The Foundation
Jeremy MacDonald · Tidal Church Moncton · December 31, 2023
Jeremy MacDonald looks at Peter's first sermon in Acts 2 to show that the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of Christian faith. As a new year begins, he invites us to repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Topics: Faith, Holy Spirit, Discipleship, Easter
Transcript
[0:01] Well, my kids ask me a lot of questions, but one of the questions that comes up a reasonable amount of time is, "Daddy, what are you afraid of?" And part of me wants to tell them absolutely nothing. I'm a rock and completely stable and don't need to worry about it. But I've read enough Brené Brown and, you know, the other Instagrammers. And so I know I'm teaching them emotionally healthy, you know, just direction in life. And so, yeah, Daddy has fears and this is how I manage it. And so, you know, "Daddy, what are you afraid of?" Well, you know, giant snakes, classic, rising interest rates. Very scary these days. Your mom in the morning when, but it's another story. We won't get into that. But I have a new fear, a brand new fear. I got it this last week. I didn't have it a week ago.
[0:46] I got a new fear this week because in between Christmas and New Year's, I don't know if you got a little bit of time, you know, on your, on your device, maybe scrolling some of your favorite profiles or social platforms, whatever it might be. And so if you know about the algorithm, something important happens with the algorithm. Every once in a while it'll throw you a little piece of a cookie, just to see if you'll take it. And if you take that little piece of the cookie, then it throws the rest of the cookie at you and just constantly feeds you new content. And so I got, somewhere in the line this last week, videos about a new terrifying fear of mine. It is cave diving. Now, I have never been cave diving. I never will go cave diving. I don't know how to swim. But it's like a scuba diving thing. Has anybody, have you ever been scuba diving? Anybody in here scuba diving before? Yeah. You guys are crazy. You guys are really crazy. Your faith is stronger than mine.
[1:32] I've never been scuba diving. I'll never go now. So cave diving, you know, you can look this up later, you can see it, but cave diving is you put on the scuba tank, you got your, I don't know how it works, but you're breathing and it's got oxygen. You go in the water, but it's not like open water. It's like, no, we're going down into like a cave. And so we're in the water and then we go down and then we find caves that we're now traversing through. It's terrifying. And so they end up going. And then all of these videos, of course, are, the stories are like the terrifying, terrible stories because there's these caves and there's like, there's a grate on it. Like, "Don't enter. This is dangerous." And like people take it with the grate and like, "We're gonna do it." And then they put on their, like, their thing and they can't fit their scuba gear on through these like little spots. And so they take off some of the gear and then they kind of back into the cave a little bit and they have to put guidelines through because that's gonna be the way that they get out.
[2:20] And sometimes they don't get out. Like, spoiler alert, that's the whole point. It's so terrifying. And so it's just this new absolute death fear of mine, of cave diving again, that I'll never absolutely do. But the point being is that I'm watching these videos and I'm feeling the visceral experience of like, of my own body feeling like it's now trapped somewhere. And the darkness kind of caving in. I connect the dots because when you go into those caves, what ends up happening is, even as you have perhaps a light on your helmet or you've got a guideline to get you out, sometimes when you're down there because they're, you know, not scouted out well enough, or people don't realize, or it's just so tight, is that there's dirt and there's gravel and there's silt and whatever else down there. And the action of being down there as a scuba diver and like kicking stuff up, it starts to cloud in the vision.
[3:10] And this is what causes the panic because all of a sudden you're down there, you might be able to see a little bit, but all of a sudden this darkness kind of clouds in around you as the dirt kicks up and all of a sudden you can't see in front of you and you can't see your line to get out and you can't see the friend that was tracking with you just a moment ago. And all of a sudden the darkness becomes all-encompassing. And that's the terrifying part of it all. And that's the terrifying part of the stories and the YouTube videos that I've watched. And it is interesting because as I have, you know, experienced, just watching these and feeling a little bit of it, it reminds me of this time of year because I have that same kind of emotion. This is just me. This is not you. I'm not putting this on you. I'm not promising that this is what you're feeling or experience.
[3:56] This is just me. So this is just my chance with a few hundred of my favorite friends to do a little bit of counseling. This is great, thank you for that. And share with you a bit of my own journey. But there's something about this time of year when we come out of the Christmas season and we've got the next day something new happening, something new sparking, it's the new year. And for me, this is just me, but for me, the new year sparks something in me where I'm like, I don't know if I'm doing it all right. Like, I don't know if I've got my guidelines set, I don't know if I'm tracking in the right direction, but the new year, at least for me, it's like, well, maybe this is the fresh start. I could put behind me all the things that I've been disappointed with about myself and about my life and the challenges that I've faced and the darkness that kind of clouds in.
