Blessings, Woes, and Pharisees | Sunday, October 19, 2025

We are going to be in Luke chapter 6 today, starting in verse 20. If you want to find your place before we get going, I will provide a little bit of background on this passage. Here, Jesus is speaking in the middle of a mixed multitude. There are Gentiles, Jews, and those He has called His disciples. This occurs right after He has called the twelve to be His disciples.

This is the first major introduction where He talks about living out the kingdom of God. It is part of what is called the Sermon on the Plain. We have all heard of the Sermon on the Mount, but scholars are divided on whether this is the same message viewed from two different perspectives or if it is a different message that is just similar to the previous one. I don't know, and I don't even think it really matters that much. This is the first portion of a much longer message.

Jesus continues on, discussing the Beatitudes and the woes. He talks about loving your enemies, not judging, and that a tree is known by its fruit. This teaching, in particular, cements His opposition to the religious leaders of the time. He directly calls them out. He has already gotten on their bad side by healing on the Sabbath previously, so they are trying to figure out a way to get Him to stop. Jesus makes it very clear that He is here and they are there, referring to the religious leaders of the time.

In this passage, He focuses on what we may call social justice. For some people, when they hear the term "social justice," they may start to squirm. This reaction occurs because we live in a world where everything is political, and politics has become a current blood sport that most of our country is very excited about.

But what he's talking about here is the fulfillment of the message that God has consistently spread throughout His word, where we are called to care for those who cannot care for themselves.

So point one in your outline, if you are taking notes: there is no liberal Jesus. There is no conservative Jesus. There is just Jesus. We live in a society that loves to divide. We love to dissect. We love to set up boundaries between each other. But Jesus focuses not on those boundaries and barriers. He focuses on love and love for all people, calling all people to repentance.

One thing I've heard from people recently is that Jesus supports my belief that... and it's like, no, no, no, you're already wrong. It's already backwards. Jesus doesn't support your belief. As Christians, if you claim the name of Christ, you believe what Jesus said, and we need to be careful that we don't start using Him to try to prop up our arguments just to the detriment of other people.

I am called to have a bond with anyone who claims the name of Christ. Any Christ followers—I am called to have a bond with them that supersedes any political bond, any familial bond, any bond that we could possibly have. I am called to have a greater bond with them through Jesus, and we need to be careful with that because sometimes we have a tendency to try to divide.

But this is the power of Jesus. It's the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to change us and to make us more like Him. This passage has kind of a dual structure. There are four blessings, and then there are four warnings or four woes. There is an earthly interpretation, a more temporal kind of interpretation where we look at what we are called to do, but then there's a spiritual interpretation where we are called to become more like Jesus, and we're going to look at both of those things.

This passage covers a lot of ground. We're going to go through it, but before we approach God's word, let's pray.

So Heavenly Father, we just lift up this time to You, Lord. I just pray that You would be glorified, that You would be lifted up, Lord Jesus, that You would help me order my thoughts, that You would help me to rightly divide Your word, Lord God, and I pray that for all of us, Lord Jesus, that You would soften our hearts.

You would change our hearts and draw us closer to You today. We pray that we wouldn't leave church today being who we were when we walked in the room. So, Jesus, we just pray that You would do the work that You claim to do, Lord, that You call us to—the transforming work through the power of Your Holy Spirit. I pray for that for each and every one of us in the room here today. Jesus, we pray these things in Your name. Amen.

If you have your Bibles handy, if you don't, you can raise your hand, and the ushers will bring you one. I almost said the disciples will bring you one. You're like, "Whoa, they're here?" Technically, we're all disciples, but not the disciples, and they're not here to bring you a Bible, but an usher will.

In verse 20, He begins, saying, "He lifted up His eyes towards His disciples and said, 'Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.'"

