May 25, 2026 - The Gospel of Luke - Week 5 - Silencer

Highland Christian Church - Asheville, NC

Communicator - Jason Garris

Luke 4:31-41 - "Jesus refuses to let the enemy voices speak." Jesus exercises authority and restores truth by refusing to let the wrong voices define Him. 

Transcript

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And in a short and subtle way, Luke is saying the Sabbath work of Jesus, this new creation, messes up all the plans of all the other kingdoms on the earth. Jesus' presence will confront all of our thoughts, all of our patterns, all of the teachings we hold dear to, all of the things that we love that destroy us. He shows up and interferes with those things when the kingdom of God is being declared and revealed. Jesus is not on the defense. Neither is his church. We interfere with the plans of the enemy when we obey Jesus. And on behalf of our team, I just wanted to say thanks for taking some time to journey with us through the scripture. Our hope is that these words would cause you to think carefully about this Jesus we proclaim and that you would choose to trust him in your day-to-day. And as always, if you're in the Asheville area, whether you live here or you're visiting, we'd love for you to come join us at the corner of Livingston and Depot Street in person at the Dr. Wesley Grant Senior Southside Center. Our prayer is that God's words would equip you for every good work that He's prepared for you to do today. So one of the th one of the videos that I'm kind of a sucker for on the internet is day in the life videos, like day in the life of doctors or uh athlete. Like I love watching behind-the-scenes stuff of an athlete's routine through the day. Like it's just fascinating to me. Day in the life videos are something that I'm interested in because it's like the behind-the-scenes stuff. Like you're used to somebody seeing them out in public, doing their thing, but what's the routine? What's the behind the scenes? What's the closed doors? What's going on behind the cameras and behind the lights and the makeup and all the stuff that's happening? We are, in fact, as uh Miss Angie alluded to, looking at a day in the life of Jesus. This is just one day. And and Luke is describing it for us. The cameras are rolling, there's no highlights. This is all the behind the scenes from morning to night. Luke 4 gives us a picture of something. And my question to us today is if this is what Jesus is capable of in one day, could we be underestimating what he is capable of in our lives? Is it possible that you in this room could seriously be underestimating what Jesus is capable of? I mean, I would say yes in my own life. I hear the same things you do. I see the same articles blasting Christians. I see the same people saying I walked away from the church. I see the same same videos that you see. I see this, I hear the same words you hear. I hear the same people with their arguments against Christianity. I hear all of it. Could we be severely underestimating what Jesus is capable of? That's where we have to start this morning. Jesus has just defeated the leader of the opposition, the devil in the wilderness, right? He did not fail. Like there's so many people going, is Jesus just gonna be some guy who's gonna let us down just like everybody else did? Adam let us down, Israel failed, prophets are failing, all these guys that are labeling themselves prophets are failing, all this quiet and silence, and now there's these folks who are coming out of the wilderness saying they're the Messiah, and then their rebellion gets shut down and Rome squashes them, they fail us. Somehow, Jesus doesn't fail. He makes it through. He defeats the enemy in the wilderness. And then last week, as Tim was bringing, as Tim spoke about Luke, he announces what is actually happening in the world while he reads the scroll of Isaiah, that God's spirit is on him and he's bringing good news and freedom to the poor and to the oppressed. And now we're gonna see that announcement and his authority at work. Jesus shows up at a synagogue, which is a place for Jewish people to go and worship in Capernaum to affirm his teaching in Nazareth. So Jesus teaches, then he does. There's this incredible combination that Jesus is this walking picture of his teaching and then his miracles. And there are a ton of people who are like, well, I just think that people need to know Jesus was compassionate. No, not just compassionate. He actually taught with an authority that was unlike the world had ever seen. And to back up that authority, miracles. Right? It's easy for a dude to stand up and say some stuff. It's really hard for a dude to do some stuff. And Jesus does both. And so his teaching are connected to his miracles. So we need both the compassion and the teaching of Christ. Jesus walks in as the great physician of his creation. And this is early in Jesus' ministry, and Luke walks us through a full day. In the morning, he's teaching in the synagogue. Um, I've got a couple of pictures I got to go to, uh, and it's it's actually kefarnum. It's it that's how they say it, but it's that's the Hebrew connection, kefar and Nahum. Uh Kafar is just like village. Nahum is actually means comfort or consolation, and so it's literally called the village of comfort or consolation. So it's interesting that this is Jesus' home base of operation, right? And so there's tons of people that just flood into this place. But there's a couple of things that are really cool that are on display if you go there today. Not a working