[4:42] And maybe this new year, something new could happen for me at least. That's just, again, that's just me. But I know that other people experience it because when I flip through Instagram, I find all of these influencers and people that have got all sorts of clear ideas on what you should do in this new year to make the new you and the new situation and the new thing. And you see it everywhere. And it's all the different, like, I follow these different influencers, not that I'm wanting to be influenced by them, but I'm fascinated at the audience that they can gather. And I'm fascinated most by the, the hustle culture people. I don't know if you track any of these hustle culture, but if you're a young guy, you know, and you know, you track with different people on your social platforms, you probably have ended up on some of these people. I won't name them 'cause they're a little bit, they're sketchy. But the point being is that they're big on this idea of like, "Hey, you know, the time between this," is when I heard it, is hilarious.
[5:29] The time between Christmas and New Year's is like the laziest time of year. Like, get off your rear and go make something happen and do something. And like he was pumping people up and I'm like, isn't this the time of year to relax and enjoy family and not have to worry about all the things? But for some of us, and for some of you, you've got these different ideas that have floated into your life. And as you look to the new year, it's like, I wonder if I could just become, I wonder if I could find my way through, like things have clouded in around me, and I wonder if I could find my way through. And for hundreds of years, for thousands of years, this has actually been the story of human existence, that whenever we feel like the darkness has clouded in and around us, if we're trying to make a new path or start something new or go after the new challenge, we often turn to some type of outside influence to give us the instruction and the profound power that we might need to make it through, to give us that light or that guideline at the end of the tunnel.
[6:34] And so thousands of years ago, people would use the word God to explain this kind of thing or or more accurately, the gods. You know, for thousands of years people would figure there's probably some type of power we could tap into and invite into our lives that we could do the things and make our way through the darkness and into the glorious new reality that we were hoping for. And the gods will be the ones that will help us. But the thing is, and this is the fascinating thing about history, is that people and your people, people have all sorts of ideas about God or about the gods. And something funny happened in Western culture in the last hundred years or so, that maybe it's the new atheists or maybe it's the, you know, the academics somewhere along the lines where instead of saying, we've got gods that we believe in and we track with, instead, we've become kind of atheistic to that idea.
[7:27] And instead we have worldviews or ideas or influencers or or profound, you know, insights from somebody or someplace that gives me the direction that I need to make my path clear. And the interesting thing is that for hundreds and thousands of years we've wrestled in these seasons, when we come to something brand new this year, what are we gonna do? Who are we gonna be? What are we gonna tackle? What's the direction that's gonna carry us through? And we look to these voices or these outside sources, or sometimes we even think, well, maybe the answer's just within myself. If I could find an authority within myself, I could finally become the person that I've hoped to be.
[8:12] And the interesting thing, at least for us when we gather in this kind of way in a place like this, is that for us, as church people, as Christian people, I'm not saying that's you, but maybe for me and obviously for us as a team and for so many of those that gather in this place, you know, we believe so deeply in this God, this Christian God, and yet sometimes we, even us, even for us, when we get to these seasons and we're trying to make a direction shift and come through any of the darkness that we've experienced and we wanna point in the right way, but sometimes we miss the course just a little bit. And so I thought maybe if we could take just a Sunday here as we come into this new year and orient ourselves for those of you that would call this your home church, and for anybody that's visiting or a guest that you might get an outside look as we answer and wrestle with a question that I think is profound for us and I think could have impact for your own year this upcoming year, and that's this.
[9:08] What is the foundation of faith in the Christian God? Because if we're gonna make a case that of all the different things you could use to carry you through into the new year, if we're gonna say the thing you should focus on is this Christian God, we should know what's the foundation of all of that. 'Cause Christians, we wrestle with it. Is it all about the hope of heaven? Is it all about the gathering of the church? What's the basis of our faith? Is it a book? Is it a story? Is it my experience? What it feels like when I pray, what is the foundation of our faith? Because, and this is what happens when we get to the new year, we realize so often the things we put our trust and faith in over the years have just clouded out our lives and we try something new.