He starts out in this first section talking about the poor. Now, when we talk about the poor, the first question we have to answer is, who are the poor? I will tell you, growing up, I thought we were poor. We didn't have a lot. We didn't miss meals, but we didn't have a lot. I felt that we were poor because I had bad shoes. Other people had really nice shoes, but I didn't have nice shoes. I had bad shoes. Therefore, in my mind at the time, we were poor.

Then, I made it to high school and bought a pair of Reebok Pumps. Does anyone remember those? Yep, instantly, I was a better basketball player—that's what they told me. It didn't really work, but even as I got older, I would look around and think, "Yeah, I think we're poor." There were other people who had more, and some people had a lot more, so we must be poor.

Then, in 2014, we went to Mozambique, and I discovered I am not poor. I am not poor at all. We ministered to people who literally had nothing except the joy of the Lord.

It was encouraging, convicting, and life-altering. It was one of those moments where you realize your perspective has been off your whole life. It's easy to look for our own victimhood. It's easy to think, "Well, because I can't get a new TV, I must be poor." My neighbor, my friend, or everyone else at Costco apparently has 85 inches of radiating glory, and I'm stuck here with 55 inches like some pauper. I must be poor.

It's easy to find reasons to put ourselves in that place. But then, when we look around, the question we have to ask is, "How poor is poor then? Who deserves our help? Who do we help in those areas?" The way I look at that is, "Who needs my help, and who am I in a position to help?" When those two things line up, then it's incumbent on me to help.

However, this brings up the question, "What is help?" There is some help that is helpful, and there is some help that hurts. We have to consider all kinds of circumstances. Maybe money is not what is needed right now. The best thing we can do is rely on the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

In James chapter 2, verse 5, we see that God has a special concern for the poor. He says, "Listen, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" So, He has chosen the poor to be rich in faith. He has a concern for the poor, and above and beyond that, He rewards those who minister to the poor.

In Proverbs chapter 19, verse 17, it is said, "He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord. He will pay back what he has given." God will use our generosity and reward us for that generosity, but He will also use that generosity to bring others to Him.

In this passage, He also talks about the hungry in verse 21. Who are the hungry? It's kind of obvious, right? It's those who don't have food. Matthew chapter 25, verses 35 to 40 says, "For I was hungry, and you gave me food."

I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?"

And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasm

We can show up and say, "This is really awful. I'm really sorry you're going through this. Can I just sit with you for a bit? Can I pray for you?" We call it, in ministry terms, the ministry of presence—just being there. Very often, that is the comfort that we get to offer. I can tell you, having been on the receiving end of that and on the giving end of it, it is effective. Jesus uses that in amazing ways.

Sometimes, if we don't know what we should do, we don't do anything, which is not the right thing. If somebody's hurting, it's okay to just go up and say, "Hey, I know you're hurting, and I'm sorry, and I'm praying for you." He talks about those who are persecuted, also in verse 21. Those who are hated, who are excluded, who are reviled, and who are called evil are suffering for being righteous.

What is persecution? What does it look like? Very often, it looks like losing a family, losing your job, losing your reputation, up to and including your life for faith in Jesus Christ. What is it not? It is not persecution if you are ostracized because you are annoying. That is not persecution. It is not persecution if you get fired from your job because, rather than do what you are paid for, you are busy proselytizing to the people around you. Jesus calls us to be good employees. He calls us to be effective in what He calls us to do, but sometimes we do things so poorly that it reflects poorly on Him. That is not persecution when that comes back on us.

First Peter chapter 4, verses 12 to 14 says, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing is happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed, but on your part, He is glorified."

So in those situations when we should not be surprised that we are being persecuted, we need to pray, we need to endure, and we need to glorify God, because that is what He warns.

In First Peter chapter 4, we see that everything is kind of flipped upside down. The poor, the hungry, those who weep, those who are hated, excluded, and cast out are all mentioned, and God says, "You are so blessed when this happens." I don't feel super blessed in my life when I fit into one of those categories. However, He says we are blessed because He has a special blessing and a special ministry to reach out to us and through us in those situations.

