- Well, good to have all of you here worshiping upstairs and also in our lower gathering areas, it's great to have all of you with us. Those that are here and online welcome, it's just a delight to be with all of you. I love our staff team here at Rockpoint, I really do believe that we have the best staff team in the Twin Cities. Would you agree with me on that? They're absolutely fabulous. I love what Pastor Seth is doing with our high school students and families, and I love this experience that these high school kids are going on, God's gonna change their life. Thanks for your prayers and your support for them, I just love what they're doing, and love what they're gonna experience this summer. You know, summer is my favorite time of year if you haven't figured that out after almost 20 years of being here, 19 plus, but I love the summer and I love my backyard, and every year I love getting all this stuff out. Well, not getting it out, but once it's out I enjoy sitting in it, okay? But every time I get it out every year after 19 years of creating and developing our backyard I'm reminded stuff breaks. We live in a harsh climate and winters are tough and things gotta get repaired and replaced over and over, and they're never as good as what they were when we first created them. You know, kinda reminds me of our world right now, what a mess! I mean, just think of what we have experienced in the Twin Cities the past week and two weeks. Boy, I'll tell you, you know, God created a beautiful wonderful world apart from the effects of sin, and He created us and placed us there, but for many of us that have read through starting the first book of our Bible we realize it didn't take very long for things to get messed up. Sin entered into this world and some dramatic changes took place and it really did a number on our world, and it did a number on us. And I'll tell you this past week looking at the events in our city, in our country with the tension and all the stuff we're dealing with, and then you just start doing a thumbnail sketch of global events right now that are taking place, countries around the edge of major global conflict. We live in a messed up world. So I love the message that Paul is communicating to Timothy in 2 Timothy. How do you live as a disciple? How do we continue to multiply disciples in this world? And today we're gonna zero in on this issue, how to live in a messed up world. And I want you to take your Bibles out, and I want you to go to 2 Timothy 3, and locate verse 10. 2 Timothy 3:10. We have two weeks left in this small little book that Paul wrote at the end of his life, and today he's gonna zero in on this subject. We live in this messed up world, he's gonna give us some insight on how we continue to multiply disciples and live in this world, and then next week we're gonna come back and we are wrapping up our series with this idea of how we finish strong. We're gonna talk about multiplying disciples, yes, in this messed up world, but then next week coming back and talking about and just flows right out of this week to finish strong. If you'll look down at verse 10, Paul writing to Timothy, this young guy probably led them to Christ, the pastor more than likely of this church in Ephesus, he says, "You however, have followed my teaching, "my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, "my patience, my love, my steadfastness, "my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me "at Antioch, and Iconium, and Lystra, "which persecutions I endured, "yet from them all the Lord rescued me." Paul begins contrasting Timothy with the false teachers, the heretics he just described, the lovers of self not lovers of God, in the first part of this chapter, and he says, you Timothy, and he'll get even more emphatic in verse 14, but he says, "You Timothy, you followed my teaching." This body of information that I gave you, the truth of the gospel. He says, you followed this, you followed my conduct which means his manner of life and Paul is describing, boy, do we need this today? His authenticity, his integrity in the midst of this calling as he fulfilled it in life, in the midst of all that he is facing. And then he says to Timothy, "You saw my aim in life." It's an interesting word for aim, this word was used by the Jewish individuals to describe the holy bread that was baked for a purpose set in the temple before God for His glory. And the idea that Paul is drawing on here is, Timothy, I'm like that, you saw in me the calling that God placed on my life when I met Jesus, it's recorded in Acts 9, he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Jesus Christ changes lives and Timothy is one of his traveling partners, is somebody who knew intimately the Apostle Paul, he's describing, Timothy, you know my mission how I was called for a purpose. It was kinda baked, it was baked in me and now I'm living for God's glory. That's his point here. And he says in the next four qualities here, he was my character. These words go to the heart of Paul's character. You saw in me my faith, my trust, my dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ the risen Savior. You saw my patience. Oh my goodness, did Paul need patience? You read through just this little tiny book, you've got heretics and false teachers and individuals that were battling him, even within the church sometimes showing up and not holding to the message of grace and hope that's found in Jesus. Man, he exercised patience over and over. I'm sure there were times in his life where he's like, I'm calling fire down from heaven, I'm