[10:06] But it should be that when we try something and set our sights on something, we should make sure it is indeed the correct foundation and the correct direction. So what is the foundation, the core part of the Christian faith that we gather around? Where did this all actually come from? And it's important because it just, last week we talked about, we talked about the Christmas story. The Christmas story is Jesus. And so what is the core foundational part of Jesus? Is it His teachings? Is it who He was? Where do we get all of this? Now, the great news is that I don't have to, you don't have to just take my word for anything. In fact, my word here shouldn't be at all the authority that we look to. We should look to the authority that we discover from the very first century, from the people that spent time with Jesus Himself.
[10:56] And in fact, the very beginning of the Christian Church, you see in the very beginning, at the very start, there is this wonderful interaction between the followers of Jesus as something miraculous happened that gives us this answer about the foundation of our faith. And sometimes for our Christians, it becomes something that we miss or it gets muddled or we forget. And I think reorienting ourselves into the new year will give us the foundation we need to offer, not just to ourselves, but to our world, the direction, the light through. And so what happens is Peter and the other followers of Jesus, it's just a small group. They're gathered together in a home somewhere in Jerusalem waiting and hoping for something miraculous to happen because they had just witnessed their Lord and Savior Jesus die.
[11:45] But then He showed up again, and then He had promised that something would come and they would experience His Spirit in a profound new way. And so that day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 is the small group of Jesus' fathers, it was a very small group, they got to experience the Spirit of God coming over them in a profound way. And so they walk out and they start speaking about the story of God and what God was doing. And as they spoke, the people that were gathered around at that time were hearing them in their own languages. It was this miracle thing. And so we tune into the story right at that moment, as the crowds are gathered, hearing these kinds of things and wondering and wrestling as a crowd would, what does this actually mean? And so in Acts 2:11, we read this, and we all hear this, the people hearing the disciples, the apostles speaking about the goodness of God in different languages.
[12:39] We all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done, and they stood there amazed and perplexed, which is a fair thing. If you've ever been on the outside of faith and you've watched faith people, you know, Christian people do the thing that they do gathered in this way, sing these kinds of songs, pray those kinds of prayers. There's an amazement to it, but there's also a perplexity that comes from it. What is this really about? And they ask and they wrestle with kind of in a different category of what this actually means. And so this is what we read. We read for some of them, they say, "What can this mean?" They are asking each other, but others in the crowd, others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, "They're just drunk." That's all. Surely that explains it all.
[13:26] They're crazy and they're drunk. And there's probably a Christmas Eve joke in there somewhere, but I didn't have time to come up with it. So we'll just pass beyond that comment. But the point being is that for those disciples in that moment, something miraculous was happening, but as an outsider, it's sometimes a little bit confusing, and that's okay. And so what happens in those moments is Peter, the spokesperson, the one that had denied Jesus just days prior, yes, Peter gets up and is able to be the spokesperson and shares the first message of the first gathering of the church, the first sermon. And I think from his sermon, we can garner and gather the foundation and the core part of our faith that we shall not miss, because if we miss it, it will cloud out so much of our own experience of this, this journey as people of faith.
[14:22] And so Peter stands up and addresses the crowd. And this is what he says. He says, "People of Israel, listen, God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through Him, as you well know." They knew that. It was an audience of eyewitnesses. They had seen, experienced, heard stories, had a family member that had shown up and had been healed. They understood and knew what had happened to this Jesus of Nazareth. Some of them had even seen Him in His resurrected state. They knew and understood the story, but that wasn't yet enough. The knowledge wasn't the thing that was enough to transform. That comes in a minute. Peter goes on, he says this, "God knew what would happen, and His prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed with the help of lawless Gentiles.
[15:16] You nailed Him to a cross and you killed Him." But of course that's not the end of the story, Peter says, "But God released Him from the horrors of death and raised Him back to life, for death could not keep Him in its grip." The first message succinctly articulated is really, really clear. This is the foundation of our faith, and that's this: the resurrection of Jesus. This is what we base everything on, as they wrote to the, to the church. As the church expanded, they would be clear. If there's no resurrection, there is no faith.
[16:02] Because of Jesus's resurrection, we have the hope of resurrection ourselves, and the resurrection that He actually begins and that God is doing in our midst, even to this day. This is the hope, and this is a fact, and this is a reality that no matter what you face, no matter what darkness clouds in, no matter what your situation ends up being, and no matter where you're going this year, it does not change the fact that Jesus, Jesus was resurrected. And that's where we put our faith and our hope. Put this way, Ajith Fernando, a Sri Lankan commentator on the book of Acts, he says this specifically, he says, "Objective facts, the fact of the resurrection, that gives the foundation for blessed subjective experiences."
