1 Corinthians 2:9-16

Six requirements for Real Counsel…

… the recognition we’re all broken by sin.

… Scripture as the primary means of change.

… the humility to ask another for help.

… courage to confront the one held by sin.

… obedience to bring about change.

… (in the end) will hold you together when nothing else will.

Good morning, Saylorville! If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, as we continue our series we began last week, “Real Council,” and the title of this message is The Fear of God, which I’m calling Real Council’s Foundation.

So it’s… the summer’s on us, right? School’s out, sun’s out, fun’s out, vacations are on us. We’re chillaxing. No more troubles… Amen? No more problems… No, our problems, our troubles usually pack their suitcases and go with us on vacation, don’t they? And so, I need counsel. You need counsel. Real counsel. We all need counsel, guidance, correction, and direction in our lives.

And so I want to start this morning by reading a very powerful passage of Scripture, one that, in my experience with Christians, we don’t sit on this passage very often. But if we could absorb the truth of this passage and the Spirit of God’s work in our lives who know Him, this’ll blow your mind! Second or first Corinthians, chapter one, or chapter two, rather, (we’ll get it right!) and we’re gonna pick it up in verse nine, where it says,

1 Corinthians 2:9-16

9 “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

(I hate to bust your bubble, but this has nothing to do with heaven. This is one of those verses sometimes taken out of context to describe heaven. ‘Heart has not seen, ears not heard… it’s never imagined, what God has prepared…’ Well, that’s certainly true of heaven, but that’s not what this passage is talking about, because the very next line says this. Look at it.)

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. (So in other words, all this business of things you’ve not seen or heard or entered into your heart, It can be yours now! That’s the point. That’s pretty cool!) For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the Spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

12 (Now this is really powerful, watch this) Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, (watch this) that we might understand the things freely given us by God. (Just let that sink in a little bit)

13 And we impart this in words not taught by human (these words, words of God, not taught by human) wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

14 The natural person (the word “natural” there is the Greek word, “psuchikos.” It literally means “soul-ish.” It’s referring to somebody who does not have the Spirit. It’s a Spirit-less person. It’s a lost person and an unsafe person. Some of you. The natural person) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, (Why?) for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

That’s powerful stuff! Let’s take it to God.

Our Father in heaven, the very thought that You would place the person of the Spirit of God, The third person of the Godhead, into our lives who know You so as to help us to comprehend spiritual things and see things beyond our struggles, is an amazing thing, and we’re grateful. Help us today as we work through this idea of fearing You and all for Your glory, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Have you ever heard somebody give a right word at the wrong time? I think it was Mark Twain who said,

“The right word and the almost right word, the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”  Mark Twain

That’s how important timing is. And Solomon said it. He said in

Proverbs 15:23, ‘A word that’s spoken at just the right time.” Ah, how good it is.’

We’ve experienced that, haven’t we? — just as we’ve experienced bad timing.

We started last week by giving out six requirements for real counsel, and I’m just going to quickly review those with you because they’re so foundational to this. First is the recognition that we’re all broken. That’s why we have the pot up there that looks like it’s cracked. We have broken people counseling broken people, and reciprocally, right? Scripture is the primary means of change. The Word of God, when the truth gets in you, the truth will set you free, and it requires humility to ask for help. Remember we said last week, we all echoed it together, “I need help.” And that takes humility, doesn’t it? It also —And this is a real catch. This is a real stopping point. This is a real short circuit this next one. It requires courage on the counselor to confront the one held by sin. Some of you, you think, ‘Well, it’s my brother. That’s my sister. That’s my mom. That’s my dad. That’s my friend. That’s my employer. I can’t do that because I’ll cause a wedge between… I just can’t do it. I can’t do it,’ — And we don’t, and nothing happens. Nobody goes forward, especially the one who needs to be confronted. It takes courage to confront someone who’s not walking with God. We said that the six requirements of real counsel include obedience, this is on the part of the recipient to bring about change. I mean, real counsel is gonna be truth and truth will change you. And finally, in the end, real counsel will hold you together when nothing else will. So additionally, beside these, I would say that real counsel has the ability to read the room. Real counsel has the ability to understand the individual who is before you emotionally, psychologically, and most importantly, spiritually. So for instance, if I’m a counselor and I’m talking to somebody… and we’re all counselors, right?… if I’m talking to somebody, I have to ask the question, ‘Is he a Christian?’ ‘Is she a Christian?’ Cause that’s gonna make all the difference in the world if you’re a Christian how I’m going to approach this, right?