Point two in your outline, if you are taking notes, is that we are called to care for the poor, feed the hungry, comfort the hurting, and pray for the persecuted. In a late addition, I added this to the end of that point: even when we are those things as well. Sometimes, because we are poor or we think we are poor, we don't help other people. Sometimes, because we are hungry, we can't think past our own needs to what somebody else needs. Sometimes, we are hurting and forget to reach out to others. We are called, regardless of the situation we are in, to minister in these ways. We are not excluded if we find ourselves in those situations as well. God still calls for us to minister through it.

That's a quick rundown on the physical interpretation of this passage. How do we spiritually apply these things to ourselves? In the companion passage, Matthew 25, we see the Sermon on the Mount. It doesn't talk about being poor there; it talks about being poor in spirit. When we look at this, we must ask ourselves: Am I poor in spirit? Do I approach God with a sense of my own self-importance? Do I approach God like I'm doing Him a favor by getting to work with me? Or do I approach God with the proper understanding that I have nothing to offer Him of value and that I need everything from Him?

That is what it means to be poor in spirit: to realize that God is not getting a deal in me; I am getting the ultimate deal in Him.

Our own righteousness, we learn about in Isaiah, is as filthy rags. It's not just something dirty; it's something defiling. Our own righteousness is so not good that it's actually bad for us. That's what Christ offers us: His righteousness instead.

Do I hunger for Jesus, or am I longing for what He has for me? Am I hungry for Him? Am I willing to look to Him for what fills me? Is His presence more important than my next meal? Am I willing to give up my next meal to spend time in His presence? Thanks, Miles, for giving us that fasting one a couple of weeks ago; it's still messing with my head.

Does my soul thirst for God, as it says in Psalm 42, or am I distracted by other things? Am I okay with Jesus as long as He stays in His own lane? That one hurts. And then, do I weep for what makes God weep? Do I weep for my own sin? Does my own sin grieve me? Does the sin of others grieve me? Or am I able to overlook that and think, ugh? Is God's sorrow over my sin enough for me to change my behavior, or do I just go, well, He's gracious, and we'll work on that tomorrow?

Am I burdened by those who reject their Savior, or am I content to just say, well, those people can rot in hell? I don't worry about them. I don't like them. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

That "all" can be very problematic for us because that "all" includes terrorists, thieves, politicians, Jews, Palestinians, Muslims, Ukrainians, Russians— all of those people are who God is calling. When we let our own attitudes or opinions get in the way of that, we are wrong. If I cannot add my enemy's name to that verse, my heart is in a very bad place.

And with persecution, am I willing to pay the cost of following Jesus?

In John chapter 15, verses 18 to 20, it says, "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet, because you are not of the world, 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 keep yours also."

Are we willing to pay that cost? Are we willing to be hated by the world? It is very easy in here to say, "Well, yeah," but it's harder when we're out there. Are we willing to do that? Are we surprised when it happens?

Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 12 says, "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." If we haven't faced it, there are generally two reasons: one, not yet; and the other, nobody has any idea that we're following Jesus anyway. That's problematic as well.

There is a reward for those who are poor in spirit, for those who hunger for God, for those who weep for what breaks God's heart, and for those who are persecuted. They will be given the kingdom of God. It says they will be eternally filled; they shall be eternally joyful. They will be rewarded in heaven like the prophets of old.

Jesus mentions being in the same crowd as Elijah and Elisha, as Jeremiah and Isaiah, as John the Baptist. That is the crowd we are included with when we are in heaven. That is the crowd that is specifically talked about: the prophets of old.

Jesus goes on then in verse 24 to talk about the woes or the warnings. "Woe to you, who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets." So specifically, woe to you who are rich.

