Hebrews

Hebrews chapter 11.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for. And assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at god's command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith, Abel brought god a better offering than Cain did.

By faith, he was commended as righteous when god spoke well of his offerings. And by faith, Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. He could not be found because god had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as 1 who pleased god.

And without faith, it is impossible to please god because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.

He lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is god. And by faith, even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this 1 man and he as good as dead came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the sea shore. All these people were still living by faith when they died.

They did not receive the things promised. They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly 1.

Therefore, god is not ashamed to be called their god. For he has prepared a city for them. By faith, Abraham, when god tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his 1 and only son Even though god had said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Abraham reasoned that god could even raise the dead.

And so in a manner of speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Eesaw in regard to their future. By faith, Jacob when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. By faith, Moses's parents hid him for 3 months after he was born.

Because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Ferra's daughter. He chose to be ill treated along with the people of god, rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as a greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith, he left Egypt not fearing the king's anger.

He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith, he kept the passover and the application of blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith, the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell after the army had marched around them for 7 days. By faith, the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who are disobedient.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gidian, Barak, Samsung, and Jefftha, about David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames and escaped the edge of the sword. Whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.

Some faced jeers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning. They were sawn in 2. They were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goat skins destitute, persecuted, and ill treated.

The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised since god had planned something better for us. So that only together with us would they be made perfect? Thank you, Tom and Ellie.

Very much. And, good morning everybody. My name's Tom. If we haven't met, and I'm 1 of the pastors here, and, great to be looking at this famous, magnificent chapter together this morning. If you're new to Cornerstone, then we've been working our way through this, book of Hebrews.

And, when it comes to a chapter 11, we, we have actually done an entire series on chapter 11, in the fairly recent past. And so if you would like to take a deeper dive into some of the particular stories and characters, in Hebrews 11, then I would just refer you back to that previous series, which you can find online because this morning is gonna be a bit more of a flyover, the entire of the entire chapter, and we're gonna be looking at some of the summary lessons and summary applications. That are here before. So do please keep it open in front of you, and let's pray to the lord as we look at his word. Father, we thank you for this magnificent chapter.

There is so much for us here to learn so much that deserves our concentration and our meditation. We pray please that as we look at what faith is, as we look at the sort of life and attitude that is pleasing to you, that you would help us not just to understand it, but that you would give us the very faith that is defined for us this morning. Please help us to be those who trust confidently in your promises. And who live by faith and who look to Christ, we pray. And so please do the do the miracles that we need in our hearts this morning in Jesus' name.

So I do keep, Hebrews 11 open. Alex Honeld, you you might have heard of him. Alex Alex Honeld, he's a 40 year old American climber, who is famous for some of the most insane, climbing attempts. So you may have perhaps seen recently this year. This is him, on January the 20 fifth of this year.

So fairly recently, climbing, tape a 1 0 1. I think that's how you say it. It's a skyscraper in Taiwan that is 508 meters tall, and, that was live streamed on Netflix. So I don't know if any of you watch that live or caught up with that, you can still do so on Netflix. Here is him in June 20 17, climbing el Capitan in Yosemite National Park, that's 9 14 meters, of sheer rock face that he decided to climb.

And, all of these attempts he has done free solo. Free solo. That means he's done it on his own, without the aid and assistance of a team, and he's done it free from ropes and climbing equipment and anything else that might help him. He's climbed both that skyscraper and El Capitan, free solo. And, somewhere down below him is a wife and 2 young daughters who are only sort of 5 and 3, something like that.

Question for you. What what sorts of things do you need in order to undertake a challenge like that? Number 1, you need a brain, that doesn't function in the way that other people's brains function. Number 2, you need some pretty serious skill in the locker. And number 3, you need total confidence in your own ability.

That is really not the sort of challenge. I imagine that you would take on if you were lacking confidence in your own climbing ability or didn't think you could do it or hadn't studied it properly, total confidence. In your own ability. And he says as much here is what he said in an interview. When I do solo, I manage the risk through careful preparation.

I don't solo anything unless I'm sure that I can do it, total confidence in his own ability. And it seems to me that faith, as we have been defining it in Hebrews at least, is the opposite way of thinking. Here's what we looked at a few weeks ago in chapter 10 verse 19. Here's what the author says. Therefore brothers and sisters, since we have confidence, and we can have confidence to enter the most holy place.