I learned this years ago, some of you’ve heard this story. Jerrod Leonard’s grandfather accosted me outside of a grocery store, of all things. He was like 115 at the time! — And he stopped me. He was talking to me. He said, “Pat, I want you to listen to me.” So I did, I was only like 25 at the time. He said, “You know, Pat, I was in a…” I’m over here. He goes, “I was in a mission one day, preaching the Gospel.” And then he went like this, [Pat turned and looked as if he was looking at himself straight in the eyes] he goes, “You don’t dare preach anything else in a mission!” And then he went on with his story. He just tattooed me with that line! — But, how true! If I’m in a mission where lost people are, they don’t need how to become better dads, better husbands, you know, better employers, a better employer. They need to know Jesus! And if you’re on the counseling end, you better know the status spiritually speaking of that person, right? ‘Is he a Christian?’ ‘Is she a Christian?’ ‘Are they new Christians?’ ‘Are they struggling Christians?’ ‘Are they spiritual Christians, or are they unspiritual Christians?’ The 14th verse that we just read, says the natural, that soul-ish, that spirit-less man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. Why? — Because they’re folly to him. The word “folly” is the word “moria.” We get our word “moron” from this word. Spiritual things are moronic to an unsaved person. In fact, the Greek word literally means “to be dull.” But what’s incredible is what is contra-wise in those last two verses. This is incredible! The Holy Spirit gives to you and me who know Jesus, the mind of Christ. That’s amazing! We get the mind of Christ. We’re not judge-able. We’re able to judge things, and the whole, and most importantly, we are able to discern the will of God in our lives even when we’re in a funk, even when we’re in a bad place. Sometimes our counselors get people, even Christians, into their office, and they’re just absolutely stuck. They can’t think or see beyond their circumstances. And it’s the counselor’s job to give them a bigger picture of God and His purposes in our lives. That’s what the Holy Spirit does in the heart of a believer.

So let’s pretend from here on end. For the balance of our time, let’s pretend. Let’s pretend everybody here, and everybody watching online, everybody here is a Christian. Everybody here has the Holy Spirit living in them. I know better, but let’s pretend. So that means you’re in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit and you’re able to receive truth, comprehend truth, obey truth, and, thereby, give truth. The Holy Spirit is the One who helps us get a bigger picture of God and His purposes in our lives. Now the Bible has an expression and it’s used repeatedly throughout the Scripture for all of that. It’s real simple. Fear God. Fear God. In fact, Solomon said,

[Ecclesiates 12:13, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.“]

That’s the sum of man. “Fear God, keep his commandments.” What does it mean? What is the fear of the Lord? And why is the fear of the Lord so foundational to real counsel? And these are the two questions I’m going to attempt to answer this morning. What is the fear of the Lord? What is it? Well, I’m a Bible guy. I do like definitions. I am going to give you a definition, but I like what the Scripture says. What does the scripture say? Amen? So what does the scripture say? The book of Proverbs, as we said last week, is like a master class on counseling. And so right out of the shoot, we’re told,

[Proverbs 1:7] “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…”

…which means this is truth. It gives us real knowledge as opposed to fake knowledge. There is fake knowledge out there, right? And this is really important for us in this AI generation that we live. Knowledge, we’re just all gobbling it up. Reading books, we get our heads stuffed with knowledge, but we don’t necessarily do anything with it. So God was ahead of the game, obviously, when he told through Timothy, in 1 Timothy 6:20-21. As Timothy was ending his pastoral … book… he says,