going after these people. But notice he says my love, why? He loved people even when it was tough love, he spoke the truth. Timothy saw this, and then my steadfastness or my long suffering in the midst of what he says persecutions and sufferings that he had. Timothy was an eyewitness and I'm sure as Paul referred to these towns, Timothy was recalling the episodes in his life. And then I want you to see this phrase 'cause he says at the end of verse 11, "Yet from them all the Lord rescued me." I wanna camp there 'cause I want you to see a nuance that really oversees and everything else we're gonna talk about kinda flows out of this, and we'll pull it all together when we get to the end. But when he says the Lord rescued me, Paul is not simply talking about his physical deliverance here. Yes, that happened there's no doubt, but the point is much more, there's a nuance here. When he says, the Lord rescued me, his point is this, the Lord gave me an aim, a mission, and a purpose to communicate the gospel around the world. And it was God who rescued me, who worked in and through me, and here's the nuance, whether by life or by death He completed His mission and His purpose in me to communicate the message of Christ to the world. You see, Paul is looking at the end of his life here, he's gonna lose his life. His point was not that God will deliver you physically, his point was not that God will heal everything in your life because Paul had a thorn in his flesh, Paul was struggling with a physical ailment in his life and he wasn't healed of this and he's about ready to die. Get this nuance, Paul is saying, look, I was given the message of Jesus Christ to communicate the gospel around the world, and then his focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that rescued me, I am the vessel, and the gates of hell will not prevail against His church. That's one of the major pillars that we're gonna build the foundation off of here in this passage that Paul is after. And he is saying, yes, in the midst of this world that we live, God accomplishes His plan and purpose. And then if you'll look at verse 12, he plays off of this because he says, "Indeed all who desire to live a godly the life "in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Well, evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. It is this God that will work in and through me, he rescued me to accomplish His plan and purpose because we are going to experience persecution Timothy, in this life, you are going to experience it Timothy, we are going to experience it. It will come to those of us who live a godly life, it's guaranteed. Now the degree of that persecution and suffering will be determined by the Christian values that have impacted that culture or that government, we see that in this country, but that's changing people, and that's changing right before our eyes. And what I want you to understand here is, in an unbelieving world we will always have individuals who are deeply hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is growing, this is a guarantee, so when I come to passages like this, as much as I love the life that I had, it's my responsibility to talk about this issue because I think that day is coming and we have to know how we're going to live in that kind of setting, and that's why this passage is so critical for us today. I mean, quite frankly my response when I see what is happening around me is, welcome to the rest of the world. I mean, yeah, I'd love life I had, but you know what? Welcome to the 1st century, welcome to how this book was written in this life and this setting. This summer I'll just give you a little care, we're gonna go through some Proverbs, some wonderful wisdom literature that teaches us how to have skillful godly living in this life, this messed up world, and then come to fall, we're gonna jump right into the Book of Acts. Why? Because I really feel it's a great message of how we communicate the gospel to the world in which we live which is, I'll tell you what, we're becoming more and more like the 1st century every second of every day, and I think it's gonna give us some great words. We live in a world, and the 1st century believers weren't lamenting the past, they were praying for boldness and courage. It's an amazing story because he says in verse 13, it's gonna go from bad to worse, the stuff is gonna happen. Don't lose heart, don't be discouraged. You know what? We live in a pagan culture and a messed up world, and I couldn't get past this when I walked through this passage, it's just right there, right? So let's acknowledge it and let's not lament, let's look at the positives of being in a world like that. This is, I'm like, okay, let's go for it, you know, let's jump in and I see two positives here. First, the fact that we live in a pagan culture and in a messed up world, it's been obvious, okay? If you haven't seen that yet here's the one positive, what an enormous opportunity for the gospel of Jesus Christ because light shines its brightest in the midst of darkness, the gray's gone, there's black and white. So it's time for us to look at the world in which we live and figure out how we're gonna live in this world communicating the message of Christ. The second positive outcome that came to my mind, not exclusive, but at least this is what came to my heart was the truth of God's Word that Christ is coming again. And when I look at the world in which we live, we're getting in my opinion, closer and closer to that moment. I don't know when that's gonna happen, I don't know the day or the