Hope Lived Out
Download MP3Hey, everybody. I I'm glad to see people here. That's fantastic. I didn't expect that, so it's wonderful to see all your bright shining faces. We are gonna be in Colossians again tonight.
Jeffrey Heine:So, Colossians chapter 3. It's in your worship guide. And we will be, continuing our our study. Last week, we looked at Colossians chapter 2. A couple months back, we looked at Colossians chapter 1.
Jeffrey Heine:If you haven't heard that, I encourage you go back through our, our online, audio and and check that one out, because these kind of go go together. But we we're gonna be picking up, where we left off, from last week. In in last week's time together, we looked at in chapter 2, Paul has written a letter to this Colossian church who's in a lot of turmoil. It's a it's a really confused community of people. They're they're believers.
Jeffrey Heine:In fact, Paul praises God and thanks God for the faith of the Colossians, that they that they do trust in Jesus, but there's a lot of confusion going on. And one of the main reasons for that is because these false teachers have come into that small Christian community in Colossae, and started teaching them some things that are just not true. Ways that they, have to worship God, things that they have to abstain from, do this, don't do that as a way to somehow earn God's favor. It's not just enough to believe in Jesus, but you have to do these other things too. And then they had these secret, the secret wisdom that they said that they had these, these mysteries of God that they claimed to have, and they were confusing to these people.
Jeffrey Heine:And so Paul is writing to clarify to them, not just who this Jesus is and the sufficiency of that Jesus, but also what it means to follow him with their lives. And so last week, we looked at how Paul is calling these Colossian Christians to grow up. Some to grow up and to mature in Christ. And the 2 ways that we looked at, 1, that they would grow up in love, and 2, that they would grow up in faith. And what we said was that when you grow up in love, that means that you're maturing and being more and more increasing in compassion.
Jeffrey Heine:You increase in your compassion for the people around you. Those who are like you, and those who are not like you, and you grow in that compassion. And then when you grow up and you mature in faith, you grow up in passion, passion for the truth of God and what He's revealed to us for how to live and how to worship Him and how to know Him. Because if we have compassion, but no passion, we have a love for people, but no direction to truth. And if we have passion, we have we have that truth, we have that direction, but no compassion, we have no way to get there if there's not love.
Jeffrey Heine:As we talked about the importance of growing up, firstly, first, you have to grow up, and secondly, you have to grow up in love and in faith. That's what Paul is calling these Colossians 2. And now we turn our attention to chapter 3. And in chapter 3, Paul directs these Colossians Christians to to a hope that they have. A hope that he's been talking about in the first two chapters, this hope that they have, but also the practical implications, the application of that hope lived out.
Jeffrey Heine:And so that's what we're going to look at tonight. Chapter 3, beginning in verse 1, we'll read, 17 verses here of chapter 3. And let us listen carefully for this is God's word. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things of the earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Jeffrey Heine:When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, greed, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked when you were living in them, but now now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
Jeffrey Heine:Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. And put on then is God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body.
Jeffrey Heine:And be thankful that the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him. Let's pray. Lord, where can we go but to your throne to receive mercy, grace, love, understanding, truth, and wisdom. Where can we go but to your throne?
Jeffrey Heine:We need to hear from you, Lord. And, father, we know your love for us because of Jesus, and we rest in him today. He is our life, and we are hidden in him. Help us by your spirit to understand your word today and to respond to it with all that we are, our whole selves. We pray these things in the name of the father, the son, the holy spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen. So this past Wednesday night, we had our 3rd theological talk back of the summer at Avondale Brewing Company, and and it was with Mark Ginalette. He's a professor at Beeson Divinity School and the lay canon theologian at Cathedral Church of the Advent downtown. Yes. I've practiced saying that a lot.
Jeffrey Heine:And so, he he came and he talked to us. He was really addressing this one question. What is Jesus doing now? I know many of you, were there for that, and and it was a wonderful time to really kinda drink from the fire hydrant of of what does it really mean to to think about where Jesus is right now, where he has flesh and blood, and his heart is beating, and he's breathing now. And not only that he is, but what is he doing now?