Why is that? Wealth very often becomes our security. We can see this by looking at who we cry out for first when things get bad. In my life, I often cry out, "Oh, Visa, rescue me! Oh, Discover, save me with thy 1% cash back on all purchases." All of a sudden, I realize, wait a minute, where's my heart? Who is my functional savior? It lives in my wallet, and that is too small to be a savior for me.

Wealth often allows us to trust in our own sufficiency, which leads us to a very dangerous place where we can keep God at a distance. We aren't affected by the things He sovereignly brings into our lives to draw us closer to Him. Jesus spoke about this in Revelation chapter three when He wrote the letter to the church in Laodicea. In verse 17, He says, "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." He says to the rich, "You've had your reward, and it is empty and fleeting."

Did you know that since October 10th, the market cap of cryptocurrency has lost $600 billion? Did you further know that gold is currently at an all-time high, the highest it has ever been? Why? Because as other assets seem shaky, we turn to precious metals, believing they will hold their value until they don't.

Whenever I think about gold, besides wishing I had more of it, I always think about the story of the children of Israel. When they were in the desert, they left Egypt with all this gold, and they fashioned it into a golden calf and worshiped it. What happened next is significant. Moses came down and asked, "What are you people doing?" He then ground up the golden calf and made everyone drink it.

And so, where is all that gold left? Piles in the desert. When we're tempted to trust in gold, we should remember that. God is faithful to show us that our faith is not secure in anything other than Him. He is faithful to rattle us and shake us in those moments. Then He says, "Whoa, to the full," because you have found satisfaction in something other than Christ.

When we have found satisfaction in something other than Christ, we've filled our hunger, and we're no longer motivated to look for food. Have you ever noticed how great a motivator being hungry is? I don't know if you have been in this place where, all of a sudden, you're looking through the change drawer in your car and searching through the cushions of your couch, thinking, "A buck and a half, baby! We're going to Costco. We're getting a hot dog." But when we're full, we don't have that motivation. When we're full, we don't seek something to fill us.

So, when we fill ourselves with something that's not good, we miss the motivation to look for something better. He says, "Whoa, to those who laugh," those who find distraction from Jesus by doing something else. If I fill my time with junk, I don't have time to hear that still, small voice.

What does that look like? Does anyone here suffer from doom scrolling? It's been an hour, and I swear Satan uses the algorithm so effectively—just enough dopamine to keep us interested, but just enough aggravation to make us angry at other people. Simultaneously, we feel completely satisfied in ourselves and yet angry at that group or those people. We waste hours on this. If you have an iPhone, you probably received the notification this morning about how much time you've spent on those activities, whether it's doom scrolling or binge-watching. That's another good one. You find out, "Oh, we love this show! This is great!" Over the course of three days, we've watched 14 hours of this show.

If I fill my time with other things, I don't have time to hear the still small voice of God. Sometimes we fill it even with fruitless Bible study that's meant to build ourselves up but doesn't lead to serving others. It doesn't have to be horrible; it just has to keep us from focusing on what God has for us to do.

Then it says, "woe to those who are popular," which made me think: whose approval are we looking for? Are we looking for approval from other people? Are we worried about what Jesus thinks? Whose approval or disapproval affects us the most? I don't know if you have ever had someone express their disapproval in some way, and it just sticks in your brain for weeks. You might wonder, "Oh, why do I care that much?" If my Jesus loves me, why do I worry about them?

Jesus goes on in this section about woe to the popular. He says if everyone likes you, you are giving the wrong message. If everybody is excited about what you're saying, you're likely giving the wrong message. It became clear to me that Satan's most effective attacks are sometimes not attacks at all. Sometimes we are so wrapped up in our own stuff, whether it's on the phone, on the TV, or elsewhere, that he's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't bother them. They're completely ineffective right now. Leave them alone." If we can be neutralized by distraction or dissipation, why would the devil or our own flesh rock the boat?

