Well, it's always a privilege to share God's word with you. If you have your Bible, please turn to John 17, verse 24. John 17, verse 24. And I actually need to begin our time with an apology. I was truly, sincerely going for a sermon closer to 40 minutes, maybe 35 minutes, given that it's right after lunch. rather than a 50-minute sermon or more, but this verse is so rich, so I can't make any promises. So we'll see what the Lord does. I'm gonna try to pack it in in a concise amount of time. John 17, 24. On the night of his betrayal, right before Judas, the soldiers, and the leaders come, the Lord Jesus Christ prayed this. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. Let us pray. Father God, we... ask that you would show us in full glory your son. During this hour that you would show us his love, the depth of his love for us, his people. And in doing so, Lord God, may you stir us up to desire experiencing fellowship and glory with your son so much more than we do right now. Pray that you would use this text as a spark for our hearts, that we would rightly be excited about what is most worthy of our excitement, to be with your son forever and ever in perfect fellowship and worship. In his name we pray, amen. In this internet age, I think most of us can agree that it's a really wonderful thing when we see those viral videos of American soldiers coming back home from deployment. They're usually trying to surprise their family. They come back from deployment to reunite with their families. So use your imagination a little bit. Imagine this following scenario. Imagine a soldier of the United States coming back home, cannot wait to reunite with his wife and his kids. And usually these videos take place in a really public place, right? And the first image that comes to mind for me is a basketball, you know, gym, right, where it's really public, it's halftime, people are anticipating something, the crowd is in on what's about to take place. So imagine, you know, this soldier, this father, this husband in the hallway and you can see him just full of excitement and so thrilled to finally be back with his family, can't wait to surprise them, because in most of these scenarios, they have no idea that their father, their husband, is right down the hallway. Imagine that's going on in the hallway of the basketball gym, right? But imagine this happens next. He runs out to surprise his family, and the crowd is going crazy because they anticipate this incredibly dramatic and intimate reunion. And they look to his family, his wife and kids, and they don't move an inch. They barely move. His family casually walks out to him as he sprints to them. His kids are maybe on their phones and his wife just gives him a peck on the cheek, that's it. We would say that picture is tragic, right? That is wrong, there's something wrong about that picture. But let's be honest, we can't be like that with Jesus Christ. He prays and prays that his church will one day experience that wonderful day that we can be reunited with him and we would see him for who he is in all of his glory. He desires for that wonderful day when he can embrace us and welcome us into heaven. But down here on earth, we yawn, we get bored, we're distracted, we are lukewarm in our desire to finally be with Christ. Now that, my friends, is tragic and wrong. When was the last time, ask yourself this, when was the last time you prayed something like this from the bottom of your heart? Jesus, I just want to be with you. This is my primary, highest desire, to be with you finally in glory. I don't want anything else. I'm tired of relating to you in faith. I want faith to finally become sight. Those kinds of prayers. When was the last time that those kinds of prayers arose from your lips? If your answer is that it has indeed been a while, The good news is Jesus is still willing to pray this prayer. I desire that they may be with me, that they may behold my glory. And how can I say that? Because Jesus in John 17, in the immediate context, is praying for someone who will betray him three times. He is praying for disciples who will fall asleep at his most vulnerable hour. He is praying for disciples who were slow of heart to recognize the need for a suffering servant, according to the Old Testament. That's his immediate context. In other words, Jesus is not praying for a bride who is very faithful to him at this moment. His disciples are confused, unprepared, and prideful. right when he is about to be taken away to be crucified, which occurs in the very next chapter, chapter 18. Nonetheless, he prays what he prays. Nonetheless, he prays this prayer in John 17. This is truly good news. You could have had the worst spiritual week. You could have had the worst spiritual week, but if you truly belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, this prayer, ongoing in the heavenly places today. If Jesus was willing to get down on his knees for these folks, his disciples, surely he will be willing to pray for the stagnant, struggling saint. That's the idea. With that being his immediate context in John 17, he prays for a couple of main things throughout John, this chapter, which is considered the high priestly prayer. One, that the Father, he's praying that the Father will preserve His people, preserve the disciples' faith