[16:50] Because sometimes as Christians, we wrestle with the fact that our subjective experience can change. Like at some points in our journey, we can feel like God is so real to us. Our prayers are so, you know, answered and it just seems like I'm close to God in a profound way. But other times it feels like life is difficult and like our experiences adjust and are changed, and maybe it's harder to see through everything, and that's okay, because our faith isn't in faith itself. Our faith is in Jesus. Our faith isn't in our experience, our faith is in the resurrection, the objective fact that Jesus was raised from the dead. And so when you wrestle or when your family members wrestle or when somebody around you struggles or when the person you are tracking with isn't all that they said that they would be, as tragic as that is, it doesn't change the fact that the foundation of our faith isn't in this building, isn't in your experience, but it's in the resurrection of Jesus.
[17:52] Amen. Now, the fascinating part about Peter's journey and about his sermon, in fact, is that he both says that, but also brings in all of these other supporting kind of documents and quotes and experiences into his message. In fact, Peter quotes from Joel, an Old Testament prophet, and from the Psalms a couple of times, particularly from King David, and I find that fascinating in that very first, I mean, he's speaking to Israelites, they, you know, they would know and understand these passages and have heard them before. And so I am so intrigued at why would he actually do that? And I think the answer is, I think, actually pretty helpful for all of us as we experience this. And that's this, because the Old Testament, of which these are a part of, is still the story of what God is doing. And so this resurrection of Jesus as the foundation of our faith, and yet there's this grand narrative, this grand history, this grand story of what God is doing throughout history to the resurrection.
[18:46] And then the story of God continues on. And so this becomes this story, this becomes the core. This becomes the foundation of what it means to set our sights on this Jesus that just a week ago we celebrated His birth. So Peter goes on, he says this, "Let everyone in Israel know that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah." These two terms, that He is the Messiah, the promised one that you are looking forward to, but He's also the Lord, He's also your master. He's also the one that you align with, that you pledge allegiance to, that you focus on. And as he preaches this message, the fascinating thing I find is the response of the people listening.
[19:33] And so this is what happens. Peter's words pierce their hearts, the people listening, and they said to him and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" What should we do? We've heard this message. What should we do? Because, and this is for us, and this is for you no matter where you're at in your journey, when it comes time, when you hear the message of Jesus, the right response isn't belief. I mean, even the demons believed in Jesus's power. Belief is wonderful. It's a good thing. And you know, cognitively and connecting dots, that's a wonderful thing. There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. And yet the response, the response to Jesus is action.
[20:24] What do we do with this resurrection? And so the commentator and the one that I was quoting from earlier, he explains this in a pretty thoughtful way. He says, "The gospel, this story, is not something simply to be discussed. It's a message that demands a personal response." And I think for some of us as Christians, one of the things that we can often struggle with is that the response seems to make a lot of sense early on. But over time, we wrestle with it because it's easier just to believe in God. Do you believe in God? I believe in God. Everybody believes in God. Most people, what does that really mean? What do you do with that?
[21:09] And so Peter, actually, in this message, He answers that question, what do you do? What do you do with all of this information? What do you do with the resurrection of Jesus? And he articulates it. He calls them to two things and he gives them one promise. Two things to do, one promise. And the promise is really interesting because in the New Testament, we should always be cautious about promises, right? We've done a series here before, back in the summer, about Twisted Scriptures. And sometimes we can twist a little bit of what the promises in the scriptures, what, who they were actually for. And so we're always kind of nuanced and cautious when we read promises. Are they for us? Is it for this day? Is it just for the people then? And so in this instance, this is what Peter says about the promise. I'm gonna tell you the promise in a second, but I just wanna read you what he says about the promise.
[21:56] He says, "This promise is to you, to your children, the people listening, and to those far away, all who have been called by the Lord our God." And that's us. That it was for that day for sure, but that, as we would learn from the church, that it's for all who have been called, that God reaches out to, that this promise, this promise is for all of us. And so Peter, what is it that we do with this message? If we were to say in this new year, we were, you know, the darkness is around and we wanted to focus in on Jesus. If we wanted to put our trust in this God, instead of whatever else might be kind of leading us into different directions. If we put our trust in this God, what does that actually look like? And he says, very simply, very clearly, difficult to do, simple to say, Peter replies, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God."
