Luke 14:13-35; Jesus on the Road to Emmaus

Jason Sterling April 27, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to
Luke 24.
So go to your New Testament.
Go to the end of the Gospel ofLuke.
We're going to look at verses13 and following this morning.
We've been studying this yearthe Gospel of Luke and last week
, obviously in light of Easter,we looked at the passage on the

(00:22):
resurrection.
The women go to the empty, goto the tomb.
They find that the tomb isempty.
They encounter angels.
Then they start running to theapostles to tell them that Jesus
is risen.
Our passage this morning takesplace on the afternoon of Easter
and this passage or story isonly found in the Gospel of Luke

(00:48):
, and it's quite a story.
I think you'll see what I meanas we read our passage this
morning.
We'll read through verse 27,.
So not all of what's in yourbulletin will stop at verse 27.
It'll be on the screen behindme.
This is God's Word.
That very day, two of them weregoing to a village named Emmaus,

(01:11):
about seven miles fromJerusalem, and they were talking
with each other about all thethings that had happened.
While they were talking anddiscussing together, jesus
himself drew near and went withthem, but their eyes were kept
from recognizing him.
And he said to them what isthis conversation that you're

(01:34):
holding with each other as youwalk?
And they stood still, lookingsad.
And then one of them, namedCleopas, asked him are you the
only visitor to Jerusalem whodoes not know the things that
have happened there in thesedays?
And he said to them what thingsand they said to him concerning

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Jesus of Nazareth, a man whowas a mighty prophet, indeed in
word before God and all thepeople, and how the chief
priests and rulers delivered himup to be condemned to death and
crucified him.
But we had hoped that he wasthe one to redeem Israel.
Yes, and besides all this, itis now the third day since these

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things happened.
Moreover, some women of ourcompany amazed us.
They were at the tomb early inthe morning and when they did
not find the body, they cameback saying that they had seen a
vision of angels who said thathe was alive.
And some of those who were withus went to the tomb and found

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it, just as the women had said,but him they did not see.
And he said to them Jesus, o,foolish ones slow of heart to
believe all the prophets havespoken.
Was it not necessary that theChrist should suffer these
things and enter into his glory.

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And, beginning with Moses andall the prophets, he interpreted
to them, in all the scriptures,the things concerning himself.
This is God's word.
Let's pray and let's ask HolySpirit to help us this morning.
Let's pray together.
Father, would you come?
Some of us this morning are inreally good places.

(03:33):
Some of us are in hard places.
You have us here.
You have this word on thisSunday for us, and so would you
apply this scripture to each andevery heart, and I pray, lord,
that we would see Jesus thismorning and that we would leave

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here with the hope of the gospelin the midst of whatever we're
going through.
We need it, we need you.
Come now and be with us InJesus' name, amen.
Our story begins with twodisciples or followers of Jesus,
and they're on this way to avillage called Emmaus, which is

(04:18):
about seven miles, we learn,from Jerusalem, and one of the
guys is named Cleopas and theother one is not named Scholars.
Most scholars think thatpossibly this was his wife, if
not his wife a close friend andit seems pretty obvious that

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they had just been in Jerusalemat Passover.
And they are headed home.
And they are headed home andthey're disappointed and they're
sad and they're stunned, andthey're talking about the things
that had happened in the Verse21,.

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We had hoped.
We had hoped and dreamed thatJesus was the one, that he was
the one that was going tooverthrow the Romans and we
would rule and reign with him.

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And then this Jesus wascrucified and it left them
shattered, sad and stunned.
This was not the way that theythought the story was going to
end, and in their minds theythink they've lost the story.

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And we all have our ownversions, don't we, don't?
We all have our own versions ofthe Emmaus Road Shattered
dreams, broken dreams that haveleft us stunned and sad.

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We had hoped.
We had hoped that life wasgoing to look and turn out one
way, and instead life turns outtotally different.
I had hoped that I was going toget into a certain school or a

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grad school, but I didn't, andit left me disappointed.
I had hoped that I would bemarried by now, but I'm not.

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I had hoped that my family wasgoing to look a certain way and
instead it looks completelydifferent.
A young couple had hoped anddreamed of what their life would
look like, and then, after 10years, the husband walks in and
says I found someone else.
We had hoped.

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And suddenly the story and thedream seems gone.
We have all said, have we not?
We have hoped.
And this is exactly where thesetwo disciples find themselves in
this story.
And Jesus meets them in thisstory.
And he meets us this morning inthis room to give us our story

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back.
And the question is, how doeshe do it?
And he does it through a Biblestudy.
He does it by taking them to abigger story, taking us this
morning to the story of theBible.

