We are going through the book of Acts and it's taken us quite a while to get to where we are. We have made it to Acts chapter 19 and there's only 28 chapters. So we are closer than we have been for sure. We still have a little ways to go, but tonight we're going to cover chapter 19 verses one through 10. And this is the second part of a sermon that we have entitled the church in transition. The church is, you remember, as the church begins in Acts chapter one, it is a new movement that is being started and it is growing and it is a transition. And so the book of Acts is a transitional book. In fact, I would encourage you somewhere at the beginning of the book of Acts to write that. And I want you to get that into your heart and mind as we go through that. Now you're going to have to stay with me tonight. How many of you are ready to do that? All right, you got your Bibles open and this is a historical, it's an informational text. It is a doctrinal text about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I am going to do my best tonight to preach to you and teach to you what I believe The correct exposition of this passage is not just lifting this little section out, but looking at it as a whole and with the entire New Testament, with the entire Book of Acts. It is and has been through the years a controversial text. There have been new movements that have been built around questions that we will see in our text tonight. And so as we go through this, there may be even in this room points that we disagree on. in this area, and that is okay. But I am gonna do my best to teach you what I believe and what this church believes about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. So as we go into this, let's read the beginning here, the first 10 verses. This is not something that you're gonna hear from week to week, especially in Baptist churches. You say, why are we going through this? Because we believe that every verse of the Bible needs to be taught and preached. We need to understand it all. We don't skip over passages that may be difficult or may cause problems. We teach through it chapter by chapter, verse by verse, so that we have an understanding of it all. So look at verse number one. It came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them. they spake with tongues and they prophesied. And all the men were about 12. And he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of the way before the multitude." And by the phrase that way, it's talking about Christianity, that's what it was called. that before the multitude he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyranus. And this continued by the space of two years, so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Again, Luke is describing for us the beginning days of the church. And as we mentioned last week, Hebrews gives us the theology of the transition from Judaism to Jesus, but it is Acts that gives us the record and the history of that transition. And so as we've studied Acts, we have seen many Jews who have turned from religion, turned from Judaism, and they have put their faith in Jesus Christ, the resurrected Savior. We have also seen Jews who had heard the gospel many times in the synagogue, because that is where Paul would always go, and they would not be willing and they were not ready to turn in faith to Jesus Christ. They were hanging on to their religion. So we also discuss this, there is a danger in building your theology around one book that is a transitional book. There are people that build their entire theology around the book of Acts, disregarding all the other epistles and taking things that happen once, twice, three times during this transitional time and building their whole theology around this book. And by the way, if you do that, if you say we're gonna take our theology from the book of Acts, then you have to take it all. You don't get to pick and choose. Which means you wanna take the parts about the Holy Spirit, but you also would have to take passages like we looked at in that last week, where Paul takes a Nazarite vow, and you don't see that happening today, do you? And so you don't just get to pick and choose which parts of it that you are going to take. And so I believe that it's dangerous to build your theology around a transitional book where you see things happen once, or during this transitional time, only during this transitional time. We look at the New Testament as a whole and we build our theology around it as it is given in its context. Remember, Judaism was a way of life that did not die easily. In fact, the apostles and the early church leaders, they had struggles really separating from it complete. Remember in Acts chapter two when Peter and John, who were the leaders of the church, that after many people were added to the church, they were the leaders of the church, but in chapter three, they go back to the temple during the prescribed hours of prayer. It was deep-rooted in their hearts. We saw in Acts chapter 11 that when the Gentile Cornelius comes to faith in Christ, that Peter has to go back and explain to all the church at Jerusalem who was Jews, hey, Cornelius received the Holy Spirit just like we did. It was manifested in tongues just like it was for us. We remember, as we mentioned last week, Acts chapter 10, where God tells Peter to rise and to kill animals and to eat, and Peter could not get past that. He said, not so, Lord. I've never eaten anything that is common and unclean. And God says, don't call what I have cleansed common. Three times God had to tell him that it was okay. This is apostles who are working through this. We see in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul, again, that he is steeped in Judaism. And as we go through, in fact, chapter 18, the first point in our notes there was Paul in transition. We looked at it last week in verse number 18. It gives us insight into Paul's transition out of Judaism. Remember, he wants to express his gratitude to God for the friendship that he had received