Tonight, I would ask that you open your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 14. We'll be reading from God's Word, John chapter 14, verses 15 through 18, and then also chapter 15, verses 18 through 27. We'll be looking at this in connection tonight with Article 11 of the Belgian Confession, which is our confession of the deity of the Holy Spirit. So we'll be reading from John 14, starting there at verse 15, and turning to chapter 17, or rather, chapter 15, forgive me. And then as well, reading from Article 11 of the Belgian Confession. So first of all, we'll read from the Gospel of John, chapter 14, starting at verse 15. This is the word of the Lord our God. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." And then chapter 15, verse 18, on the next page, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my father. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me, and you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning." In a sense, we're reading from God's Word here tonight. Again, we're looking at this in connection with Article 11 of the Belgian Confession. It's page 163 in your Forms and Prayers book. If you'd like to turn there, page 163 in your Forms and Prayers book, Article 11, it is there where we declare that we believe and confess also that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son, neither made nor created nor begotten, but only proceeding from the two of them. In regard to order, He is the third person of the Trinity, of one and the same essence, and majesty and glory with the Father and the Son. He is true and eternal God, as the Holy Scriptures teach us. And the sons are reading from the Confession here tonight. congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ a little over a month ago, when we started to use this updated version of the Apostles' Creed, I took a minute to explain to you some of the rationale for the changes that were made. And one of the more significant of those changes was the removal of an I believe. We used to confess that we believe or I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe a holy Catholic Church. But now we instead confess, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church. And that wasn't to say or to note that we now confess something different. It was simply to note that we confess the same thing, but in a different manner. And also to, again, as I tried to explain it to you, the purpose of that, the function of that, was to confess something in a clearer way. It was to make very clear that when it comes to the end of the Apostles' Creed, where we speak of the Holy Catholic Church, forgiveness of sins, and so forth, that's not a random collection of truths that just sort of hang there all by themselves, disconnected from the rest of the Creed. But to make very clear that those truths that we confess are part of our confession of the Holy Spirit, His work. what He does, what He brings about. He brings to us the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. He incorporates us into the church of Jesus Christ. He's the one who establishes the community of the saints. He's the one that brings to us everlasting life and works that life inside of us. It is to more obviously and more explicitly connect the Spirit, our confession of the Spirit, to the truths at the end of the Apostles' Creed. And part of the reason for that is not simply to make it more clear, but it's also because the Holy Spirit is quite often referred to as the forgotten or the unknown person of the Trinity. For many people, only Pentecostalism really has any theology of the Holy Spirit. People tend to think, well, if you want the Holy Spirit, you really have to go all the way to Pentecostalism. That's where you find the Spirit. He's nowhere else. But that's not true. Our confessions and our creeds may say comparatively less about the Spirit than they do the Father and the Son. But still what is said about the Holy Spirit is very rich and beautiful and wonderful and tells us a lot about the glory and majesty of the Holy Spirit. I find it quite unfortunate or quite sad that we don't speak more of the Spirit and understand more of who He is and what He does. And tonight then we have the opportunity to address that, you might say. and fitting with what we've been looking at the last couple of weeks to further encourage us to pursue heartfelt communion with the Holy Spirit. He is not an it. He is not a thing or a force or an energy. He is the third person of the Trinity, whom we are to love with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, the third person of the Trinity whom we are to adore and to fellowship with, both now and forevermore. And so to encourage us again to that end, we want to consider tonight, first of all, the being of the Spirit, secondly, the quality of the Spirit, and then finally, His work. So we have His being, His equality, and then His work, the work of the Holy Spirit. And one of the very primary things we need to understand about the Holy Spirit is what I've just mentioned. that the Holy Spirit is God. Just like the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit possesses the entire divine essence. He is completely, fully, perfectly God. When you read the