This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar driving directions and more audio recordings. I want to read the scripture this morning. In your bulletins, you can turn there if you'd like, or you can turn in your Bible. Or I bet you could turn to the screen. And I'm going to read a portion of what's in the insert in the bullet and not the whole thing. Starting in verse 22 of Mark chapter 8 is where I'll start. So it says they came to Bassada and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and let him outside the village. When he'd spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, do you see anything? He looked up and said, I see people. They look like trees walking around. So once more, Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home saying, don't go into the village. Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, who do people say I am? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets. But what about you, he asked, who do you say I am? Peter answered, you are the Christ. Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. This is God's Word. Right now, the first through 5th graders can be dismissed. Thanks, Jerry. One thing I wanted to do before we jump right into the sermon this morning is I did want to acknowledge and give a special thanks to Kim Bell. Sadly, she's not here right now. I should have checked that ahead of time with that. But Kim has been serving as an administrative assistant for at least two years. Is it three? Two, three? Something like that. Probably feels like ten to her. But she's transitioned out of that. She's been longing and praying for several years to get back into teaching. Which that opened up. She's teaching at Geneva School for first grade, I believe. So she's got a wonderful opportunity there, but I wanted to acknowledge and say thanks to her. Charles and some of the family are here. But we helped me in just expressing our appreciation of her service to us over that. Aval something that she's not here. We'll catch her on the flip side with that. Well, we're looking at this story here in Mark as we continue and reading here. We start off right here in verse 22 and we know exactly where things are taking place. It's taking place in Bethesda. And Bethesda was just another name in the Bible to me many years ago until 1995. In 1995, I had a chance to go with a report on theological seminary. I was a student in the MDIB program at that time to go on a trip over to Israel. And we did several sightseeing type things and study type things. But we were also going to do an archeological dig. And the dig was at Bethesda. And I remember the first day when we got out there, we were only going to spend like two or three days out there doing an archeological dig. So we were just going to kind of, you know, dip our toes into it. You could experience what that would be like in the process. Which is very slow and tedious and careful because you obviously don't want to break something in the process. You got to be careful. But this was in the early stages of it. So there was still just a lot of kind of core digging and shoveling things in the bucket so they could be sifted to make sure they don't lose anything that might be valuable. And I remember as I was going out there, it was one of the guys on the trip that we were doing some of the more heavy work. And so I had a shovel and I was about to stick in it in the ground to get a good shovel of dirt here that I could work with until I read the sign on the fence right in front of me. So just 10 feet away from me, it said, warning. Mind field. Use caution. And I was like, going, are you kidding me? We're doing an archaeological dig on just this side of a mind field that had not been cleared yet, at least in 1995, it had not been. So I decided I will ask before I start digging to clarify that I'm in the right spot to be digging. So I said, now listen, is this really supposed to be digging because I see the sign here. And the guy that was helping to say, yeah, yeah, don't worry about it. You know, they've pretty much swept this area. We're pretty sure there's no mines in this area. It's just over there we're uncertain about that. So that was my first experience with the side of firsthand right there on the soil. The place where Peter was from and Andrew's brother and I believe Philip as well. So pretty cool place there on that. Have you ever seen or been around things that you just kind of stop and go, what's going on? What were people thinking here? And this process, how about let's sweep a little bit more mind field away from where we're digging and be absolutely certain? But things like that, I remember that day, I was just like going, this is a new experience here. I put a lot of faith here in what's going on. But I had a similar feeling as I was coming across this story in Mark or this section here where Jesus is speaking and carrying on with his disciples. And he comes and he goes right out of this story. Remember we talked about it last week. If you weren't here, it was Jesus feeding the 4,000 and going through that. He's just done the 5,000 days or maybe a week or so or two before that. But he's feeding the 4,000 and then he goes off of his disciples and the boat. And he starts talking about the, beware of the east of the Pharisees and how that can spread, that unbelief, that spiritual blindness in it. So he's coming off that story with this story and he goes right in to just what seems like a kind of random event of Jesus just healing some blind guy out of nowhere. I remember thinking here, Mark has been very intentional throughout the entire