village, very much a tourist spot, pilgrimage type of place. Uh but one of the things is there's a fourth-century synagogue that's on that's built there, but underneath it is a first century synagogue that they have revealed, and they call it the synagogue of Jesus. And so there's a fourth century synagogue. You can still see kind of how they worked through history and built things on top of, and then there's the synagogue of Jesus, and it was actually sponsored by a Roman centurion to build that synagogue. It's interesting that Jesus chooses to go to a place that has a synagogue that was actually funded by a Roman centurion who believed God. Luke does these things on purpose. He's stirring up this thought that God only works the way I want him to or I think he should. So it's not a coincidence that Jesus shows up in Capernaum and he teaches in a synagogue funded by a Roman centurion. Verse 31. Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue every Sabbath day. There too the people were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority. Once, when he was in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon, an evil, some of your translations may say unclean spirit, cried out, shouting, Go away! Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus reprimanded him, Be quiet, come out of the man, he ordered. At that the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched, then it came out of him without hurting him further. Amazed the people exclaimed, What authority and power this man's words possess! Evil, even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command. The news about Jesus spread through every village in the entire region. Capernaum's also famous as it's the calling place of Peter and Andrew, James, John, and Matthew. So a lot of ministry, a lot of calling, a lot of things that people did not expect happened in this space. Jesus is teaching, and the people are struck, not by just what he says. Luke says they were amazed because he spoke with an authority, unlike other teachers. Typically in traditional rabbinic teaching, these guys would unpack, they would unroll the scroll, they would teach, and they would say, Well, Rabbi so-and-so says this, Rabbi so-and-so says this, Rabbi so-and-so says this, then they put the scroll back up and they'd all go home. There wasn't actually any application to what I should do with this with my life. It was just a quoting of other rabbis' opinions about what the scriptures said, the interpretation and how we should think about it, and how we should look at it this way. And it was always opinion-based, but something about Jesus brought authority. And the people noticed, they were like, we see it. It's different. Something about him is different. Then everything gets interrupted. A man in the room begins to shout, and it becomes clear this isn't just a disruption or a question being asked. There is something deeper going on. Now, to the Greeks who might have been reading Luke's gospel, they would hear a demon, right? To them, it wasn't necessarily good or bad. To hear demon, it's it's a word that's kind of comes from that demigod kind of idea where you would be possessed by a good or an evil spirit, or you could be godlike. That's really when you would hear that phrase demon, that's what they would think. So Luke adds an interesting phrase in the ESV, may have it, your translation may say, an unclean spirit. The reason he does that is because there were people who wanted the power of the gods. They wanted to be powerful. And you will actually see like words in Luke's gospel. People were like, we want to do the works too of God. And that's when Jesus answered, the only work he wants is you to believe, right? So there were people who were like, ooh, a demon, I want a demon, right? You and you wouldn't think that way. You wouldn't be like, oh, that's bad. For him, though, there were people who would be like more distracted, going, ooh, a demon-filled guy, how did he get that power, right? And so to keep them from wanting that, he's like an unclean spirit. Unclean was something every culture understood. It was something that would disconnect you from the gods if you were Greek or from God if you were Jewish. It moved you out of divine favor or blessing. So he's trying to say it's a bad thing. This thing is controlling him and it's hurting him and it's evil and it's unclean. Something to take note of here, it's not just Jesus doing a good job on the Sabbath, but that the demon asks Jesus an interesting question. He says, Why are you interfering with us? I love that question. So often we think of demons or evil or trouble interfering with our plans. But here, the demons know when the kingdom of God shows up, it's 100% interfering with the kingdom of darkness and Satan's limited reign. How many of you see yourselves as interrupters? Because that's what we are as followers of Jesus. When we announce his words, we interrupt the enemy's plans for other people's lives. When we announce his works through his comp through our compassion and our kindness and our loving of our enemies, we are interrupting the other kingdoms and spirits at work on the earth. Way too often, we're like, well, I'm just defending, and the enemy's interfering with what I'm trying to do. That's not how Jesus walked. When Jesus showed up, the enemy was like, Why are you interfering with our plans? Right? If if past interference is called in football, right, whether it's defensive or offensive, what is the call? It's because whatever player is that foul is being