1 Corinthians 2:14 • Spiritual Knowledge

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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

 We have been talking about flourishing spiritually in a digital age, and you may think the Bible is not going to address that, but I'm going to ask that you look in your Bibles at 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14 as we consider how the Bible talks about knowledge that is not just digital, but in fact helps us understand God even in a digital age. As we've looked at this study of digital knowledge, we recognize that we are in the information age, a time in which we celebrate knowledge and our access to it. We rejoice in the capacity of our information and the speed with which we can process it. But curiously, as we get to the social side of the media, which now inundates our lives, we recognize that we can gain more information and become more isolated, become more exposed and less human.



 Why is that? Let's stand and look at this verse of the Scriptures that help us understand ourselves



 and God's answers even in a digital age. I'll read verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 2. If you'll keep your Bibles open, we'll look at more as we continue. The Apostle Paul writes, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to Him. And He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, You give us wonderful truths about Yourself, but we recognize You in mercy must enter our hearts by Your Spirit that we could even receive it and not just perceive it as foolishness. So even now, for those who are listening to me, for hearts that have heard Your word and still don't seem to consider it much more than something that is just a little bit than something that is just for the foolish, open our hearts that we might receive Your truth and be changed and know the joy of our Savior. This we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. In one of the more stirring speeches of recent memory, Oprah Winfrey at the Golden Globe Awards



 spoke in behalf of women negatively affected by the sexual harassment in Hollywood and Capitol Hill and our everyday workplaces. Given her own physical abuse as a child, her assault as an adolescent,



 her early pregnancy before the fame and the wealth came, she had a right to speak.



 And so she spoke, two fellow celebrities. She spoke of a long-forgotten, even ignored, poor woman in Alabama. She spoke of the courageous civil rights leader Rosa Parks,



 of whom Oprah said, "Like the women before her, has finally had her truth heard."



 It was that phrase, "her truth," that lit up the social media after Oprah spoke, not just whether or not she would be a presidential candidate, but what she meant by listening to another's truth if it was just her truth. Many bloggers picked up the notion that that seemed to at least open up the door to believing that the reason that we should consider the truth of those who have been sexually harassed is because it is their truth. And in order to respect them, we have to listen to their truth, not necessarily the truth, because that is presumed to be inaccessible in a modern and relativistic age. Everyone has their truth, but what Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer dared to call true truth is apparently inaccessible. No one claims it anymore. And the problem with validating personal truth over God's truth or true truth began to be analyzed as various bloggers looked at Oprah's truth. After all, as she was examined during what is International Holocaust Recognition Week, thinking of millions who were murdered, there were those who reminded us that once Oprah gave platform on her program to the notion that Holocaust victims are paying the price for their sins in a previous lifetime, or that emotional distress causes cancer. Others explained their truth, that thinking about wealth can make you rich. And of course, if you know the musical "Music Man," thinking about playing the tuba can make you play the tuba too.



 She granted platform to those whose truth was mediums can help mourners talk to their dead relatives. Psychics can tell you your future. Bioidenticals, whatever those are, can keep you from getting old. And child vaccines cause autism, even though the doctor who launched the study, claiming as much, is now in jail for faking his statistics. But it was their truth. And so, fairness and respect means that we need to listen to people's individual truth. After all, individual truth can be inspirational. But once you accept the notion that personal truth has priority, that actually means that absolute truth is impossible. All we have is just what you think, which may seem good and reasonable until you get on the other side of someone's truth. After all, we can say that the consequences in this age of just saying everyone's personal truth can stand is that anybody's truth needs respect, but no truth claim can ultimately be received.



 And so, if we say, "Life is sacred at every stage of development," what does our society say? Well, that's just your truth. Sexual expression is for marriage, which is sacred and precious and permanent.



 Oh, it's just your tradition. Racism is wrong. Well, that's just your perspective. The poor are precious to God, and their nations are not a whole.