Now the distance between us as we are by nature and the most holy place is a far, vaster distance than even the height of el Capitan. In fact, it cannot even be measured in meters. We're talking about a moral chasm that exists between us, sinful as we are, and the most holy place where god is, and yet we're told here we can have total confidence in what. We can have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, and not by those things that we have done. Or those works that we have done in order to earn our way into the presence of god, we can have confidence, yes, but not in our own ability, but in the blood was shed for us by Christ on the cross.

Here's what Paul says about his ministry. In Philippines 3 3 and the ministry of the apostles. We serve god by the power of his spirit. We boast about what Christ Jesus has done. We don't put our trust in who we are or what we can do.

It's interesting because in the very next verse, he says, but if anyone did have reason to be confident in the flesh, if there was a person who could be confident in their own ability and what they've done, it would be me. There's no higher than men, no 1 more could be more confident than me. And yet we say we don't put trust in who we are or in what we can do. Our confidence and our boast is in Jesus Christ. And so what is faith as defined by Hebrews and the new testament?

It is confidence not in our own ability, but in the blood of Christ shed for us on the cross. He is our boast and he is our confidence and faith is saying I'm confident in Christ and the merits of Christ and what Christ has achieved for me. And it seems to me that as we come to Hebrews chapter 11, The author is wanting to say to the church, and by the way, this isn't some new original definition of faith that I've been giving you, but rather this has always been the nature of faith. I think that's what's going on here. It's as if the author is saying, okay, how else am I going to drill into them?

A proper definition of faith. I know church history. Church history. I'm now gonna go back into church history and to show them that this sort of confidence in god and not himself is always how it's been ever since the very creation of the world. In our house, we recently started getting this magazine called The Week Junior, which is a kind of, it's a great magazine.

It's got stories and information and news and photos from all over the world that aimed at slightly kind of older kids, but I have found it is absolutely on my level. I mean, it's it's brilliant, brilliant reading. And, 1 of the articles they had in, in 1 of the recent ones was about these, ice cores this ice core that they took last year from Antarctica. It's a fascinating article. They've basically drilled out this core of ice, which is about the diameter of a coke can.

It's not much wider than a coke can, and it's 1.7 miles long, a 1.7 mile long coke can, if you can imagine that. And in the article, this thing was described as a frozen archive that as you go back through the ice over that period of time, you can tell from what's contained in the ice what the environment was like at different times in earth's history. So you can tell by how much pollen has been frozen into the core what the kind of the trees and the plants were doing at that particular time. You can tell by how much sort of volcanic dust has been frozen into the core, what the level of volcanic activity was at that particular time. And as you go back through the court, it just gives you a a picture of how the atmosphere in the environment has changed over time.

And it struck me reading Hebrews 11 alongside this stuff about ice cores. That Hebrews 11 is a bit like an ice core from history. It covers when you think about it, and as we've just read, a huge slice of time. It goes right back to the very creation of the universe. It moves up through the life of Noah and the patriarchs.

It moves into the exodus, into the time of the judges through the ministry of the prophets, And then when you get into chapter 12, all of a sudden, it's fix your eyes on Christ. So we come to the Ministry of Christ, and all of this chapter is for Christians who were living in the first century and has been preserved now to 20 26. That's a pretty long call when you think about it. And what you see as you go back over that time is that the environment has changed hugely. Certainly, the spiritual environment has changed.

You think about Noah and his life and the world in which he inhabited. In some ways, it was still in its spiritual infancy, wasn't it? Noah's world just beginning. And there was floods and building and promises and preaching. And then you move up through to Abraham's time.

You're still in that ancient kind of nomadic world of tribes moving around and finding their homes and gods. You move into the time of Gideon and the judges. It's a brutal slice of history, but technology is improving. They've got chariots now. And they're able to have a mastery over their environment that they hadn't had before.

And then you come into the time of the Hebrews, and the whole world is a lot more sophisticated. They're being influenced by Greek and Roman culture, and there's ideas being exchanged, and people are traveling a lot more. So so the environment in which these people lived changed hugely, but all along the core, the definition of faith has been frozen in time. What is faith? Faith is confidence in god, and it is confidence in the promises of god.

And is it a it's a it's a glad expectation of what god is going to do. And so do you see, like the core, the environment in which they live has changed? But the definition of faith has been frozen all along the core. It is trust and confidence. In the promises of god.

And mainly and I think this is 1 of the main emphasis is of Hebrews 11. It's mainly confidence in god's future promises. That seems to be the big deal here. That god's people throughout history are those who trust in those things that 1 day they will see, but don't yet see. Oh that day when freed from sinning.