Point three in your outline, if you are taking notes: this passage should lead us to prayerful self-examination, repentance, and renewed resolve to follow Jesus in a lifestyle that fosters following Him. It should lead us to prayerful examination. We should be praying, "Lord, examine me. What is going on in my life? What needs to change? What do I need to do better or more of?" It should lead to repentance: "Lord, forgive me." And it should lead to renewed resolve to follow Jesus. I've decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, as the song goes, and a lifestyle that fosters following Him. If we set patterns and build structures in our life that help us to follow Jesus, we will be more effective in our walk with Him.

It will be easier to follow Him if we take the radical step of setting our Bible on top of our phone on the nightstand when we get up in the morning. We can then face the choice: Am I going to move my Bible somewhere else before I check my email, my text, my Instagram, or whatever it is? Or am I going to pick up the Word of the living God and see what He has for me that day? If we set up structures like that, we can make it easy on ourselves, but we can also make it harder on ourselves if we don't do those things.

The thing that I hear in my head all the time when I think about this is that little kid song: "Be careful, little eyes, what you see; be careful, little ears, what you hear." These are the two primary ways that we look at this passage: the physical interpretation or the temporal interpretation, and the spiritual interpretation.

Now, what? I want to talk about what I see as the biggest pitfall in the church, and it's the Pharisee in the mirror. In Matthew chapter 23, there is a whole chapter where Jesus confronts the Pharisees, and He doesn't hold back; He just lights them up. If you have a chance, I encourage you to spend some time in Matthew 23 and look at that. It's very invigorating when you think about Him really giving it to the Pharisees. However, it becomes less invigorating when you realize, "Oh man, I fit those categories." Then it’s convicting, but it’s a good kind of convicting.

The biggest issue that Jesus was confronting in that chapter was one of Pharisaical hypocrisy, where they would appear to be good on the outside, but their hearts were far from God. They would seem holy and noble, but inside, they were actually broken and perverted. Phariseeism draws the focus from the goodness of God onto the false good of those who claim to be righteous.

To follow Him, if our goodness draws attention to us and not to God, we're in dangerous Pharisaical territory. Jesus provided many examples in that chapter. Phariseeism is not honestly failing and repenting; that's not Phariseeism. That's human. We are all going to fail. God calls us to perfection but understands that we do not have the means to achieve perfection. Therefore, He gives us grace and repentance.

Phariseeism is when you pretend that you don't fail. It is when you act as if you are doing everything right when, very clearly, you are not. It is the pattern of sin that is evident to others but excused by the follower. Jesus talked about them binding up burdens on others but not bothering to help them lift those burdens. Instead, they would impose more and more requirements to be right with God without offering any assistance to fulfill those requirements.

It is a performative religion meant to be seen, but it is not transformational worship that draws us close to God. When we find ourselves doing things to be noticed by other people, we are in a dangerous place. It becomes a drive for recognition and respect over repentance, propagating people who are more like the Pharisees than like Jesus. Jesus said that they make converts and then make them twice the son of hell that they were. There is a focus on sacrifice while neglecting justice, mercy, and faith. They would emphasize proper appearance while neglecting what was on the inside. They would show up looking good, but their hearts were full of evil, as Jesus said.

Ultimately, the Pharisees were responsible for the attacks on those whom God sent to call for repentance. They were behind the attacks on Jesus. This all sounds awful, but it is very easy to slide into it.

If you're taking notes in your outline, point four is not what's on your page; point three got replicated there. We will leave point four up for a little bit longer if you want to write it down.

Phariseeism starts with a focus on the performance of others rather than my personal sanctification. When I am more worried about what other people are doing in their walk with Jesus than I am about what's going on in my own heart, that's Phariseeism.

Now, there are some signs of early onset Phariseeism. Our pharmaceutical ad is great; they've given us all kinds of fun vernacular. Sign one is using Scripture as a weapon instead of a mirror. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." We get to about the two-edged sword part, and we're like, "Oh, sword! We should use that on other people." That's what we do, right? We forget that the rest of this verse is talking about us—the division between our soul and spirit, our joint and marrow, and the discerner of the thoughts and intents of our hearts.