 Well, that's just your interpretation. Your life is precious to God,



 and Jesus gave Himself to be your eternal Savior, that you might be free of your sin and know Him forever. Oh, well, sentiment. You get to recognize that if there is not a truth that we claim as truth, then no claim can stand except what people want to make them happy for the moment. Against this notion that truth is just come and go, ephemeral, lacking, is the Apostle actually saying, "What causes that notion?" It is verse 14, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness unto Him, and He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." God has given us things to understand. That is verse 12, "We have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God." But Paul, as much as saying, "God has given us things to understand it freely," comes to you nonetheless as why people won't accept it. Why? Because the natural person, that not affected by God's Spirit, perceives what the Bible teaches, what we stand for, as foolish, folly. You may repeat the Apostle's Creed so much in this church or other churches that you don't understand anymore how unreasonable it sounds to people. "I believe in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth." Not a big bang, not hydrogen molecules bouncing out of nothingness that God, my Father, created. And He didn't just create, but when sin and folly entered the world, that what God my Father would do was He would send His Son, now listen to it, to be born of a Virgin Mary. Are you serious? He would be crucified, dead and buried, descended to hell. The third day He would rise from the dead? Really? Are you serious?



 Get real, are you nuts? No. This is what the Scriptures attest is our hope, that He died paying the penalty for our sin and the penalty having been paid, the consequences are broken so that our Savior rose and He lives above, providing an intercession for you and me to follow after Him as we trust in Him. And that is the message of the Scriptures which we recognize,



 people if they are not touched by the Spirit of God, perceive as foolishness.



 But He's not just foolish. These Scriptures that are attesting God's truth have so many profound evidences that this is not just random, it's not just superstition, it's not just somebody's opinion. The prophecies that everybody, whether they are believers or not believers, would say were written centuries before Jesus came. Predict in minute detail aspects of His life, of His death, and of His resurrection. And it couldn't just be random. It's too much than that. There's prophecies. There's the recognition that the names and places are not just in our holy book.



 You can go to places in the world now and see Bethlehem and Nazareth and Jericho and find in ancient manuscripts not in the Bible the names of the people that are in our Bibles. As though there is this confirmation that this is not just somebody's imagination. And beyond that there is this amazing non-peer understanding of how the Bible was put together. Over 15 centuries, think of that, over 1500 years, scores of authors saying the same thing in different nations, in different eras, in times of prosperity, in times of slavery, in times of war, in times of peace. God would love His people who were sinful and turning away from Him so much that He would send His own Son to die for it. And nobody gets off of that theme for 1500 years. People are, "Oh, there are other holy books." Listen, there is no parallel in earth's history. There is no other religious book so consistent through so many... Yeah, there can be one person on a dream vision or talking to an angel with golden tablets. Yeah, there can be single people writing their holy books. But the notion that there'd be so many people in so much agreement over so much time without variation, it is without peer among the religions of the world. And it's not just religious. There is this resonance with the human heart that if we are honest about ourselves, believe it or not, artist or scientist, that I begin to recognize I don't live by my own standards. I live selfishly. I hurt the people I love. I recognize there's some irreconcilable differences between me and my own standards, certainly between me and God if there is a God. And the Bible is saying there's an answer for that. There's this resonance with my own heart that there has to be some solution. And the Bible is dealing with that. And even the people who have found the Scriptures foolish understand that there is something there that must be paid attention to. Anthony Flew celebrated atheist of the last century who debated academics across the country about the reality of God, always claiming until near his death that there could be no God. Until toward the end of his life, even Anthony Flew, the great 20th century celebrated atheist, said ultimately the evidence demands a God.



 And we don't just have to look backwards. Look at the celebrated atheists of the moment.



 Author Karen Edmiston, who on her blog writes, "I once thought I'd be a lifelong atheist."



 "Then I became desperately unhappy. I read up on philosophy and various religions, assiduously avoiding the study of Christianity. So I was initially appalled



 when Christianity began to make sense to me. And then I was amazed that I wanted to be baptized, to know that my sin can be washed away, and I can celebrate that in the world and for the world." Dr. Holly Ordway, author of "Not God's Type," began to examine those who were. She said, "I found that my favorite authors were men and women of a deep Christian faith." C.S. Lewis, Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings,



 George Herbert, the poet John Donne, and others, all were destroying my presupposition that Christianity is just for fools. It was somehow profoundly reasonable to the men and the women that I respected the most. And then Lee Strobel, in our present generation, the former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, following in the steps of Frank Morrison, who a generation ago wrote "Who Moved the Soap," men who took their legal and journalistic credentials into the marketplace to disprove Christianity.