Jeffrey Heine:We spent some time talking about that, and during his talk, Mark, read from Colossians chapter 3 verses 1 through 4. And not only that, he gave Paul's letter to the Colossians, 2 thumbs up, which I thought that was that was encouraging to me since I knew I was going to be preaching in Colossians. So, 2 thumbs up. Good review, from Mark Gillette on the letter to the Colossians. But but as we consider these things, what is Jesus doing now?
Jeffrey Heine:In verses 1 through 4, we we kind of get an an introduction, a window into that, and and there are so many wonderful things that Paul is teaching the Colossians, and also us, about where Jesus is, and what is he doing now. And in these first four verses, Paul is bringing up what I think can be kind of classified and categorized into 3 reminders. Three reminders for the Colossians about Jesus, and the first one is this. Paul reminds the Colossians of their union with Christ. What that means is he's reminding them that they have died, and that they have been raised and that they are alive, all of that in Christ, that they died in Christ, that they were raised with Christ, that they are alive and hidden in Christ now.
Jeffrey Heine:That is union with Christ. That's the work of the Holy Spirit in in joining us to the person of Jesus, in all of those things that he did. As Mark said, Jesus not only died the death that you should have died, but he lived the life that you should have lived. He lived the life you should have lived, and what's meant by that is not that Jesus is this model or teacher. You know, he's not just being held up as you should have lived like him, so now you better get to work.
Jeffrey Heine:Why can't you be more like Jesus? You know, and maybe that's the internal script that you have sometimes, like a parent that says to you like, why can't you be more like your brother? Why can't you be more like your sister? Or maybe they're terrible people. Why can't you be more like your cousin?
Jeffrey Heine:You know, like you Why can't you be And so maybe that's the script that you have running in your mind, So when you just kinda get bogged down with that shame and that spiral of shame that comes and you think, why can't I just be more like Jesus? Jesus isn't just this model, not just this instructor, because Jesus just as teacher, that's brutal. We're not gonna live up to that. And so he's saying Paul's reminding them, you died with him. You were raised with him, and you are alive now with him and in him, this union with him, his life, death, resurrection life, that we are with him in that way.
Jeffrey Heine:The second thing, Paul reminds the Colossians that they should set their minds on the things above, and what that means is to set our minds on Jesus. To set our minds to fix our attention on the things that are above, and that then becomes the framework that we understand everything else that we see. It's it's not a forsaking of all things that just happen on the earth. It's not bearing our heads in the sand, but it's fixing our attention on where Jesus is now, and what he has accomplished, and what he promises, and how that shapes everything else that we see. Every year, I watch It's a Wonderful Life at Christmas.
Jeffrey Heine:What better time than the day after 4th July to talk about Christmas? Right? So so here, just enter into it. There are very few movies that fall in the category of annual viewing, but this is one of them. It's a Wonderful Life every year.
Jeffrey Heine:And every time I watch it, there's this scene where after they had rallied together, they got the money, and at the Bailey Savings and Loan, they take that money. The next day, the money is being taken to the bank to be deposited. And the associate, he loses the money. He misplaces it. And every time, like it just kinda like this burning, like, oh, like why did he have to do that?
Jeffrey Heine:But if he doesn't lose the money, the whole rest of the movie doesn't happen. Right? Like, it's it's all otherwise, it'd be like, another good day. We We we we saved the business, and then the movie just ends. But no, they've got 2 and a half more hours of movie to go.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm always surprised at how long that thing is too. I'm like, really? Like, I need a sandwich in between, take a break? Anyway, so but it has to happen. And it has to happen because in the end, it's a wonderful life.
Jeffrey Heine:Like it it's good. Everything works out really it couldn't go any better. But it had to have that moment, and I've seen it so many times, so why do I forget about the bells and and everyone saying Merry Christmas and bringing in the money and just like throwing it down on the table. I forget about the ending in that moment because the that moment is right in front of me. And so similarly, the things of earth are so much easier to see because they're right in front of us, and they're not growing strangely dim.