called on has interfered with that player getting done what they're supposed to be doing. That's what this demon is doing. This demon's like, flag on the play, Jesus, you're interfering. Quit interfering with us. What's up with this? We know who you are, right? They start trying to talk trash. And in a short and subtle way, Luke is saying the Sabbath work of Jesus, this new creation, messes up all the plans of all the other kingdoms on the earth. Jesus' presence will confront all of our thoughts, all of our patterns, all of the teachings we hold dear to, all of the things that we love that destroy us. He shows up and interferes with those things when the kingdom of God is being declared and revealed. Jesus is not on the defense. Neither is his church. We interfere with the plans of the enemy when we obey Jesus. I don't know how else to say it. That is what he's invited us to be a part of. This unclean spirit speaks through this man. I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Now just imagine Sunday morning worship. You're just sitting. You came for a normal Sabbath, normal time of worship, normal time of prayer. You expected a scripture reading. Instead, the room is suddenly pulled back, and you are seeing something you cannot explain. What do you do? What are you thinking? Where's your heart? Where's your head in that moment? What does Jesus do? No panic? No theatrics? No drawn-out ritual? He simply says to the demon, shut it, come out of him. I mean, to see authority like that at work immediately, completely, and it says the man is left unharmed, which is a key note, because you've all seen the movies, right? Whenever there's an exorcist or a shaman or a ritual, right? What does the what does the demon do? It thrashes them around, it rips them apart emotionally and mentally and physically, it leaves them very scarred. But not with Jesus. Just think about that for a second. Jesus doesn't struggle with evil. He doesn't negotiate with evil. He doesn't need time to build up his momentum, get into a rhythm. He speaks and evil obeys. I had a student teacher one time, and I felt so bad. My empathy radar is really high. Like, so when somebody's going through it, I almost feel like I'm going through it. So I get embarrassed. I had a student teacher when I was a junior, and it was the worst, worst experience ever. I mean, dude's pit stains were like all down his shirt. He would get that dry mouth when he was teaching because he was so nervous. And it was just so bad. It was couldn't control the room, and my class just bulldozed over him. And I just felt so bad. I wanted to leave the class. It was so embarrassing. Because I'm like, I'm not even the guy. The guy, this is awful for him. And that's why I'm glad student teaching exists, because it should reveal you should not be a teacher, right? That's part of it. But this dude had zero control. But my our science teacher who would step out of the room and we would lose our minds, when he would step back in, he was like, Y'all sit down. And everyone was like, right? Everybody knew he had control over that classroom. He did not play. And we knew it. See, I and this is where I like for us, we have never not many of us have seen a demonized person. Okay? Some of you may have, but some of you have not. But we all know what authority looks like in one way or another. We know it when we see it. Like, this is different. People are paying attention. People are listening. This dude carries himself different. And demons responded. Jesus doesn't negotiate with evil because he's not another teacher trying to manage a classroom. He's actually the creator of the universe entering into his creation. And one of the many ways first century Jewish people believe that the kingdom of God would show itself was by the overcoming of demonic forces. Jesus later addresses this thought in Luke 11, verse 20. He says, But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the kingdom of God has arrived among you. Jesus' handling of evil was a tangible way. That's a box that they could check that he was actually the Messiah. Now there were a lot of other boxes that he would need to check, and he actually checks them all, but this was one of them. Does he handle evil and destroy it? Like, does evil have a chance against him? And the answer is no. Now here's where this starts to press on us a bit. It may have to. In our world, we tend to explain everything in categories that we are comfortable with. Stress, trauma, personality traits, unhealthy habits. All those things are real. All those things matter. But this passage points us to the fact there are realities deeper than what we can measure or diagnose. There are supernatural forces at work that aim to enslave, distort, and destroy. And those things, those things don't need to be managed. They need authority over them. Christ brings that authority. Think about how often people say phrases like this. You've probably thought these phrases. Addiction cycles, destructive habits, patterns that seem to choke or tighten their grip on your life over time. I've heard people describe it that way. Like I just can't, I can't get free. Like that's what they'll say. I'm like, hmm, interesting. What Jesus come to do? Bring freedom. Well, I feel like I'm just being choked by this thing. Hmm. Distortion and destruction. Hmm. Whose plan is that? Hmm. We don't simply need to manage these things. We need an authority greater than those things over these things. What if Jesus actually does have that authority? What if he has authority over that thing that is so uncomfortable in your life? Not just in theory, not just back in the day, but right now. What if he has the authority to break those chains? What if he has the authority to break that family narrative that you've believed for so long? What if he has the authority to break that addiction, that cycle of addiction, or that predisposed thing that your family line has right up all in it, all the way up to you? What if he has the authority to break it? Could you be underestimating just how powerful God is? That's just the morning, folks. That's just the morning. Then Luke gives us a picture into a home in verse 38. After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon's home where he found Simon's mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. Please heal her, everyone begged. Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them. In Capernaum, you can actually go to Peter's house. There's this church thing like looks like a spaceship built over it. It's pretty crazy, the tourists kind of feel, but the the I uh the church just kind of built this space around it to protect it. So you can kind of walk around it, but they actually found Peter's home. And they can tell it was his home because uh as they moved more into the apostolic period of the church, they actually can see where the rooms, there were three courtyards to his to his house. Two of those courtyards were actually moved into a space that would house uh a house church. And you could tell by what with the plaster that was formed around the rocks and all this different stuff. Uh, but if you go to the next slide, that's actually the the door into Peter's house. Like they found Peter's house, and they they have it, it's right there, and you can see it. It's pretty insane to go and watch. Now, um, I love the chosen, the show The Chosen. It's a lot of fun, it's a lot of great, it's great content. Uh I haven't finished it, so please don't tell me how it ends. Um but one of the places the chosen may have gotten it wrong, one of the chosen ways may have gotten it wrong, is most scholars would suggest Peter's wife. Was dead. And it's because of this passage. Like, I know she's alive and she's great in the show, but they suggest that number one, she's not mentioned in scripture ever for anything, even in this moment. Because if Peter's wife was alive, the mother-in-law would not be living in Peter's house. They would have gone to the mother-in-law's house to heal her. And this is one of the key reasons most people are like, I think Peter's wife was no longer living at this time. And this would be one of the traditions that would kind of have reinforced that thought. So, not meaning to poo-poo on the chosen. Again, I love it, but sometimes context and study and cultures and all that stuff kind of helps us draw conclusions. Now, I'm not saying it's 100%. I am just saying that this is one of the reasons most scholars would believe Peter's wife is never mentioned, and this is why. So we just saw something intense and public, and now it's small and personal, easily overlooked. Now, Jesus could have been the guy who all he did was stuff in big settings where he knew there was a crowd, where he knew there were some folks, but he doesn't. He goes right into a place where it's private and small. What does Jesus do there? He goes to her, he stands over her, he rebukes the fever, and immediately she's restored. Not gradually, not partially, fully. Some of you have recovered from sickness before, and it takes a while for you to ramp back up. Peter's mother-in-law gets up and immediately begins to serve. Now, this is a this I love this note. Uh Luke has a tendency, as you will read all through his gospel, of showing the new form of leadership that Jesus brings into the world. And it's through service. And one of the greatest things that Luke does that you would catch on to if you were a first century, second century listener, is Luke typically shows how women understand Jesus' new form of leadership, and it's contrasted to men not getting it constantly through Luke's gospel. You're gonna see women who get the leadership position that Jesus talks about, and it's going to sh kind of probably come up around a time a man doesn't get it. And he's doing that on purpose. He's flipping the script on the way people view men and women. And it's a wonderful journey if you're willing to go on it with Luke. But in this moment, he doesn't just confront demons in public, he steps into a home. And here, not all sickness is spiritual. Luke is a doctor, but in this text, he actually says that Jesus rebukes the sickness. Luke may be implying that the sickness was some kind of spirit hindering her health. Think about the kinds of things people carry quietly: chronic pain, anxiety, exhaustion, family situations that are stuck. Not everything is loud and obvious, folks. Some of the deepest struggles we walk through are invisible and behind closed doors. And this moment asks a very different question. What if Jesus sees the thing that no one else notices? And what if Jesus has the authority to step into it? Not just your big public crisis, but the thing that's behind the doors. The early church leader Jerome said it this way May Christ come to our house and enter in and by his command cure the fever of our sins. Each one of us is sick with a fever. Whenever I give way to anger, I have a fever. There are as many fevers as there are faults and vices that Jesus might come to us and touch our hand. If he does so at once, our fever is gone. So