in Corinth, the fruit that he had been able to see, for the fellowship of God that God had personally given him in Corinth. and for the freedom to continue ministry in Corinth. And so he is grateful after months and difficulty and being thrown out of cities, he comes to Corinth. He is ministered to by other Christians. He is ministered to by God himself. He sees fruit there. And so he wants to show gratitude to God. And how does he do it? He goes back to the old covenant. And he takes a Nazarite vow in order to try to show and express his gratitude to God. So we see that he's still thinking in Jewish patterns. Then we come to verse 19 through 21, and we see that Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. He stops in Ephesus. He drops off Priscilla and Aquila. and he plans to come back if the Lord will. On his third missionary journey, he leaves them there. God begins a wonderful work in Ephesus under the leadership of lay people, a lay couple, Priscilla and Aquila. And then in verses 22 and 23, Paul ends his second missionary journey, going up to Jerusalem to the feast where he would have made a sacrifice from the Nazarite vow. Then he makes a quick visit to the church at Jerusalem, salutes them, says hi to them, greets them. Then he goes to the church at Antioch. The Bible says that he spent some time with the church at Antioch. And then he departs on his third missionary journey, strengthening the disciples. But we saw Paul in transition out of Judaism into Christianity. And then secondly, we looked at last week, Apollos in transition in verses 24 through 28. When you get to 24, it shifts back to what's going on in Ephesus and Apollos is there. He is a Jew. He's from the city of Alexandria. He's been raised like Paul on the principles of Judaism. He is a naturally dramatic and dynamic Old Testament scholar who could present the Old Testament with absolute power. And although I believe Apollos was an Old Testament saint, he was not a Christian at this point because he did not have the indwelling of the Spirit. So later on when he comes to Christ in that passage, he receives the Holy Spirit, he becomes so effective that in verse 28 he says he goes back into the temple, he gives the Jews the rest of the message that he had left out. Remember Aquila and Priscilla teach him the full truth, all of it, he goes back in after he, the Bible says he believed it, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he gives them the rest of the story. So we saw Paul and Apollos, both of them in transition, and now as we come to chapter 19, we see 12 disciples of John the Baptist in transition. These are not disciples, I don't believe, of Jesus Christ. I believe they are disciples of John the Baptist, as we see in the text. In some cases like Paul, he simply could not let some of the old patterns go. Like Apollos, he just didn't know the whole gospel. And like these 12 disciples of John the Baptist, they also did not have full knowledge. And so the spirit had to bring them along through individual circumstances to a full understanding of Christ and Christianity. Now, not the elephant in the room, but the elephant in the text. is the question in verse number two, isn't it? So let's look at it. Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? I'm just curious, how many of you have ever been asked a question similar to that, have you ever received the Holy Ghost? All right, about half of us. And then their answer here, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And that's really what I wanna spend our time tonight looking at and answering, and I want to present this in the most humble and honest way that I can. Again, the point of view that I take here is simply what I believe to be the exposition of the text as we understand it in regards to the rest of the New Testament. We also can't ignore the other elephant in the religious room when we think about this, and that is that there are those that take this view from this text that you can be a Christian and not possess the Holy Spirit. Because, they say, these people were disciples, they believed, and they did not have the Holy Spirit. Some of them would not go that far, but they would say that you get the Holy Spirit at salvation, but you don't necessarily have the fullness of the Holy Spirit that is evidenced when you are able to speak in tongues. And as I see the interpretation of Scripture again, as a whole, to draw the conclusion that the Spirit comes in part, and then later on, the fullness, I don't believe is a biblical teaching. I believe that when you get the Spirit, you get all of the Spirit, that there are not degrees in receiving the Holy Spirit. In the case of Christ, it was said, God gives not the Spirit by measure. In other words, He doesn't dose out the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given in the fullness of who He is. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. So if someone comes up to you and they ask you, have you received the Holy Spirit? What should your answer be? Yes. The moment that I put my faith in Jesus Christ, I got the Holy Spirit. And again, what I say tonight, I'm not trying to pick a fight with other brothers or sisters in Christ. I address it because it's in our text and it's where we are. And I say it in order that you might understand that a wrong view of the Holy Spirit which subtracts anything from the dimensions of his fullness is a slide against the Holy Spirit. To try to reduce him. And so as this book of transition in the church age transitions from Judaism to Jesus, you cannot make the book of Acts the norm. If you do, you will have tremendous problems because it is the church in transition. So as the new covenant arrives and the people come to faith in Christ, They're still finding it difficult to make the full transition and God is bringing them as he has through the whole book of Acts as we've sawn as the gospel goes into a new area. There's some old things that are dying slowly. There's some old forms like the early church