Jeffrey Heine:In fact, sometimes they feel like they're getting closer in front of our eyes and more vibrant. And Paul says, set your attention, fix your eyes on the things that are above, because the things right in front of your face are deceptive and temporary. But the things that are above are eternal, and it changes everything. Don't you remember how this plays out? Don't you know what these promises are?
Jeffrey Heine:Don't you know that your life is in him now? That leads us to the third thing. The third reminder. Paul's reminding the Colossians that when Jesus is fully revealed, they will be fully revealed. What Mark kept referring to on Wednesday as the true you.
Jeffrey Heine:The true you is in him now, seated at the right hand of God the father almighty, and he's promised to come back. And in that promised return, in that revealing of his glory, Paul says, you, the true you is revealed. That real you, and that the sins that you struggle with and the brokenness of the flesh, and the sickness, and disease, and the pain, and the disappointment, all of these things meet their end when the glory of Jesus is revealed, and in that, your own revealing, the true you in him. And it's because of that. It's because you have died.
Jeffrey Heine:It's because your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Now we can talk about liberation from sin. What is earthly? We can talk about what walking in Christ means. This isn't new year's resolution, new you.
Jeffrey Heine:Become a better you, your best life now. It's not about that. No. You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. That's you, and that's me.
Jeffrey Heine:And I I don't wanna belabor this point, but I think it it might be helpful to be clear on this. We don't get to the ethics here in chapter 3 first. This is this isn't how he begins his letter. He doesn't launch into ethics of holy and righteous living until first, he's gone through the greatness and graciousness of Jesus in chapter 1. The greatness and graciousness that that all things were created by him and and are held together by him now and are ultimately all for him.
Jeffrey Heine:All things. He's gone through that in chapter 1. In chapter 2, he talks about the call to believe and to trust in Jesus for life and salvation, and already in chapter 3 he reminds the Christians that they are secure and irrevocably hidden in Jesus. And then after that, we get to how to live. After that, we talk about these sins and newness of life.
Jeffrey Heine:If we get this out of order, we can get into a real tangled mess. This is one of the reasons why Christian ethics are kind of hard to export to people who don't trust in Jesus, Where their life is not hidden in him. Where they're not seeking with all of their being to follow Jesus. It's hard to just export these rules out, because that means we skip chapter 1 and chapter 2 and all these things of what life in Jesus is about. This is one of the reasons why I like, for most of the time, we just we move through in sequence in our time of study together as a church family.
Jeffrey Heine:Because we get to see what that sequence is, what's actually building here. And it also means that we talk about things that we would otherwise perhaps sidestep. And we will get to see that played out in about 10 minutes. So set your clocks. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:Chapter 3 in, in starting with verse 5, Paul says this, put to death whatever is earthly, whatever is below, put to death what's already dead. Let it die because you died in him. You died in his death. So let these things, these sins, let them die. Let go of it, put it to death, and he lists these things, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
Jeffrey Heine:On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming, and in these, you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, hatred, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth, and don't lie to one another. Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices. Paul is saying that because you have died in Christ, and have been raised in Christ, and your new life resides in him in heaven, you can put to death what is already dead.
Jeffrey Heine:Let the earthly things die. You're dead to these things now. Begin living out this new life now. This is not a prerequisite for obtaining new life. This is new life breaking in here on earth.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the new self being put on, and the old self passing away. This isn't just a list of things that you now have to stop doing these things, start doing these things. This isn't a way to somehow work our way into new life in Christ. It's that new life breaking forth in our lives today. So Paul lists out 12 sins, sexual immorality, impurity, greed, evil desire, anger, hatred, And all these sins that he mentions here, they they have their genesis internally.
