How lovely as thy dwelling place, O Lord, saw this, wrote that, and Brahms put that in noratory of form to talk about the worship of God in his temple. And in our study of the gospel of John, that's where Jesus is. He's in the temple of Jerusalem on the feast of Tabernacles and this long story. The begins in chapter 7, goes all the way through the half of chapter 10 is reaching its climax in chapter 9. So if you turn there to John chapter 9, we'll look this morning about the story of the man who was born blind and how Jesus healed him, gave him sight. Remember, those of you who are joining us will just kind of bring you up the speed. We're looking at the gospel of John. John says at the end of his great gospel that the reason he wrote this thing is so that we would believe in Jesus Christ through the signs or the wonders that he worked. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have a life in his name. Now that's John's purpose and his pattern for his book. I kind of wish he'd put that statement at the very beginning because it tells you exactly what he's going to do. Listen again when he says there's four things that are key to this book and understanding it because they're key to eternal life and coming to salvation in God. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have a life in his name. Now there's the pattern. And this book of John is a book of sevens. There's a pattern of signs and of Jesus explaining that sign to himself or his witnesses, the apostles who were eyewitnesses to these things, so that we might believe in Christ and have life in his name. Jesus works seven great signs. We don't. As Bible scholars always agree what they are, but generally speaking these signs are considered to be the changing of the water into wine, the healing of the nobleman's son, the healing of the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda in the temple, walking on water, multiplying lobes and fishes, giving sight to a blind man and raising Lazarus from the dead. These seven signs are coupled with seven statements, the seven I am's of Jesus Christ. He multiplies the lobes and fishes and says, I am the bread of life. Here he causes a blind man to see because he said, I am the light of the world. So these seven signs and then seven self authenticating statements of Jesus Christ. And there are witnesses to these things. There are people who have come to encounter this life of God and this light of the world in Jesus Christ, and they stories are in the Bible. There are John the Baptist and the early disciples, Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, the town of Sikar, the nobleman and his sick child, the blind man in the temple. Seven different testimonies of people who have heard what Jesus said and have seen what Jesus has done. And these seven testimonies are undegirted by seven witnesses that Jesus mentions. The Father, the Holy Spirit, John the Baptist, Moses, the Scriptures and His own works. The pattern of God working in the world is that we see what He does. We hear His explanation of what He's doing and it causes us to believe. In fact, this is exactly the pattern that followed in the book of Acts. These apostles would do great and miraculous things, the works of God in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they would explain what they were doing and who Jesus was and people would repent and believe and become witnesses of Jesus in their own place and time. Here we have the second self authenticating statement, I am the light of the world. Whatever believes in me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. Two key words in the gospel of John, life, light. I came to they they might have life and have it abundantly. I am the light of the world, whoever abides in me will not live in darkness. In fact, that's how the gospel of John begins. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light comes into the world and the world is not able to overpower it. He is the true light that coming into the world enlightens every man. The first five signs have to do with life. Water turned the wine. Two people healed, walking on water to rescue His disciples when they were about to die in the ocean and causing someone who is hungry to have bread and fish to eat so that they can preserve life. The last two signs have to do with light. A blind man who's lived in darkness all of his life is made to see Lazarus in the darkness of the tomb is made to come alive. I am the light of the world. I am the life of men. Jesus Christ is proclaiming these things and He's showing these things and here as He gets to the end of the feast of tabernacles, as one commentator says, he works a miracle which sets before the reader the concrete form of the gospel issue. This is the concrete issue, the central issue of the gospel. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. That, my friends, is a simple explanation of what it means to be saved, to be brought out of darkness and into life and light, out of darkness and death and into light and life with Jesus Christ. And that's what Jesus is illustrating here in this wonderful story. Look at the beginning of chapter 9. As you pass by, he saw a man blind from birth. Jesus Christ is leaving the temple. He's come down for the feast of tabernacles. He's had a great sermon where he said that he was both the giver of a living water. If you believe to him, you would have a living water that would spring up from the innermost being meaning the Holy Spirit, chapter 7, and that he is the light of the world who makes every men see God in themselves as they really are, chapter 8. He is the giving of life, giving water. He is the giver of light in our souls and light with God. And now that's caused a great controversy, God ugly in chapter 8 and in the end of chapter 7, where they began to challenge Jesus Christ, but he held his ground. And as he was leaving the temple, he saw a man who was blind. Now Jesus Christ will leave for two months. He'll come back in two months to the feast of dedication and he will talk about being the good shepherd and how those who hear his voice know him and follow him and have eternal life. But as he leaves the temple, he sees one of his sheep. One person that from all of eternity, his determined to bring out of darkness and into eternal life, a man who since he was in his mother's womb has been blind. This man has lived all of his life in total darkness, but he's about to open up his eyes and see God face to face. It's a marvelous story, it's a long one, but it's a good one. Story, first of all, about Jesus giving light to a darkened life. Look at verse 1, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind. Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, go, wash in the pool of salam, which means scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some said it is he, but others said no, but he looks like him, but he kept saying, I am the man. So they said to him, how were your eyes opened? And he answered, the man called Jesus, made mud, anointed my eyes and said to me, go to salam and wash, so I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, where is he? And he said, I do not know. Now here is a man who is born blind from all of his life, born blind from birth and Jesus seeks him out. The man is not looking for Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is looking for him, because the son of the man came to seek him to say that was his lost and to bring those in darkness into the light of the world. And in this little story as it begins, the disciples asked a famous question, Rabbi, who sinned? Was it this man or his parents that he was born blind? It's a very common approach to suffering and evil and sin and tragedy. Who was responsible for this? It's the universal seeking for an explanation, but trying to make sense out of senseless, sin-broken things. It's in all religions. It's in Hinduism and Sikhism and Buddhism and a thing called karma that what you did in a previous life actually has ramifications and repercussions in your next life and the life beyond that, if they believe in reincarnation, on and on it goes. It's in Judaism. For they had read several times in the Old Testament, the Lord is slow to anger, abounding and steadfast love for giving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. And so these Jewish disciples said, well, you know, there must have been something in the family background that was really wicked because God punished this child for the sins of the fathers by making him blind. You know, it's in Christianity. It's kind of a warped form of health and wealth. How many times have you now, don't raise your hands, but how many times have you said or thought, you know, that young man, he's gone off into an immoral lifestyle. I wonder, I wonder what was wrong with his parents' marriage that caused that? These people appeared to be Godly people. They had five children, but three of them, they're not walking with the Lord. I wonder what hypocrisy they found in the family that we didn't see. I've had young women sit in my office and weep my little sisters in Christ saying, pastor, what did I do wrong that my baby was born with special needs? What's wrong with me that I'm not married? Pastor, what happened? What did I do wrong that God took my job away from me? And the answer is nothing, nothing. You did nothing wrong. You say, pastor, you just read that God visited as the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. Yes, I did, but in the three times that God says that in Moses' books, they all have to do with idolatry. God takes the idol worship of the parents and because they've raised their children with false gods and a false religion, their children for maybe two, three, four generations struggle until God brings them into the light, that's a complex issue. But the simple statement we ignore, the statement that comes from Ezekiel where God says, why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father you will ask? When the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to observe all my statues, he shall surely live. The soul whose sin shall die, the son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father nor the father suffer for the sins of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself, but the children shall not be punished for the sins of the father. Are there sins that lead to physical illness? Of course there are, obviously. Look back in chapter 5, this man who was crippled and look what Jesus said in chapter 5 verse 14. After what Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see, you are well, sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. Obviously this man's lameness was due to God's judgment on his sinful lifestyle, but I want to ask you what a baby in the womb has done wrong to be born blind, to be autistic, to have down syndrome. What has the baby done wrong? The answer is nothing, nothing. And the parents did nothing to cause this thing to happen. Jesus says, no, you don't understand, you're asking the wrong question. The question is not, what have he or his parents done that this blindness is upon him? Here's the question you should be asking. This blindness is upon him, let us see what God will do. Let us see what God will do. Look at verse 3, Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day, night is coming when no man can work as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. This little fellow Jesus says was born blind not because of his sin or the sins of any of the generations before him, he was born blind, he was brought by the Spirit to beg in this temple for this day because I have a divine appointment with him, I am going to open his eyes to see before all of you, and then through him he will become one of my witnesses. You will know that I am the light of the world. If all a posterity, now for 2,000 years this little fellow, whoever he is, is a witness that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. I do not know anything except this, he said, I once was blind, but now I see. This man was born blind so that the works of God should be done in him. Folks this is a crucial, this is the number one lesson in today's message, in this text listen, when we ask such questions, what have we done that's caused such and such, just like the disciples do here, we are struggling to make sense out of the tragic experience of a fallen world, and since we won't believe in blind fate, no pun intended, and we can't accept a mechanical positive that these things just happen, there's got to be a cause. We cannot, in fact, no human being can really live with the idea of random acts of tragedy while a sovereign God exists. And so in our attempts to make sense of sin and its tragic results in a fallen world, we speculate on things that are futile and we say things that are even cruel. There is no way to explain the brokenness of our world by looking at the broken world. There is no way to look at a blind boy and say, why are you like the way you are? It is only when we look to Jesus Christ that things begin to make sense. That's the only way. We like to kick them up with psychological and medical and scientific reasons for why things are the way they are. Jesus says the only thing that can begin to make sense of this dark world is the light of the world. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world, I am the giver of God's revelation and understanding. And only when Jesus comes into our lives, into our souls, into our hearts, to things begin to make sense. Listen to Leslie Nubigan. The church is not sent into the world to explain the world, but to change it. The word, the true light which makes sense of the world, is not to be found by a study of the experience of mankind, only by being part of this movement of Christ in the world. Can we ever make sense of the world? We are not sent into the world to explain why. We are not supposed to answer for God why. We cannot tell people how everything makes sense that Jesus Christ can. We are sent into the world to bring people to Jesus Christ, and to change their lives, and then things will begin to make sense, maybe not perfectly, but enough for us to see the work of God and the glory of Christ in the most tragic things. Jesus never really explains how the boy became blind, but he does explain why. He said so that the work of God could be manifest in him, and he heals him. Look what he does. Verse 6. Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he went to the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, go wash in the pool of salon, which means sent. So he went and washed and came back singing. I don't want you to miss this. You should be familiar with that pool of salon. On the feast of dedication, that's where the high priest went down every day, drew big basins or jars of water and had the pouring out of the water ceremony from the pool of salon on the altar. It was while he was pouring out that water from the pool of salon that Jesus pointed at that water and said, if any man comes to me and believes in me, I will give him the Holy Spirit who will be like living water that springs up from his innermost being. That same living water in that pool is now washing the eyes of this boy and he begins to see. The pool called sent points to Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus Christ to give us the life of the Spirit and the light of the Spirit. The Spirit sends us to do the works of God and bring new life and the light of the world to a darkened world. The Spirit does not send us to explain why things happen. He sends us out to say, in the midst of these things that have happened, I can tell you where you can find life and light and the world will begin to make sense. Now having done that, this blind man opens his eyes and the first thing he sees is the temple of God's worship. And in it, the Shakyana glory himself, Jesus Christ. And it troubles people. That's the second thing we notice this morning. Just as Jesus brought life to a darkened life, Jesus causes division in a darkened world. Look at verse 13, they brought to the Pharisee the man who had been formally been blind. Now it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight and he said to them, well, he put mud on my eyes and I washed and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God. Freed does not keep the Sabbath. Some of them said, well, how can a man who was a sinner do such signs and there was a division among them? So they said again to the blind man, what do you say about him since he has opened your eyes and he said, he is a prophet. The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, is this your son who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? His parents answered, well, we know that this is our son. We know that he was born blind. But how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age, he will speak for himself. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, he is of age, ask him. So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered, well, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? And they reviled him saying, you are his disciples, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we do not know where he has come from. The man answered, why this is an amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him, you were born in utter sin and you would teach us and they cast him out. What an amazing response to a glorious miracle. There are three responses here. All of darkened souls of unconverted people. First, friends, is the response of unbelief. It's the response of the Jewish leaders, the temple leaders and the Pharisees who say that they know, that's a key word, we know that this man is not from God. We know that this man is a sinner. We know that Moses spoke. They know all sorts of things. They just don't know Jesus Christ as the problem. They are convinced that Jesus could never be the Christ, so whatever he does, it can never be right. You know, that's how we treat people. Somebody makes us mad. Somebody fends us. Somebody does something we don't agree with and we decide we don't like them and whatever they do, it's bad. If they tell a joke, they're being unkind. If they talk about themselves, they're being arrogant. If they don't agree with us, they're being unsympathetic. They never get a fair break. Jesus Christ never gets a fair break with the Pharisees because they have come to say, we don't believe him. We don't believe that he's from God. We know his mom and dad. We don't believe that he does the works of God because we know he breaks the Sabbath, healing people on the Sabbath. Can you imagine that? And we know he's a sinner because he's always an odds with us and we are righteous. This is the root problem of unbelief. They refuse to accept that Jesus was from God, the Son of God, and so you know, they can't see. They can't see what Jesus is doing. There's a second group. These people are not motivated by unbelief, but by fear. It's his mom and dad. They know that Jesus healed him. They know that. John says they do. And John implies