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In this passage, in this Biblestudy that Jesus leads on the
road to Emmaus, he shows usthree important things about the
Bible the purpose of the Bible.
Secondly, the power of theBible and the point of the Bible
.
I got that out of order.
The power of the Bible, numberone.
The purpose of the Bible,number two.
And lastly, the point.
So the power, the purpose, thepoint.

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Let's look at those in orderthis morning.
The power so these two disciplesare walking and talking about
what had happened over the lastcouple of days and look at verse
15.
The resurrected Jesus drawsnear this is a wild story and
starts talking with them.
It's a little strange andmysterious here.

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Look at verse 16.
For whatever reason, their eyeswere kept from recognizing
Jesus, and so they're walkingand thinking that they're
talking to some random personand it's actually Jesus.
In the midst of theirdisappointment and crushed

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dreams, and in the midst of yourdisappointment and crushed
dreams, jesus is always walkingwith us, even when we don't see
it.
Verse 17 and 18,.
Jesus decides to jump in on theconversation.
What are you talking about?
And Cleopas, I love this.

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He basically says are youkidding me?
What are we talking about?
Where have you been?
Have you been hiding under arock somewhere?
Are you the only person in theworld that doesn't know what has
gone on in Jerusalem?
Where have you been?
And then look at verses 19through 24.

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They go on to explain to Jesus,about Jesus, and tell them all
the things that had happened inJerusalem.
And here's where I want us toget in this first point.
But notice the first thing thatJesus says to them.
He says to them.
Look at verses 25 and 26.

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Oh foolish ones, slow of heartto believe all the prophets have
spoken.
Was it not necessary thatChrist suffer and then enter
into glory?
Is that not so interesting.
We actually saw this last weekwith the women at the tomb.
When did the lights come on forthe disciples and for the women

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at the tomb?
When did the lights come on forthe disciples and for the women
at the tomb?
It wasn't until Jesus takesthem to the scriptures.
It's not until then that theyget it and the lights come on.
Think about this just verybriefly.
Jesus could have disclosedhimself at any moment and says

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hey guys, it's me.
He doesn't do that.
Instead, jesus pulls them tothe Bible.
No one in the Easter storyagain, we saw it last week has a
clue until what is going on,until Jesus explains it to them

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from the Bible.
Jesus meets you in yourshattered hopes and dreams, not
through some mystical experience, but by taking you to the
Scriptures, because it's in theScriptures that you see Jesus

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and you see what kind of SaviorJesus is.
It reminds me of this verypowerful story, one of my
favorite stories.
It's so strong in Luke, chapter16, that Jesus tells about a
rich man and a man named Lazarus.
Lazarus dies and he goes toheaven and he's at Abraham's

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side.
The rich man dies in this storyand he is in Hades in torment.
And the rich man asked FatherAbraham.
He says hey, father Abraham,look, I'm in torment.
Please go and send someone totell my brothers the truth so
they won't have to experiencethis anguish.

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And Abraham responds Listen tothis, this is so strong, listen.
He says they have the Bible,they have Moses and the prophets
.
Let them hear them.
And then the rich man says no,father Abraham, but if someone

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rises from the dead and goes tothem, then they will repent.
Then they will repent.
And Abraham responds.
And he says if they don't hearMoses and the prophets, if they
don't listen to the Bible,neither will they be convinced

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if someone were to rise from thedead.
The point is God's Word isenough.
The point is, nothing willpersuade us if God's Word does
not persuade us, not even aperson rising from the dead.
That's exactly what we see inLuke, chapter 24.
Friends, this book is powerful.
It is, as Hebrews 4 says,living and active and sharper

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than any two-edged sword.
And that is why pastors andchurches for thousands of years
have a point in the servicewhere someone stands up, opens
up the Bible and preaches theWord of God, because this is
where the power is.
Romans, chapter 10,.

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Faith comes from hearing andhearing from where the Word of
God.
And so what does that mean forus this morning?
It means that you need to getyourself and your friends in
front of the freight train ofGod's word as much as possible

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and sit back and let the HolySpirit do his thing.
It also means something for ourchurch.
We, by God's grace, are in aseason of growth.
We're building a new buildingand in the midst of all these
wonderful things, let us neverforget the center of this church

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.
Let us never forget that thecenterpiece to everything that
we're doing here is God's Word.
That is the center of it all.
Christ in the Scriptures.
Look at verse 32.
I love this.
Did not our hearts burn withinus?