I shall see thy lovely face. They look forward confidently to the things that they will see. But don't quite see at the moment. Let's see it again. I have a look at Hebrews 11, so get the chapter open in front of you.

Hebrews 11 1, and look at this confidence in future sight, future promises. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for a kind of confidence that they will 1 day see things they don't yet see, and they hope to them, and they live for them. Hebrews 11 verse 6, without faith, it is impossible to please god. Because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

And I think in context there, that reward does not mean lots of money that god is gonna give you in this life. The reward is the better country to come and the city that has been prepared for you. Faith is believing that god exists and that he will reward with great promises. Those who earnestly seek him verse 13, all these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised.

They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. Admitting they were foreigners and strangers on the earth, and then to the last verse which serves as another sort of summary verse, I think. These were all commended for their faith. Yet none of them received what had been promised. And so all of these different people, and as we're gonna see, some of these characters had had sizable moral defects.

They really did. And yet all of these people had this basic understanding that this world was not their final home. And that god had promised them future realities. And they set their face towards those realities, accepting the life of a stranger now, knowing that home was coming 1 day. That's 1 of the threads that unites them together.

That's faith. So it might help to think of this a little bit like a bridge. If you take A bridge could be this 1, could be anyone, any any bridge really. What is 1 of the things that you never see on a bridge? A house?

You never see a house on a bridge. Now why is that? I guess for 2 main reasons. 1, I don't know whether they would grant planning permission for a house on a bridge. Secondly, because we understand that a bridge is not a final home place.

A bridge is a carrier to a final home. We don't put foundations and roots down on the bridge because we know the bridge is just a transport to the home that we're going to 1 day. Something like that is true of faith. That is what unites the men and women of Hebrew's chapter 11. They understood that they were not home.

And they were not yet in the fullness of god's promise. And so they saw this world as a bridge world to a future, and they gladly walked across it. And they gladly drove across it because they knew this this was not it. It was coming. And so they lived by faith, and they walked happily into the future that they trusted god would provide for them on the other side.

And we gotta understand how incredibly important this would really have been for the original audience. Have a look back to chapter 10 verse 32. This is some of the things that they were starting to experience for following Christ. Remember those earlier days after you had received the light when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution.

At other times, you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew. That you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. And so do you see these Christians were being exposed to a variety of pressures? There was a religious pressure for them to give up on the light on Jesus Christ and go back to their old way of doing god through temple and sacrifice and priest.

There was that kind of pressure. There seems to be a kind of societal pressure property being confiscated, possible imprisonment. There were legal consequences, it seems to follow in Christ. So there were all kinds of pressures acting upon the church. And they were starting to feel that this world was not their home.

That this was the world of sin, and this was the world of disappointment and of dreams not realized. And of suffering, this was the world in which they would feel fragile and vulnerable. And in chapter 11, the author is saying brothers and sisters, what you are experiencing. Is not original, and neither is it surprising to god? In fact, this has always been the experience of those who walk by faith.

That's why they're described in Hebrews 11 13 as aliens, foreigners, and strangers on the earth. What you are feeling now Hebrew Christians is what god's people all along the ice core have felt in this life. And so why does the writer highlight this future dimension of faith for them? Well, surely, it's to let these hard pressed Christians know that they are in good company. That god's people have always been a people on the bridge.

And sometimes that means you have very pleasant views. But sometimes it means you feel very vulnerable and very exposed as the wind drives at you through the gorge or the rain drives into your face or you're threatened The bridge environment can be a threatening environment to walk over. And this writer is saying to them, and so it has been for god's people, all across history. And I think that ought to be a great help for us here this morning because sometimes I think we Christians can feel that if in this world we do experience vulnerability and if we are feeling exposed, And if we do wrestle with feelings of homelessness in this world, or we have to shoulder the disappointment of our sin and the suffering that is such a feature of this world, we sometimes can feel that there must be something wrong with our faith. That this is not normal, that this must be unusual because I serve a great powerful god, so surely my life shouldn't be this way.

But now we understand that all along the ice core, the people have of faith have felt bad. They have felt bad, and they've looked ahead in confidence to the world that is theirs on the other side of the bridge. But here's what we need to add to that definition. Faith is not just about going on to a better place. It's about anticipating life with a person.