that they believe that Jesus is from God, the Messiah. They're not fully sure what that is yet, but they're warmed and they're drawn to Jesus Christ, but they're afraid. So they talk about what they know. What we know that he's our son, and we know that he was born blind, but how he was made to see we don't know that's a lie, they do know. They do know, but they're afraid. Just as the darkness of unbelief can keep a person from seeing the light of the world, so the darkness of fear can keep people away from Christ, fear of what others will think, fear of upsetting your family, fear of leaving the true church, fear of losing your career, of looking stupid. All these fears will keep you away from Jesus Christ. The darkness of fear always stifles faith, you know? Jesus said, if you will not confess me before men, then I will not confess you before my father in heaven. There was a big flap going on in world missions today about people in the Muslim world who were called C5 and C6 believers. These are people who say they believed in Jesus Christ, but because they don't want to be persecuted, they don't want to risk their life, they don't lose their family, they continue to go to the mosque, read the Koran, profess that there was one God Allah and Muhammad is his prophet, to bow down to the East and say their prayers, externally they look like a Muslim, but inside their secret Christian, I'm telling you there is no such thing as a secret Christian. You're going to tell people that you believe in Jesus Christ and that's going to cause all kinds of trouble, but you can't be afraid. There's the third response and that is the response of pure and simple humility, the boy himself. So they said to him, then how were your eyes opened and he answered, the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Salomon wash and so I went and washed and received my sight. Who do you say this man is? I do not know. Perhaps a prophet. Where is this Jesus? I do not know. Well, young man, you don't seem to know a whole lot, do you? No, I really don't, but I know this. I know that all my life, I got up every day and I went to bed every night and my sleep was like my waking moments. It was all utter darkness, but this man that you say is a sinner and I don't know whether he is or not. I don't know him that well. I just met the guy. This man touched my eyes and now I can see that is what I do know and I know one other thing. I know what my mom and dad taught me from the Bible that God does not hear the prayers of sinners. So how could this man pray to God for me, touch my eyes, make me see if he's what you say he is a sinner and not what I think he is, a man who has come from God. This boy's logic is impeccable. His witness is indefensible. He says, look, I don't know. Ask my mom and dad, ask my friends, you saw me begging the temple for years. I'm blind. Half an hour ago, I see and in the last half an hour, I kind of ran into Jesus Christ. You put things together. You explain what happened. I believe in Jesus Christ. You know, there was famous him writer who liked this story, an old slave trade ship captain who became an Anglican minister. John Newton, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved the wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind, but now I see. This little boy says the works of God demand that we believe the word of God in Jesus Christ. And that is what Jesus Christ will say in the next chapter. If you do not believe me, believe the works that I do and know that I have come from God. Isn't that what Nicodemus said earlier? Years earlier, Rabbi, we know that no one can do the signs that you do if he was not from God. That leads to a third and simple wonderful thing that Jesus reveals himself to the dark and soul. Jesus heard that they had cast him out. They excommunicated this boy. Having found him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? And he answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have seen him. And it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Jesus said for judgment, I came into this world that those who do not see me may see. And those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, well, we also blind. Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say we see your guilt remains. Jesus finds us a little fella and he says, son, if you met the Son of Man, a Messianic title for the Christ, would you believe in him? He said, I sure would have to, I'll believe anything. Just tell me who he is. And Jesus said, you're looking at him. What a precious statement you have seen him. To a blind man, you're looking at him. And the one who's speaking to you, is the Son of Man, I am the Messiah. And the boy says, I can believe that. And then Jesus makes an amazing statement. This is the whole bottom line of this story. It's one of these divine reversals. Those who say they see are really blind. Remember what the Pharisees kept saying, we know. We know this and we know that. But those who don't see are the ones who understand. I don't know. I don't know who he is, but I know this. I was blind, but now I see. Jesus says, if you're the kind of person who thinks from your own human experience that you can make sense out of life, that you could explain the way things are. You've always got an answer that's better than that in the Bible about Jesus Christ than you're blind. You're too blind to see that you're blind. But if you say, I can't figure all these things out. I don't know. But I know this that I need the Messiah. And when he comes to me, I will believe in him. And I will worship him. Then you will see a great irony, but a great spiritual fact born out in the sight of millions and billions of people all over the world. A divine reversal that those who are so blinded that they think they know the answer to everything are really lost. And those who say, I can't figure out life, but I need the Messiah. They will be saved. This very story led the great theologian, St. Augustine to say, I do not seek to know in order that I might believe, but rather I believe in order that I may someday know. Faith comes before knowledge. Believing in Christ is the beginning of making sense out of life. What do we do with this story? Well, it's obvious that for some in this room who have for a long time struggled about having faith, I believe in Jesus Christ when all makes