layout here. Here is an actual historical track here. He's actually talking historically right as Jesus is going. He's not just picking random stories, but he's going historically through the process. Why does Jesus come and have this experience happen right the way it was? Because we all know that if he's the son of God, which he is, everything is happening for an intense absolute purpose. And we know Mark, as he gives account here, Mark is constantly trying to give us glimpses and pictures, trying to articulate things in such a way that we understand exactly who Jesus is. So why this story? Why this one now? And then coming right out of this in the next few verses he goes in and he on the way talking to his disciples, he asks him, who do people say that I am? And then he asks him, who do you say that I am? What is the connection here? I was kind of scratching my head. I did a little bit more in depth study of what was going on here. Because this story is absolutely connected to the feeding of the 4,000, to Jesus' gentle rebuke of his disciples for their unbelief. To Jesus not so gentle rebuke of the Pharisees saying that they are like yeast and dough that is contaminating and they're contaminated by unbelief and spiritual blindness, it's very much connected. You get the picture, we have Jesus healing some of his blindness. We have Pharisees in desperate need of being healed of their blindness. We have disciples that are constantly not understanding, they are constantly not getting it, not connecting the dots who see Jesus feed the 5,000 and scratch their heads like, how are we going to feed the 4,000? After the 4,000, get in the boat and the oops, they only forgot to only brought one loaf. Brad and I are asking Jesus, how are we going to cover the food? Minutes or hours after he's just fed 4,000, they weren't connecting it. They weren't understanding, they weren't perceiving, they weren't seeing, at least not spiritually, not in truth, not in a way they needed to, and so this story directly connects with us on that. The big problem that Jesus is addressing is not just a need for blind people to see physically, but the need for everyone who's blind spiritually to see spiritually. If you remember last week we talked about the definition of spiritual blindness or unbelief as this, failing to apply what we know about God in new situations. Failing to apply what we know about God or Jesus in new situations. Why do we say new situations? Because that is where the moment you are understanding of how are you living and walking your life. Are you walking in faith and belief? Are you walking in lack of faith or unbelief? So how does it happen when you face a new situation? When you've seen God provide for you, however long you've been a Christian and been walking with them, and you all of a sudden get stuck with that unexpected bill, and your first gut reaction is going, oh no! Yeah, I know Jesus has fed 5,000, I know Jesus can feed 4,000, but how's he going to feed me? You forget, right? Or when you've asked him time and time again to forgive you for how many sins over your life, or since you've been a Christian in his words as he's faithful to forgive you every single time, and then you commit us in and you think, gosh, how could he ever forgive me for that? Oh, how could I forget myself for that? And you forget. You doubt. You begin to fall back into spiritual blindness, unbelief. Unbelief is failing to apply what we know about God to new situations. And every single one to be here in this room has a new situation today. I don't know what's going on in your life. I don't know what the last 24 hours has meant the last week. I don't know what's coming up this week, but you have new situations in life, and you are either believing who God is and his promises are you are not believing. And I understand that's on a continuum for us as Christians, either more believing or less believing on that, but you're somewhere in that process. And Jesus is addressing that issue head on in this text. And we'll talk a little bit more about that as he does that. Let's go a little bit more into it, verse by verse, and see what he's doing. What are you wanting to teach us and what Mark is trying to convey? Look at verse 22, right, the very beginning here of this little section. They came to Beside him and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. Well, again, I've already talked about Jesus emphasizing sight, emphasizing the need for seeing. Well, just in this little, these few little verses here, eight different words are used in nine different instances of a word that's interpreted seeing or sight or seeing. There is seeing, the word seeing here is being scattered all throughout here on this, very intentionally, because that's the focus, because that's the topic. And coming right out of the whole section here of Jesus saying that the Pharisees can't see and that they're blinded. We go on here and we understand Jesus comes in and one of the first things that says here, any beg Jesus to touch him. You know, his friends knew that all he needed was to be touched. They're not even asking anymore to Jesus heal him. A lot of places, those that need healing are crying out. Son of David, have mercy on me. But they're just going, look, we just need contact. We just need Jesus to touch him. And we've heard and seen enough, maybe first hand, that we know there's a power to heal. They're just trying to get Jesus to touch him. You know, similarly, before Jesus called the disciples, they were spiritually blind. The Pharisees still are spiritually blind. And there is a whole double meaning