within the context of a sinful and satanic world. We see this in verse 11 and verse 15. If you're taking notes, those are the two verses that I'm getting that from. Verse 11 and verse 15, where the key words come up from the Lord Jesus, keep them, preserve them. Keep them, Father, in your name. Preserve them in your name. So that's the first main thing that he's praying about in this chapter. And then secondly, he asked the Father to give them unity. We see this in verse 11 and 21. And the key words there are that they may be one, just as we are one. May they be one. And then, subsequently, Jesus clarifies the goal, the end goal of those two requests, preservation and unity. The goal is this, to finally be with him and witness his glory. Preservation and unity are means to an end, and that end is to have perfect fellowship with Jesus Christ for eternity. And remarkably, he continues, I already mentioned this a little bit, he continues to pray this prayer for the church today, January 5th, 2020. Ever since he ascended into heaven, he has, he is, and he will continue to pray this prayer, this high priestly prayer for his people. It's already indicated, actually, in the chapter itself. In John 17, verse 20, if you look down there, verse 20, he says there, I do not pray for these, the disciples alone, but also for those who will in the future after his death and resurrection believe in me through their, the apostles' word. On this high priestly prayer, he wrapped all the church, all of us, into it. More clearly, and this is just for a New Testament context on this subject, more clearly, Paul shows how these high priestly prayers from Christ for the church continued after Jesus' ascension into heaven. Listen to the words of Romans 8.34. Romans 8.34. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. And it's noteworthy that this is the thought, this idea, this truth, I should say, this truth that Christ continually makes intercession for his people, this is the thought that leads Paul into his incredible crescendo, right? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? I am persuaded that nothing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. As Paul considered not only the amazing work of Christ in the past, that is, his work as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world on the cross, but also in the present as the great and faithful high priest, Paul launches into this mighty rhetorical question regarding the saving and preserving power of Christ's love. Who shall separate us? Are you kidding me? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? John MacArthur recently said this in reference to Christ's high priestly ministry. People say if you want to get in touch with the wonder of your salvation, think about the cross, think about the cross. I say this, if you want to think about the wonder of your salvation, think about this, Christ right now at this split second is holding onto you eternally in his everlasting arms and will never let you go. Why did you not go back into the world? Why did you not fall away from your faith this past year in 2019? Why were you able to do any spiritual good, anything pleasing to the Lord this past week, these past 24 hours? Because we all have, as the people of God, we have a high priest who loves us and powerfully prays for us with an everlasting love. And he so loves us that he continues to pray today. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me. Does it not humble us and maybe even embarrass us a little bit, that as we sometimes pray self-centered, earthbound prayers, petty prayers maybe sometimes, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings prays that we would be in His presence, pray that we would finally witness His glory. So as we walk through the two desires of Christ in this verse, I urge you to simultaneously be asking yourself these following questions. Question number one, are our hearts aligned with our Lord and Savior? Question number two, as he desires to be with you, do you also desire to be with him? Do you reciprocate his desire to be with you in glory? Just as he prays about that day, do your prayers revolve around a desire to be in his presence? Sorry, I didn't mention the numbers, but those are the four questions that I would like for us to simultaneously be asking ourselves as we dig deeper into John 17, 24. My goal this afternoon is to ensure that everyone who is in this room is either convicted, wooed, drawn by the love of Christ, or both. That's the goal. And here's what I mean. If necessary, may we be convicted of our lack of desire. If necessary, may we be convicted of what we desire alternatively to the glory of Christ. But may we also be wooed by the love of our Savior. May we be wooed by His passionate cry for us to finally experience fellowship and glory for eternity. May we be wooed by the fact that this has been His prayer for the church for over 2,000 years. As a result, may we find the spark that we need to have inflamed hearts that desire eternity with Christ in a fresh way. As a result, may our desires conform to his desires. So let's begin with the text itself. Look to the first half of John 17, 24. The first half of the verse. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am. Here's the first desire we will examine today. Christ desires us to be in his presence. Christ desires us to be in his presence. First thing we notice is Jesus is speaking about God's elect, those whom you gave me, the people from every tribe and nation and tongue whom God chose before the foundation of the world. Therefore, this is not an open-ended generic prayer request. He has a specific group of people in mind. I would even say he has a specific number in mind of all the people he will redeem. This is made even more clear if you look down in verse nine. I pray for them, his disciples. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And if you're taking notes for your reference, this is nothing new in the Gospel of John and a few notable texts, John 6.37 and John 29. In those texts, it's where it explicitly states that God gave a specific group of people to the Lord Jesus Christ, a specific people for Jesus to redeem. You can understand it this way, the father gave a bride to his son. The father gave a bride to his son. He gave to the son a people who will believe, treasure, and worship him for all eternity. So for that people, his bride, Jesus prays that they may be with me where I am. Don't let the present tense of where I am confuse you. Verse 11 shows he already considers himself, you look down to verse 11, he already considers himself to no longer be in the world. To read verse 11, now I am no longer. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. He's already looking past the cross, and he's actually even looking past the resurrection to think about his ascension into heaven. He considers himself to be so close in this moment to being in heaven that he uses the present tense here, where I am. He is basically praying, therefore, I desire that they may be with me in heaven. But there is a little bit more to that where I am phrase, that they may be with me where I am. Turn a few pages back to John 14, chapter 14, and we'll see this. John 14, verse two to three. Chapter 14, verse two. Jesus said there, in my Father's house are many mansions, and literally in the Greek it says dwellings, places, are many places. If they were not so, I would have told you. And now pay attention to the following here. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, where I am, there you may be also." While we don't know the exact details, it's clear that Jesus ascended into heaven to prepare a dwelling place, a living place for us. to experience the glory of God, I'd say this is called a personal touch as he welcomes us into heaven. This means that, you know, this probably just, we can't really comprehend this, this means that before Jesus ascended, there was no customized, personalized space for us to worship God. But after he ascended, there was. That was one of his goals as he went back into heaven. So when we arrive in glory, there will be a sense that Jesus thoughtfully and caringly prepared a specific dwelling place for us. What will this do as we enter into heaven? What will this do for us? How will this impact us? I think of it this way. It's the difference between staying at a hotel versus staying at a relative's home. It's the difference between being welcomed generically versus being welcomed personally. If you visit family for the holidays but you happen to stay at a hotel, I don't care how friendly the front desk agent is, they don't know you. They don't know your personality. They don't know your preferences. They don't know your experiences. Your hotel room is full of generic stuff. The coffee machines, the exact same that every other guest has. The pillows, the blankets, everything is the same as any other room. There's nothing personal, right, about that experience. You just feel like another number amongst all the other hotel guests. But if you visit family for the holidays, but you stay at their home, Right? I think we start to get the picture here. You're greeted with hugs and laughter and you have maybe, you know, cool handshakes with your relatives, your buddies. You walk in and you realize, oh, my mom's been preparing my favorite meal. I didn't even request that. You realize that they have all your kids' favorite toys ready to go. All the movies are pretty much all ready to go on the TV. And you realize they thoughtfully prepared a place for you. There's nothing generic about that experience. You understand that they thoughtfully and personally prepared for you. That second experience is a tiny, tiny, tiny shadow of what it will be like once we are swept into glory and are welcomed by the Lord Jesus Christ. He will welcome us in such a way that we will feel a personal touch to his reception. I think one of our first reactions as we enter into glory will be like, seriously? Really? You wanted to be with us this much? You were excited to have fellowship with us this much? To which he will say, I am the good shepherd, Hannah. I am the good shepherd, I know. I know my own. I intimately know my own. Just like a father, mother, brother, sister would prepare a place for your visit, he so much more prepares a place for your permanent stay in heaven. He desires you to experience his love in that way. He desires that his people will finally dwell in the places he has prepared for them. in the heavenly places. Father, I desire that they may be with me where I am. And once we get there, we will be