Amen. Friends, would you stand with me as we read from John chapter 3 verses 1 through 15? This morning we're looking at verses 4 through 8. Again, let us listen now to the Lord's Word. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one could do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? Jesus answered. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water in the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. This is the Lord's word. Would you please be seated, friends? Again, our Father in heaven, I pray that your blessing be upon this servant and upon these, your people. We pray for your spirit's presence. I pray, Lord, that the scriptures would be delivered faithfully. were divided rightly and that it would be received upon hearts that have been made ready by you. We ask for your blessing and pray that we would come to understand you in a much more clear manner and ourselves as well. Again, we pray that you would advance your kingdom and your glory. We humbly look to your hand now and pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen. As we considered last week, people, men are incapable, haven't the capacity to save themselves. Men are dead in their trespasses and sins. Men are superficial. Men are easily impressed with power and signs and wonders. And when things are going their way and work towards their favor, they are all in on Jesus Christ. Jesus is the best. I love Jesus Christ. I want nothing more than Jesus Christ. And that's when things are going favorably. But when it appears the tide is turning and that hardship is coming, they walk away. And this, I believe, would explain Jesus's popularity initially and then the overwhelming response to have him crucified. I think that's the way we need to explain it is What's the change? Jesus didn't change. What changed? The fact that they were anticipating and hoping for someone who was going to deliver them in power. And Jesus, all of a sudden, looks like a lamb being led to the slaughter. The faith that these individuals had, as we remember back at the end of John chapter 2, the faith they had, the believing in his name was not a belief in him as the Messiah, the one to whom the signs had pointed, but rather, in some superficial surface manner, they glommed onto these signs as though this was the important thing. We know this because we are told in verses 24 and 25, where they're believing in the name of Jesus, Jesus, on the other hand, is saying something quite different. Jesus, on his part, we are told, was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men, and because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. How could they see and hear such wonderful things, the things that they saw and heard and experienced, and not come to believe upon the Lord? That's kind of the question here. How can someone see and experience all these things and not come to the Lord? I mean, you could hear somebody say, well, maybe Jesus wasn't as clear as he should have been in his teaching. Maybe he didn't anticipate his audience well enough. Maybe he should have done more miracles or different kinds of miracles. Maybe these men to whom he spoke were just dimwits. Maybe they were the uneducated class. They weren't nearly sophisticated. You know, those backward sorts that you have to explain things to. Oftentimes, we work with people to lead them to the Lord, and they don't believe And we oftentimes think this way, either the presenter or the one to whom the gospel is presented are at fault. There's something not quite right about them. You presented the gospel, but you didn't do it quite right. You ever heard that? You shouldn't say this or you should say these kinds of things. You should stay away from this or stay away from that. Or you hear, I don't know what's wrong with this guy. He must have a bricks for brains because he just can't catch what I'm saying. So we always want to blame the presenter or the one to whom the gospel is presented. But that isn't what we're told at all in this passage of scripture. I mean, really, when you go through this passage of scripture, you know what we can rule out? Man deserving any pride. Man deserves no credit. And God himself is not limited. They said during the Renaissance, you know, that the view of God had come down and the image of man had come up. But biblically, what should happen is, God should increase and man should be brought down. Men like to think way high of ourselves. And we also like to think way too small of the Lord. I was once asked, I was once told rather, you have a worm syndrome. You don't think high enough of yourself. And I said, I think I might think too highly of myself still. I don't think you think high enough of the Lord, and I think as we look at this passage of scripture, we see this very thing come to the surface, come to the light. If ever a man had the natural abilities to believe upon Jesus Christ, who had innate abilities to understand who he was, it would have been Nicodemus. He came to Jesus at night, a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, a man who had known the scriptures, who knew the scriptures, knew Moses and the prophets, who was a professional student and an interpreter and teacher of the law. In fact, he was called the teacher of Israel. He recognized that there was something about Jesus that he had come from God as a teacher and that no one could do the signs he did unless God was with him. Nicodemus, a man who was incredibly bright, conscientious recognized Jesus that he was somehow different than others that he stood in special relation to God but of all of this all of this that he had all that Nicodemus had going for him all of this friends was not enough to make him to see or to recognize who Jesus Christ is. Why not? I mean, clearly, if becoming a Christian, if believing upon Jesus Christ and recognizing Jesus Christ is merely the intellect, Nicodemus, friends, Nicodemus would have nailed it. He