 And the more they brought their tools to the trade of disproving Christianity, the more they believed it was real. So that Lee Strobel will actually write, "I'll admit I was ambushed by the amount and quality of evidence that Jesus is the unique Son of God.



 I shook my head in amazement. I have seen defendants go to the death chamber with less evidence. But the cumulative facts and the data points led to a conclusion



 that I was not entirely comfortable receiving."



 It's foolishness. I don't want to receive this. But you recognize it's not just because it's foolish. Verse 14 says, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God." Yes, they're foolish. But they're foolish not just because we struggle with the facts,



 because we struggle with the implications if the facts are true. That's what makes it such a struggle more than the facts themselves. Verse 7 says, "We, the Apostle, we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the ages for our glory. God was at work before time, working for the glory of people who would know His Son." Verse 8 says what happened as a consequence. Verse, "None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. God prepared for our glory, but to do so He crucified the Lord of glory." And the consequence is verse 9, "As it is written, no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him." We love Him because He didn't just die. He even now ascended and intercedes for us so that our glory is to know that the Son of God is interceding in our behalf. We go through crisis and trial and struggle and hurt in this broken world. And Jesus is praying for us. He's advocating for us. He's moving the creation forward so that ultimately eye is not seen nor ear heard the glory that God is preparing for His people even as they emerge from this broken and fallen world. We're to understand all of that, but the implications are hard. If He is the one who came for us, was crucified, dead and buried, but rose again and is now Lord for us, then that means we are called to His worship.



 It means we are called in obedience to recognize His standards are right and they are good for us, and we don't like that because it means we would have to purify our sexual practices according to the Scriptures. We, to honor that one and to bring His life into the lives of others, would have to separate ourselves from impure habits and entertainments. To take His hope into the world, we would have to sacrifice for the poor. We would have to become aware of the needs of the oppressed and do what we could to help them in Christ's name and for His purposes. And ultimately, if we would recognize we have been forgiven in order to make Him known,



 we would have to forgive as we have been forgiven.



 And it's at that point the world says more sharply than any other time, "That is foolishness, and I don't want to hear it." Former gymnast Rachel Dinhollander was the first to report on Larry Nassar's abuse of Olympic gymnasts.



 And so she was given the privilege of being the last to speak at his sentencing.



 During his trial, she said this, "All of God's wrath and eternal terror will be poured out on men like you, Larry."



 But during the sentencing, she said this, "In our early hearings, Larry, you brought your Bible into the courtroom and you have spoken of praying for forgiveness. And so it is on that basis that I appeal to you, if you have read the Bible you carry. You know the definition of sacrificial love portrayed is of God Himself loving in a sacrificial way so that He gave up everything to pay the penalty for sin that He did not commit. "By His grace I too choose to live this way,



 to forgive as I have been forgiven." Foolishness! Don't you know what He did? Don't you know what He did to the people that are dear and precious, not just to their parents, to God Himself? And here is somebody who is saying, "But if He gave Himself for me, my Savior,



 if He knowing the worst about me, loved me so much to come and die in my behalf and ever lives above, interceding for me so that eye is not seen, ear is not prepared to hear, glory that is being revealed for us, then I will live in that reality and I will respond in that reality." And that is why the world says, "That's not just foolishness, I will not accept that."



 When we begin to recognize this, you understand the end of verse 14, it's not just profound foolishness that turns people away from the gospel, it is their profound inability to actually receive what God is saying. The end of verse 14 says, "The natural man is not able to understand these truths of God because they are spiritually discerned." In a strange way right here, the Bible is right on the harmonies of the present age, that people can't actually discern the things of the Spirit if they have not yet experienced it themselves. I mean, how do you know what strawberry ice cream tastes like? Because you've experienced strawberry ice cream. And no matter how much I talk to you about it, if you have not tasted strawberry ice cream, you don't know what it tastes like. All knowledge is analogous. It's by comparison, but we don't actually know the thing until we've experienced it. And we just recognize it, just kind of matter of fact, I can throw in virtual goggles and kind of act like I'm climbing the Matterhorn or Everest, but I'll tell you until you've got some oxygen deprivation and you are freezing and your muscles are worn out, you don't really understand. Knowledge is removed from you until you have actually experienced. And so we're being told those not yet experiencing the spiritual truth, it sounds foolish to them, and they actually cannot understand what we're talking about.