[22:52] This is action one, two things kind of all at once. And this repentance, you know, is a church word. You've heard it before, I've heard it lots before. Understanding it is difficult and understanding it in some ways takes a lifetime of discipleship to really wrestle with this. Another one of the commentators explains it this way. He says, "This word indicates a change of direction in a person's life, rather than simply a mental change of attitude or feeling of remorse. You get a sense that the faith in the Christian God is a lot attached to it beyond just the cognitive ideas. It's more than just being able to think it, right? There's action to it. It signifies a turning away from a sinful and godless way of life." He goes on, and I think this is important, he says, "In one sense, this is something of which man and woman is incapable by himself or herself.
[23:45] And therefore, although we can be commanded to repent, it can also be said that repentance is a gift of God." And so this invitation to repentance isn't something that, at least for me, I don't know for you, but for me, is yes, it's an action, it's a step, it's a one thing. I turn away and I turn towards God. But friends, I find myself, and I'm guessing in 2024, I'm gonna find myself needing to repent and turn towards God as a constant action. It's gonna require this, not just to be a one-time decision of, like, I believe in God. You can believe in God and that belief can be unwavering, and that's fine. But in your life, repentance will call you to repentance time and time again.
[24:36] And when you look back at 2023, your greatest regrets, the things that you are most embarrassed of, that maybe people don't even realize and know, are born out of that darkness clouding in and you not having your sights on Jesus and turning away from what He's invited you into. I know that full well. You know that full well. And so the reality of 2024 is that repentance might be the thing that you don't just do once, but that this is the invitation of the Christian life, but that it comes with the gift. That if you're turning from something to God, that He might actually give you strength to do it. And that by your own strength, that turning away is actually impossible.
[25:21] But with His strength, it's entirely possible. So Peter says, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." This is a fascinating, uh, accountant. And throughout the New Testament, this is kind of what happens. You take this action of repentance and then you signify it with something profound that we call baptism. And the commentators, if you search through all the scriptures and you look through church history, there's this really clear sense that the idea of an unbaptized believer doesn't really seem to be entertained at all in the New Testament. And so it's just something I bring to you because I know for some of you, you know, if you were baptized as a baby, that's something that we would call, like, a child dedication.
[26:12] It's this decision that your parents make on your behalf to raise you in the ways of Jesus. And that's a wonderful thing. We do that too. We love that. We celebrate the fact that parents can be the number one influencer on the faith of their children. And yet there's this moment as adults or as adolescents where we say, this is the direction we want to go with our life. And throughout the New Testament, there's this clear, clear directive that when you make that choice for yourself, then you get baptized. And baptism is one of the wonderful, most exciting parts of, at least for me in this church, like seeing people's stories and what it means for them when they have turned to God and they celebrate what God is doing in their life.
[27:00] And so we always wanna make sure that you have opportunities here to be baptized. And so you just should know that if you have at any point, even if it's this morning, chosen to follow Jesus and yet haven't taken that step to be baptized, to go dunked into the water as a signification of dying to your old sin and your old self, you can do that. In fact, we wanna start this year for the next three weeks celebrating baptisms and baptism stories and so on in each of your seat pockets. There's a blue card, and this is just the quick announcement for it. Just so you know how this works, I wanna make it as easy and clear as possible. This blue card is a really simple way to get information on all sorts of things. Here at Moncton Wesleyan, on the back, there's a little checkbox you can say, "Baptism," and if you put your name or your information, give that to an usher.
[27:47] You give it to me, drop it in an offering box on your way out. But if you haven't yet been baptized and you've got a story of following Jesus, now's your time. We would love to celebrate that with you over the next few weeks, and you can be baptized. But again, that's not my thing. Turns out it's Peter's thing, and he says, if you do these two things, if you repent, turn towards God, be baptized, then you get the gift. And what's the gift? The gift of the Holy Spirit. This is what the disciples in that moment had experienced, that profound indwelling of God's Spirit into them, that no longer was their own power, but instead it was the power of God at work in them.
[28:35] And there's a couple of distinctions here that might be helpful just so that you're aware. You know, we distinguish between the gift of the Holy Spirit itself and what Paul has called the spiritual gifts. They're two different kinds of things. What He's explaining here is that the gift is the Spirit Himself given to minister the saving benefits to the believer, while the spiritual gifts are those spiritual abilities that the Spirit gives variously to the believers for the common good. And this is the benefit that you don't have to hustle on your own and figure things out, that you don't have to have the power to make 2024 your best year ever. You don't have to be the one to just finally be the good dad or the good mom that you want it to be. You don't have to be the one that's through your own strength and determination.