hour, I believe that Jesus is coming back for His church. I believe in a Rapture before the seven year Tribulation period. And so when I read through this that's just where I've ended up. I know there's disagreement on that, but that's what I hold to, and I'll tell you what, I don't know when He's coming, but I do know the central pillar and that is, how do I live my life in light of His coming again? Because I'm telling you it's coming. I mean, there's things happening today, I read prophetic apocalyptic stuff in the Bible, I take it literally, I mean, there's stuff happening in our world today that we could have never imagined 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago. When you celebrate Thanksgiving, it tells you Christmas is on its way. When you look at the events that are going on it tells us, it's coming. So how are we living in light of these truths? Our primary focus needs to be on our mission, multiplying disciples in a healthy church, communicating the message of hope. Now we're gonna have an opportunity to hear that God is on the move in two weeks. May the 9th we're starting Rockpoint reaching across the street and around the world. If you've been a part of our church here, you know that we take a couple Sundays, a couple of weeks every year and we talk about God's work in our community, in your life as you share Christ, and also around the world. And we've got a great lineup this year, Nick Hall who's the president of PULSE ministry, he's a global evangelist, I'm not gonna steal any thunder, you're gonna wanna be here for that, okay? He's gonna light up your faith. And then we're gonna have two weeks following that of how God is working in magnificent ways, and I'll tell you what? We live in a pagan culture and a messed up world, but I wanna join what God's doing. Paul also reminds us that persecution will come to those who live a godly life. It's happening before our eyes, we're seeing things happen today in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ in ways we haven't had before. The more the good news of Jesus knocks on the door of hell, the more the opposition is gonna grow. I like to do this once in a while, and there's a couple of websites I go to, Voice of the Martyrs, but also the World Watch List, and I got on this week and the statistics I'm gonna give you are from 2018 to 2019 'cause it takes a while to accumulate this stuff, but it's the most recent stuff I could get my hands on. On the World Watch List they have a top 50 country list. Now that's not a list you wanna get into, they say top 'cause it's the top 50 countries that are persecuting Christians around the world. And in that top list of 50 countries, we've seen an increase of 14% of those experiencing high levels of persecution. 14%, that is 245 million Christians, that's one in nine. 4,136 Christians have given their lives for Jesus Christ in a year. It's amazing. 4,136, that is 11 Christians every day. So when you go to sleep at night, I want you to remind yourself that 11 Christians gave their life because of Jesus and to pray for those that are still alive. The other statistic that I think drives this home is five years ago there was only one country in what is called the extreme level of persecution, one country, it was North Korea. In five years it's grown to 11 countries, 11 countries. We live in a world where persecution is heading our way, you see that in our country, don't be surprised by it, and in the midst of this messed up world where persecution is growing, Paul says in verse 14, "But as for you continue in what you've learned "and have firmly believed, "knowing from whom you learned it." Me is what he's referring to. The Apostle Paul and I believe he was probably the one that led Timothy to faith. "And how from childhood you've been acquainted "with the sacred writings," Because he grew up with a Jewish grandmother and a Jewish mother, a Greek father, but he was familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures. Notice this, "Which are able to make you wise for salvation "through faith in Christ." 'cause they pointed to the coming of the Messiah. And then verse 16, "All Scripture is breathed out by God "and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, "and for training in righteousness that the man of God "may be complete equipped for every good work." Now, there are two key words I want you to see in verse 14, first is continue, the second is belief. So let's start with the word continue. He's saying you, it's emphatic, it's a command. "Timothy, you continue in what you've learned from me, "what you believed." And the idea here is keep on continuing in that truth. Now the word continue actually is the same word that Jesus used in John 15, when He said, I want you to abide in me or remain in me. And what Paul is saying is start with the Lord Jesus, he's saying, apart from Him you can do nothing. Follow me as I follow Christ, that was Paul's theme. And he was saying, Timothy, you're living a messed up world, there's persecution, it's all around you, I want you to abide in Christ was the idea, I want you to continue, keep on continuing drawing, put your focus on Him and the hope that you have in Him. Despite the persecution, don't be surprised by the mess that you have, you're gonna be stretched, you're gonna be changed. And it's like Timothy has Paul on the sideline as his coach encouraging him, cheering him on, okay? Remember athletics when you were a kid some of you have done that, okay? Your mom showed up, or your dad showed up to the game and they were cheering you on, you