 So how does the Spirit make provision for this opposition with the simplicity of the message



 and the sweetness of it? What is this simple message? We're already told, verse 12, remember, that we've received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely. What are we supposed to understand? I'm going to ask you to back into the previous chapter, just to get Paul's argument as it unfolds. What is it that we're supposed to be understanding? Verse 28, verse 28 of chapter 1,



 "God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." God was doing something that's not dependent on your accomplishment, on your knowledge, on how special you are. In fact, God is saying those people who the world calls outcast, low, despised, those are the very people, God, said, "I'm going to work in those people, so no one can boast. Look what I did. Look how great I am." And then what? Verse 30, "And because of Him," that is God who keeps us from boasting, "you are in Christ Jesus." You're united to Him. You're that Russian nesting doll inside Christ. You're in Christ Jesus by faith, putting your trust in Him. And as a consequence, He became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. We're having an answer for that. I can't be reconciled to God, much less my own standards that were made justified because I'm in Christ Jesus. His life stands in my place. I'm sanctified. His purity stands in my impurity. I'm redeemed. I couldn't pay the price. So He paid it in my behalf. All that is God's great work in my behalf. How did it come about? Verse 2 of 1 Corinthians 2. Paul says how it came about, "I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Here's the one string guitar. What does Paul keep? What do you need to know? What do you need to know? Jesus was crucified for you. What else do you need to know? Jesus was crucified for you. What else do you need to know? Jesus was crucified for you, not your goodness, not your standing, not your wisdom. He became for you the wisdom of God, your holiness, your righteousness, your redemption. That's what He was accomplishing on the cross and the ultimate consequence of that as you put your faith in Him, God has a wonderful future for you even if this world is horrible for you. "I is not seen, ear not heard." The glory that God has prepared for those who love Him.



 That's the message. It's simple, it's sweet,



 and means absolutely nothing



 to those who have not received it or cannot because they have not yet experienced it. I know that's not what we want to hear. We want to believe that, you know, this is just people fall over, they hear this good message and they just kind of go for it. But you and I know that is not true and the Apostle is not going to say it's true. Instead, he begins to say what you and I understand because it is the mantra of our culture and that is your truth is not your truth and my truth is no one else, "Oh, that's the only truth I have?" My truth. And why is my truth the only truth I have? Because of the limitations of time and experience. What happens in time? You can't put your foot in the same stream twice. You have a truth. You know what the stream is like? What's going to happen? Stream is going to change. You're going to change. No truth lasts. We use words to express our truth, but words are bound by human experience. So if I talk about a dog and my dog is a chihuahua and you talk about a dog and your dog's a great dame, we use the same word. We have very different experiences. So I talk about forgiveness because God put my sin upon His Son and you talk about forgiveness and you just mean somebody forgot your sin. And we think we're talking about the same thing. I mean, you recognize the philosophy of this age, whether you are a philosopher talking about existentialism or phenomenology or you're just in the English department talking about reader response theory, that the only truth you got is your own impression. That's all you got. And believe it or not, the apostle is going to come right after that modern perspective. Look at verse 11 right at the beginning. Paul says we're kind of astounded that he would say or notice that. Who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? Hey, the only truth you got is your own truth. That's the only truth you have to pay attention to because the only truth you got, just your own personal truth. And Paul's like, "Well, actually, that's kind of true, you know. The only person who knows their own truth is the person themselves. You're the only one who knows your own thoughts. And in a polarized society, think about how we have to face that with different world views and different morals and different gender claims and different sexual ethics and alternative facts and fake news and faith differences and people just saying, "We can't get together. Ultimately, we can't because all I got is what I want. And so what I got to do if I want to feel good is I have to have more power than you because I want my perspective to have the claim. So I get more votes, get more power, get more money. What am I trying to do? I'm just trying to get my perspective to have a tendency because that's all I got." Unless I'm in a generation that's given up on the power and tired of the arguments and tired of the politics and tired of the institutions that stand for individuals' preferences. And so in their personal lives, it is so much easier to check out



 and just find the momentary pleasure of the adrenaline rush or the testosterone rush of gaming or pornography or career advancement or risk behavior or family approval or any other choice that just relieves me a little bit from stress or disappointment.