Scriptures carefully, you will quickly realize that this is exactly the way the Spirit talks about Himself in the Bible. The word spirit can mean breath or even wind, and it is the case that the word spirit is neutral or neuter, you might say. It doesn't have a gender to it. But you'll notice that the Holy Spirit is never referred to as an it. The Holy Spirit is never called an it or a thing, but always the Spirit is referred to by the masculine pronoun he. revealing that the Spirit is a person. He's not a thing. He is one of the three persons of the Trinity. And that's why, for instance, the Holy Spirit can be grieved. Things aren't grieved. If you're at your computer and you get upset and you bang your mouse down on the table, your computer isn't grieved. It's not upset by that. It doesn't have feelings. Your car isn't insulted if you should happen to remark that it's a piece of junk. Things can't be made upset. Things don't get upset. They aren't grieved. But the Spirit does get grieved. He can be grieved. Why? Because he's one of the three persons of the Trinity. It's wise while Peter can say in Acts 5, or ask Ananias and Sapphira, why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? They're lying to one of the three persons of the Trinity. Or when you look here at John 14 and 15, notice how the Spirit is called a helper. Jesus doesn't say, I'm going to send you help. I'm not going to send you this thing that will help you. But Jesus says, I will send you a helper, someone, a living being, a person, if you will, who will help you, a helper. And you can add to all of that all the other places in the Bible where the Spirit is shown to be divine. The Spirit is the one who searches the mind of God. And of course, only God can search the mind of God. He's the one who raises the dead, and of course, God's the only one who can raise the dead. His dwelling within us is said to be the dwelling of God in us. He is called the Lord, just as the Father's called Lord and Jesus is called Lord. He is said to be eternal, the eternal Spirit. And the Spirit is the one that created the world. He was hovering over the waters in Genesis. And by the Spirit of God, life comes forth from the ground. All of these things stress that the Spirit is divine and the Spirit is one of the three persons in the Trinity. He's not a thing. He's not an it. He's one of the three persons. And so even though we might as well say that when it comes to the Bible, the Bible doesn't say as much about the Spirit as it does the Father or the Son, what the Bible does say is very clear, that He, with the Father and the Son, is eternal, everlasting, perfect God. And so in our confession, we declare the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from Father and Son. He is not made, He's not created, He's not begotten, but only proceeding from the two of them. Now when this language and these words are given to us here, it's really building on what we earlier confessed about the Trinity. Yes, there is one God, but there are three persons in this one God, and those three persons are not the same. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. There are three. And that's where this language then is picked up from in terms of proceeding. You know, maybe children, maybe you've wondered sometimes, why is it when we say the Apostles' Creed, we talk of Jesus being begotten, and then we get to the Spirit and we say the Spirit proceeds? Why that difference? Why do we say Jesus, the Son of God, is begotten, but then the Spirit say that he proceeds? Why not just say that they both are begotten? Why not say the same thing, that they both proceed? Well, the reason is, because again, the Spirit is not the Son, they're different. The Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Son. There's a difference between them, and that difference has to do with their relations within the Trinity. You see, the Son relates to the Father in terms of being begotten. The Spirit relates to the Father in a different way, in terms of proceeding. And that very language is actually drawn from the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible can you ever find it said that the Spirit is begotten. The Bible never says the Holy Spirit was begotten, not at all. That's only said of Jesus. He is the only begotten Son of God. What you do find about the Spirit, however, is what we see here in John 15. Jesus says, When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me." There you go, the language of proceeding. And Jesus is making clear there, there's a difference between Him and the Spirit. There's a difference between the Spirit and the Father. And the Son is known in terms of being begotten, the Spirit is known in terms of this procession. But now you may be asking yourself that question we always like to ask, why does that matter? Why is that such a big deal? Why is that important? Why make this confession? Isn't it obvious the Spirit is God? Isn't it obvious He's the third person of the Trinity? Why is this so important? Well, it's important simply because this is what God teaches us. You know, we often ask that question, why is this important? And sometimes we forget the most basic answer. It's important simply because God has said it. Right? Is there anything in the Bible that is worthless? Is there anything in the Bible that doesn't matter? And I ask that question honestly. Because how you answer that question affects how you treat what the Bible teaches. Because if you believe that the Bible is God's word, that it is the word of God given to us, that means you find it infinitely valuable and precious and you believe that every single word is from God's mouth and every single word is therefore important and is something for you to believe and hold to and confess. So, for one thing, I would encourage you to realize that God doesn't waste His words. Whatever you find in the Bible is important simply because God has said it, and therefore it's for you to believe and to confess and to know. But secondly, though, this confession of the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity is important because it drives home the very essential truth that He is God who should be prayed to, God who should be worshipped, and God who should be served. Right? The Holy Spirit is God. He should be the object of our prayers. He should be one we call upon for help and for strength. He should be one we are fully comfortable with praising, even as we've been doing here tonight, singing to the Holy Spirit. He should be someone we are devoting ourselves to serving. Paul talks about keeping in step with the Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't grieve the Spirit. Why? Because we're to serve the Spirit. He is God. He is to be obeyed. And the very simple fact that He proceeds from Father and Son drives home to us that He is one with them and working with them to the very same end that they are. that he's working to the very same purpose. He is one with the Father and Son, proceeding from the Father and Son, and so you can know, you can believe that this Spirit who lives in you is devoted to the same goal, to the same end, to the same salvation as the Father and the Son. He is working with them together. You know, it's interesting, sometimes you can look at Pentecostalism, and I believe it's as if they've lost Jesus. It's all about the Spirit. It's all about the Spirit's gifts. It's all about talking in the Spirit. And what recedes from view is the Father and the Son. Or you have the Roman Catholic Church, and you find that the Roman Catholic Church is actually very mechanical. You go to Mass, you say your Hail Marys, and grace is yours. It's just a machine. You put in, you do what you're supposed to, and boom, grace comes out and grace is yours. There's little sense, you see, of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And why is this the case? Why is it that Pentecostalism, you might say, at least generally speaking, almost loses Jesus? And why is it that the Roman Catholic Church, generally speaking, at least seems to somewhat lose the Holy Spirit? And I would argue that it's because they've lost, in a certain sense, the reality of the Holy Spirit who's God, who proceeds from Father and Son. The Spirit who directs us to the Son. The Spirit who works Christ inside of us. The Spirit who leads us to Jesus. And the Spirit who brings all that Christ has to us. See, it's when we have a proper understanding of who the Spirit is and His relation to the Father and Son, that our minds turn from Jesus as well to the Spirit, and from the Spirit back to Jesus, and of course, the Father. See, these things help keep us in a place where we love, serve, worship, and call upon Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. confessing that they are one God, working one goal, one purpose, one salvation in each of our lives. That's the benefit, you might say, of knowing and confessing the Holy Spirit. But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves here either. We want to note, secondly, that this confession of the equality of the Spirit, you have that in the second part of Article 11. One of the things you'll commonly hear from Christians, even formed Christians still today, is that there's a hierarchy in God. God, they say, is a hierarchy. And what that means, of course, is that the Father's on top, and then you have the Son below Him, and then after Him, you have the Holy Spirit. But I would draw your attention to what we confess in Article 11. What does Article 11 say? It says, in regard to order, He is the third person of the trinity, of one and the same essence and majesty and glory with the Father and the Son. in regard to order, we confess. Not according to hierarchy, he's third. No, but according to order. In other words, we do not confess as Reformed Christians that God is a hierarchy. There is no respect in which the Father is greater than the Son or the Spirit. If the Father is greater, you've now destroyed the Trinity. If the Father is greater than the Son and greater than the Spirit, you have now brought division and you have destroyed the Trinity. You see, the Father is not more God than the Son or the Spirit. This Spirit is not less God than the Father or the Son. That's what this confession is stating for us. In regard to order, He is the third person, but He's of the same essence, majesty, and glory. He is equal with the Father and the Son. What often trips Christians up in this regard is how the Bible talks about the Son obeying the Father or how the Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. You see, we hear that and we instinctively think hierarchy. Well, look it, the Son obeys, therefore the Father is greater. Or look it, the Spirit is sent and therefore He is less than because He's sent by the Father and the Son. So there you go, the father's the boss, the son has to obey, and the spirit is the lowest on the totem pole. But that's not it at all. You see, even Christ's obedience, Christ's obedience is not a matter of being less than God, less than the Father. Christ's obedience is a matter of His role. You see, each person of the Trinity, including the Holy Spirit, is absolutely equal with one another. There is no more, there is no less within the Trinity. There is no sense in which there is any sort of more or less within the Trinity. But God is perfectly, fundamentally one. And what you have in the Trinity then is an order, an order in which these three persons relate to each other. And you might be wondering, well, how does this make any difference at all? But you see, this is really what's behind even our confession this morning about who we are as men and women. Men and women are equal. Men are not more human than women. Women are not less human than men. There is genuine equality. There is equal value, equal worth, equal as to their being. And the relationship between men and women in that way is not like a hierarchy because men are not greater than women. That's not the way it is. They are equal according to their being. Wives are not less than their husbands simply because they're called to submit to them. And I can see why some women have such a hard time and even hate the idea of submission, because for them, it's so connected to the idea of inferiority. Like our culture says, our culture teaches, if you obey, that means you're less than. Submission to the world means you're inferior. But does Christ's submission to the Father mean he's inferior? Is Jesus less than the Father, less than God because he obeys God? Not at all. See, they're equal. Where the difference comes in is, of course, how they relate to each other. The relation is different. The relation is where you see the difference. But again, it's a matter of your role and your function. It's not a matter of your being. And you see, this pattern within our life and our existence is a reflection of the triune God. God, the three persons, are one God. They are equal, the same essence, the same glory, the same majesty, the same power, the same authority. But there's an order to their relations. There's a difference in how they relate to one another. The Holy Spirit is of one and the same essence, the same majesty, the same glory. In the unity of the Godhead, there are three persons, but one substance, one power, one eternity. And so you see, in that way, what we understand about God helps us understand our life in this world. What we know about God helps us understand who we are. that this idea and the teaching of who God is helps us make sense of the world in which we live and the way God created it and the way that God intended it to be. In fact, you might even say that those Christians who believe that women are inferior to men not only fail to understand the gospel, but they fail to understand the basic truth about God. They fail to have a true understanding of theology. Their false belief about men and women basically speaks to a false belief about God. See, there again are practical implications as to what we believe about God. What we know about Him has to do with who we are, how we reflect Him, how our lives are to be, how they're to function. So the Holy Spirit, we confess here, is equal with the Father and the Son of one substance, glory and majesty and power. The final bit of time I want to give some attention to tonight is the divine work of the Holy Spirit. And Article 11 for its part doesn't speak so much of that, but Christ does in our passage here this evening, John 14 and 15. And that uniting thread between them, and actually that uniting thread between chapters 14, 15, and 16 is that the Holy Spirit is another helper. Now, there's all kind of debate as to how to best translate the Greek word behind helper. Perhaps we could say this, that the Greek word behind it has to do with help, comfort, and advocacy. There really isn't any one single word that captures the entirety of what this Greek word sort of means. That's just the weakness. That's just the inherent weakness of translation, the limitation of translation. It just can't capture it all. But it's a beautiful word. It's a glorious word, because what Jesus is seeking to do by means of this word is to explain to his disciples that while he's leaving, he's sending them someone who will do for them what he has been doing for them all along. In John 14, verse 16, he says the Father will give them another helper. Another helper, right? Someone who will, in other words, take over for Jesus. Who will take over for him. And just think for a moment of what losing Jesus means. Let's try to get the glory and the wonder of what Christ is talking about here. What are the disciples going to lose as Jesus ascends into heaven after His resurrection? What are they going to lose? Well, John 1 tells us that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us so that Who we have in Jesus is God with us, God dwelling with us. When the disciples were walking with Jesus, they were walking with God. Marvelous! God living with them, God dwelling among them, God's presence with them there in the world. Jesus leaves, they lose that part of it. Then you can think about Christ's teaching ministry, right? Jesus preaches the Word to them, reveals the truth to them. He explains the Scripture to them day by day by day. He tells them something of what's going to happen. Jesus also sends them out, right? Jesus is the one who sends His disciples out. He tells them where to go. He tells them what to do. Or you can think about how Jesus was the one who stood up for them. He stood up for them. When they were attacked by the Pharisees, Jesus provided their defense. When they were confronted by hostile demonic forces, it was Jesus coming to their aid and Jesus driving them away. When they were scared, Christ comforted them. When they were threatened by storms and earthquakes and winds, Jesus calmed it. When they were filled with sorrow, Christ brought them great joy. When they were foolish, Jesus rebuked them, and so on and so forth. I mean, you think of the ministry of Jesus, and it was awesome. It was magnificent. What Jesus did for His disciples was immense, enormous. In a certain respect, you can't even begin to fathom just how beneficial the ministry of Jesus Christ was for his disciples. And you can imagine for their part, on their part, that the disciples basically believed Jesus was irreplaceable, right? How could you ever find someone who could do for you and be for you everything that Jesus was? And in a certain respect, he was irreplaceable because there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. I mean, Jesus is irreplaceable. He is the only Savior. He's the only one who could deliver them from their sins. But they were mistaken, the disciples were mistaken, if they thought there was no one else to help them as Jesus did. Because there's the Holy Spirit. And think then about what the Holy Spirit provides. Think about how the Holy Spirit does, in a certain respect, exactly what Jesus did. Think of what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit. We are, when we are saved by God in Christ, we are told the Spirit comes into our hearts and lives and the Spirit makes His home inside of us. And what does that mean, brothers and sisters? It means that God lives with us. It means that as we go about our lives, we go about our work, as we head off to school and go to our day jobs, God is going with us. Why? Because he's living in us. We still walk with God. Isn't that amazing? We actually walk with God because the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us. We didn't lose that. Yes, Jesus left, but God still dwells with us as it were, lives with us because the Spirit is inside of us as believers. Or you can think of what the Bible also says about the Holy Spirit. Who's the one that opens our minds to God's Word? Who's the one that gives us understanding? Who's the one that teaches us? It's the Holy Spirit. He explains the Bible. He makes us understand these truths. He makes us lay hold of them. The Spirit of God is our teacher. Who sends us out? Who equips us for that work? Who tells us what we're gonna do? It's the Spirit of God. He's the one that sends us. He's the one that equips us. He's the one that shows us where to go and what to do. Who gives us the words to speak, says Jesus. When we stand before judges and rulers, Christ says the Spirit gives you the words. He comes to your aid. He gives you the defense that you need to make clear your commitment to Christ and the glory of Him who died for you. The Spirit gives you the word. The Spirit is, as it were, your advocate in that kind of way. who sustains you, who preserves you, who gives you triumph as you are faced with all kinds of hostile forces while you live in this world. Yes, even the forces of the evil one. It's the Spirit of God. He gives you the victory. He gives you the triumph. He enables you to resist sin and evil. The Spirit is the one who humbles you after you sin, that you confess. The Spirit is the one who rebukes you when you're being foolish. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings you joy when you're filled with sorrow. He's the one that comforts you when you're weighed down with affliction. Who is the one who intercedes for you with groanings too deep for words? The Holy Spirit. The Spirit does all this. And you see, that's what Jesus is seeking to do with his disciples. See the Holy Spirit, know the Holy Spirit, and understand what the Holy Spirit is coming to do for you. See how he is, as it were, taking over for me, and how he is going to carry on this work that I am now, in a certain respect, leaving behind by ascending into heaven. And how does the Spirit do all of this? By taking us to Christ. applying Christ to us. The Spirit is one with the Father and the Son, and He directs our eyes to the Son. The comfort we have, it's the comfort we find in Christ as the Spirit leads us to Christ. The teaching, the instruction we receive, it's