in this story here that's trying to be made clear. As physically blind as this man is, and as help us as this man is, every single one of us is born with spiritual blindness. Born in depravity, depraved, unable to save ourselves, unable to see who God is for himself, without his mercy, without his grace. Ephesians 2 goes on to say, you are born in your trespasses and sins. You are born not neutral. You're born with a preconceived notion to not believe, to doubt God. So again, there's not just a blind man that needs sight. Jesus disciples need sight. We need sight, as we look through this. You know one of the things that I like that you like too are honest people. Now you may not want to go spend a quiet evening alone with Simon Cowell from American Idol. But you've got to admit sometimes it's just nice to hear somebody refreshingly, just try to tell the truth. He doesn't do it gently. He doesn't do it softly. He's not doing it compassionately. But sometimes he just tells it like it is. That's how he's made his fame, his career, his business. This is sometimes just something nice about somebody being honest. Well I like that about a professor of philosophy of law and philosophy at New York University. And also profess atheists, Thomas Nagel. You know he still lives and you may be aware of him. I like what he said. Here's a quote from him. He says this. He says, I want atheism to be true. It isn't just that I don't believe in God. And naturally I hope that I'm right about my belief. It's that I hope there is no God. I don't want there to be a God. I don't want the universe to be like that. How refreshing to simply hear somebody who's an atheist simply say, you know at the core of it, I just don't want to believe that there's a God. Because the thought of the universe around me with a God in it like the Bible talks about is not what I want to believe in. You know ironically some atheists are more honest than many of us sitting in churches these days. You know many of us live like, or Jesus atheists, that his promises, his reality, his forgiveness, his presence, his dealing with our shame is really not true. His promise is power of sending his Holy Spirit to transform us to give us abundant life, to be preparing a place for us, to be calling us to himself, for the father to be calling us adopted children. All that kind of stuff sounds good. It makes for great children's Sunday school class Bible stories. But some of us are not as honest as this atheist is to say, you know what? I just don't buy it sometimes. I just don't believe it on a heart level of conviction. Where it changes my now. Where it changes my present view and my circumstances. We acknowledge with our mouths that Jesus is king but there is no evidence of the king's reign in our lives so often if we're honest. Look at verse 23. He took the blind man by the hand and let him outside the village when he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him. Jesus asked, do you see anything? One thing that's interesting here is that this blind man obviously all his life has been led by people by the hand. That wasn't a big deal. But I'm willing to bet you there had not been a Pharisee or a well-known rabbi that has come and grabbed him by the hand and led him. Because of the sense of contamination of spiritual uncleanness I might have been associated with. But here he has not his buddies, not his friends, not his family, not the people that are stuck with them all his life perhaps. Here he has Jesus himself grabs him by the hand and walks outside the village. He's not afraid to enter in this man's world because after all this why Jesus came was to enter in our world. He does it intimately. One of the things that's a little disturbing about this if you're honest right is the idea is like, what's up with the spit? Can we not do things without the spitting? Actually it's still, most culture spitting is still, in fact every culture I know of spitting is not a positive thing. All bodily fluids back in Old Testament times and in the scripture Bible times were associated with uncleanness and the need to be purified and purged from that. So here you have Jesus using his saliva to make what scholars think is spittle in his hands to touch him. One of the things I've learned as I looked at it more is that many, though in the Jewish age at that time, believed that healing power when accompanied by speaking and teaching a prayer was somebody's saliva, that there was an association with that. That if somebody was speaking truth, somebody was instructing with truth and teaching and offering prayer for somebody that there was something sacred about their saliva. And so Jesus here is not doing just something gross. He's not trying to freak this guy out. He's not trying to fin anybody around. But Jesus is making not just a touch grabbed by the hand. Jesus is intimately coming and offering and showing a visible sign of healing. That they and their culture would have understood at the time. Look at verse 24. What happens next? The man. He looked up and said, I see people. They look like trees walking around. Now, if you're like me too, the first time you read this, you're like, thank him. Oops. Okay. Jesus didn't quite stir it up enough to kind of do what he needed to do. It kind of seems like, all right, maybe Jesus is not quite as powerful as we thought he was. You know, maybe Jesus was kind of having a down day. He didn't conjure up enough healing energy. But if you think about it, Jesus has already so far in these last eight chapters, he has already done amazing healings instantaneously. He's already cast demons out