 More and more, we see people who just are pushing the satisfaction button, whatever it is,



 like chickens getting ready for their slaughter, just pushing the button to get another grain of corn coming at them or like the junkie. You're just going for the next hit, just a little more satisfaction, and it keeps me going until I can get the next hit. Except in modern life, the needles look like smartphones or laptops or GameBoys or for the big boys, the corner office.



 And the grains of corn are websites or affairs or paychecks or personal recognition or the trophies of any sort that keep us hopping and clicking and spending for somebody else's satisfaction. Is there any way out of this? If even the Apostle says, "The great dilemma of human knowledge is the only knowledge you got is your own," is there any way out?



 The answer, of course, is the second half of verse 11. "So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." Yeah, you only want to know your own thoughts? God's the only one who knows His own thoughts by His Spirit. But what does He do with that Spirit? Verse 12, now you understand it. "Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God." Here's this amazing answer in an ancient time to the modern dilemma. How can I actually know? How can there be truth beyond my truth? Because God, whose truth is absolute and universal, has by His Spirit entered His people. And now you know the words of the Apostle Paul. His Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. The same Spirit who inspired the Scriptures so that we were told long ago that the Holy Spirit carried along men of God so that they did not write their personal interpretation. But the words of God that we might receive them. How do we receive them? How do we know that they mean what God meant? Because the same Spirit who gave the truth indwells us to receive the truth. That at the, the round peg from heaven has the round hole of the Spirit carved in us so that we might see and truly know. So it's not just all up for grabs. It's not just a power grab. It's not just a satisfaction grab. I can truly know my heart affirming by the Spirit of God what the Spirit of God has said that brings reconciliation and hope to my heart so that I know there's an answer for my hopelessness and, and what the Scriptures are saying resonates with the very thing that I know must be true if I am to be saved from my own hopelessness. What God is saying is there is an answer and the answer comes in knowing how the Spirit works. Ultimately, just the end of the chapter, recognize the gift. It is that we can have the mind of Christ, the Spirit who gave, and the Spirit in us who receives are the same. So that that same Christ who is being testified of by the Spirit now enters us and we can have his mind of discernment, of acknowledging what is true and right and good. That is, that is at work in us, not just because of hormones and little thrust of power, but because God is showing me what the mind of Christ is by his very Spirit. How does it work? I mean, if you just say, how does this thing work that you get the mind of Christ?



 Well, by the Spirit's power. And you want to see the method? Just look at verse 13 right at the beginning. "We impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught in the Spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. When the Spirit is at work in people around us, it it may be in the home, it may be at school, it may be in the workplace, it may be in the lab, wherever it is. When God's at work, then the words that we are saying that are spiritual, God is preparing the heart to receive them, not because of the excellence of your words so that no one can boast, but because what we are saying is being conformed by God's purpose to fit the heart of the one that we are talking to. Our words make sense to them. When the timing is right, when the Spirit is at work, our words make sense to them. Not because we got the best words. I love verse 3 of the same passage. And Paul and apostles said, "I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trauma. I'm not sure I'm going to say the right thing. I'm not sure I can say the right, but who's taking over?" Spiritual words are being said, and spiritual words are being received by the work of the Spirit. Some of us who are on the Cuba team, who are going to be going in a few weeks to minister in Cuba, just heard a wonderful account earlier this week of a missionary in Latin America working with some tribal peoples that didn't have Spanish down, very good. And so he was trying to explain to some tribal people what it meant that we are branches and we take our life from the vine, John 15, and the vine being Christ. But not knowing Spanish very well, he mixed up two letters in the word branch. And so he told people that they were the frogs who were in the branch, in the vine. Not knowing that these tribal peoples had no idea what a grapevine was that had branches in the vine, but in the Amazonian context, they had every understanding of how a frog lives out of the vine. And the gospel made sense to them. Entirely the wrong words. Why does that help you and me? I'm going to mess up. I'm not going to say the right thing. Listen, you think it's only you. I'm a preacher. I've been at this for about 40 years now. I still break out in sweats when I know I've got to talk to somebody, right? Am I going to say the right thing? Am I going to say it the right way? Am I going to have the right argument? Or in bad cause, I've got all the background. Am I going to look more foolish? You know what I have to remember?