Jeffrey Heine:These are sins that begin with internal emotions or passions, anger, hatred, greed, evil desires. These are internal sins that begin to twist our thinking and our feeling, and they become these sinful expressions externally. And I think it's really interesting that these two emphases are are really sinful passions and sinful words. Sinful passions and sinful words that Paul's highlighting here, and perhaps it's because he knew that the Colossians really struggled with these things. May maybe these were the areas that they had a lot of turmoil and pain as a church family.
Jeffrey Heine:These sinful passions, desires, and sinful words, or maybe, just maybe, he knew that these were hard for everyone, that these were challenging things for everyone. And so that's why he talks about it. He talks about letting these things die. Now, inside of these things, we these they they develop internally, and then they make their way outward. And and we can see examples of these, lust that manifests itself into sexual immorality, or hatred that manifests itself in slander or in lies.
Jeffrey Heine:And one thing that that often surprises me in the scriptures, and and it really shouldn't, but, is that most of the time when the Bible talks about sin, and I'm gonna say that word about 500 more times, so just bear with it all, but anytime the Bible talks about sin, it talks about a community of sin. It kinda talks about a society of sin. Rarely does the Bible really ever talk about one sin kind of an isolation to everything else. It's just isolated from everything else, and then there's just this one thing we gotta harp on, but it's in this community, this society of sin, and that's really because there's an interconnectivity with sin. These things are related, they're connected together.
Jeffrey Heine:And Paul is stating here that sin isn't just an outward action, but it's also inward. And Jesus stated in the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5, when he was talking about anger and he was talking about lust, And anger is this interactivity, but it's a sin. No, you might not be killing your brother, but you have that hatred in your heart, and that hatred is sin. And that that means that if you have racial hatred in your heart, but you show restraint, and you don't do overtly racist actions and things, that doesn't make it okay. That racial hatred is absolutely sin.
Jeffrey Heine:And if you have this restraint in in your outward actions, and you and you have greed in your heart, but you don't steal things, that greed is still sin. Now, you might not have the the consequences of of being arrested. No one's gonna arrest you for wanting to steal things, but we're not just concerned about these civil laws, we're concerned about what it means to follow Jesus, and that greed is sin. Another example is that maybe you show restraint in not committing adultery or having premarital sex, sex outside the confines of biblical marriage, but if you are consumed with lust for someone outside of marriage, that's sin. And Jesus says in Mark 7, that sexual immorality comes from the heart.
Jeffrey Heine:Sexual immorality, where we usually just label that as an outward action, he's saying that has its genesis in the heart. So in chapter 3 of Colossians, Paul is listing all these earthly things that we need to let die because we have already died in Christ, and we have been raised to new life in him. Alright. I think 10 minutes have gone by. So, now to bring some, some cultural clarity to to what Paul is talking about, kinda this first seemingly vague phrase of sexual immorality.
Jeffrey Heine:The term that's really being used here is porneia, and you don't have to be a professional linguist, or even an amateur linguist to to see how that word is played out in our culture. But what's being described here? Pornea refers to any sex other than sex with one spouse, and it's within the God given boundaries of covenant marriage that sex is intended to flourish, and that covenant marriage, that covenant marriage is to be within the God given boundaries of 1 man and one woman. And I know that there are people who love Jesus, who believe differently, but I earnestly and honestly believe that this is truly what the scriptures say about this, and and ultimately what God has to say about this, about sex and marriage. And this is the interpretation that has been predominant throughout the orthodox church for 1000 of years.
Jeffrey Heine:If you wanna talk about that, 1 on 1 or otherwise, that's one of the main reasons that I'm a pastor, is to talk about these things. So let's do that. What Paul is talking about here, what he's saying here is to let that poor Neia die. And some of your Bibles might have that word translated as fornication. Not a lot of people use that word anymore.
Jeffrey Heine:If you do, I'm sure you're a scholar and a genius and you wear a monocle and that's fantastic. A penny farthing bicycle. One of you hipsters has a penny farthing. Let's be honest. You'll ride that little bike around Avondale.