with him. Very straightforward, but we need to emphasize that we will be with a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is worth emphasizing that he asked the Father that they may be with me, with me. We will have contact with a real person. We will be with a God-man and have perfect, everlasting, satisfying fellowship with him. Heaven is not heaven without Jesus, amen? Would you be satisfied? Ask yourself this. Would you be satisfied if you saw everything else? Your saved relatives, your saved friends, the glory of the angel, spectacular things that you never could have imagined. There's no more sin, no more suffering, no more tears, no more pain, but there is no Christ. Would you be satisfied with that? I hope we can all loudly say, no, absolutely not. To enter into glory isn't just to come out of something, to come out of this filthy and sinful world. It is to enter into the presence of a person, a real person, Jesus Christ. Without that peace, heaven is not heaven. And frankly, for a saint, that might as well be hell. The entire point of eternal life is that perfect fellowship with the person of Christ. The impact of the gospel doesn't just end with conversion and sanctification, it's so much grander than that. God will call, justify, sanctify, and one day glorify. If that last piece of glorification is missing from our appreciation of what God does in salvation, my friends, we have shortcut the impact of the gospel on our souls. According to Philippians 3.21, when Christ comes in his second coming, he will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body. With our glorified bodies, we will no longer have remaining sin and we will be able to have perfect, sinless fellowship with the Son of God. The impact of the gospel doesn't end with conversion and then you get a little sanctified. No, the impact of the gospel goes all the way into the future to your glorified body in heaven. In his infinite love, In his infinite love, the Lord Jesus Christ prays out of his desire to finally have perfect, satisfying fellowship with his people. Think of it this way, it wasn't enough for Christ to have fellowship with his disciples in ancient Israel in that context. He wanted to experience perfect fellowship with them for eternity. And likewise, it isn't enough for Christ to have fellowship with us here in RBC Louisville through the spirit and the word. As great as that is, he ultimately wants us to experience in person fellowship with us for eternity. He desires us to be in his presence. And secondly, this is desire number two, he desires us to witness his glory. He desires us to witness his glory. This is the purpose of being with him where he is, of being in his presence. Look down at the verse again, John 17, 24. I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that, underscore that, that they may behold my glory. The purpose for being in his presence is to behold his glory, the rest of the verse, which you, Father, have given me. Why? For you, Father, loved me before the foundation of the world. This glory that Christ is speaking of was to be bestowed upon him by the Father. Just as the Father honored the Son by giving him a people, the Father honors the Son by giving Jesus glory after his ascension. In this context, glory is, this is a definition, basically, glory is the powerful, visible beauty that flows out of the attributes of Christ. Now this glory was veiled, or you could say covered, for about 30 years during the life of Christ. But a major change is about to take place and Christ knows this. A major change takes place once Christ ascends into heaven. Look down at verse five of John 17, verse five. And now, oh Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory, note this, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. He looks back, he looks backwards at the majesty he used to have in eternity past and asks the Father to bring it back, bring it back to me. Now take a look back at John 12, a few pages to John 12, verse 39 to 41. We get an idea of what Jesus has in mind here. John 12, verse 39. This is a commentary by the writer of this gospel, John the Apostle. This is a commentary on the unbelief of the Jewish people and he writes this. Therefore, they would not believe because Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn, so that I should heal them. Why do I bring that up? Because that's from Isaiah chapter six, verse 10. These things Isaiah said when he saw his, Jesus's glory and spoke of him. You don't have to turn all the way to Isaiah six, but what took place there? What took place there? I think most of you already know. The vision of the Lord. Isaiah says there, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. With two, he flew. And one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. According to John, the Lord who is revealed in that text in Isaiah six was the Son of God. This is the glory that Jesus has in mind. He seeks to have this type of glory back as he ascends into heaven. And Jesus is certain that the Father will accomplish this, that the Father will glorify him. Notice that have given, we're back in John 17, 24, my apologies. Back in John 17, 24, have given is in the perfect tense. That means it's a completed act. He considers this to be done. It's a done deal. At the end of John 17, 24, the glory which you have given me for you, Father, loved me before the foundation of the world. The Father gives glory to the Son out of love. Jesus has full certainty in the Father to accomplish his request for glorification because he understands the Father's great, infinite love for him. So when we arrive in heaven in our glorified bodies, we will witness the infinite glory of Jesus Christ, and simultaneous to that, in that we will witness just how much the Father loves the Son. Just as the Father said, this is Matthew 17, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. And that also happened when Jesus was transfigured, Matthew 17, when the veiled glory suddenly gave way, right? And for a few moments, the glory of the eternal Son of God was revealed to those three disciples. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We will hear and see in glory just how satisfied God was by his son's perfect obedience unto the point of death. I'm getting that from Philippians 2. Due to his pleasure in the son's perfect obedience unto the point of death, we will see how he exalted Christ. He exalted Christ and gave him the title Lord. The Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, and the Father gave the Son glory. Now will there be anything else? Is there anything else that we need to be thinking about if we're thinking about this experience of witnessing the glory of Christ? Is there anything else besides viewing an amazing sight? It's an amazing sight. Radiant light, glory upon glory upon glory, an amazing sight. of the glory of Christ, besides that and besides viewing just how great and grand and infinite the Father's love for the Son is, is there anything besides those two things? To that I actually say yes, I think there is something more. And I believe the rest of scripture does grant a significant hint as to what else we will experience as we enter into glory and we behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the rest of scripture, I mean, think about what happened with Moses. Exodus 33 is where I'm going. You don't have to turn there. Think about when Moses asked to see the glory of God in that chapter. He ended up only seeing just a fraction, right? The back of God. Because God said to him, no man shall see my face and live. Notice that God did something very, very interesting and specific as he revealed a small fraction of his glory to Moses. Exodus 34 verse six says that as God passed before Moses to show his back, God proclaimed the name. God proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. You can clearly see here that God revealing his glory, his visible, beautiful, majestic glory cannot be separated. It cannot be separated from God proclaiming who he is. You can't separate the two. You cannot separate him revealing his glory from God revealing his name to the witnesses. Now turn with me to the end of the Bible. Revelation 21. Revelation 21. verse 22 to 23. We are in the New Jerusalem, where the saints will dwell forever, that's the context. Revelation 21, verse 22 to 23, starting in verse 22, but I saw no temple, I saw no temple in it, the New Jerusalem. I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. or its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. And notice this, the Lamb is its light. The Lamb of God is its light. The glory of God in the new Jerusalem shines in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now just look down to chapter 22 of Revelation, verse three. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. And his servants, the Lamb's servants, shall serve him, and notice this, they shall see his face. We will do what Moses was not allowed to do. We will look into the face of God and not die. We will see the full disclosure of His glory and survive it. We will not be destroyed by the radiant light of His glory because we will be in the glorified bodies Jesus has given us. And I am confident that the following is gonna take place as we experience the glory of Christ. We will hear the name of Jesus proclaimed. We will hear his name proclaimed. Seeing his glory, the glory of Christ, will be joined with hearing his name being proclaimed. Moses only saw the back of God, and he got a pretty good dose of God's name. We will see the face of God. So how much more will we hear this thunderous and wonderful proclamation of who Jesus Christ It's staggering to think about. Therefore, I put this together. I think it's safe to say that when we finally see Jesus face-to-face, we will hear something like this. The Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and full of grace and truth, the word of God, humble God in the flesh, mighty prophet, good shepherd, the bread of life, the great I am, the light of the world, the way, the truth, and the life, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. To that, I think, we will respond. with what we hear earlier in Revelation. Worthy. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. For you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. seeing His glory will be joined. It will come together with hearing His name being proclaimed. And isn't that our heart's ultimate desire? Isn't that why we keep coming twice to this place? We want to hear the proclamation of the name that is above every other name, right? That's why we keep coming. We want to hear the name of Christ exalted. But there will come a day I was thinking about this earlier today. And as Reformed folk, we're all into these types and shadows, right? It's like, oh, that's a type. That's a type of Christ. That's a type of Christ. I was just thinking it would be interesting to think of the fact that what I'm doing right now, what we do regularly on Sunday services, this proclamation of Christ, this is a shadow. This is a type of what is going to be so much greater, where God himself declares who he is in the Son of God forever and ever. Perfect preaching. It cannot compare to a T4G, it can't compare to a G3, any conference that you have in mind. There will come a day when the perfect proclamation of the name of Jesus Christ will ring through our ears as the most beautiful sound imaginable. There will come a day when we look into the face of Christ and marvel. Marvel at his name, who he is, his character, his attributes. Marvel at his name. To lay this out, we will look into his face and marvel at his creative power. We will look into his face and marvel at the width and the length and the depth and the height of his love. We will look into his face and marvel at his condescension from such glory to be born and a teenage pregnancy, that we will look into his face and marvel that he bore the eternal wrath of God that we deserve. We will look into his face and marvel that he overcame the grave and ascended to heaven. We will look into his face and even marvel at his wrath upon sinners in the everlasting lake of fire and declare that his judgments are true and righteous. We will say, worthy are you, Jesus, to receive such glory from the Father. Everything that we've just gone over, Jesus can't wait for you to experience, to experience Him. In His perfect, infinite love, The Lord Jesus Christ petitions the Father that his people may see his full glory and worship him in complete satisfaction. No more sin, no more sin, no more temptation to worry about. Complete satisfaction. He desires that we make it to heaven, be in his presence, and finally witness his glory. There is no greater love than this, amen? Well, let me close with this. Everything we've gone over, that's how Jesus feels about us. How do we feel about him? What is the proper reciprocation? What is the proper return of Christ's desire for us today? I'll close with a text that I'll just read really quickly that provides us with the attitude we need to strive for. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 121. In other words, this is me putting Paul's words into my own words. If I do anything on this planet, let it be for Christ. And if I die, I win. I gain everything I ever wanted. I gain Him, I gain His presence, I gain seeing His glory, I gain hearing His name preached and proclaimed like never before. I gain perfect, satisfying fellowship with my Savior. If we look forward to the presence of Jesus, just a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of how much He desires to be with us, I don't think we'll be intimidated by the reality of death. We would look past it. In a sense, we would even look forward to it. This kind of Pauline ambitious desire is what is demanded in light of our Lord's desire to have us in his presence and have us experience his glory. Of all the things we look forward to in life, to finally be with the Lord Jesus Christ ought to be way at the top of our list. And put that in context, let it sink in. More than a marriage, more than a new job, more than a new home, more than a ministry. I'll put it this way, these things should be fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and the first three slots should be taken up with a desire to be with Jesus Christ. While those gifts, I don't want to push back or I don't want to confuse anybody, while those gifts are legitimate gifts from the Father who gladly gives us those things, it would be inappropriate to place equal or more desire on those things than the eternal presence of our Lord and Savior. So be convicted. If necessary, be wooed and drawn in by his love, if necessary. If you need to recapture the wonder of your salvation, most definitely look to the cross. The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But also look to his interceding work as your faithful high priest. Let there be no doubt in your mind that we do not preserve ourselves, but that Jesus preserves us, for he is praying us into glory as we speak. Let's pray. Father God, we echo the prayer earlier that you would reveal more of Christ Obviously, this is just a fraction of what is throughout scripture and what is going on in the heavenly places. We ask, Lord, that you would give us eyes of faith that there is indeed an intercessor, someone who intercedes for us constantly. We pray that we'll look to him with comfort. We pray that we would look to him in humility, gratitude, We ask, Lord, that you would give us a deep, deep desire to be with him. Lord, may this world look upon your people, including us, and see that they have a hope that transcends everything, that they crave something that is completely foreign. to what is offered in this world. And pray, Lord, that you would grant us such a heavy appetite to be in the presence of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen.