We are happy to have with us today Evan Curry from Liberty Church Northeast. And I will ask him to come now and bring the scripture reading and the sermon and the final hymn. Evan? Hey, good morning. Our scripture reading today comes from John chapter 16, verse 4, second part of verse 4, all the way to 15. Hear these words from the book that we love. I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you, but now I'm going to him who sent me and none of you asked me, where are you going? But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine, therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. This is the word of the Lord. So I'm Pastor Evan. I'm from Liberty Church Northeast, not far from you. I had the opportunity to be there this morning. They send their blessings and their greetings to you all. I did not have to preach this morning, so you get fresh Pastor Evan. And I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know what stereotypes you have of Presbyterian churches, but they typically don't clap. And so you guys were clapping and it threw me off a little bit. So I'm going to try to regain my composure. You can clap. I'm going to regain my composure and I'm going to preach to you the Word of God today. And it's a pleasure to be here. I really have enjoyed the relationship that I have. with the elders of your church, very kingdom-minded men, which I don't know if you realize is a blessing and a gift. It really is. I've interacted with many churches in my time, and to have kingdom-minded elders is a really beautiful thing. So give them a high five or a hug or a fist pound when you see them, because they love you guys and they love the Lord. As I said, we're gonna be in John chapter 16 today. So if you have your Bibles, you can follow along. And this, what we're in right now is, this is Jesus talking in the middle of the upper room discourse. So after John 17, in John 18, Jesus moves into his trial, his betrayal, his trial, his death, his resurrection. This is kind of like his last words to his disciples. He wants them to know these things before he leaves. These things. And so we're talking about these things today. As you know, summertime's here. We're kind of midway through July. It's kind of a wild thing. My kids are already mourning the fact that school is not far away. I reminded them they have more time left in the summer than they have already gone through. But summer's fully begun and my kids have fully embraced summer. My kids get to sleep in, then they wake up, they play some video games, they jump in the pool, they swim all day, and then I have to get all four of them out of the pool to get ready for bed at night. Summers are so much fun when you're a kid. So much fun. Actually, I remember the moment when I realized I was an adult. I was working a job in Oxford Valley, and I was working at a cubicle, and I watched kids and their families and their moms kind of dragging them along, mostly in joy, but sometimes there was more dragging than joy, as they walked to Sesame Place in Oxford Valley. And I realized, those kids get to go on water slides, and I'm stuck here in a cubicle. It's my first job out of college, and I realized, I am an adult. So summer is not as much fun for adults as it is for kids. And I understand that, you understand that, but kids don't understand that. Often when I have to leave in the morning to meet someone for coffee or I have to go work on my sermon somewhere, my kids will get really sad and they'll say to me, please dad, don't go. Stay here dad, don't leave. And summer's past has gotten so frequent that I've had to ask my kids to stop asking me to stay. Like, you guys enjoy video games, right? If you want more video games, Dad's gotta go. I gotta go to work. So please, stop asking me to go. If you want to keep the things that you like, dad's got to leave. And of course, they get disappointed that I'm not going to jump in the pool with them, because they don't understand. Kids just don't understand those things. And I'm not talking about working more than you have to. We all want a good work-life balance, and that's what I'm striving for, too. But my kids fail to see how a parent, their father, leaving for work is to their advantage. And how could they? They're just kids. When we move into John chapter 16, what we see with the disciples is that the disciples are having a hard time seeing that how Jesus leaving could be a good thing. Like maybe you even feel it in your gut and in your soul and your heart, and you're like entering this story in John chapter 16, and you're like, hold a second, how is this a good thing? Like how could Jesus leaving be a good thing? But Jesus says, it's to your advantage that I go. It's your advantage that I go to be with the Father. And they're disheartened by this news because they see it as bad news, but Jesus sees it as good news. Because unless Jesus leaves, he can't send the Holy Spirit. And what I want us to realize today, for you and for myself, is that the Holy Spirit is a gift from Jesus to us. And the Holy Spirit actively works to convict the world and guide Jesus' followers. So I'm gonna talk about three things today. I'm gonna talk about the gift of the Spirit, and I'm gonna talk about how the Spirit convicts and the Spirit guides. So first, if you look at the gift of the Holy Spirit, Look at verse 4 again. Listen to this. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, The Helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you." See, what Jesus wants us to understand, what he wants his disciples to understand is that the Holy Spirit is a useful and beautiful gift. And so far in John 14-17, which is the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus has said many things about the Holy Spirit. So far, in John chapter 14, he said that the Holy Spirit will be with his disciples forever. Which you don't have to be a Greek scholar to know that forever means forever. Forever, forever. And he'll teach us, he also says, also in John chapter 14, that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and remind the disciples what Jesus said to them. And in John chapter 15, verse 26, he says that the Holy Spirit will bear witness about Jesus to his disciples. And then in John chapter 16, verse 4 through 15, he says his fourth and fifth thing about the Holy Spirit. He says the Holy Spirit will convict the world and the Holy Spirit will guide the disciples into all truth. And Jesus tells his fathers that he will leave them and go be with the Father after his death and his resurrection and his ascension into heaven. And that he'll send the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is a useful and beautiful gift. But when we look at it in terms of usefulness, the usefulness of the Holy Spirit, see the apostles don't see it. They don't get it. And frankly, neither do we. We don't see that personally the Holy Spirit is useful. If you look at verses 14-15, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine, therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Michael Reeves says this about the Holy Spirit and about this passage. He says, it is the Spirit who unites us to Christ. Like the oil flowing down the body of the high priest, he imparts the blessings of Christ, the head of his body, the high priest, his body to the church. He takes what is Christ's and makes it ours. They think about that, the high priest, the oil being poured on his head, coming down and going down to his feet, onto the ground. All that blessing that Jesus has from the Father pours off of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, onto you and me, and that we receive these blessings. What are these blessings that he's talking about? Well, there's many blessings, but particularly, there's blessings like this. that we receive the gift of adoption to be sons of God like Jesus is the Son of God. What is Jesus is now mine. What is Jesus is now yours because of the Holy Spirit. You are a son. Now women, I know, let's just deal with this. All us men have to be called brides of Christ. You can be called sons of God, all right? So the sons of God, all of you are sons of God if you put your faith and trust in Jesus because the Holy Spirit takes what's Christ and he gives it to you. So when God looks at you, he doesn't look at you as an enemy, he looks at you, or an orphan, he looks at you like a son. And we're comforted in difficulty and suffering just like Jesus was. When Jesus is suffering and he's experiencing great distress, he's comforted. And you and I can be comforted when we're experiencing suffering and we're in great distress. And not only that, we have spiritual authority just like Jesus does. Jesus has given all authority, and he gives that authority to the apostles, and his apostles pass it through the Holy Spirit, through their teaching to us. The authority of Christ is now mine. The authority of Christ is now yours because of what the Holy Spirit has done. It's like the oil coming down the high priest and onto the church. So it's personally useful, but it's also missionally useful. Why is it missionally useful that the Holy Spirit comes? Because Jesus as God in human flesh can only be in one place at one time. But the sending of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 is a game changer. Billions of people across generations would never hear the gospel if the glory of God, if the Son of God, if Jesus is in one place at one time. But because of the Holy Spirit sent in Acts chapter 2, now God's presence goes with every Christian everywhere. So it's beautiful to see the Child Evangelism Fellowship. That was a beautiful announcement, a beautiful update. The Holy Spirit is there in those moments. God's presence is there in those moments because Christians were there. Jesus was there, but Jesus in human flesh was not because of the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit goes everywhere Christians go and it makes mission possible. Which is why Jesus can say in John chapter 14, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do because I'm going to the Father. And you might be tempted to say, and I've heard Christians say, and I've even been tempted to say and have said myself, would it have been so great if I could have been in Galilee with Jesus? If I could have been in Capernaum with Jesus? If I could have seen everything that he did and I saw him heal people? And I saw him walk on water. Would it have been so great if I could have been back then with Jesus? Walking with him, eating with him, standing with him. But Jesus says you're better off now than the apostles were then. He says you're better off. You're better off that I'm not with you. Because you have the gift of the Holy Spirit to remind you you're a son of God, to comfort you when life becomes uncomfortable, to give you authority to defeat sin in your life and fight back the devil, to give you strength to continue the mission of Jesus of proclaiming his gospel to the world. There's this one episode of Everybody Loves Raymond that I really enjoy is when Ray discovers that there's a bunch of unwrapped, unopened Christmas gifts in his parents' basement. Does anybody remember that episode? Yeah. OK, two of you. Great. Just roll with me then. But many of those gifts that Ray's parents have in the basement that are unwrapped and unopened were gifts Ray gave his parents. And he's appalled that they never opened his gifts. But his parents, truthfully, if you think about it, his parents don't open or use his gifts because they don't see it as a gift. Why do we need a coffee pot? We have one. Why do we need a new toaster? We have one. Why do we need a CD player? Remember when we used to do CD players? We have a CD player. We have a record player. Why do I need that? See, they don't see it as a gift. Because they don't see the gift as beautiful. They see things as useful, but they don't see them as beautiful. Here's this beautiful gift that my son has given me. Let me open it and use it. Even if I have a toaster, let me use his toaster. See, Jesus gave us a top-of-the-line gift, and many of us just don't use the gift. Because we don't see it as a gift. because we don't see how beautiful that gift is. Tim Keller, who's a pastor in New York, says, religious people find God useful, Christians find God beautiful. Religious people find God useful, Christians find God beautiful. See, many of us see the Holy Spirit as useful, But to be true followers of Jesus, we also must find him beautiful. See, some Christians, some of us maybe even, we see the Holy Spirit like the force in Star Wars. Like he's out there, and occasionally we'll tap into him when we want to do a really cool trick. And some of us, which is probably more the temptation for myself, and if you're like me, we see the Holy Spirit more like Loki from Marvel. we see him as the God of mischief. Because every time the Holy Spirit shows up, he starts breaking stuff, and people start doing weird things, and we gotta keep that Holy Spirit under wraps, because every time he shows up, this mess happens. Just like Loki, every time he shows up, there's just mischief. See, both of those ways are ways of seeing the Holy Spirit as useful, but we also need to see him as beautiful. How is he beautiful? How is the Holy Spirit beautiful? I'm glad you asked questions that are in my sermon notes. First, the Holy Spirit convicts. Look at verse 8 to 11. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. The Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus to convict the world. The world is this word, kosmos, and in John it commonly refers to the created moral order. This is D.A. Carson says, the created moral order in active rebellion against God. So when John uses the word world, he's talking about the creative moral order in active rebellion against God. So like holding a mirror up to your friends so they can see their hair is out of place, or they got something in their teeth, or there's a smudge on their face, the Holy Spirit graciously convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment so their hearts can change. He's like a mirror that's held up to them and says, look, look at yourselves. Change. So he convicts, he convicts the world of the sin of unbelief. See, the world, because it's naturally opposed to God, its natural posture is opposition to Jesus, it rejected Jesus when he was here on earth. And Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to convict the world of its sin of unbelief. So Jesus stood before them, he did many miracles, he proclaimed the gospel and claimed to be the Son of God, yet people still, people still didn't believe in him. they still did not believe even Jesus standing right in front of them, they don't believe. So the Holy Spirit comes and convicts the world of unbelief. Charles Spurgeon says that unbelief, this is Old English, so some of you are going to like that, some of you are going to tune out, but just follow along. Unbelief hath more phases than the moon and more colors than the chameleon. More phases than the moon and more colors than the chameleon. See, unbelief in Jesus can take many forms. Unbelief in Jesus is the only way to God can come in the form of tolerance. Tolerance is just unbelief. Unbelief in living out the Sermon on the Mount can come in the form of being realistic. Like, come on, Jesus. Like, loving your enemies? Let's be realistic. It's just unbelief. That's all that is. Unbelief in His healing can come in the form of being scientific. Unbelief in the commands of Jesus can come in the form of finding my authentic self. Like, if I follow what Jesus tells me to do, I can't be my authentic self. It's just unbelief. Unbelief in making weekend worship a regular practice in our lives can come in the form of needing to work to provide for my family, or I just need a day off. Unbelief in generosity can come in the form of being financially wise. Well, God wants me to be financially wise. I don't know why church keeps talking about giving 10%. That's crazy. Unbelief and giving enough time to prayer can come in the form of prioritizing my clients. So I got to shoot off some emails instead of praying. Or I need more sleep because when I wake up, my kids are just straight up exhausting. So I need more sleep. So I can't dedicate time to prayer. See, unbelief comes in many forms, but it's still unbelief. And people are so set in their ways that unless the Holy Spirit convicts their hearts, they'll never change. And the Holy Spirit also convicts the world of empty righteousness. And when I say righteousness, what I mean is the thing you think justifies you breathing oxygen and taking up space here on earth. Like, what's that thing that you think justifies you breathing the same air that I'm trying to breathe? or taking up space that I would like to take. What's that thing? What gives your life worth? What do you think justifies your existence here on Earth? There might be moral righteousness, right? I can breathe the air that Evan's trying to breathe and take up space that Evan's trying to take up because I'm morally better than Evan. So there's moral righteousness. What about political righteousness? Well, I vote for the right people, unlike them. Or maybe you find worth in productivity. You have productivity righteousness. That finds worth in being more productive than everyone else. You can't even take a day off, because you're productive. Flexibility righteousness finds worth in being able to move your schedule around. Well, I'm just super flexible, unlike them. And the Holy Spirit also convicts the reality of the world's judgment. See, the world makes judgments about Jesus, then and now. He's a prophet, he's a good teacher, he's a healer, he's a great spiritual advisor, and he's a great life coach. But is he God? Nah. And just, like, take a moment to think about this. Jesus is, like, a terrible life coach. Take up your cross and follow me. Lay down your life. I'm not into that for a life coach. Tell me I'm a good person, and I basically need to change a few things in my life. But the world, that's how they treat Jesus, right? He's kind of this life coach who gives me some sagely advice, and I take it if I want. Is he God? Nah. But Jesus' point is that believing that he's anything other than he says he is puts you on the side of the ruler of this world, Satan. And Satan has been judged in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. And you'll be judged like Satan if you're on his side. See, if you're here today and you don't believe in Jesus, you will make wrong judgments about him. And when the thing you go to look for righteousness, when that thing fails, you'll get crushed. So if you bank on moral righteousness when you sin, it will crush you. If you bank on political righteousness, a lost election will decimate you. If you bank on productivity righteousness, you'll never take a day off. You'll always be running on fumes, and you'll crash, and you'll burn. If you bank on flexibility righteousness, you'll never commit to anything. and find out that no one can rely on you, so you lost everyone's trust, and when you realize you lost everyone's trust because you've been trying to be flexible, you'll feel like the world's crumbling around you. See, God's righteousness, though, is different. God's righteousness is that you're justified, not because of what you've done, but because your faith and trust in what Jesus has done on your behalf. So it's not your righteousness, it's not my righteousness, it's Jesus' righteousness. That's the righteousness we need. And when I bank on that righteousness, and because he never fails, I'll never be crushed. Because it's not about me. It's not about the things I can do. It's not about the thing that justifies me breathing air and taking up space. Or it's not about the thing that brings me worth. Because Jesus, I give all my worth and trust to Jesus. I give everything about my life. I justify my existence, not because of what people think about me, but because of what Jesus thinks about me. And because of what he's done for me. And because he never fails. And because he was crushed on the cross, I don't have to be crushed. And the Holy Spirit, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit as a gift to remind me, to remind you of that. And then the Holy Spirit guides. Look at verse 13. So the Holy Spirit convicts and He guides. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. The Holy Spirit guides us by reminding us everything we need for life and godliness. What Jesus is referring to here is that the Holy Spirit will lead the apostles to write the New Testament. And the Holy Spirit will use the New Testament to guide us. That's why Hebrews 1 says, long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. See, in the Old Testament, in the first half or two-thirds of your Bible, God spoke to his people through prophets, but now God has revealed himself through his Son. And what the Holy Spirit does, the Holy Spirit unpacks the revelation of Jesus for the apostles. So we, in 21st century Northeast Philadelphia, can trust the apostles' words are Jesus' words given through the Holy Spirit to them for us. So 2 Peter 1, verse 3 says, What he's saying is everything you need for life, for godliness, is found right here in God's word, through Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to the apostles, to you and me. The Bible. This is part of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Right here. That you and I can continue to go to Scripture and learn more about Jesus. Even though He didn't speak directly to us, like He did when He was with the Apostles, He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, through the Apostles' words that were given to the Holy Spirit. And it's not that Scripture gives us answers to everything. Like, what job you should take, or what apartment you should get, or who you should marry. Like, the girl who broke up with you in high school because God told her so probably didn't. Right? God probably didn't tell her that. And if you're like a teenage girl here and you have that one in your back pocket, just don't bring it out, okay? Tell the guy the truth. Not that anybody's experienced that. But see, what we're learning here is that although he won't tell us about everything in our lives, like jobs or apartments or girlfriends or boyfriends, we can infer certain things from Scripture. Like what kind of person I should marry, what kind of apartment I should get, in what area should I get it. Like if I'm gonna minister to these people, if God's leading me to these people, I should live with these people. that can be inferred from Scripture. But Scripture helps us better understand and obey God. See, the Holy Spirit guided the apostles into all truth, and we need to understand God. We need to understand who He is and what He wants from us to live our lives as followers of Jesus. And we need to obey Him to become more like Jesus. So we can trust that the Holy Spirit will use the apostles' words to guide us into truth, not away from it. And the Holy Spirit's still active today, but he guides us into truth, not away from it. We always compare what the Holy Spirit says to us to other things he has said. For instance, a sermon is never on par with scripture, but if it's from the Holy Spirit, it will be consistent with scripture. because the Holy Spirit will never contradict something else that he said. See, the more I know my wife, Amanda, I can tell whether or not she said something that my kids said she said. Follow? I can instinctively go, dad doesn't sound like mom. Dad, mom said we could eat ice cream in bed. Dad doesn't sound like mom. The same is true for the Holy Spirit. The more you get to know the Holy Spirit, the more you're able to recognize his voice. But you have to know the Holy Spirit, what he sounds like. See, just because someone says they're a Christian doesn't mean they're being guided by the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John chapter 16, 14, says the Holy Spirit gives glory to who? To Jesus. So watch out for people who take that glory and keep it, because the Holy Spirit will always give glory to Jesus. Sometimes people will use buzzwords or they'll sprinkle in a few out-of-context verses, but they aren't filled with the Holy Spirit. So watch out for prosperity preachers who care more about your wallet than your soul. Watch out for musicians who care more about what the songs sound like than what they're saying. Watch out for healers who sell you Far Eastern spiritual practices wrapped up in Christian jargon. Watch out for public figures who say they follow Jesus but don't sound or live like him. Watch out for pastors who claim the authority of Christ but leverage their office to use and abuse others. So we must discern the voice of the Holy Spirit. There are a lot of voices out there that will try to lead you astray, try to lead me astray. But Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit is a gift that will guide you into truth. And he helps you discern. But you aren't going to be able to discern if you don't know what he sounds like. You won't be able to tell if it's