In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus talks about this in verse three: "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye,' and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Some of us have been given the opportunity to understand this verse in a particular way. Even if I don't have a plank, if I don't have my glasses, I'm not removing anything from anybody's eyes. The problem is that very often we want to fix things in other people that we haven't dealt with in ourselves. That doesn't mean we have to be perfect in order to talk to somebody else about something, but it means we had better be repentant, and we had better be gentle about it.

We are the only ones who have the opportunity to actually change ourselves. I don't have the power, authority, or means to make anybody else change their thoughts or their heart. Having children taught me this in spades; I cannot make them change.

I can change behavior, but I cannot change their heart. The only one that we have a snowball's chance of actually changing is ourselves, and we're not even very good at that.

Sign number two for early-onset Pharisaism is focusing on outward compliance versus real transformation. Am I focused on doing the right things or appearing to do the right things, rather than being who God has called me to be? I grew up in a church where we did a thing called a profession of faith. A profession of faith was when you would stand up before the church, usually in junior high or high school, and you would make a statement provided by the church, saying, "I believe in Jesus." It was somewhat like the Nicene Creed that we went through earlier in the year, a set of beliefs that we would affirm.

I knew a bunch of kids who had already made their profession of faith, and I was aware of what they were doing on their Fridays and Saturdays. I thought, that doesn't make any sense at all. In my flawed perspective, I decided that the best thing to do was to not make my profession of faith because I wasn't going to change my behavior, and I really didn't want to be hypocritical about it. I used their Pharisaism to excuse my own, and that's the danger of it. So often, we can focus on the failings of others to excuse our own failings. We might think, "Well, I wouldn't have been that way if you hadn't done that." But that's not an excuse. God calls us to a heart change and not just to look good.

First Samuel 15:22 says, "Has the Lord a great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." Jesus repeatedly violated Sabbath norms or their Sabbath rules to show that doing good was more important than following the ceremonial rules.

Sign number three is that we often measure others by standards that we don't live up to. We require perfection from others while we excuse imperfection in ourselves.

Psalm 139:23-24 says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties, and see if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Notice it says, "search me, try me, lead me." It doesn't say "search them, try them, or lead them." The focus is on ourselves first. Jesus did not come to call the just, but the unjust.

The cure for Pharisaism, if we find that we have it, from Matthew 23, is fourfold. We need to examine ourselves before instructing others. We need to lead by example and not by demand. We fall on the sword ourselves and reach out to others in love. Additionally, we need to protect ourselves from the lure of the Pharisees. We should be so focused on our own sanctification, not outward appearance or reputation. Jesus calls us to compassion and to personal transformation.

Yes, we must care for the poor, feed the hungry, comfort the hurting, and pray for the persecuted. However, Jesus first calls us to our knees in self-examination and repentance, urging us to a renewed resolve in following Him. The worship team is going to come up, and we're going to close in a bit of worship.

The moment we use these verses to measure others' performance instead of pursuing our own sanctification, we become the Pharisees that we so despise. The kingdom starts in the mirror; it doesn't start in the marketplace. It starts with us. So I pray that as we leave here today, we would be ready to serve the needy and surrender to our Savior, because following Jesus requires both of those, and it begins with us.

Would you pray with me? Father, as we spend time in Your Word, I know for myself it is this weird mixture of comfort and confrontation. There’s conviction in there, Lord. There are so many things that I see in myself that I wish weren't there. Lord, help me to combat those things.

Help me to draw closer to You, Lord Jesus. Father God, I pray for all of us that our hearts would be burdened to follow You, Lord God, and to minister to those that You call us to minister to.

Jesus, we just want to spend some time in worship, reflection, and thanksgiving for what You've done for us.