kept going. I don't know how they do it today with nobody in the fans, that's just crazy, but when somebody was in the stands cheering you on, that's what's going on. And Paul says, I want you to continue, now he reveals how you can continue. If you look at the word believe he says, Timothy, the way that you can continue and the key word here is because you firmly believed. The idea there behind firmly believe is conviction, that's it. So Paul is saying, you continue because of the convictions. You heard this truth, it penetrated down to your heart and your will, it became a conviction. There was belief and then it showed up in your action. Timothy, you've already stated you're running the race, Timothy, you're in there, now I'm on the sideline, I'm coaching you, and this truth has now become a conviction and you have to focus on that to continue. He let the truth of God penetrate down into his life. And the application for you and me is in the midst of this messed up world, we allow the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is as a person and His word to penetrate down into our life to the point to where it becomes a conviction. You believe the Bible is true, do you believe it's our source? The gospel's the only way, don't be discouraged, press on, hang in there. See, I think what was going on here was Timothy was discouraged. You just put together the little pieces of his life. This is a guy he's I don't know, probably in his 30s is the best we can guess, we don't know for sure, but he was younger, he's the pastor of a church in the city of Ephesus. We'll unpack this when we get into the Book of Acts, but I have to tell you, this was a sin saturated, sexually perverse, a cultic city. You wouldn't believe what was going on there. And here's Timothy in the midst of this fighting the battle of evil and Satan around him, and it was very real, and he's also now fighting these individuals that are shooting into the church, who don't even believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he's fighting opponents and false teachers. And I have to tell you, he was probably wondering Lord, am I having any effect whatsoever here? I mean, he probably went into his 1st century office and slammed the door and said, I'm done with this, I can't do this anymore. And Paul comes along, he says, Timothy, remember, press on, don't give up. You know those convictions that you have based your life on, you know Jesus that you've put your faith and hope in Him, don't give up and don't be discouraged, trust, trust the Lord and then trust, what is it? The baseline of your convictions the Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. He's saying, continue in this, move along, don't change it, it moves to this conviction in your life. And here's the other piece that's tied into this, with the continuing there's this conviction, and that's where Paul comes along and he says, trust God's Word to us, that's the source, that's the truth. And he comes along and he says, Timothy, these convictions that you have firmly believing in these are based upon the Word of God. Now, when I come to verse 16 and 17 here, which we read, I have to say this, I really believe this is the watershed issue in our culture today. It is it. So when you get to these verses, you are coming to the point where this is the watershed issue, and the reason is because if you hold to this truth it impacts every area of your life, it forms your biblical worldview, it moves you the truth of God's Word, is based on God's character to understand how to have a relationship with God. This is the watershed issue. I remember my mom asking this question. I was a little kid and I don't know if it was me she was talking to, could have been my sisters 'cause you know, who knows, I'm better than my sister, so maybe she was asking them this, I don't know, could have been somebody else. Here's the question though, is the Bible true? See, that's it, that's it. Is the Bible true? If you believe the Bible is true and truthful in all that it communicates, that's the central issue because it's from that that everything else flows. And Paul says the convictions flow from God's Word. Now I wanna dissect something so that you can see this, put your finger on verse 16, where he says all Scripture, and then go back up to verse 15, I want you to see something here, he says "Sacred writings." That is in the plural, and then he says 16, "All Scripture." That is in the singular, there's a reason for that. The Jewish individuals would oftentimes refer to the Old Testament the Hebrew Scriptures in a plural. So he's talking to Timothy, Timothy, you are handed the Old Testament, the Scriptures they pointed to life, but then he changes it, and in all Scripture is singular. What Paul is doing there is, he's going up a level and he's going to a bigger broader category which includes those sacred writings, the holy Scriptures, but he says all Scripture even the additional divinely inspired Word of God that came to prophets and apostles, Paul being one of them who wrote most of our New Testament. What he's saying here is, all 66 books, all of Scripture, Old Testament and what he is divinely oversaw to make sure all of it is inspired, it is authoritative, it is without error in the original language. God oversaw, He superintended that entire process so that He took individuals who are living in a context in a culture with a personality, and He superintended it, He guided them so that the thoughts that they were having, and the very words that they were writing down would be inspired in truth and without error. And I have to tell you this, the Bibles that we have in our English are historically accurate. You have complete in total 100% confidence in the truth that is the book that you read and it will change your life. Now lemme give you something else 'cause Paul was a master teacher and he said, God breathed. He was actually, I think he was referring to something that Timothy would have known well. Timothy read the Old Testament, he knew back in the Book of Genesis, and here's the idea is drawing upon, that God created Adam, placed him in the garden, he was a mannequin though until Genesis 2:7, and it's there that it says that God breathed life into this man, Adam, and he became a living being with a living soul. He didn't do this with a dog and a cat or a giraffe as much as I like them, it was only with a man and he breathed life and it gave life. What Paul is saying here is that God breathed the truth of who He is because truth is based on the character of God. He breathed this in so that these very words were written to us so that as we embrace the inspired Word of God, what does it do? It gives us life. It gives us spiritual life. And that's what he's saying, and it's profitable for teaching because we have to know some things, but then that teaching penetrates our life, and it's also profitable for reproof. Now this is where the Word of God is like a mirror in our lives where you read it and it reflects back to you. You should be living your life. Now I have to tell you, has anybody ever experienced that? Please raise your hand, I don't wanna be the only one here. I had one just a couple of weeks ago, okay? So even as a pastor I run into this. I'm going through preparing my message 2 Timothy, I'm not gonna tell you where the passage is so you don't know what my struggle is, this just too intimate with me. But I came to a certain passage and I thought, oh Lord, I so royally blew that. That's exactly what God's Word does. And then correction flows right out of that. You blew it here, but here's the grace and the mercy, here's how you need to be directing your life, here's the path you need to get back on. And then it's also profitable and in here's where I'm gonna camp just a little bit, for training in righteousness. This adds another dimension. What he's talking about are the truths that are found in God's Word to help you avoid the mistakes that you ended up in needing the reprove and the correction. Now, if you've ever driven up in the mountains and you're coming around a pass and it's a sharp curve, you know that there's a guard rail there, you know there are signs that tell you to slow down, if you miss them, you're going over the edge, okay? Then the ambulance is called and hopefully you're still alive, but there's some consequences of what you've done. That's the reproof and that's the correction. The training and righteousness are the road signs and the guard rail to keep you following the right path so you don't go over the cliff. And his point here is, there's training and righteousness, the Word of God trains our mind, the Holy Spirit allows it to penetrate our mind and our heart as the objective standard of how we live our life and it breathes life into us, spiritual life for the future, but life here today as I follow its principles. See, you're training your mind to make good decisions based on truth and convictions and not lies or your emotions. I'll tell you, we need this message today more than anything else. If you base decisions on emotions, those emotions will color the facts, we see this in our world today. You wanna go back to one of those linchpins of what we're struggling with in our culture and in our world, it's because we're starting with emotion and not facts. Emotions don't make good decisions, they feel, it's the facts, it's the truth that you live on, the objective standard, the plumb line, you start there that should influence it. And it is this training in righteousness that is this discipline study and application of the truth, it's the guard rail, it's the sign that keeps us going. Now for some of you I know we've got a couple of marathoners here at Rockpoint Church, they've run marathons, I know we had one in the last service, and he's run one or two whatever it is, but I know that if you train for a marathon it takes weeks and months. You have to go through this process and just about anybody can do it, but you've gotta really follow it. And why is that the case? Because you hit a wall at mile 16, 17, and you start really experiencing pain, and what happens because of that training, you're able to say no to the emotion of pain to stick with the training so you can focus on the end game, you've got somebody in the crowd cheering you on so you can cross the finish line. That's exactly what Paul is talking about here, you're focusing, you're training your mind to have this transformation that Romans 12:2 talks about by beginning to think about what is true and honorable and pure and lovely and right and just. Philippians 4:8, and life and emotions are filtered through this grid so that you understand how to stay on this path and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's how it practically applies to our lives. As I told you, we live in a messed up world, sin has damaged us, is part of our depravity, we're not perfect this side of heaven, and we are just wired for self-preservation. We are wired from the outset to think of ourselves. We are wired to avoid discomfort, we are wired to run from those stretching experiences and the life of