1 Timothy 6:20-21, ‘Beware, lest you… beware with those who ascribe to knowledge falsely so-called.’

Have you ever read that? There’s a lot of people in this conspiratorial generation we live in. They’re just embracing all kinds of knowledge, not necessarily true. It’s the beginning of knowledge. It’s also the beginning of wisdom, and wisdom is just acting on the knowledge you get. This is again very important for our generation to take… as a counselor. When counselors give truth, they expect that truth to be obeyed. You do something with it. That’s wisdom, when you take truth and you obey it. And there’s one more thing the Book of Proverbs tells us about the fear of the Lord, and it’s something I don’t think we think of very often. I’ve never heard anybody share this, but it’s right there in Proverbs 14:27.

Proverbs 14:27, “The fear of the Lord is the fountain of life…”

Have you ever read that? It’s “the fountain of life.” Now there are other things the book of Proverbs tells us about the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord actually helps a person hate. God does hate certain things and Proverbs 8:13 says,

Proverbs 8:13, “The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.“

‘The fear of the Lord is to hate, evil, pride, arrogance, evil doing, perverted speech.’ These are all things that a follower of God should hate, and that’s all incorporated in the fear of the Lord.

Now, here’s a definition I want to give you. You can take a snapshot if you want of it, and it’s a good one. The fear of the Lord isn’t about a literal fear of God in the way one might fear a threat. Instead, it’s a profound reverence, respect, and awe for God’s holiness, power and greatness. It involves acknowledging God’s supremacy and dependence upon Him. That is spot on! I didn’t say that. You know who said that? ChatGPT. Really did. Now some of you think, ‘Oh man, could it be true?’ It is true! Remember, if you were with us a few months ago, Mark Vroegop who is now the president of the Gospel Coalition, informed us that AI has taken over 800,000 pages from the Gospel Coalition’s website and incorporated into its algorithms. So that doesn’t just say you can just believe in, and then chat GPT says, you really gotta weigh everything, right? — balance it with scripture, but this is spot on. Now that said, there are other things that it includes, and I wanna take a little time to unpack those with you.

Number one, it includes, the fear of the Lord includes, deep reverence; deep reverence. Reverence for God’s greatness and for His power and for His holiness. When Isaiah the prophet concluded his greatest book of the Old Testament, God speaks through him in the 66th chapter and the 2nd verse, he says,

Isaiah 66:2b, “… to this one will I look, (this is God talking… to this one will I look) to him who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

That’s a man, that’s a woman who fears God when you tremble before the truth of God. There’s nothing cute, casual or cavalier about fearing God. In fact, if you fear God like He wants you to fear Him, if you take… then what happens, you take God seriously, you take yourself less seriously. In fact, I’ll just tell you this. If you’re hypersensitive and you take yourself too seriously so if somebody says something that hurts your feelings, I mean, you’re human, you can get hurt, you’re feeling, but you start to, you start to center on that, you start to, you know, sort of mutter on that, then you are a person who fears man, not God.

[Proverbs 29:25] “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”

That’s what the Bible says. Have you ever read that? So when you fear God, you’ll think more of Him and less of yourself, and that’s deep reverence.

Secondly, it, fearing God brings about a desire not to dishonor God. That’s kind of a clunky wording I put in there, but it just, it creates this desire within you not to disappoint or dishonor God. So the idea here is that you’re not afraid. You don’t live in fear of judgment because or punishment because

[Romans 8:1] “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Right? But it’s sort of a, it’s this… you live in the fear of dishonoring. You’re sort of like, you’re sort of like the teenage girl who’s out with all of her friends and they’re up to no good, they’re going to a party. They busted out the alcohol. They busted out the drugs. The peer pressure is enormous! — and she’s about to capitulate… but she doesn’t. She takes her stance as ‘I’m not gonna do this. I’m not gonna go there,’ and somebody, one of the leaders in the group says, ‘What, you’re afraid your dad’s gonna hurt cha?’ And she wisely responds, ‘No, I’m afraid I’ll hurt my dad.‘ Now that’s the idea of fearing God and not desiring to disappoint Him in your walk with Him. And by the way, this is what Paul said to the Ephesians when he said, he said,

[Ephesians 4:30] “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.“

That would be dishonoring God. That would be hurting God. – So to speak. Right?