sense to me when you know that will never happen until you believe in Jesus Christ. For it takes faith to please God. That's what Hebrew says. It is impossible without faith to please God. For those who would come to him must believe that he is, that he exists, and he is a reward of those who seek him in faith. Your call today is to stop trying to figure out God and Jesus Christ, and whether the Bible is correct on every page, whether life makes sense, whether you've got answers, where it all fits together. Your call today is to admit that you're blind, that you don't have an answer, that your knowledge will fail you, and to come in faith and surrender to Jesus Christ. There are other people who've already trusted in Jesus Christ, and you've been slammed into by one of these tragedies in life that make no sense. Well, I can't tell you why it happened, but I know you did nothing to deserve it. Or if you did, that God is merciful and mercy triumphs over judgment. You need to flee to Christ. Only he can tell you why these things have happened to you, and what great thing he's going to do, what great work in your life and the life of your family will come about because of these difficult things. But there's a third lesson, and it has to do with verse four and five. Look there one more time, and then we'll close. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no man can work as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Look how that verse begins. We, we, Jesus and us, we must do the works of him who sent me. What works, the works of mercy, the works of caring for the poor and healing the sick and providing for the oppressed and taking care of the needy and tending to widows and orphans. Those things that Jesus did all through his life, these great works of God that set up the word of God. Peter would say to Cornelius, you know what happened in Nazareth, how Jesus Christ went about doing good to all people and God was with him. That would be their pattern. They would do good works to people, then preach the good word to people, and people would see in the work the word that they were claimed and they would believe in Jesus Christ. We have an opportunity to become that kind of people and that kind of church. Every March we have a world's missions conference that prepares us to do the works of God in the world at large, and every summer, six months later, we have a seek the city ministry that is our launching for mercy ministry. This is not a youth activity. This ministry was born out of our study, both as a church and as the youth of the church in the book of Daniel, where Jeremiah had told the people in, in the Babylonian captivity to seek the welfare of the city and in that welfare they would find their own blessing. Chris Decker and I met for lunch one day. I said, Chris, this recession has come. We don't have the money for all these people, young people to raise, airfare to go overseas. I want you for the next few years to find some local ministry. He said, I got a great idea. Came back a week later with seek the city. I said, this is a great idea. I'm going to steal it and tell people it was my idea. That's how great an idea was. I said, I want you to tweak it one way. I want you to make this not a youth activity, but the launching plan for every single family unit, whether it's a single person, a couple with no kids, an elderly widow, a family, a divorced woman with children. I want every family unit to be involved eventually in some ongoing regular mercy ministry because that's what will transform the people around us. That will usher in a great revival and that will lead people to come to Christ. They're not going to come and hear me talk about the word of God until they see in us the work of God and then they will come. They will come because they will see that God is with you because you did God things for them. And since God is with you and they love you for the things you did for them, they'll come and say, you know, I'd like to meet your Savior because if I love you, I think I would really love Him. And that's what Jesus Christ is telling us. It's time for us to do the works of God. A day is coming when Jesus returns, when no man can work, now is the day for mercy ministry. Now is the day for the works of the church to set up the word of the gospel and for people to say, I don't know whether these people are sinners or not, but I know this. When I was in need, they came and helped me. And I love them. Jesus sent them. And I love Jesus Christ. And because of them, I believe in Him. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we do pray that you would put a fire in our hearts and lives in our homes so that each one of us in our little families, whatever size they may be. And our little household units, we would give ourselves to the works of justice and mercy and service. That would you require us to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with our God and to help those who are helpless so that they can see the hand of God with us and believe the word of God when it is spoken through us. We prepare now, Lord, to go to the Lord's table. There are people here who are not Christians. They have never experienced the work of God in lightening their life through faith in Christ. And I pray that they would receive Christ, that they would refrain from the table, which is for believers only, but they would remain here with us. And as we take the bread, I pray they would receive the bread of life, Jesus Christ. There are others who are believers. They've been baptized. They're regular attending members of a Christ honoring church and they come here discouraged. This table, Lord, is for them. May you meet them in this table and refresh their souls and begin to make sense out of the things with which they struggle. And for all of us who come here as believers, we pray that you would work in our hearts and lives to give us a heart for those who are blind and needy who are suffering because of their poverty and maybe the sins of generations, maybe their own false worship, their own crimes, now live in darkness, but are wanting the light of life. And would you use to seek the city and our mercy ministries to reach these people and bring them to Jesus Christ, the light of the world? We ask this, for his pleasure and for their good, and we pray this, our own sex too, in Jesus' name. Amen.