, ever, ever seen myself.

The only bits I've really seen on myself is this here. Yeah? Like that. I can see that. And I can see the front here.

But I've never seen I've never seen my head. I've never seen my eyes. I've never seen my nose. I've never seen the side. I've seen reflections of me.

I've seen images of me, but I've never really seen me. They're only images. I've had people do a video right around me, and I've seen all around with it. For goodness sake, is that But, no, that isn't me. That's an image of me.

I've never seen me. In order for me to really see myself, I need you. Who do see me. That will make me sane under the word of god. Do you see what I'm saying?

Well, it doesn't look like you do. So I'm getting the feel now from the preaching community. Shut up. I'm getting that. I'm picking that up and I've just about got it.

I know you were sending those vibes half an hour ago, but they've just reached me So I'm gonna be quiet, but you see the 3 things, word, what you are your name and your purpose.