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When did their hearts start toburn within them?
When the Scriptures were opened?
It's the exposition of God'sWord that makes people's hearts
burn within them.
Let us never, ever forget that.
Secondly, the purpose of theBible.

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Look at verses 19 through 24.
They're having thisconversation.
Jesus asked them what they'retalking about.
They basically share the gospelstory.
They say there's this man namedJesus, he's a mighty prophet,
and then the religious leadersdeliver him up, condemn him to
death.
He's crucified.
Then verse 21, but we had hopedthat he was the one to redeem

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Israel.
The word redeemed there meansto liberate from slavery.
In other words, what they'rethinking is that we're hoping,
we were hoping that Jesus wasgoing to liberate Israel from
the Romans.
The Roman Empire had politicalcontrol over Israel.

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They had a military presence inthe street.
They were taxing the peoplelike crazy.
They had Israel and the peopleunder their thumb and there was
nothing they could do about it.
And here is Jesus.
He had all these followers.
He had been doing all of thesemiracles.
He was a great teacher.

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He is the Messiah.
He's the one who was going tocome and finally overthrow the
Romans.
We had hoped that he was goingto do this, but then he was
arrested, tried and nailed to across.
And they're confused and they'redespondent and their hopes and

(17:12):
dreams have been shattered.
They thought their biggestproblem was external
circumstances.
They thought that Jesus wassomeone who was going to fix all
of the external circumstancesin their life.
And we do that with Jesus too,don't we?

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Jesus, give me a good grade onthis test.
Jesus, give me someone to marry.
Jesus, give me I need a new job.
Jesus, get rid of this sickness.
Fix my life, fix my externalcircumstances.

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There's nothing wrong withpraying for those things.
We need to pray for thosethings.
We need to pray for thosethings.
God cares about each of thosethings, because God cares about
the details in our life.
However, one of the mainpurposes of the Bible is to take
you deeper than externalcircumstances.
We want to stop there.
I want to stop there.

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I want to stop there.
And the Bible wants to drive usdeeper, to show us that our
biggest problem is not externalcircumstances, but it's actually
the sin inside of our hearts.
You see, we think that we justneed a handyman Jesus to come
and knock off a couple of roughedges and fix us.

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And the Bible says it's muchworse and deeper than that that,
because of our sin, that we arespiritually dead and we don't
need a handyman.
We need a Savior.
We need someone to rescue us.
And the disciples yes, they wereright.
We need to be redeemed andliberated from slavery, but not

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from the Romans, from thepenalty and the power of sin.
That's what we most need.
We need a Redeemer, a Savior,to save us from our sins, and
that is what Jesus came to do.
And how would he do that Hislife, death and resurrection by

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being a suffering Messiah, byliving the life that we couldn't
live and dying the death on thecross that we deserve and
paying the debt that we owe.
And the disciples missed, orhad forgotten, the part about
the suffering Messiah and theywent straight to the glory.

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And Jesus reminds them.
Look at verse 25,.
You're slow to believe theprophets.
Was it not necessary for Christto suffer?
Notice the order and then enterglory?
Suffering comes before glory.
Heard a story a couple of weeksago about a college student that

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had taken some friends tochurch and her friend.
She was not sure one of thefriends was a Christian, and so
after church she shares thegospel after lunch with this
girl and she goes to theevangelism explosion questions,
if you're familiar with those.
And she asked that firstquestion are you sure that if

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you were to die tonight that youwould be in heaven?
And this girl says yes.
Then the next question is well,if you're standing before Jesus
and he says why should I letyou in?
What would you say?
Okay, and the girl responds andsays I need him.

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I love the simplicity of that.
One of the main purposes of theBible is to show you that you
need him, that our problems aremuch deeper than external
circumstances, that we need aSavior.

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We need Jesus to save us.
Do you see and know yourultimate need this morning?
Lastly, the point of the Bible.
Look at verse 27.
And beginning with Moses andall the prophets prophets he
interpreted to them and all thescriptures, the things

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concerning himself, the law andprophets, is a shorthand way of
referring to the old testament.
And so what Jesus is sayinghere is that the bible he's
making it very clear and he doesit in other places John 5 as
well the bible is about me.
Wouldn't you have loved to be apart of this Bible study?

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Because Jesus goes on, it says,and it basically walks them
through the scriptures, showingthem how it is all about him and
points to him.
You see, there is a way ofreading the Bible wrongly that
will leave you crushed anddepressed rather than giving the

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life that it was intended togive you.
And so how do we typically readthe Bible wrongly?
Well, you read the Biblewrongly when you make it all
about you, when we make it allabout us.
If we read the Bible primarily,it is about us, but primarily

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as being about us.
If that's the focus, it willcrush you.
But if you read the Bible asbeing about him and pointing to
him, it will bring you life.
Let's take an example.
Think about David and Goliath,the story in the Old Testament.
If that story of David andGoliath is about you, then the

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application goes something likethis there are all kinds of
giants in your life and God willhelp you slay those giants if
you're obedient enough, prayenough, yield enough or whatever
.
That's moralism.
Instead, what about this?