[29:23] You can finally make this year where you get your finances in order, whatever you're struggling with, whatever you're wrestling with, wherever the darkness clouds in, and you're looking for the light to get out. The truth is that Jesus, as the foundation for our faith, is the one wanting for us to look to Him. But then He's willing to give you the strength to do the things He's calling you to do. And so, friends, what do we do? What should we do? What should we all do? Now, for me and for you, I think it's the same things as the very first sermon and the very first gathering of the church. Peter makes it so clear. Three things.
[30:09] Number one, we repent, and we repent again, and we repent again. And when you realize 2023 wasn't where you wanted it to be, you repent again. And you use this opportunity to focus on Jesus. You repent, you be baptized, you take that step to be public about this faith. This isn't something that is just between you and Jesus. This faith is something that calls you to do things and calls you to be public about it. And so it's no more hiding. It's no more hidden. It's no more, "Wow, I'm just not quite sure. I don't have all the right answers. I'm not." You go public with this faith because Jesus is the one that's strengthening you to do that.
[31:00] And when you do these things, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And a life with the Holy Spirit is the life that Jesus has invited us into and wants us to experience. It's the life that He paid the ultimate price for. We anchor our story not in our own experiences, but on the resurrection, because it's the resurrection that allowed God to come into this world in this profound kind of way and reshape humanity and reshape our experience and reshape how we can actually interact and come to Him. And so the thing that we want to do as a community here, heading into this new year, is to mark these kinds of things, to do it with the same marking, the same practice as the early church. See, the early church would gather and to explain all of these things.
[31:55] It was encapsulated in this incredible practice that Jesus handed to Peter, to James, to John, His close friends and disciples: communion, the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist, this chance to take a step back and to realize that it's not our strength and power that we do any of these things, but it's Jesus. When He gathered His closest friends and He said, "Hey, I'm about to do something new, and you can participate in it, but only because I'm willing to sacrifice My body and shed My blood for you." And so then for thousands of years, the Christians all around the world, huddled in secret gatherings, in large auditoriums, in homes throughout history, take a piece of bread, take a cup of wine or of juice.
[32:51] And remember, it's because of Jesus and His resurrection that we get a chance to experience all of these things. So what will happen here in just a moment is our ushers are gonna come down. They're gonna offer the tray, you can take out, it's a one cup thing. There's a piece of bread on the bottom, there's a little bit of juice there. And if you've done these things, if you've repented and if you've chosen to follow and turn towards Jesus, this is a practice that we participate in. There's actually an explanation in the New Testament that if you haven't yet repented and focused on Christ, that you should not participate in this, only because this is the signification of what Jesus has done for us. But if in this moment, I'm gonna pray and you can invite Jesus to be your Lord and Savior and to repent and turn to Him, and you can participate in this knowing full well that His Holy Spirit is for you and with you.
[33:50] And so as you take those things, I want you to hold onto them in just a moment. Reflect on what Christ has done, and as you look to 2024, whatever else is around your vision, make a commitment on what you're focused on in this season, in this year. And let this be our resolution, that He would be the one that we would look to. So lemme pray for us. Heavenly Father, it's easy to say the words "repent" and "turn towards You." And yet we know that often it costs us so much. And so, heavenly Father, I just pray for my own journey. I pray for the journey of so many of my brothers and sisters here where we have fallen short time and time again. And I just pray that You would give us the strength to continue to turn towards You and repent of where we've been and what we've done.
[34:41] And then, Father, I pray for those that may be even hearing this for the first time, realize that this is their time. That although this is a lifetime of journey, that there's a starting point somewhere where it's time to look to You and to turn away from the things from our past. And so if in this moment there's a few of you that would like to make that decision, I just invite you to pray the simple prayer. Jesus, I repent and I turn to You. Would You guide my way and light my way? I turn from all of the things from before, my old self. I wanted to leave it behind. Would You come and give me the direction for my life? And heavenly Father, we know that in the moments that we do that, You look on us as Your sons and daughters, and that You invite us to participate in Your kingdom work, and that we can celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, and we can do that together.
[35:45] And so, heavenly Father, we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.