 The Spirit gave these words and the heart conformed by the Spirit is going to receive what God intends, as God intends. What does it simply require? Verse 3, "I was with you



 in weakness and fear and trembling." Yes, but I was with you. So I spoke spiritual words and trusted the Spirit. You and I know this, right? We're scared to talk to our kids because they know us too well. We're scared to talk to a coworker because they've seen us lose our temper. We're scared to talk to a professor who has the better argument and we're going to look foolish. But all God is saying is, listen, say the truth, simple and sweet, and those in whom the Spirit is working are being prepared to receive the words so that God will accomplish, not by your boasting, not by your accomplishment, not by your wisdom, but by the simple and sweet truth of the gospel, what He intends. It simply means we show up. We say what has to be said. We we look for the opportunities of love to speak to people who we know. And that means that we have to be connected to them, that being in this church, that being in a classroom, that the social media extraction from reality is not the only way that we can minister to people. I was reading recently one who said, "It's been said that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety



 but connectedness." And I got thinking about that. That's really true. How many of our addictions could not happen without isolation? We get away. But in connectedness, there is strength. And knowing that means that the virtual world is not the only world which we are committed to if we're going to be with people for the sake of the gospel. Pastor Mike Kenjen in a recent book called Stumbling into Community wrote this, "There are plenty of dark and dangerous pitfalls with social media. But as a pastor, I love the connectivity. I've been reconnected with former youth group members, with members of former congregations, with college and high school classmates.



 But don't be fooled. This is not true community. You cannot unfriend someone you work beside every day. In true community, if there's a rift between us, turning off my computer or blocking you on my phone will not work. We will have to deal with one another. And that is God's design. So that when we are together, we speak spiritual truths in spiritual words and the Spirit uses us in all of our weakness and confession and sin and stumbling to actually get the gospel in the place where the Spirit's going to use it in the heart that's being open to His purpose. We are not ultimately responsible for saying it all the right way. We are responsible for showing the love that makes the gospel plain as the Spirit is doing the work. Mike writes, "One day a couple came into the office and their 18-year-old daughter and her boyfriend with them were seeking counsel



 on how to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. The parents had been a wonderful part of our church for decades. The young people were precious teens, followers of Jesus.



 But here they were, unmarried, pregnant, panicked. I offered the expecting teens to meet with me and consider what God's Word says about marriage, about life and babies and faith. And we got together for the next nine months. At some point the young woman asked, "What do we do when I begin to show?" I suggested they might want to share their story with the church. Well, they shot that down right away. But after six months, they came with two announcements. One, they were engaged. Two, they had decided to tell the church.



 The next Sunday they met with our elders. They admitted their sin and told of their desire to tell the church. Our elders could not have been more supportive. They told of their own sin to comfort the couple. Our elders surrounded and prayed with them. Then three of us stood together in the worship service and told their story. And the congregation



 prayed for them. And tears of joy streamed down faces. People rejoiced and thanked them. The women's group threw a surprise reception. This couple knew their sin more clearly than ever before. And they knew their Savior better than ever before. How does that happen?



 Spiritual truth from spiritual people in spiritual relations that God blesses. Father, so use us, we pray, weak, frail, stumbling, not always the right words, not the right life, all the things that make us poor messengers. But if we will step in,



 if we'll be there for people saying the spiritual words in the spiritual opportunities you provide, your spirit will do the work. Thank you, Holy Spirit of God. Teach us to trust you. We love you, Jesus. Help us to help others do the same. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.