Here’s an important one. It’s also the fear of the Lord is, I put a modifier on this, loving submission, loving submission, not just submission, but loving submission, because it’s a submission that’s rooted in the love of God. And what it does, it creates in your heart this desire and this willingness to lovingly submit to him and to his authority.

So just the other day, a friend of mine told me about this. Just the other day…. he’s got this five-year-old son, young guys, got a couple of kids, got a five-year-old son. Let’s just say he’s a little willful, okay? Anybody have a willful kid here when they were five? Anyway uh… so he told him the other day… he says “I want you to go upstairs and get your shoes on,” and he didn’t want to go, so he told him again, “Go upstairs. Get your shoes on.” He finally capitulated. Literally this is how the five year old walked up the steps [stomping on each step] … slammed the bedroom door behind him. Now, his dad was fit to be tied! He waited a little while, he walked up the steps, opened the bedroom door to find his five-year-old son, buck naked!… but he had his shoes on! Let’s just say that’s not loving submission, okay? But that’s the way we are sometimes. We just do it because we have to do it. But when you fear God, you do it because you love Him. It’s a loving submission.

And finally, it takes action. When you fear God, you do something about the truth that has been given to you. This is why counselors get exasperated sometimes ’cause they’re giving out truth. They sometimes give out homework. And then the person comes back having done nothing with it. That’s not fearing God. Paul said in Philippians 1:27, he said,

Philippians 1:27, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel…”

Let your conduct, that’s the way of life, your movement, honor, be worthy of the Gospel you received. Alright?

So, and then finally it’s the foundational, it’s the foundation rather of real counsel. The fear of the Lord is the foundation of real counsel. And, why … why is the fear of the Lord so foundational to real counsel? Well, we said it earlier. Here it is again, in

Proverbs 14:27, “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.”

We’re told that “the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life.” Just think about that. It’s the fountain of life. Meditate on that a little bit. It means that you actually learn, obey, change through the experiences God has placed you in. Some of you are in a hard place right now, or a difficult place, or you feel strangled. You feel just penned in. And some of you are just struggling with certain life dominating issues. I want you to know that the fear of the Lord is the foundation of life. John Newton, who gave us Amazing Grace, said,

“No one ever learned that they were a sinner by being told. They have to be shown.”

John Newton

And so that’s experience. When we… now listen, experience is not truth. Experience does not equate to truth, but experience often verifies truth. Does it not? So let me give you a for instance. The apostle Paul to the Philippians, he’s ending his epistle, the letter to the Philippians, and he says something amazing. I remember the first time I read it and thinking, “Oh wow, he’s being real!” Here’s what he said, he said, he said,

[Philippians 4:11] “…I have learned in whatever situation (condition, status, circumstance that I’m in) I am to be content.”

With that word, Paul was telling you and me, he didn’t have that when he first became a Christian. He had to learn it through experiences. You wanna read Paul’s experience? You talk about experiences! You talk about hardships! But he had learned to be content.

So for example, take the Old Testament character of Joseph. Many of you… remember the story of Joseph? He’s the 11th son of Jacob, the 11th! Jacob’s already had 10 strapping sons through other wives in his life, but none by the wife of his dreams, the apple of his eye, Rachel… childless, no kids… so he keeps having sons through other women. And finally, Rachel conceives and has a son! His name is Joseph. We’re told that in the earlier parts of Genesis 30, and then several chapters leap ahead, and the next thing you know Joseph is 17 years old. And I mean, Jacob did not waste any time to show favor, give favor, show favoritism to Joseph even giving him “the robe.” Remember that boldly colored robe that distinguished him from his 10 brothers? I mean, what could go wrong? Here’s what it says in Genesis 37. Joseph brought a bad report of his brothers… he was a tattle tail, to his father.