faith in Jesus Christ is by definition a stretching experience. That's why Paul said, I had patience and love, and there was long suffering or steadfastness, there was this stretching that was going on. And if the experience has enough pain in my life, I'm gonna fall into that pattern of my flesh, of self-preservation and I get off the race, I give up. If money comes to me and it's a significant chunk of change, I am going to be tempted to compromise my faith, we all are let's admit it. And if I am so committed to myself preservation, then when I'm placed in a situation that causes discomfort and stretching, and I'm supposed to trust the plan of God, what happens inside of me? My flesh screams to try and preserve myself, and unless I've had this training in righteousness where I go back to the truth and I'm running the marathon and I'm listening to the continuing coaching of others in my life and community, and I'm focusing on the truth which becomes my conviction. I'm focusing on the hope that I have in Jesus Christ that this world is not my home, I'm a citizen of heaven. I was driven towards this verse, Hebrews 11:1, which says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for," Notice, "The conviction of things not seen." The conviction, that's the truth, I go back to this. This world is not my home, I'm going, my eternal life is secure and my life today is secure, and the reason why this is so critical for what we're going through, we train our mind to focus on the hope we have in Jesus, the person of Jesus that heaven is my home, this is temporary, I'm being used as His vessel. And in the midst of the persecution and suffering, I know I'm in the very loving hands of God, He's going to complete His plan and His purpose. Here's the reason why, hope for the future, a conviction of eternal life, and the life that I have in Jesus Christ, allows us to release our grip on the present because I have that life now, and I'm able to release the self-preservation, I'm able to release all of those things because I gaze into the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Now, this is where Paul pulls it all together because he says it was the Lord that rescued me from all of these things. Whether by life or by death, I am His vessel, He worked in and through me. It's about His glory, it's about His sovereign plan and purpose to communicate the gospel through me regardless of the suffering, regardless of the persecution, regardless of what I face. Timothy, you've started on that race, mine is gonna end now, but He's going to continue to rescue you to accomplish His plan and His purpose in you. Despite the persecution, despite the suffering, Timothy, don't forget to put your gaze on Jesus, continue to abide in Him, remain in Him, and trust the truthfulness of His word which is based on His character. And when you do Timothy, you will train your mind to focus on the Lord Jesus and living according to His principles. And I have to tell you, that is the only way to live in a messed up world. That's the truth. And Paul stops there, and we will pick it up again in chapter four as he says, in the midst of living this kind of life in a messed up world, now I'm gonna teach you how to finish and finish strong. You know, if you have acknowledged like I have we live in a messed up world, lemme wrap it up this way, I hope you have faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior because it's the only way you're gonna make it through. I think times are gonna go from bad to worse as Paul says, they go back and forth, you know, we have ups, we have downs, but there's just this progressive downward slant from what I see going on. And I hope you have come to that season in your life where you have acknowledged that you are not perfect in every way, shape, or form, and you have missed that mark of perfection. You know what? I wish I could convince you, I wish I could make that decision for you, but I can't, God can. And as you look at your life and you realize you haven't been perfect and there's something going on inside of you, you know that is the Holy Spirit working in you. And would you finally come to that point where you acknowledge you're a sinner and you're separated from God because of that sin, and in repentance, you're turning, you're changing the direction of your course, your life, and you're committing to Jesus as Savior and Lord. At the core of that is a sense of surrender, the results, and the change of your life from that point on. It changes your motives and the motivations of your heart, and as you embrace Him as Savior and Lord, God I'm a sinner and I need you, I trust you as my Savior and my Lord, that's it right there. And then for those of us that have, I pray that today's words will encourage you, maybe admonish you, but encourage you to keep your eye, keep your eye on what's most important, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him and trust His word. That gives us hope as we move into our mission field to communicate hope to our world that desperately needs it. Father, we now bow our heads in submission of who you are, and we ask that in the midst of these days, a messed up world, we come to this passage that gives us enormous hope that you will rescue us. You will complete your mission, your purpose in us to communicate Christ to our world because the gates of hell will not prevail against your church. What an opportunity, and what a privilege to be part of that season of our world to communicate hope that is found through Christ and Christ alone. It's in His name we pray. Amen.