as the Spirit directs us to Christ to see Christ. Right? It isn't as if the Spirit's in competition with Jesus. As if we go to the Spirit and the Spirit's the only one we need and we can kind of leave Jesus alone now. No, no, not at all. And it's not as if we say, well, I don't need you, Holy Spirit, I have Jesus. No, no, no, not at all. There's no competition. But no, Spirit and Son and Father work together and the Spirit drives us to Christ and Christ drives us to the Spirit that we may see their glorious work and the wonder of what they're doing within us. And I wonder if you see something of the riches of this work and this ministry. You know, I love what Jesus says back in chapter 14, verse 28. He says, you heard me say to you, I'm going away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father. In other words, Jesus is saying, if you loved me and if you really understood what my going to the Father means, and how it would benefit you, such as in the gift of the Holy Spirit, you would be rejoicing. If you understood what it means for me to go to the Father and for the Spirit to be given to you, you would be celebrating. You wouldn't be saying, oh Jesus, why do we have to lose you and why does someone else have to come in your place? But you would be rejoicing that Christ is now leaving and that the Spirit comes. You would be rejoicing in it. Jesus says, if you really knew, if you really understood what my going would mean, going to the Father's side, you would be rejoicing because of the wonder of the work that would now be done among you and in you by the Holy Spirit. We should be rejoicing. And you know, I have to go back to what I think I've said before, but I have to go back to what I often find as I'm in the church and serving within the church, how many of you will come to me and say, you know, say something like, but I'm not a pastor, but I'm not a minister. And I get that sort of feeling. I get why you think that way, you feel that way. But the implication is you can't do this or that thing because, well, I'm not a pastor. I'm not capable for this. I can't do this because I'm not a pastor. But I tell you that you have the one essential thing that matters above anything else. As a believer in Christ, you have the Spirit of God. I know you maybe haven't had the training that a pastor has had. I know that you maybe not have had all the experiences that a pastor has had. But you, as a believer in Christ, have the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God dwells within you. And the Spirit of God equips you. And the Spirit of God teaches you. And the Spirit of God gives you all that you need. The words, the strength, the wisdom, the understanding, the direction, and so forth. You have The one person that makes all the difference is Spirit of God who dwells within you. So no matter how incapable you think you are, how, in your own mind, how inferior you may feel, It doesn't matter. You have the Spirit of God, the one who is fully, completely, perfectly God, one with the Father and the Son. Do you see it now? Do you see why it's sad that we don't know more of the Spirit and His work? because it's no less than God who lives and is at work within you. True, everlasting God lives in you, such that if you have him, you have the Father and Son, such that if he is working in you, the Father and Son are working in you, such that if you have his life, you have the life of the Father and the Son. The Spirit reveals himself to us in the scriptures that he has authored. so that we might know Him and the Christ that has been given and understand the glory of what He is now doing in us through the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who dwells within you that you might have the Father and the Son. And so we're to give Him glory, we're to give Him praise, We are to give Him worship and we are to delight, delight in coming to know Him more, to fellowship with Him, the living God, the Holy Spirit. And so may the Lord again encourage you to pursue communion with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for your own encouragement and for your own strength and for the glory of our God. Amen. Let's pray. Oh, Lord our God, we come before you tonight as we would end our service here and as we would end this day. We come before you thanking you for the revelation of yourself, thanking you for your word by which you speak to us. And will you again remind us, Lord, of how we are not alone, we are not left as orphans, because we have another helper who is the Spirit of God dwelling within us, that we may know you and see you, Father and Son. and experience your life, your blessing, and your salvation. So help us to glorify You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Help us to confess You faithfully and truly. Help us to worship You, praise, honor, and glorify You. Help us to love You more, heart, soul, mind, and strength. And as we again embark into a new week, may we go into conviction of the fact that our God dwells in us. the Spirit of God, so that as we leave this place, we truly go forth with You, our great and glorious God. Comfort our hearts. Fill us with Your grace. Satisfy us always through Jesus Christ, Your Son. In His name we ask it. Amen.