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If that story, which it is, isultimately about Jesus, and
Jesus is the greater David whocomes and destroys the giants in
my life, if Jesus is the onewho has defeated the only real
giant of Satan and sin and deathon the cross, and he has risen

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again and he invites us in unionwith him, then that means that
you don't have to slay thegiants in your life because he
already has and you are in him,so that his life is now yours.
You see, that doesn't crush you, that actually frees you and

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gives you life.
And what Jesus is doing herewith these two disciples he's
saying is the reason why you'reconfused and sad is because
you've missed the big picture ofthe Bible.
You've forgotten or missed whothe Bible is about and who the
hero really is.

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The center of the Bible, jesus,is saying and the point of the
Bible is me.
The Bible is not a collection offables, it's not a book of
virtues.
It is a story, from beginningto end, of how God came into the
world in flesh, in the personof Jesus Christ, in order to

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save his people from their sins.
It's not a rule book.
The Bible is gospel.
It is an announcement of goodnews, good news that is deeply
compelling and powerful becauseit points us to Jesus and what

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Jesus has accomplished for us.
I don't know if this is yourfirst time visiting.
If you've been here forever,maybe this will be your last
time here.
You'll come once and that'll beit last time here.
You'll come once, and that'llbe it.
Wherever you are this morning,I want you to have a gauge

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inside of you that whenever youhear the gospel or you ever hear
a sermon or a podcast orsomeone teaching, at the end of
that ask this question Was thatgood news?

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Was that good news?
You see, it's real easy tostand up here and beat people up
with the Bible.
It's real easy to stand up hereand say you better pick it up.
You better do better.
That's true, of course, butthat's not good news.

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The message of the Bible isgood news about what Jesus has
done.
I'll close with this story.
I heard this story.
A campus minister, friend ofmine, had this student and his
father had passed away when hewas young.

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He was around eight years old,great kid, but really, really
struggling because he neverremembered his father saying I
love you and I'm proud of you.
And so, over and over this kid,this college student, would say
I just want to hear my dad sayit.

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I just want to hear my dad sayit.
And I can't hear it becausehe's gone.
And the campus minister saidwell, have you ever talked to
your mom about this?
You ever told her what you'rethinking?
And he goes no, actually Ihaven't.
And he said I think you should.
And so he goes home forChristmas break and he tells his

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mom he says I wish I could justhear dad say that he loved me
and that he's proud of me.
And I don't remember I was soyoung him ever telling me this.
And the mom is just floored andshocked and said your dad was
proud of you and he loved youand he told you those things.
And she says didn't you readthe letters?

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He had failing health.
He wrote all these letterstowards the end of his life.
And the student said it's beena long time, I don't really
remember.
And so the mom comes with thesestacks of letters that the dad
had written to his son and shesaid go read these.

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And so the boy goes and hestarts to read these letters and
at the end of every letter itsaid son, I love you and I'm
proud of you.
And the campus minister saidthat completely changed this
kid's life.
He was never the same afterthat moment because he had the

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voice of his father saying Ilove you and I'm proud of you,
and it had been there the entiretime.
The Bible is not meant to be aburden to you.
The Bible is not meant to beatyou up.
It's meant to give you life.
This word is God's letter toyou, his people, saying I love

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you and I will be with youforever, so much so that God
took on flesh and came to live,die and rise.
For us that is good news indeed.
And so, wherever you are thismorning with your shattered
dreams, maybe you feel likeyou've lost the story, your

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story.
Let's let Jesus take us back tothe story.
Let's let Jesus take us back tothe Bible and get our story
back, by seeing clearly who weare and showing us our need, but
even more clearly reminding usthat it's all about Jesus and

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his deep love for his people.
Amen, let's pray.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for the goodstory, this old, old story about
how you have come to give uslife everlasting.
Would you help us this morningto believe that?
I pray that you would forgiveus for ignoring or being bored

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with this wonderful gift in theBible that you've given us.
Awaken us, use this word,whether personally, devotionally
, in the day, day in and day out, but I pray that our hearts
would burn within us now becauseof being with you, by your

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spirit, looking at the Bible.
Would you do those things inour church and in our lives, in
Jesus' name, amen.