meeting in the synagogue. We don't do that anymore, do we? We've transitioned out of that, but when the church first started, they did, they were very connected there. There were some new things that came and they were new and they were permanent things. And there are some things that we see in the book of Acts, they're not old and they're not new or permanent, they're just especially for the transitional period. Now in the text, in verses one through 10, God is still picking up some of the Old Testament loose ends. And I believe that these are, just like Apollos, Old Testament saints who were followers of John the Baptist, who had not yet even heard about all the features of Jesus Christ. And so they're still caught in the middle of this transition. They needed to be given the fullness of the knowledge so that they could become a part of the church. Now a lot of people get hung up on the two words believe and disciple in verse number one and two. The easy assumption is because they were called disciples that they were Christians. And the question that we should ask when we read that is disciples of who, right? Who were they disciples of? And what did they believe? And so in the gospel of John, you find that a disciple is simply a learner. He can be a disciple of anybody. And we know that John the Baptist did have disciples. He did have followers. Somebody who believed a teaching with head knowledge, but had not put their faith in Jesus Christ does not make them a Christian just because they believe. They believe what? The Bible tells us this, the devils also what? Believe. and tremble. And so just because it calls them disciples, and we see later in the text that they were certainly disciples of John the Baptist, and because they believe, there was a reason why Paul asked them this question that we'll see later. I think it's clear in the passage that these 12 men were not Christians and that they are converted in our text, that they become Christians in our text. They were believers in God. They were followers of John the Baptist, who was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and he was getting ready, as we saw in the text, he was getting people ready for the Messiah. John the Baptist said, hey, I'm not the Messiah. I'm not the one you're looking for. There's one coming after I, who is greater than I, whose shoes latch, and I'm not even able to loosen. He was preparing them for the Messiah. And so I believe that they were not Christians or they would have understood the baptism of Christ. In verse number three, at the end of the verse, it says, they said we were baptized under whose baptism? John's baptism. In verse five, then Paul told them about the baptism of Jesus and they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Let me ask you a question. In the early church, when did people get baptized? Right after salvation. Acts chapter 2. when they believed, when the thousands believed, immediately they were baptized. All throughout the book of Acts, baptism is immediate upon salvation. So if these people were Christians in the sense of believing in the finished work of Christ and the death and burial and resurrection, they would have known the baptism of the Lord Jesus. They did not know that the Holy Spirit was given. They did not understand the baptism of Christ. They believed the teaching of John. They understood that he was going to come, but just like Apollos, they did not know that he had come. The implication of verse four is Paul says unto them, John baptized with the baptism of repentance that you should believe on him who should come after him. That is our Messiah, who? Jesus. And so Paul said to them, John was getting you ready for Jesus. And when they heard this, they believed, didn't they? When they heard it, they believed and they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Again, be very careful about taking an experience and extracting that experience out of a transitional period and then establishing it as a norm and building all of your doctrine and all of your theology around this little section during the middle of a transitional time. You have to see it in the full context of the New Testament. So these are disciples of John the Baptist, not Jesus. Remember in Matthew chapter 11, John the Baptist is in prison and in verses two and three, he sends two of his disciples to go back to Jesus to ask him a question. Are you the Messiah or do we look for another? Now, if John the Baptist was still struggling with this, it's easy to understand that some of his followers, some of his disciples might not have understood all there was to understand about Jesus. And that's why all that I believe about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, I do not get from the book of Acts. Do we take into account the book of Acts in our theology of the Holy Spirit and our doctrine of the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. Do we take it as it is just in the book of Acts without anything else and build our doctrine around that? No, because it's through this transitional stage. And also another reason is because there are very straightforward, explicit statements about the Holy Spirit all throughout the New Testament. Right? You can't just take what happens here in Acts and make that the norm and forget about the other ones. They have to all fit together. And it fits together that the book of Acts is a transitional book. We've seen it all the way through. They go to new areas and new things happen that we never see happen again ever in the New Testament that only happened in the book of Acts because it's a transitional time. So I wanna show you, in closing tonight, some of these other verses. These very direct and straightforward verses. Listen, these verses are not describing an experience that happened in a transitional time in the book of Acts. They are direct, straightforward statements from God under the inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit, to men about the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter eight, verse nine. but ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. And so he's saying, if you are a Christian, if you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, then the spirit of God dwells in you. And if you did not get that, let me say this. Now, if any man have not the spirit of God, he is what? None of his. If you don't have the Spirit of God, then you are not a Christian. There can be no gap then between your salvation and the gift of the Spirit. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, you don't belong to Christ. First Corinthians chapter six and verse nine, Paul writes what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? Say the next three words. Which is, four words, sorry. Which is in you? You house the Holy Ghost. You house the Holy Spirit. He is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own. Go back to the Old Testament for a second, because here the credibility of God is at stake when it comes to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. What God said in the Old Testament must come to pass, must be true. And so in Ezekiel chapter 36, listen to what Ezekiel says in verses 26 and 27, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. No conditions here for getting the Holy Spirit. God says, I will do it. And then Jesus, the son of God, his credibility is at stake because in John 14, 16, it says, and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. John chapter seven, verse 37, or chapter seven. Verse 37, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Notice verse 38, he that believeth on me as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Verse 39, don't miss it, but this fake he of the spirit, which they that believe on him should, what? Receive. You believe in him, you receive the Holy Spirit. Who receives the Holy Spirit? Those who believe, all who believe. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. We read this earlier. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. How many have had the baptism of the Spirit? all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks, free or bond, we've all been made to drink into one spirit, all of us. Ephesians chapter two, verse 21 and 22. in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord, speaking of the church, in whom ye also are builded together, notice, for a habitation of God, a house of God, how? Through the Spirit. So are there ever any Christians in the book of Acts who were saved who did not have the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation? There are. We covered it in Acts chapter 8, but we're gonna go back there tonight, and you can be sure that people are gonna want you to go to this text, so let's go back there, Acts chapter 8. Is this a problem? No. If there were Christians here who believed but did not have the Spirit, why are we saying that's not possible today? Again, because this is a major transitional period, and you're gonna see why it didn't happen here when it happened. Now, did they get the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter eight? Yes, just not right away, and you'll see why. Acts chapter eight, look at verse number 14. Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria, notice where they are, When Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were calmed down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them. So at this point, the Holy Spirit had not come. Peter and John come and they put their hands on them. Then they received the Holy Spirit. Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. And why was it done in this fashion? They were Samaritans. Remember up to this point, who were the only ones who had received the Holy Spirit at salvation? The Jews at Pentecost, Acts chapter two. So how was the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans? There was probably no one that the Jews despised any more than the Samaritans. In fact, for 500 years, they had had different temples, they would not worship together, they would not even talk to one another, which is why when Jesus came to the Samaritan woman at the well, she was shocked that a Jew would even speak to her. And so obviously when the gospel came to these Samaritans and they were saved and there were no Jews there, if they would have received the Holy Ghost at that very moment, The church would have still been divided, right? Oh no, you didn't get the Holy Ghost. You're Samaritans. We're the Jews that became Christians. And so what does God do? In his wisdom, he withholds the Holy Spirit, not permanently, but until Jewish apostles arrive. Why? The same reason he does it later on so that they can go back to the church at Jerusalem and say, hey, these people received the Holy Spirit just like we did. The same Holy Spirit came upon them. God gifted them the same way that they did us. Hey, the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit. The Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit. Remember what happened in the case of Cornelius in chapter 10. He also received the Holy Spirit. He had the same manifestation of tongues as they had at the day of Pentecost, and all the Jews that were standing there were absolutely shocked. They could not believe that this Gentile had received the Holy Ghost. By the way, when we talk about speaking in tongues, we're talking about speaking in languages that God gave supernatural ability for people to speak in languages for the purpose of the furtherance of the gospel so that gospel could spread. If you want to look for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, you cannot look just at the book of Acts. You have to include it all. Look at the doctrines that are written in the epistles that we just went back. Now we'll go back to Acts chapter 19 and let's try to wrap this up. Why did Peter ask them this question? I'm sorry, Paul. Peter or Paul? Paul. Why did Paul ask them this question? Because the question would reveal to Paul whether they were true disciples of