instantaneously. He's already raised a little girl from the dead with the simple words instantaneously. Do you think he was just a little stuck on this one with seeing a raisin smile from the dead? That was a lot easier. I don't think so. Here, Jesus is giving a model and a picture here. And what is the problem that we see here? His vision is still not quite right, is it? His vision is still distorted. He's not completely healed. He's not done with Jesus having touched him once and he's good. He's done like so many of us do in our walks with the Lord. We think, you know, all right, I like the idea of salvation. I like the idea of forgiveness of sins, like the idea of being the promise of going to heaven. Sign me up for that. I'll take that touch from Jesus. But Jesus in this example here coming right out of the teachings against spiritual blindness and against unbelief is showing that you need my constant touch. You need my ongoing touch. Again, you got to think either here of Jesus having a bad day or that Jesus was intentionally. And I think Mark here is seeing him picking up on him. I want you to see here. Look, Jesus is trying to paint a picture here. Have your ongoing need for him to be touching, to be cleansing, to be bringing renewed understanding. It's not a one-time shot you get from Jesus and you're done with them. It's an intimate relationship with him. It's a growing relationship with him. You know, similarly the disciples had had their eyes open, you know, at least more than the Pharisees, right? The disciples did. At least they were following Jesus. They were cleaning their lives soon. They left their nets behind or whatever the professions were to follow him. But as we know from just the story before, they're still in need of understanding. In fact, those are Jesus' words in verse 21, right? Are you still lacking understanding? They're in need of Jesus to continue to be touching and revealing Himself just like we do, revealing Himself through His Word. Look at verse 25, once more, Jesus puts His hands on the man's eyes. Then His eyes were opened. His sight was restored and He saw everything clearly. The second time the man's eyes are completely opened, not the first time. There's a progression of Jesus' touch that brings clarity of sight and complete healing. You know, similarly the disciples had a need for complete understanding, but they missed the idea and understanding that it was going to be a progression. It was going to be something that Jesus was going to build on. Jesus was going to develop in their lives. It wasn't going to happen overnight. It wasn't going to happen instantaneously. It's not that way for us. It's an ongoing daily walk with Him. It's a feeding on His Word. It's a coming to Him in prayer. It's fellowshiping with one another. It's encountering His body. It's practicing in faith His truths. And through that He promises to make us more like Him. He who began to good work in you, right? We're carried on to the day of completion in Christ Jesus. He tells us in Philippians 1. Well, from there, it says in 26, Jesus sent Him home saying don't go into the village. Now, the best guess most scholars have about that is that going back into the village was probably a place where there was a lot of unbelief. Going back into the village was back where the crowds were. You remember from the first eight chapters here, wherever the crowds were mentioned? It's usually people that are coming with an agenda to get something from Jesus, not so much at all faith. Jesus comes. He sends them away from the crowds. He sends them back to His family. He wants this blind man to be walk and to be nurtured, not to go back in and be a spectacle of what some miracle worker had done. But to remember that Jesus had held Him by the hand, that Jesus had touched Him, that Jesus had compassion on Him. And then verse 27 says Jesus and His disciples went on to the villages around Cessaria, Philippi. And on the way, He asked them who do people say I am? Now again here, this is not just like oops, next chapter, moving on, forget what's happened here. Jesus is coming right out of the story of the blind man. Jesus is coming right in here and he's zoning in or zooming in on them to figure out who are people saying that I am? Not that this is his primary question. He's got a more important question coming in a second. But he wants to get them to start thinking about that. He asked them. He gets them thinking. In fact, one of the things that hear that is pointed out here by scholars is that it mentions on the way he asked them. Now you read this in the story in the first context, you think all right, on the way. Okay, no big deal. It's just why they're walking or going to the next spot where they're going. But this phrase on the way will be used nine different times in the next few chapters coming after that. Nine different times. In fact, it's used in chapter one when John the Baptist is referred to as the one who will repair the way for the Lord. This whole idea of on the way begins here in chapter eight because on the way from this point forward, this is a turning place in the book of Mark, Jesus sets his eyes on Jerusalem. And you'll hear it nine different times on the way. Jesus did this or that. Well, on the way where? Jesus with the affirmation that we're in here in just a second that Peter says you're the Christ begins to turn his face now towards Jerusalem, begins to set his place now that his character and who he is has been affirmed by his disciples. It's time to do what he came here to do. It's time to make his way to where he's going to be delivered, where he's