would have gotten it. But he doesn't. And why couldn't he see? It's very simple. Because man, the natural man, is incapable of coming to or seeing Jesus Christ for who he truly is. He doesn't have the hardware, we might say it in the modern vernacular. He doesn't have the antenna. He doesn't have the bandwidth to be able to do this. Nicodemus, as you recall, he makes statements. And I say this by way of reminder, because it's actually these passages of scripture are actually part of one He makes these statements to the Lord. He says, we know that you have come from God as a teacher for no one could do these signs that you do unless God is with them. And then we are told that Jesus answered him. Nicodemus makes his statements, but Jesus, knowing what is in each man, answers the question that Nicodemus never actually vocalizes. Again, we say that this is a mashal, Jesus' answer. His answer takes the conversation to a whole other level that Nicodemus was not anticipating. What was Nicodemus' question? We imagine it was something like this. Who are you, then? Nicodemus never actually says it. behind all that he does say, this is the natural thing. Who are you? We know that you're a teacher from God, but are you more? Are you a prophet? Are you the Messiah? You see, the ability to see the kingdom of God, to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, is not in the natural man. This is why Nicodemus and so many don't recognize who Jesus Christ is, friends. They can't. They can't do it. Now, you see, this is going to be bothersome, isn't it? Well, what am I actually saying? I'm saying that he can't do it. I'm saying he doesn't have the capacity in him to be able to recognize Jesus Christ. Well, I make it sound like man is hopeless then. Yep, he is. Man is hopeless. Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Being born again can also be translated being born from above. It's not a command that Jesus gives. It is a fact. It is not what we do. It is a gift. new birth from heaven from God. These are the things that this is what is necessary to recognize that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. I want you to consider for just a moment. You start to see these things all throughout the scriptures. Peter's confession. Listen to what Jesus says after Peter's confession. Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. but my father who is in heaven." That's exactly what's going on here in John chapter three. Flesh and blood is weak. It doesn't have the capacity. So how did Peter, when everyone else is saying, oh, you're one of the prophets, you're this guy, you're that guy. How is it that Peter said, well, I know exactly who you are. You're the son of God, you're the Messiah. And Jesus says what, blessed are you. Because flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you because flesh and blood can't. But my father who is where in heaven, who's from above. It is a troublesome thing to Nicodemus. Jesus's answer. How? He wants to know the mechanics of this. How can I or anyone get such a thing done? How is this to be accomplished? And so he asks this incredulous question. I used to think that Nicodemus had come in kind of a naivety, like, well, how does this happen? Can I climb back inside my mother's womb and get born again? I used to think, well, that's kind of a three-year-old, four-year-old thing to say, like that could really happen. I don't think it anymore. I think Nicodemus is being a little bit snarky with Jesus. I think his question is an incredulous question concerning an impossible feat. Again, listen to this verse four. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born. Can he again, Israel's teacher is not understanding Jesus's words. His question seems ridiculous because, in fact, it is ridiculous. Again, I think he's being snarky. Jesus's words don't make sense to Nicodemus. He is thinking like a Pharisee. He is thinking about what he must do. Surely there must be something that he could do to get the job done, to see the kingdom of God, right? This is what Jesus, I'm a Pharisee. I know about things. And you're not making any sense to me right now. Just tell me, what do I need to do? What do I need to do to get this job done? You see, we are so powerful. We are so capable. We can do. I can raise myself from the dead. I mean, can he? We talk like this. The American spirit, the indomitable spirit. Look, I can't be kept down. I can do all these things that I put my mind to. His question is a rhetorical question. He's not really thinking he can enter into the womb again and be reborn. It's more of a, yeah, right, I'll just go and get born again. I think that's what Nicodemus is doing here. I think he might be frustrated with Jesus's words. Remember that this phrase, born again, also can be translated as born from above. It is translated this way in other places. It is used in John's gospel. We brought these up last week. John 3.31 says, he who comes from above is above all. John 8.23 says you are from below. I am from above. John 19.11 says you would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above. Nicodemus should have understood the Lord's words and said, when Jesus says you must be born again or born from above, he should have said, ah, born from above. And it said, he goes born again. You see the difference in that? Born from above means the birth is coming down from heaven. Born again means like I'm doing something. And you'll notice too, when he says this, how can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter in a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? Implying what must I do? What must I do? Yet rather than think that he must be born from above, something he should have been thinking of as a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews, I just ask you this, friends, when in the history of Israel has Israel ever been delivered by their own strength? Never, never. How did God deliver the Israelites out of Egypt? By his strong arm, he says it. I will deliver you by my strength, Moses, not by your fist, smacking people around, but by my arm, I will bring you out. And he brings them through the final plague, the Red Sea crossing. He brings them through the Red Sea. Or how about the Midianites in Gideon? Gideon, you've got way too many soldiers. I don't need that many soldiers. Whittle them down, so from 30,000 down to 300. That'll about do it. And you remember how he wins? breaking pitchers, blowing trumpets for the Lord and for Gideon, and the Midianites turn on each other and slaughter each other. And Gideon wins. Actually, God wins, doesn't he? Or what about the Assyrians? 