Jesus. whether they were true followers of Jesus. If they said yes, then he would know that they were his brothers in Christ because all Christians have the Holy Spirit. The old Samaritan thing, that's done, that transition's done. Cornelius, that transition's done. From then on, the transition is gone and people who believe now receive the Holy Spirit. That is the trend through the rest of the book of Acts. So he simply says, hey, have you received the spirit since you believe? Because that's a normal thing. Since Acts chapter 15. So go back really quickly to Acts chapter 15. Peter says, hey, here's the normal test. You remember in Acts chapter 15, we were there several months ago. They're arguing about whether the Gentiles are really saved. The circumcision party had come in and say, hey, faith in Christ is great, but you also need to be what? Circumcised. You need to add this to your faith. So listen to Peter's response, Acts 15, seven and eight. For when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and brethren, Ye know how that a good while ago, God made choice among us that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the word of the gospel. What's he speaking of? Acts chapter 10 with Cornelius. And believe, and God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us. And that became the norm for the church. So when Paul runs into these 12 guys and somebody says, hey, here are 12 disciples, then Paul asks them, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? This would answer his question whether they were followers, disciples of John or whether they were disciples of Jesus. He knew that the filling of the Holy Spirit, the baptism, I should say, of the Spirit was a sign of genuine salvation. which is why he later wrote the verse in Romans chapter eight and verse nine that we just read. If any men have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So back in Acts chapter 19 verses four through six, then said Paul, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. Paul says, have you received the Holy Spirit when you believed? They said, we haven't even heard that the Holy Spirit was given. Paul said, well, then what kind of baptism do you have? They said, we were baptized under who? John. Paul said, well, John was only preparing you for Christ. Let me tell you about Christ. Paul tells them about the death and burial and resurrection of Christ, who was their Messiah. They believed and they were baptized. And in verse number six, they received the Holy Spirit. the pattern of salvation. You believe, you receive the Holy Spirit, you're baptized. Now notice what happened when the Spirit came in verse number six. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke with tongues or languages and they prophesied. Make note of this in your Bible. This is the last time this ever happens in the New Testament. In what book does it happen in? Acts. Transitional book. Why does it happen? I believe it happens because what I've shared with you as we've gone through this book, as the gospel, we get to a new area that God wants to tie everybody together in the body of Christ. He wants to unite the body of Christ. And so what does he do each time he goes into a new area? He repeats what happened at Pentecost. In his wonderful wisdom, he is bringing all these diverse people together. He extends Pentecost to them so that they too would know the Spirit came. And the same happens here in Ephesus. A delayed Pentecost happens to these people who come to faith in Jesus Christ. In verses eight through 10 shows us the opposition that follows. And he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years, so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the day and age in which we live and the day and age after Acts is that if you have been saved, we believe that at that moment you got the Holy Spirit. Now, the Bible does tell us this, right? To be filled with the Spirit. that every day we ought to empty ourselves of our flesh and we ought to be filled, guided by the Holy Spirit. You're not gonna get any more of the Holy Spirit. The question is, does he have all of you? Are you giving him control of your life, of your mind, of your heart, of your eyes? He comes in fullness at salvation. You don't get part of him and then more later. You get him all at once. And then he works in our life as we surrender to him. Again, God has not made us robots. You can fight against the Holy Spirit. How many of you know this? He will convict you, but you have a choice, right? You can push against that, can fight it, or you can surrender to it. And so he says, walk in the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit. Don't walk in the flesh, walk in the Spirit. Walk under the control of the Holy Spirit. He compares it to a drunk, right? Be not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Know what he's saying? Let it control you, let him control you. Everything about you, your mind, your actions, let the Holy Spirit control you. Father, thank you for the Holy Spirit. He is our guide, he is our teacher, he is our comforter. We thank you for the gift that he is in this life. We thank you for his conviction. We thank you for the comfort that he brings us each and every day. And we pray, God, that we would be yielded to the Holy Spirit. that we would be surrendered to the Spirit as He seeks to guide us and direct us, lead us in this life. And I pray, God, that our church would be a Spirit-filled church. I pray, God, that we would not allow those who we feel have misinterpreted the Holy Spirit to steal from us the joy of the Holy Spirit in our life. The Holy Spirit, we're reminded, brings us the gifts of the Spirit, and joy, and love, and peace, and long-suffering. All of these gifts, we understand, are gifts of the Spirit of God, and we're thankful for them. And we pray that we would live in them, that we would allow you the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and our guide and our comfort. We ask all this in Christ's precious name, amen.