That's biblical faith. Have a look back with me at chapter 9 verse 28 on the screen. Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but to save those, as Paul quoted in his prayer, who are eagerly waiting for him. It's not just the better place they want to be in. They've got an an anticipation for the 1 who is the king of the place.

That's who they wanna that's who they wanna be with. You see something similar right at the end of this chapter. If you have a look to Hebrews 11 verse 39, these were all commended for their faith. Yet none of them received what had been promised since god had planned something better for us. So that only together with us would they be made perfect?

Now what is the something better that he's talking about here? Well, in context, it's the superior betterness of Jesus. He's the superior revelation of god because he himself is the word of god. He's the superior temple of god because he is the place where god's people meet with the father. He is the superior priest who lives forever and intercedes for us.

He's the superior sacrifice who laid down his life once. He's the superior sabbath because in him, we have rest. He's at the heart of the better covenant because in him, we have complete cleansing from our sin. He is the superior 1. That's the bet the better thing.

And yet we're told here that these ancients were looking forward to that. That which has come upon us, they looked forward to. So that as they looked forward, not just to a vague promise, but as they look forward to Christ, they were made perfect by faith in him just as we are made perfect together with them by faith in Christ. He is the superior 1 at the heart of god's promises. And why is that so important?

Well, because brothers and sisters, you don't need to even be a Christian to believe in heaven. And you do not need to be a Christian to want to go to heaven 1 day everybody wants to go to heaven 1 day. Nobody wants to go to hell. You don't need to be a Christian to want to avoid hell and go to heaven and be in a better place. So that cannot be all that Christian faith is about, and, of course, it isn't.

It's a yearning to be with a person. It's walking across the bridge and driving across the bridge and saying no to a bridge home, because I'm looking forward to Christ, and I'm yearning to be with Christ. Moses left the pleasures of Egypt for for Christ. Because he wanted Christ and to be with Christ. And that's what a Christian is.

That's what faith is. Not just confidence in the future better world, but in Jesus who is my better world and my sabbath rest. Let me try to illustrate this for you because I I really think this idea is at the heart of this chapter. I want you to imagine that you've you've got a couple, and we're gonna call them Martin and Jessica. Okay?

So here's a couple, Martin and Jessica. At the start of a day, a very ordinary day before work, they agree that they are going to have their favorite meal for dinner. And it's gonna be a shepherd's pie. Not 1 that you buy in the supermarket, 1 that has been properly sourced from the butcher, properly cooked, mashed potato mashed with salted butter and cream. Covered in cheese.

Delicious gravy. It's their favorite meal, and they're gonna eat it together this evening, a shepherd's pie. And Jessica wonderfully has offered to prepare this, their favorite meal for them to eat. And throughout the day, Martin is so looking forward to that meal with his wife. He's got this glad anticipation throughout the day of when he sits down to eat his favorite meal with his favorite person.

So much so that at lunchtime, when his colleagues say, why don't we go out for lunch? There's a new Chick fil A. It's just opened in town, and we're all going. Martin's there, and he says, you know, fellas, if it was next week, or even if it was tomorrow, I'd come with you. But I'm saving myself tonight.

Because I've got a great meal coming. And I don't wanna spoil it. I don't wanna spoil it, and so maybe we'll do it another time. And then as he gets off the train at the end of the day, and he walks past his favorite takeaway, He puts his head in the door because he normally gets a little snack for himself just before he gets home. And he puts his head in the door, and he says, nah, not today.

Because I don't wanna spoil myself. Because in just a few minutes' time, I'm gonna be home with my wife, and she's prepared the meal that we love the most. And so when he finally gets in, and he can smell the shepherd's pie, and he can see the wife who is the delight of his life. And he's been looking forward to this all day, and she puts it down on the table. Well, she may not say it out loud, but Jessica is not going to be ashamed of spending her day preparing that meal because she can see that in him has been a glad anticipation.

Of all that she had prepared for him. Now if you rerun the tape, same starting plan, same effort put in by Jessica, same meal that they're looking forward to, But when the fellas go out at lunchtime for work, he's right out with them. And he's gone to the restaurant, and he's ordered not just the basic Philip Burger. He's ordered the deluxe bucket with the chips and the sauce, and he stuffed himself. And then he gets back to the office and tries to finish off the afternoon in a kind of food fried chicken coma, which is very difficult to do.

And then he gets the train home, and he goes past his favorite takeaway, and he just thinks I'll just pop in, get a little something. Just before I get home. And so at last, he comes into the house, and he hears a voice from the kitchen saying, it's gonna be on the table in 10 minutes. I've been preparing. It's ready.