185,000 Assyrians die. And what was the great offensive weaponry of that defeat? It was Isaiah and Hezekiah praying. When in the history of God's people are they ever delivered by man's strength or wisdom or innovation? Never. Nicodemus should have understood this very thing. Jesus isn't saying to him, climb inside your mother's womb a second time and be born again. That makes no sense. I'm not saying that there's anything that you can do. And so Nicodemus takes it upon himself to think that it is something that he can do, and there is something he must do. And he proposes a silly question, perhaps demonstrating his frustration with Jesus and Jesus's answer to his answer to Nicodemus's unspoken question. Again, Nicodemus is wondering about the mechanics of this new birth, how it is accomplished, what he must do to accomplish it. And friends, this is the fundamental problem, his fundamental problem. He is still thinking there is something he can do as if the power and the ability reside in him. And that's many people today. But can't we? Can we? It's a mysterious thing. We do read in scripture this, in Acts 16, 30 and 31, sirs, what must I do to be saved? The Philippian jailer asked, and they said to him, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household. We read this and many believe that salvation begins with an effort on man's part. There must be something that he can do. Say this prayer, walk the aisle, meet the pastor at the altar, then you can finally come to know who Jesus Christ is. And so people place their confidence in a ritual, a performed action, a prayer. I asked Jesus into my heart, I walked the aisle, but they don't yet know Jesus Christ. But they are doing all of the right things that the church is telling them that they should do. All the right stuff. Just tell me what I have to do and I'll get it done. This, if I may state it this way, is the difference between being religious and being a Christian. I think that's the fundamental difference. And it's how we think salvation comes to us. And it's how we think that we can come to know Jesus Christ. If I just crack the Bible more, if I just devote myself more zealously to religious things, I will be a better Christian. And we've talked about that numerous times. What's a good Christian? I don't believe there is such a thing as a good Christian. You're either a Christian or you're not a Christian. You're either in Christ or you're not in Christ. And if you are in Christ, you're as good as you're ever going to get. Apart from the sanctification that continues on through your life, you're already declared righteous. No, I think Nicodemus is asking what he needs to do. He's thinking there must be something I can do. Don't tell me I can't see the kingdom of God and that I've got to wait for something or someone from outside of myself. These hands can accomplish what concerns me. And Jesus's point is these hands will only get you lost. They will damn you to hell. They will never be able to deliver your soul. And friends, that's much of evangelicalism today. Walk this aisle, you come down here and you can meet Jesus. Say this prayer and ask him into your heart. And so someone comes, it's hot in the sanctuary and he comes down and he says this prayer and the minister says, you've met Jesus today. And that man goes away saying, oh, glad that's over with. I'm glad I got that taken care of now. The pastor sends him a note and says, now, I expect to see you next Sunday, and you're going to be serving on the welcoming committee. And he comes in, and he's serving on the welcoming committee, and he does all the things that the pastor tells him. He does all the things that the church tells him he must do, and he's assured that he's in the Lord, and yet this dear man, poor man, never thinks twice about Jesus Christ. It's about what he has done, the aisle he has walked, the prayer he has prayed, the date, the name in the front of his Bible, that all reassure him that he belongs to the Lord, and the man has no heart for the Lord and wouldn't recognize Jesus Christ for anything. Why? Because he's never been born again. He fell through a religious program. Jesus says that a man cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born. The question is, then, how? How is it that he must be born again? And we read in verses 5 through 7 this. Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. For a man to enter into the kingdom of God, he must be born of water and the spirit. He must be born from above. Here, the Lord elaborates upon what he had said in verse three. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Again, beginning this statement with truly, truly, that is what he is about to say is trustworthy, is important, is quite certain. Unless one is born of water in the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. It doesn't matter who you are, your IQ, your background, your heritage, pedigree, Nicodemus, or someone else. One must be born of water and the spirit to enter into the kingdom of God, to see it, to enter into it, not only to recognize Jesus Christ, but to become his subject. You must be born of water and the spirit. Whereas he did say, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now he says, and notice he expands upon it. Unless one is born of water in the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What does it mean? What does it mean to be born of water and spirit? To be born properly means to have parents, to be beget children. Metaphorically, to be born means to engender, to cause, to rise, to excite. But here in John's gospel and in 1 John, it is conferring upon men the nature and disposition of his sons. This is from Thayer's lexicon. Again, he says, it is conferring upon men the nature and disposition of his sons, imparting to them spiritual life, imparting to them spiritual life, imparting to them spiritual life by his own holy power, prompting and persuading souls to put faith in Christ and live a new life consecrated to him. They are to be born. born of water and spirit." What are we to understand this to mean? And there's a plethora of different interpretations of this. Briefly, let me say, one individual will say that being born of water and spirit means a person is born naturally, the water we are to take is the amniotic fluid, and then he must be born of the spirit, the spirit of God as well. Another interpreter says that being born of water and spirit means a person must be baptized in Christian baptism by water and in the spirit. However, the problem with that is Nicodemus wouldn't have known anything about Christian baptism. He was only familiar with John's baptism, which leads us to a third understanding of water and spirit. It means a person must be born not of Christian baptism, but of John's baptism. John's baptism of repentance was important, but not sufficient. One must be born of water that is repent and be born of the spirit. And then a fourth understanding is of water and spirit. It means that one must be born of the spirit and not the ritual washings of the Essenes. Water and spirit, however, are not placed in opposition to one another, but in conjunction with one another. And there are a number of less influential proposals that have been advanced as well. One commentator, and I think this makes the most sense, he says it's the most plausible interpretation of born of water in the spirit turns on three factors. Listen closely. First, the expression is parallel to from above. A from above. And so only one birth is in view. Second, the preposition of governs both water and spirit. The most natural way of taking this construction is to see the phrase as a conceptual unity. So water and spirit is a unity here. You must be born of both of these things. And then third, Jesus berates Nicodemus for not understanding these things in his role as Israel's teacher, a senior professor of the scriptures. And this, in turn, suggests we must turn to what Christians call the Old Testament to begin to discern what Jesus had in mind. This phrase, born of water and the spirit, is not in the Old Testament. However, there are things in the Old Testament that would lead us to believe that this is correct. For instance in the Old Testament God refers to Israel as God's Son. So there is a spiritual begetting that's taking place in the Old Testament. Secondly, there is this strong connection between water and the Spirit in the Old Testament. We read in Ezekiel 36 25 through 27, listen to this, Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances." So we read this here. in Ezekiel 36, 25 through 27, where water and spirit come together so forcefully, says this commentator, the first to signify cleansing from impurity, and the second to depict the transformation of heart that will enable people to follow God wholly. In short, he says, born of water and spirit, Signals a new begetting a new birth that cleanses and renews the eschatological cleansing and renewal promised by the Old Testament prophets and that's why Nicodemus should have understood what Jesus was saying and he is he is not able to get this and understand it what Jesus is saying and The essential point being friends that the Lord must move upon us or there is no hope for us. This is what the Lord promised in the old Testament. And again, Nicodemus should have gotten it, but he doesn't get it. Salvation is of the Lord and the new birth comes by his spirit coming from him in heaven. He goes on further to explain to Nicodemus saying that that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Friends, understand that people give birth to people. Humans cannot give birth to anything other than people. Flesh begets flesh. But flesh does not and cannot beget spirit. Children of God are not brought forth from the flesh. Again, we must be born from above. And this is why Jesus says to Nicodemus, do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. This was a foreign concept to Nicodemus, and I dare say to many, many in the Lord's church who assume that coming and believing in Christ is the result of natural efforts and good dispositions in men. Have you ever known a man or a woman of good disposition who wants nothing of the Lord? Have you ever known a wretched man or a woman who came to faith in the Lord? Have you ever known somebody who came out of a background that wasn't Christian and they came to the Lord? And have you known any who were raised in the Lord, who walked away from the Lord? You have. Jesus gives further explanation here. Gives Nicodemus an illustration from creation, verse eight. Listen to what it says. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Here, Jesus is drawing an analogy now between wind and the Spirit of God. The wind blows where it wishes. You sure learn about this in Wyoming, don't we? No man can control the wind. As an aside, I've only known one who could control the wind, and he was in a boat with his disciples. And that one is spoken of in the Psalms, where the Lord speaks and he stops the wind, he calms the wind, or he causes the wind to come. Job would speak about how the Lord keeps his wind in the storehouses, and he commands it to go, and it goes. But no man No man can control the wind. We can't make it kick up, nor can we make it stop. All we can do is observe the effects of it. We see the dust kicked up off the streets. We watch the trees sway. We see waves form. We hear the wind chimes ring. It comes from one place, and it moves on to another place. And we have no idea from where to where it is going. The wind, in other words, is quite a mysterious thing. It cannot be controlled. We see its effects upon the earth around us. And Jesus says, so is everyone who is born of the spirit. We can't control and don't control the spirit of God, which makes me question the whole idea of we're going to bring on revival. We're going to set the times of revival. And God's going to show up. during the times of revival. You'll notice I pray often that the Lord would move upon us. I don't command the Spirit of God. I ask the Lord for his blessing and for him to move in his good pleasure. We can't manipulate the Spirit of God. We can't call him down. We can't make him do anything. But at the direction of the Father, the Spirit comes and makes alive what was dead. Now listen to Titus 3.5 and what Paul says. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. You see, that's Nicodemus. What can I do? But according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, he saved us by his spirit, applying to us his grace, the washing, water, and renewing by the spirit, water and spirit. It's a sovereign gift, my friends. Salvation is a sovereign gift from the Lord. And Nicodemus doesn't recognize, he doesn't see Jesus yet. He has not come under the authority, the lordship of Jesus Christ as king of that kingdom. What does it take? It takes an act of God. A man, a woman, a child, out of seemingly nowhere, is awakened to his sin, his need of deliverance, to the reality of who Jesus Christ is, and he gives up all this world to have Jesus and to be his own. I was walking through a Sears store years ago in Fort Wayne, Indiana, making quick business, go in, buy what I want, and get out of there. And as I'm trying to exit the store, there's a middle-aged woman with her four- or five-year-old son walking behind. I'm walking behind them. And I'm appropriately spaced from them, but I can hear them talking. And the mother's walking with her son His hand is in hers, and he's just talking away about Jesus Christ. And he's saying, Mommy, did you know? And he goes on. He's just talking away, talking. And I wanted to stop this woman and say, pay attention to what's going on here. You don't always see the wind. You don't see the wind, but you see the effects of it. And you see someone who's a little boy who's typically, they're thinking about trucks. They're thinking about their friends. They're thinking about eating. This little boy was talking about the Lord. That's the movement of the spirit of God working in someone's life. That's how the Lord works, friends. Your salvation is not dependent upon you. Your salvation is dependent upon God. And much of the evangelical church misses that. And I think it shows by how we don't worship, or how careless we are, how pathetic our thanksgiving is unto the Lord. What are we supposed to do with this kind of information? First, I would say, and I'm wrapping it up. First, I would say, friends, we ought always give incredible thanks for his amazing grace to us. We ought to be giving thanks to him because we know we had nothing to do with our salvation. It is all a gift of God. that has come from above. If you're sitting in here this morning and you know Jesus Christ, you know Jesus Christ because Christ set his love upon you and he called you by his spirit. He brought life to you. Secondly, because of this, don't be haughty toward non-believers. You would not know Jesus Christ had you not been born from above. And so we ought to be the most humble of people because we know that we deserve hell. And instead, we were given the blessing of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Third, we must rest in his unfailing love for us, because we didn't achieve salvation in our own effort, nor will we lose it if we should fail. Can I say that again? We must rest in his unfailing love for us, We didn't achieve salvation in our own efforts, nor will we lose it if you should fail. Christians often fail. We fall into sin. But there is forgiveness, and Christ has secured salvation for his people. When we are faithless, the Lord himself remains faithful. Fourth, pray. Pray that the Lord would move upon our unsaved family members. Pray that the Lord would move upon our neighbors. Pray that the Lord would move upon this nation by his spirit to awaken us to our need of him and call us to himself. And finally, friends, continue to speak of the Lord Jesus to the world around us, because the Lord uses the means of the word going forward by his spirit to awaken people to their need of Jesus Christ. That's what we do with this information. There's no boasting, no pride. It's just we are humble recipients of the grace of the Lord. And the work that he has done, he has promised he will complete on this meal as a testimony to this very thing, because one day this meal will be obsolete. Because when we reach heaven, we will no longer need this because we will be with the Lord himself and he will see it done. Let's pray. We thank you, Father, again for your word and for your faithfulness and pray that your blessing will be upon us, your people, upon this meal. We thank you for the salvation that you have accomplished on our behalf, recognizing that Nicodemus did not have the capacity to save himself, nor do we. We thank you for the new birth. We thank you for the birth that is from above, the birth that brings cleansing and renewal in our hearts, a regeneration, an enlivening of what was once dead. We pray, Father, that Our love for you would deepen as we understand your incredible grace towards us. Bless this time, bless this meal, and bless us. Now we ask in Jesus' name, amen.