Jeffrey Heine:But it's translated as fornication, and and really what what's what that means, pornea, is premarital sex as well as extramarital sex. So any sex that happens outside of that covenant marriage, And what we need to do is to admit that poor Nia and all those desires that come with it are a challenge for everyone, everyone. It's a battle for everyone, and it's a lifelong war for some. We have to be able to admit that. Whether you're single or married, regardless of orientation, we have to admit that all human sexuality has been affected and fractured by the fall.
Jeffrey Heine:Sexuality is the most intimate and complex parts of creation, So it would be obvious that it's the most profoundly broken parts of creation. It's profoundly affected by the consequences of the fall. Sexuality is fractured for everyone, disoriented for everyone, and ultimately, everyone needs healing. And that's the promise of new life hidden in Christ. Healing in all our broken places.
Jeffrey Heine:In progress now, in process now, becoming fully, fully at his revealing and ours. And until we can humbly go before God and recognize our own need for healing and restoration and renewal, particularly in the complex reality of sexuality, then we are no better than those to whom Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7, you hypocrites, you see the speck in everyone else's eye, and yet you do not see the log in your own eye. The same goes for anger and for hatred. Hatred of other ethnicities or political parties, the rich, the poor, the 1%, the unemployed, those are not mutually exclusive. They're all of those who are different from us and those who are the same as us.
Jeffrey Heine:Hatred must be put to death because we have died in him, because we were raised with him, and because we are alive in him. When it comes to sin, there are 2 things that we really have to come to terms with. 2 things when it comes to sin. The first thing is this, you and I, we are not imaginary sinners. In fact, the more we follow Jesus, the more sin we see in our lives, not less, and that's not because of new sin.
Jeffrey Heine:By no means. No, this this is newly exposed sin, and he shows it to us lovingly, but he tells us to let it die. I know some people, even within our church community, who have only recently had racism exposed in their hearts. They thought it was culture, they thought it was tradition, they thought it was these things, but only recently has Jesus shown them the wickedness of the racism in their hearts, and they are repenting and turning and grieving over that. But they're just now seeing it.
Jeffrey Heine:And I know that when I say sin over and over again, like 500 times in a sermon, you don't make a lot of friends talking about sin all the time, but the first person that you need to be clear with about sin is yourself. You might think everyone else needs to know definitions of sin, and they do, but you need it first. If you are more consumed and concerned with someone else's sin than you are your own, you're in trouble. And I've been there. I'm there often, but when you are more concerned with someone else's sin than you are your own, we are in trouble.
Jeffrey Heine:We are not imaginary sinners, but there's good news. The second thing that we have to come to terms with about sin. We don't have an imaginary savior. In a letter to a friend, Martin Luther wrote these words, you want to be an imaginary sinner, and to regard Christ as an imaginary savior, you must accustom yourself to think that Christ is a real savior, and that you are a real sinner. God does nothing for fun or for show, and he wasn't joking when he sends his son and delivers him up to the cross for us.
Jeffrey Heine:You see, if we start to think of ourselves as an imaginary sinner, and that Jesus is an imaginary savior, then all those things that Paul talked about in verses 1 through 4, that will seem imaginary too. You didn't really die with him. You weren't really raised with him. You're not really alive in him. You don't really have the the new life to let these things die.
Jeffrey Heine:No. These things, you're just gonna carry them around for the rest of your life, because we follow that line of thinking of ourselves as imaginary sinners, but the moment you start to think of yourself as a real sinner, you're gonna want that real savior. That that's how that unfolds. The second you actually are willing to be humbled enough to say, Yeah, I'm a real sinner. That is our first moment where we start to really need a real savior, but as long as we're imaginary sinners, he can be imaginary too.
Jeffrey Heine:But this is our hope, our hope that you are in Christ. The effect of that hope, that we're living in him. Look at verse 7. He says, you were once walking in this sin, you were once walking in these things, and these you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them away. Now you must let it die.