in the morning he confronts evil. Afternoon, he restores someone, and then the sun goes down. Verse 40 As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed everyone. Many were possessed by demons, and the demons came out at his command, shouting, You are the Son of God, but because they knew he was the Messiah, he rebuked them and refused to let them speak. Have you ever had one of those days when you've given everything you have? You've worked every moment, you handled every problem. And as soon as you sit down, someone says, Hey, can I ask you one more thing? Right, we're all kind of chuckling, but we hate it. We know what it means that this is the moment Jesus is in, right? Like his morning has been chaos, his afternoon has been Jesus pleased more. And then all the good Sabbath-keeping Jewish people were just waiting in their houses to step out. As soon as it got dark, as soon as that sun went down, we're running, right? And then you can hear the stampedes coming, right? Can you imagine being Jesus knowing what's coming? Can you imagine being the disciples who had no clue? The disciples are just kind of sitting there going, is there an earthquake happening? What's happening? Why is it? Why is the ground shaking? Jesus, right? And here they come, right? Bringing all their sick, bringing all the hurting to Jesus. And he doesn't run out. Limited time, we feel, limited energy, we feel, limited patience, we feel. Even when we care, right, you still run out. Jesus is not here. He's not overwhelmed and he's not depleted. And at sunset, as Miss Angie described, word had spread. And now people are coming from everywhere. Practicing Jewish people, the sick, the hurting, possessed, the desperate. Can you picture the line? Like if this is happening at Peter's house, and like there's just this line going to Peter's house. And like all these people who've got a sick person with them or a hurting person with them or a desperate person with them, and this line is headed to meet with Jesus, and this line keeps getting shorter. And maybe your next door neighbor, they used to walk with a limp, but now they're walking out fully restored. And you're still in the line going, please don't let this line close up. Please don't let them, please don't let this line be done. Please don't let Jesus get tired and be finished. Please, please let me keep going. And the line keeps moving and it's getting closer and you're getting closer to the door. Do you think your heart starts beating and racing a little differently? Like, could there be hope? Could this actually be the touch that I need, that my friend needs? I've been praying for my wife for 10 years to be healed, and nobody can help her, but yet here I am with Jesus, and in an instant, can you imagine? Could he heal my situation? So watch it happening. What does Jesus do? He doesn't withdraw, he lays hands on every one of them. Every one of them. This is not just power, Luke wants you to see. He wants you to see willingness. Right? It would be a terrible thing if Jesus was had all power and all authority, but completely unwilling to do anything. Right? It would be awful. That would be the worst compare, like combo in the world. Completely powerful, all authority, not willing to do anything. But not with Jesus. Luke paints a picture of God not only powerful with all authority, but with complete and total compassion, willing to pour himself out. Luke's goal isn't just to prompt amazement. Luke's goal is to cause us to ask the question: who is this Jesus? Who with his voice and with his touch can do away with foes as strong as the devil and unclean demons? And as a personal sickness, he sends it. Demons and fevers, men and women, children being healed. What does this all mean? That's what we should be asking as we read these texts. What does this mean? And ultimately, how will I respond to what I know? I told you about Capernaum. A lot of stuff happened. In fact, the whole village may be potentially healed. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know how many people were sick or dying or distressed, but it says Jesus touched them all in this moment. Yet, sadly, the town of Capernaum shows up later in Luke's gospel. And they don't get a glowing recommendation from Jesus. Jesus has to address the hardness of their hearts to believe, even though they had seen such miracles among them. Luke 10, verse 15, and you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No. You will go down to the place of the dead. Then he said to the disciples, Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me, and anyone who rejects you is rejecting me, and anyone who rejects me is rejecting God who sent me. Capernaum got to see all the things. How many of you have probably thought, well, if I could just see God do a miracle, then I'd believe. No, you wouldn't. The number of times Jesus addresses unbelief just after people see miracles is fascinating. This is why Jesus' word and his miracles and his identity, all three of those things matter to the believer. And it helps us answer the question, what will I do? This moment is forcing us to ask, if there is no limit to his willingness to meet me where I am, Luke is saying, How will you respond? And this is just the beginning, folks. This is the beginning of Luke's ministry, to of describing Jesus' ministry. Moments of Jesus pushing back darkness, one life at a time, all leading to the cross, where he will deal with evil and sin and death fully. So a couple of questions for you to consider this morning. What do you believe