[Genesis 37:2-4]

2 “… And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

3 “Now Israel, (that’s Jacob) loved Joseph more than any other sons because he was the son of his old age.” (made sense) And he made him a robe of many colors.

4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.”

And this just really set things up for the future. So, the next… remember, first of all, Joseph. He’s just this young punk, and he starts having dreams and he flaunts them! Remember that?

[Genesis 37:5-11] ‘Hey, I had a dream.’ (You know, it was an agrarian society, so they’re all growing wheat) ‘And my sheaves, you guys, are all bowing down to me! And then there’s the sun, the moon, the star. Yeah, you guys are, my mom and dad, you’re even bowing down…’ Are you kidding me? This is what it says.

[Genesis 37:8b] “So they hated him even more for the dreams and for his words.”

He’s just driving a wedge in there. By the way, if you want to drive a wedge in your family and put a stake in the heart of your kids, then just try it by favoring one kid over another. You will kill your family or attempt to anyway.

Joseph, knowing he is the creme de la creme! He’s the best of the best! He exploits his favoritism by telling his dreams. And then one day his father sends him on a mission, because his brothers are all off with the herds, finding places to graze, and his father’s worried about them, so Jacob sends Joseph off, and we’re told that he goes all the way down to Dothan and there he sees his brother’s herds. He starts heading toward them, and this is what it says here in Genesis.

Genesis 37:18, “They (the brothers) saw him from afar (How would they see him? He’s got that stinkin’ coat on! —That’s why. They saw him from… before he came near them) they conspired against him to kill him.”

Now let me ask you, do you think this is the first time they ever conspired to kill Joseph? Go like this. No, we were told they have been hating him for years! They were probably sitting by the fire contemplating how they could kill him back home, and then it’s like, ‘Woo Hoo! He’s coming right at us!’ And the plans start coming! They start to conceive this idea of killing him, and then they realize that, you know, he’s got a brother, you know, that’s got a tad bit of mercy in him. So ‘Let’s not kill him.’ So they chain him up. They throw him in a pit. The Bible, the psalmist tells us he was crying out in the pit while they were sitting there eating! Some, you know, some merchants come by. They sell him as a slave down into Egypt under the house of Potiphar, and while he’s there, he’s falsely accused of making a move on Potiphar’s wife! He goes from prominence to a pit to a prison… and he’s in that prison for a long time. If you remember the story of Joseph, while he’s there languishing in prison, the cup bearer, the butcher, the butler, the baker come along, and he interprets… they have dreams. He interprets their dreams. Blah, blah, blah. He tells the cup bear, rather, he’s gonna get restored. ‘Hey, by the way, when you get restored, would you tell… would you tell the king about me? I mean, I’m down here. I didn’t do anything wrong. Put a word in for me.’ Nothing! He completely forgets! He languishes for two more years in prison, and then suddenly in just one day the king has a dream. Nobody understands it. The cup bearer remembers, tells him about Joseph. He’s brought out of the prison into the palace, and before you know it, he’s the second in charge of all of Egypt!

Can you imagine what might have been going through his mind during that time? Do you think he began to fear God? Go like this. Yeah! Do you think he gained perspective? Well, we know he did. We don’t even have to imagine. We know he gained perspective, because years later, his brothers come down. You remember the story? There’s a famine up north. They come down. They’re standing before their brother, begging for food. He recognizes them. So many years… He looks Egyptian now. He’s clean, shaven. They don’t recognize him. Eventually, he reveals himself to his brothers. They can’t believe it! He’s still alive! The whole family comes down. There’s protection. They come down and, by and by, Jacob, his dad dies. And now it’s time for Joseph to get his revenge on these men who have ruined his life! — taken away from the home, the family, his father, for many years. It’s time for him to get revenge, and his brothers are convinced that’s exactly what he’ll do! — but he doesn’t! He doesn’t, because when he gives them a reason, he says to his brothers, and you know the verse,