And he hangs up his coat and he puts down his bag. And he says, oh, love. You couldn't stick mine in the fridge, could you? And I'll have it tomorrow. I'm stuffed.

Couldn't eat another thing. Now, again, depending on her character, She may or may not say it aloud. But she is gonna feel some measure of shame, isn't she? That she spent her whole day on this. And there's been no longing for it.

No excitement about it. No saying no because of it. He's just done whatever he wanted, and he'll have it when he's ready from the fridge. Here's the question. Which of those is biblical faith?

More like. Hebrews 11 16. See it with me. They were longing for a better country, a heavenly 1. And therefore god is not ashamed.

To be called their god, for he has prepared a city for them. The word longing there is a really strong word, and it means to kind of stretch yourself out to kind of stretch yourself out and even bring a sort of pain to your limbs and your tendons. So so stretching out are you for something? You're embracing it and welcoming it from afar and stretching out towards it. Brother and sister's faith is not just I've got something in the fridge for when I'm ready.

It is a stretching oneself out, a glad longing. To be with Christ. And when god's people with all of their failings have that mindset, and when they say no to the takeaways of the world, because something better is coming, And when they say no to building a house on the bridge, because a better home is just the other side, our god is not ashamed to be called our god. For he has prepared a city for us. Do we believe that?

I wonder. Friends Jesus really has prepared a place for you. There is a place prepared for you. On the night before he died, John chapter 14 on the screen. Jesus said to his disciples, my father's house has many rooms.

If it were not so and look out for the language of preparation, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. And so here is Jesus the night before the cross talking of preparation. Christ is gonna go to the cross in order to prepare his disciples. Because that needs to be done first, doesn't it?

They need to have their sins paid for, and the son of god in love is gonna go to the cross and bear their sins away so that they can be prepared for the place. And then he's going to go back to heaven with that work complete. And with his father, he's gonna sit down to a great preparation project as he builds a home and a country and rooms for all of the church of Christ across the ages. And when that's ready, he's gonna come back, and he's going to say my sons and my daughters, the shepherd's pie is on the table. The feast is ready.

It's all been prepared. He's gonna come for us. And the question in all of this is what do those promises actually mean to us? Do those promises find a secure foothold. In our hearts.

Are they good enough to make us say no to building a house on this bridge and no to filling myself up on takeaways. And no, I am not going to invest too much in the here and now or expect too much from the here or now or stick all of my dreams into the here and now because I'm longing for Christ. And Christ is coming, and he's got a place for me and it's better. And it tastes better. Then all this world can offer.

And so, say no, and I'm walking, do they do they actually register in our hearts at any kind of changing level? Or do we just really consider it like a meal in the fridge for when we're ready? Stuff myself now. When I'm ready, I'll have what he's promised. Out of the fridge.

In other words, are we gonna imitate the men and women of Hebrews 11? Because I think that is 1 of the main purposes of it. If you have a look at chapter 6 verse 12 on the screen, this was introduced even earlier than Hebrews 11. We do not want you to become lazy. Lazy, isn't it eating takeaways?

Well, a meal is coming. It is a it's lazy. Can't be bothered to wait? But to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised, this is here, that we might imitate these people of faith, will we do it? And just for our encouragement as we close, that does not mean that you and I have to be perfect people.

Because on the 1 hand, it is true that the men and women in this chapter are commended by god, and they receive a good report from god for their faith. But if you know the stories of some of these people, it is the it's outrageous This is a chapter of lie upon lie of violence on violence of great unbelief of swerving from the promises of god of deception and sin. I mean, people like Samsung and Jephter, the these are not polite middle class sinners. Yeah. These are outrageous.

Sinners, outrageous, brazen sinners. And so what are we to conclude from that? Not that these people are in Hebrews 11 because of their outstanding moral record. That's not why they're here, but because for all of their failings, some of them gross failings, they were in the end, people who put their confidence in the future promises of god. And so that is the question for us, not have we lived perfectly because none of us have, and we need the blood of Christ to cleanse us and to prepare us.

But what direction is your life going? Friends, what direction is your life going? Over the bridge, no home here, meal with my wife, no takeaway now. Because something better is coming. They longed the 16 for a better country, a heavenly 1.

And therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their god for he has prepared a city for them. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly father, we pray that you would grant us the kind of confidence in your promises that is pleasing to you. And which actually makes a difference to our lives now. And we pray in Jesus' name.