Jeffrey Heine:At the end of verse 9, put off the old self with its practices, put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. And in 11, he goes through all these distinctives, Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised. When he does this with the Galatians, he says male, female. He says, in all of that, there are no longer those kinds of distinctives. The distinctive identity that you have is Jesus, because he is our hope.
Jeffrey Heine:Your hope, my hope, is not that you simply act more like Jesus, but that you are in him. Let me say that again. Perhaps more for me than for you, but let me say that again. Your hope is not simply that you act more and more like Christ. Your hope is that you are in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:You have died. You've been raised. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. And because of that, because your life is hidden with Christ in God, live in him. So what does that look like?
Jeffrey Heine:What does that life look like? Look in verse 12. Verse 12, Paul writes, put on then. So he's been saying put off, take off, let these things die, put those things away, and now put on as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. Let's pause there.
Jeffrey Heine:Think about who he's talking to, who Paul is writing to. Paul has has just gone through and called these people sexually immoral with evil desires, that they that they are greedy, that they have hatred, malice, slander, that they lie, that they don't forgive one another. And he said that that they were walking in these things. And maybe some of these things you stop doing on the outside, but you still have them internally, and he's calling them to let it die, but he's acknowledging they still have this up and running. So how do they get to be called holy ones?
Jeffrey Heine:How do they get to be called chosen ones? How do they get to be called beloved? Because they were showing promise. Because you know what? You stopped stealing.
Jeffrey Heine:I know you're a little greedy on the inside, but you stopped the stealing, things are looking good. So we're gonna go ahead and call you chosen ones, holy and beloved. No. They are chosen, holy and beloved. You are chosen, holy, and beloved because you're in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:That's why. And so we can call them these things, and now he calls them to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another, and that can actually be translated putting up with one another. And if you've been in the church for any amount of time, you need to hear that. You you need to put up with one another in the family of God. You need to bear with one another.
Jeffrey Heine:You need to forgive one another because you have been forgiven, which really goes back to the source of all of this. The compassionate heart is Jesus', The kindness, Jesus's. Humility, Jesus's. Meekness, patience, forgiveness, peace, love, it's his. And when you are in Him, you get to live into His humility, His love, and His patience, and to be thankful.
Jeffrey Heine:That's you, that's me in Christ. You can have these things. Now, in Genesis chapter 3, after the creation story is in chapters 12, there's this story about Adam and Eve disobeying God, choosing their own way, making their their own decision of how they would live out their life, that they would be their own authority. And the story goes on that that they have disobeyed God. And then in verse 8, hear these words.
Jeffrey Heine:And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And a man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and he said to him, where are you? And the man responded, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. Sin causes us to hide, to hide from one another, to hide from ourselves, and to hide from God.
Jeffrey Heine:We hide because we are ashamed. We hide because we are afraid. This wasn't just true of Adam and Eve, it's it's true for you and for me. Sin causes us to hide and the answer is not to just reject shame and to become brazen in our sinfulness. Some people will tell you that that's the solution.
Jeffrey Heine:To own it, to be it, don't hide it, but that's not the gospel solution. The message of the gospel is not merely to stop hiding, but to be hidden, to be hidden in Christ, to find your rescue and your healing in him. And he will keep you. He will make you his own, and in him, you will find that perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment, and punishment has been totally and completely taken by Christ. We don't have to be afraid, and in him, you can be hidden, not in shame, but in love.
Jeffrey Heine:And for that, everything we do can become worship. Everything that we do in word and in deed, everything done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him. And that's our hope, and that's our hope lived out. Let's pray. God, help us by your spirit to know not only that we need you, but that we can find you.
Jeffrey Heine:And that the struggles that we have in our hearts, the disappointments, the fear, the shame, that you are bringing healing. And it comes in a process now, but it will come fully when you are revealed in all of your glory. And in that, we find we find our life. Help us to trust you. Now, in the week ahead, in the moment of our death, help us to trust you because you keep us.
Jeffrey Heine:You keep us hidden. Even when we fail, you keep us because you have made us your own. Help us by your spirit to make you our own. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen.