[Genesis 50:20a, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for (what?) good…“]

You know that, don’t you? You talk about perspective! Joseph learned through experience to fear the Lord. He’s no longer the selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed, insufferable — Can you imagine growing up with him? — Silver spoon… brat! No. His losses, his hardships, his continual disappointments, experiences, created a thoughtful, compassionate, tender-hearted, forgiving, giving ‘more like Jesus’ kind of man.

Speaking of Jesus, you know, He even had to learn. And theologically, it’s a conundrum except that he was 100% human without sin. The Bible tells us, the writer of Hebrews says,

[Hebrews 5:8] “Although He was a son, (he what? He what?) “He learned obedience through what he suffered.“

You should underline that. The word “learned” there is the exact same word as in

Philippians 4:11 when Paul says,

Philippians 4:11, “… I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”

Same word! In fact, the root of the word is where we get our word “disciple.” I tell you that because what is a disciple? A disciple is an apprentice, and an apprentice is one who learns through his experiences. Are you learning through yours? This is why we can be told later on in Hebrews…

[Hebrews 12:2] ‘We’re to look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him… (What joy? — Heaven, the return to heaven at the right hand of God, the intercessory ministry, glory!) for the joy set before him endured the cross, despised its pain and is now sat at the right hand of God.’

For Jesus, the way back to heaven was by way of the cross, and why should it be any different for you and me? If Jesus learned through His experiences, how much more should we? Ours. We already have grace to get through Him.

And what does all this have to do with real counsel anyway? A lot! If you’re a Christian, if you’re a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit within you! He wants to open your eyes to the ways of God, and see the bigger picture of your life through your trials, through your sufferings, through your struggles so that you believe He’s greater than them! Real counsel will show you your failure is not the final word. Your struggle does have an end. Your sin is not unforgivable. Your identity need not be tied to your circumstance and your present place, regardless of how difficult, is not your future home. “I know how the story ends!” We just sang it! Do you? Do you? In the fear of God, follower of Jesus Christ, in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, surrender to Him. Surrender to His will. Surrender to His love, and surrender to His timing.

I started by saying, “Let’s pretend we’re all Christians here, but the truth is some of you have been pretending a long time. You’re not a Christian. We had a testimony in this baptismal a few months ago, one of our teenagers raised in the church, raised around the truth, but not a Christian. Thought he was a Christian. His mom said to him one day, “You don’t fear God!” That would become the impetus for him repenting of his sin and placing his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again for him… And may that be the impetus for you this morning. Those of you who have never truly feared God, you’ve never repented of your sin and placed your faith in the one who bore your sins upon Himself and then rose again from the dead.

One more verse and we’re done. 2 Corinthians, 5:11 says this;

2 Corinthians, 5:11, ‘By the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.’

I fear God. I need to fear Him more. I will stand before God. In fact, I’m standing before Him now. And so, by my sense of His awesomeness, His power, His greatness, and His love, I beckon you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him as your Savior. And I beckon those of you who have, and you’re Christians and the Spirit of God resides within you… see beyond. There’s joy set before you, as well. There is joy set before you. You can endure your cross that Jesus said you take up every day. You can despise that shame because your current situation is not your future home. Amen?

Our Father, we love You and bless Your name for the truth of fearing You and knowing You, and living for You, and in our struggles seeing You beyond those struggles, beyond our trial, beyond the mucky muck that some of us are in right now. I pray that You would help us to be real counselors, those of us who know You, filled with truth, broken though we be to help those who are also broken. And if we are on the receiving end and we really need counsel… we all need it… we would be of the sort that would say, ‘Oh God, I want to lovingly submit to You, not forcefully, but because it’s Your will, and because I want to love You back. I pray for those who don’t know You that today would be the day of their salvation. As we ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s stand.