the Holy Spirit if you don't know what the Holy Spirit sounds like. So you know what? You have to read this. You have to know this. So when you hear something in your prayer time, you think it's the Holy Spirit, you can go, is it? Let me check it out. And if we start to see the Holy Spirit as a gift, you come to trust these words. If you see the Holy Spirit as a gift, you'll be comforted that the Holy Spirit will always lead you into truth. If you see the Holy Spirit as a gift, you'll want to know Him more, not less. If you actually saw the Holy Spirit as a gift, if I actually saw the Holy Spirit as a gift and I believed it in my heart, I would want to know Him better. And so we have to repent. See, when you're convicted of the sin of unbelief or empty righteousness or wrong judgments about Jesus, you need to repent. You ask God, just say, God, I'm sorry. I've blown it. Help me to trust Jesus. Help me to trust the Holy Spirit. Here's the other thing. You can't be the Holy Spirit for the world. You hear me, Christians? You cannot be the Holy Spirit for the world. It's his job to convict the world, not ours. Okay? All right, moving on. No, it's your job to tell the world they need Jesus, but it's the Holy Spirit's job to convict them of their sin. Let the Holy Spirit change their hearts. You don't have to do that. So guess what? The pressure's off. All you have to do is present Jesus to them. You don't have to get in there and change their hearts. That's the Holy Spirit's job, and that's a messier job. Let him do it. You don't have to do it. Take the pressure off yourself. If your kids have walked away from the Lord, just keep telling them about Jesus. Keep praying for them. But you can't get in their hearts and change them. And lastly, run after the Holy Spirit. Be more discerning. and be less skeptical. Too many of us do the opposite. We're always skeptical. Anytime somebody talks about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit said this, or the Holy Spirit did this, we go, eh, probably not. The Bible asks us to be discerning, not skeptical. Discerning, not cynical. So prayerfully engage the Holy Spirit through scripture, And simple things you can do are download the YouVersion Bible app and just explore the topic of the Holy Spirit. Just read verses that talk about the Holy Spirit. Open up 1 Corinthians 12 or Ephesians 4 and look at the spiritual gifts. And ask the Holy Spirit to show you your spiritual gifts. Say, Holy Spirit, show me the gifts that you have given me. And in His grace, ask Him to give you ones that you don't have. Just because the Holy Spirit gave you gifts at one point doesn't mean He's done. If you want to be a better evangelist, ask the Holy Spirit to make you a better evangelist. He'll go, I'm not an evangelist. The Holy Spirit's not done with you. He's not done with me. I need to be a better evangelist. And be more than open. Actually embrace the Holy Spirit. Run after Him. Ask for His presence. See, it's to your advantage, it's to my advantage that Jesus is not physically with us right now. Otherwise, we could not receive this wonderful gift, this useful and beautiful gift of the Holy Spirit. And the world would not be convicted. And we want to have someone to guide us in matters of life and holiness. And as wild as it sounds, it's better for you. It's better for me that Jesus isn't here for whatever reason. Like I'm hoping the guy playing the trumpet one day, like I was hoping in that moment as he's playing the trumpet, that the last trumpet would sound and just drown him out. It didn't happen. And for whatever reason, Jesus decided that it didn't happen, God decided it didn't happen in that moment. And he says, it's better for you that it didn't happen. Be encouraged. Be comforted. Trust Jesus and look for the Holy Spirit to work in our world and your own life. Let's pray. If you're not a follower of Jesus and you're here today and you are just hearing about sin and righteousness and judgment and unbelief and you're like, man, Man, that's me. And maybe you're a follower of Jesus here and the same thing. You're like, man, that's me. I don't believe. I look at the other things for my righteousness other than Jesus. Just ask God for forgiveness right now, wherever you are silently. Say, God, I'm sorry. Forgive me my sins. Help me to trust in Jesus' death and resurrection. And for the rest of us, Father, we ask that we would embrace the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, we want to just be open to the Holy Spirit, that we would embrace Him, seek Him, get to understand Him better, know Him, and help us, Holy Spirit, to see in our own lives how it's an advantage to us that Jesus isn't with us. enliven our hearts, help us to see it and know it and believe it. And we thank you so much, Jesus, for everything you've done for us, how you've given your life for us, how you rose from dead and how you sent the Holy Spirit to be with us, even though you're not physically here with us. And we thank you for all these things in your name. Amen.