going to be betrayed, where he's going to be crucified. So Mark is very intentional to point out here and to use the same phraseology that Jesus was no doubt trying to communicate that on the way here, there is something beginning to happen here with this profession that Peter is going to make that happens here. Jesus though asked them, if you think about it, this first question and it's kind of strange. Who do people say that I am? I mean, is he looking for, you know, some tabloid information about what's going on? What the buzz is? I mean, Jesus is reading people's minds all the time. Is Jesus really kind of stumped here? He doesn't know what other people are thinking about him or what they're referring to him as or who they believe he is. Or is he the son of God who is trying to get his disciples to filter through and purge through the different people that he might be? Who he is? What he represents? Obviously, I think it's the latter because you think about it. This would be a strange question and a surprising question. It's almost a little bit self-centered, isn't it? A little narcissistic? I mean, what leader do you know or what professor would sit up in a classroom and stop talking about the subject matter to say, tell me, who do your friends think that I am? I mean, wouldn't you be a little taken back by that like going, what's up with this guy? You know, is he a little self-centered here? Is he a little bit insecure? No, you don't expect that from a leader, do you? And that's not because Jesus doesn't know, because he's getting them to start thinking about the reality of who he is and how important that is. You know, either Jesus is appropriately doing, asking this question here, if you think about it, he's a crazy lunatic. He's a self-centered, crazy guy that should not be followed. You can't follow a guy like this that does stuff like this and be neutral because Jesus is either very appropriately asking people to think about who he is and to kind of share with him those ideas. Or he's felunatic, or he's crazy, or he's totally self-absorbed. Again, one more reason that you can't be neutral about this guy, Jesus. You either got to believe he's the real thing or you got to shun him. You can't come neutral with him. Well, look in verse 28, he doesn't stop with that, but he does stop and listen to see what they say. Verse 28, they reply. Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others say one of the prophets. They tell Jesus of the gossip that's been going around here, and they mention what many are saying is John the Baptist or Elijah. Elijah, by the way, many of you remember from the Old Testament, Second Kings, chapter 2, had been taken up by a cherry to fire, never experienced death on earth. And we also know to you from Malachi 4 that it says, see, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. Israelites knew that Elijah was the one that was forecast and the one that was prophesied to come back and be the one that was preparing the way for the Lord. That's why Jesus will also mention and say, John the Baptist, I tell you, is or has come in the spirit of Elijah. That's who he was. But what are they doing here? They're saying that people are thinking that, hey, Jesus, you're maybe Elijah, you're maybe John the Baptist, but there's some missing component here that's keeping the multitudes from saying that he is the Messiah. You see, the Messiah had two key parts. The first part was this, the Messiah was to rescue the oppressed. All right, let's see, how is Jesus doing with rescuing the oppressed? Well, he's raising the dead, he's healing people, he's having compassion from the poor, he's feeding people out of nowhere, 5,000, 4,000 people, check. He's doing good, but there's a second component of the Messiah. The second component of the Messiah is to come and to put and to take care of the oppression of their enemies. And the Israelites who are under rule and reign of the Roman Empire right now are going, all right, Jesus is doing part one, pretty good, check. But part two, I don't see any closer to overthrowing the Romans. That box remains unchecked. They're thinking that Jesus, if he is the Messiah, would be coming and doing both. But he seems to be totally connected with just part one and totally missing part two. That is, unless there's a different enemy, unless there's a greater enemy than the Roman Empire, unless there's an enemy of sin and death that he's going to have compassion on, that's going to take him to the cross. But they missed the multitudes, the fact that Jesus was going to come as a Messiah with two comings, the first coming that we celebrate 2,000 years ago, his birth, his coming, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, coming and dealing with sin, but he has a second coming where he does promise that he will put to death our enemies once and for all. He will silence the foe. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. Jesus has not done with his Messiah duties, he's coming again. And the cross is the beginning, his death and resurrection is the beginning of him dealing with our enemies, but he's coming to squash out all the pockets of rebellion that exists around this planet with a second coming. And let me tell you, he might have come and been laying in a manger coming number one, coming number two, he rides a white horse and he has a flaming sword in his hand and he comes with the armies of God. It's a very different reality, but it fulfills the understanding of the Messiah. Well, the cool thing about this is that he goes on from that and he asks him in verse 29, but what about you, he asked, who do you say I am? Peter answered, you are the Christ and Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Jesus asked the follow-up question, the real question that he's getting to with all of this. In fact, what I would propose to you, the real question that Martin knows from the first eight chapters, this is all leaning to, he tells you again and again the power of Jesus Christ. How he exercises control over demons, how he comes and he administers mercy and grace, how he comes and he challenges the supposed authorities at the time, the religious leaders at the time, how he comes with compassion and mercy, how he comes speaking with words of authority. Not as a mere man because it's who he is and Peter nails it. A lot of times Peter is not nailing it, right? But he nails it this time. He says, you are the Christ. Yeah, we only see part one right now, but my faith and trust and hope is that part two is just a sure. Now let me ask you to think about that for a second. Do you believe him for part two in your life? Do you believe him that he really is coming again? Do you believe that he is the king of kings and Lord of lords? Or are you just banking on part one? All right, forgiveness. I'll take being a child of God, that sounds pretty good. But are you also embracing the reality and the fact that he is the one that is coming again? He is the one that's the ultimate judge. He is the one that is worthy of service and honor because he is king. So you like the blind man that disciples will need multiple touches of Jesus over the weeks, months ahead before Jesus crucifixion. They only Jesus touched, especially Thomas, after his resurrection, to prove to him that he really has raised a rose again from the dead. They are going to need Jesus' affirmation over and over again and Jesus is going to give them even what they need most when he sends his Holy Spirit. He is going to send his Holy Spirit months after his death roughly and pour it out on him. My question for you this morning is who do you say that he is and does your life model and reflect a true belief in that? Another American philosopher and another atheist, Mortimer J. Adler, he actually died 10 years ago or so. But he made this on his statement about his faith as an atheist. He said, it would require a radical change in my way of life, a basic alteration in the direction of my day-to-day choices, as well as the ultimate objectives to be sought or hoped for. Another honest atheist who says, I wasn't willing to make the changes that would be required associated with belief in who Jesus Christ is. But let me tell you, are you just as much a Jesus atheist as these two scholars are referred to here today? Do your day-to-day decisions are they reflected by who Jesus Christ is? When you think about your purpose in life while you're here on earth, is it shaped by who Jesus is? When you think about your personal wealth and how you use it and what you invested in, is it shaped by the reality that Jesus is king? When you think about your view of honesty and whether you're going to be truthful or not or your view of marriage and what's going to reflect that and honor that, your philosophy and parenting, your schooling choices or how you participate in school, how you work, your career paths, what paths are you taking? Yes, are you taking what ladders are you trying to climb? What finances do in your life and what is in control of that and what are your finances go and what responsibility do you have to others? What responsibility do you have to those who are in need of mercy and those who are less fortunate? Are all these issues being oriented by the reality that Jesus Christ is king? Are you a Jesus atheist or do you embrace him that he is indeed the Christ? Let's pray. Father, I just thank you this morning for the reality and the truth that you have come to show clearly that you are the Son of God. You have come on earth and you've left it not vague or not left up to interpretation that you are indeed the Son of the Most High God or you are the biggest liar the universe has ever known. You're the biggest swindler. You're the greatest deceiver that has ever walked this planet if what you said about yourself and what you projected about yourself was untrue. So, Father, we draw our hearts to you this morning. We remind you that your promise is that you are the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but through you. And Father, will you allow us to not just probe and wonder who do people say that you are? Whether they're atheists, whether they're ministers and pastors, whether they're writers of the Bible, but would you give us the grace God to come and to see you? Because I believe your Holy Spirit right now is asking each one of us, who do you say that I am? So, Father, for those that are out here that are seeking here and now for those that have pondered that question maybe not enough or maybe who have avoided it, like some of these atheists have. God, would you give them the grace right now to say and to respond and say, you are indeed the Christ. And would you bring salvation, would you bring hope? And God, for those of us who are like the disciples seeking to follow you and walk with you, but God are still struggling with understanding, still struggling to walk with the reality of faith on a day-to-day basis to come and bring our faith to the new situations of life. Would you interrupt and would you come and reveal your glory to us and would you come and work in our midst? It may be worship you as a king that you are and the Lord that you are. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.