Jesus is able to do? I can't answer that for you. But you can. And I'm telling you right now, it's better to be honest with him than to just come up with a religious answer. What do you believe he's able to do? Where have you quietly settled? This won't change. This can't change. This is just how it is. Just bring it to him. Just bring it. Just like the folks at the end of the day did. As they saw people continually being transformed, could it be something he could do in my life? Now the band is gonna play, and I'd like to do something a little different today. So if everyone would stand. Today is what many Christians around the world celebrate is Pentecost Sunday. It's 50 days after Jesus is risen from the dead and the Christians were all together up in a room praying together, maybe very similar-sized group of people, I don't know, waiting for their helper Jesus. He said, Don't go anywhere until I send the helper. Today is the day we remember him sending that helper. Today is the day we remember him celebrating, us celebrating him sending his spirit. And here's the good news of Pentecost. The spirit that rested on Jesus in Luke chapter 4 has now been poured out on his church. The same Holy Spirit that anointed Jesus to proclaim good news, bring freedom to the oppressed, and push back darkness has not been withdrawn from our world. When Jesus ascended, he said, I'm going so I can send the helper. So on Pentecost, God did not simply send us a message, he sent us himself. And maybe that's what some of you in this room could use some more of than anything else today. You don't need another religious idea, you don't need another self-help strategy, you don't need another conversation with ChatGPT, not another promise that we'll try harder tomorrow. What you need is the presence and the power of God. It's that simple. Some of us need Jesus' authority over the things you've been carrying for years. Some of us need Jesus to step into the quiet places that nobody has seen. Some of us need hope that God's not done writing our story yet. Pentecost reminds us that God is still pouring out his spirit on ordinary people. Hungry, ordinary people. So please, today, don't leave here merely admiring Jesus. Come to Jesus. Like, I get that you want to think about him as he's cool, he's good. Come to him. Bring him the thing you've settled on. Bring him the thing you've stopped praying about. Bring him the thing that feels too big, too broken, too far gone. Because if this is what one day in Jesus' life looked like, imagine what God can do in a life fully surrendered to him. So as we pray, we're gonna pray something together, and I wanna invite you to open your hands before the Lord. You can do like this. I mean, if you're extreme, you may do this. Either way, right? Whatever. You can hold them out like this, or you can hold them like this. Either way, it's a sign of surrender. And if you're one who's like, I wanna surrender again today. I just want to surrender to his spirit. There's a prayer that we're gonna pray together. And I'd love for you to just close your eyes and then you can just repeat after me. You don't have to read off the screen. But close your eyes, see yourself standing in the line, moving towards Jesus, who's healing people actively, and they're walking by you, whole and restored, made new, skipping and jumping and laughing, excited in ways they've never thought they could be. Would you say these words to him? Lord Jesus, pour out your spirit on me again. Come with your authority, come with your compassion. Come to the places where I need freedom, healing, courage, and hope. Fill me with the same spirit that empowered you. And make us people through whom your kingdom comes and your will is done. Holy Spirit, we welcome you. As the the team leads us in worship as we close out. There's in in the book of Hebrews, it actually calls the laying on of hands a foundational doctrine. The church doesn't really need to do much teaching on because it's been done for so long. And in the book of Acts, you see people laying hands on people and people being filled with the Holy Spirit, just saying, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so as the band plays, we're gonna have some folks standing around the front of the room. Um Rob Sopek, uh Angie, would you be available to read? Myself. Uh we'll just be kind of along the sides of the room. And if you're just like, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and I would love a believer to pray for that for me, this is an opportunity to do that. We're just doing something that the author of Hebrews says is a basic, foundational beginner's teaching for a Christian. So we're just gonna be obedient to that. And if you're at a place where you're like, hey, I just want the spirit to fill me up, but I really want to surrender enough to the point where I'm asking for another believer to pray this over me. We'd love to do that with you while they lead us. Father, we thank you for the power of your spirit and that you don't mess around, that you come with authority and power unlike anything we've ever seen, but you come with a willingness to give yourself away. Fill your church. Fill us up. It's in your name we pray. We just wanted to say thank you for listening to the Highland Christian Church Podcast today. And if you ever want to connect with us, send prayer requests, ask questions, or for any other reason, you can visit our website, www.highlandchristian.com, or you can send us an email at info at highlandchristian.com. God bless you guys.