What is Obedience? (John 14:21)
Today we will receive the word What is Obedience. Everyone wants to obey God’s word. Morally there’s nobody who wants to disobey God’s word. But there’s something that prevents us from obeying God’s word, that’s what you call preoccupation. Where does this concept come from? This preoccupation comes from our experience and wisdom. And because of this preoccupation, we have to choose but to receive God’s word accordingly. And there are stereotypes. We all have stereotypes. It’s this determination we make, and we try to judge all of our lives according to this determination. And then there’s prejudice, all of us have something like this. But where does this come from? Ultimately the person called myself, the ought the experiences and knowledge we have, all of this come from our own viewpoints. And because of these things we look at God’s word incorrectly. Then what’s going to happen? Even if I want to obey, I cannot.
And there’s been a lot of sermons from different churches, and even these things can be things we can get caught up in where we can’t obey and enjoy God’s word. There’s this theology that emphasizes the diligence of mankind. There are sermon instead of emphasizing God’s grace, it emphasizes the actions of mankind. And if you keep listening to sermons like this, it will eventually become a blockage to you. So for example, if you keep hearing the words that “You do not receive salvation by God’s grace, but your action,” and you keep listening to these words, then you cannot receive God’s word accurately. And people who come from prespitarian churches emphasize the actions that come from the word a lot. And so other Christians focus on holiness. And so there’s a prosperity based faith, where they try to receive something. They’re trying to experience something.
There are sermons like this, even though it might seem accurate it is not accurate, so even if I want to follow after the word of God, I cannot. And some people receive the sermons from the churches and then when it comes from another portion of their lives, they cannot follow God’s word. And so you have to go into the field, and you have to heal the people that encounter there but you have to understand that everybody has something like this. Before I met Jesus Christ, I went to a lot of strikes.
And before I was accurately enjoying Christ, I went to the Philippines and the entire nation was crumbling. And based on my experiences I saw that the President was making a mess of things, but the college students were standing idly but I had this ideology that we have to do something about it. And so this is where I was kind of believing and not believing, and because of my experiences I was able to see this. And there are people who relentlessly go toward success, it doesn’t matter what they have to give up. And so even though they are looking at the word of God, they are thinking about, “How can I use this to receive success, and money,” so they cannot follow after the word of God accurately.
And there are people who think money is everything. And so when people like this look at the Bible, they only see these things. So God’s word is complete but we have this result where we cannot follow this complete word of God.
We read the word John 14:21-24 it says, “Those who keep my command are those who love me.” So God says that we pretty much have to obey His word in order for Him to know we love him. Now if you misunderstand this, you might think, “If I don’t follow his commands, I don’t love him.” However, what he’s actually saying is, if you love God, if you love Jesus Christ you have no choice but to follow his commands. So the more you know Jesus Christ, the more we’re going to be able to obey God’s word.
In order for us to know Jesus Christ, we have to know the state of mankind. If you had not understand who you are and what state you’re in, even if you hear about Jesus Christ, you won’t be able to completely understand or enjoy it. You have to know and acknowledge that mankind is deceived by Satan and is loving under sin and Satan, living in a hellish place. If you do now acknowledge this, then Jesus Christ would not come to you as an answer. So you have to acknowledge that I too was in this spiritual state. If I do not acknowledge that I am in this state, then even if I cry Jesus Christ I’ll only be stuck in these things, so my starting point is incorrect. And if my starting point is correct, my walk of faith will be incorrect.
Even if we constantly listen to the word, it’s not going to fit with me. So in the beginning I have acknowledged that I am completely trapped in these three things. But the more I’m not able to acknowledge this, the more with my own experience and knowledge, I am calling myself a sinner, or a big difficulty has to come, like if you have physical illness, or mental problem, then only then you say Jesus Christ. That isn’t the correct beginning. You cannot have the correct beginning.
How do you confess? You have to confess and acknowledge that even though I lived diligently, and to my head nest of my abilities, I was loving trapped my sin, Satan, and hell. Why is that important? Because if you do not acknowledge this, then you’re going to emphasize yourself. Because I listen to the word of with my prejudice, preoccupations, and my biases, I am not able to follow the accurate word of God. And if the beginning point is incorrect, then the more you go it’s going to be incorrect. What’s a characteristic of someone who does this? “I listen to the word, but why is the word not aligned with me?” But it’s because they began the starting point without knowing who they were. If you know who I am, then I have no choice but to hold onto the incident of the cross, Only Christ.
These three problems cannot be solved without Jesus Christ, legally, these three things have come to an end, but spiritually it may continue. Isn’t that correct? Because your state of disobeying God, and continuously deceived by Satan can continue. So the beginning point is so important. To love Jesus Christ, to love the incident of the Christ means I know what kind of person I am. So even if you love diligently, you cannot escape from yourself. No matter how much you widen your thoughts, you’re only centered in yourself. You cannot know anything outside of what you already experienced. And so the world values that that person has is only based on things they know.
So material possession centred ness. There are only the boundaries of material possessions this person knows about. For example, let’s say someone encounters billions of dollars, then that is the limit which he can encounter that money. But because they’re looking at the word of God through their own limitations, it doesn’t align with them.
Success. Slats say for example, you got good grade, and went to a good school, and people look at you and think you succeed, people can’t look beyond this, and people think this is everything. So you ahem to come out of this center. And that is what it means to love Jesus Christ, and if you love Jesus Christ, you’re able to obey God’s word. Every week we receive the word. But why is it that we don’t follow after the word? It’s because I love myself more, I love money more, I love my plans more. So the word is word and me is me. Then what’s going to happen? Then the result is that the family line flow will be directly passed on to you. And so the flow of your family line will never change. So no matter how Koch success you have, no matter how much money you have, you’re going to be stuck in that family line.
Sot the first point. We must discover God’s will before we can obey, what is God’s will? The first thing is we must know the order. So what is the first thing we must do?
(1)Matthew 5:24
In Matthew 5:24 it says, “First reconcile with your brothers before coming to the altar. That means if you’re fighting and if you’re divided with someone, you won’t be able to worship. Why do you fight? It’s because you’re asserting yourself. You’re wrong and I am correct, that’s why you fight. One person has to give it up, but they’re both fighting for themselves. So, the Word is telling us to not fight. That means they are not following after the Word, but they are following after their own assertions.
(2) Matthew 6:33
Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. Success, money, the things of myself, everything, let go of all of those things and first seek God’s Kingdom and righteousness. You have to have this correct priority for God’s Word to be aligned with you. God’s Word is God’s Word, but it doesn’t match with me right now. I believe in Jesus Christ but this Word is not aligned with me right now, and it’s because you have the incorrect priority; your priority has been switched.
You must think of people as very precious. We say to ourselves, “We only need God, we don’t need anyone else,” but God says, if you’re actually divided and fighting with others, you are not going to be able to worship. Why is money and success important for us? God says, first seek God’s Kingdom and righteousness. Success and material possessions and everything else will follow from this, so you have to have this correct priority for you to obey God’s Word.
(3) Matthew 7:4-5
Do not be a hypocrite. Before you try to take the speck of dust out of your brother’s eye, take the plank out of your own eye first. And some people just talk about other people’s faults because they don’t think they have their own, but what’s going to happen if you keep looking at everyone’s faults? God is saying, change your priority, before you look at the faults of others, look at your own faults, first. If you’re the church, you’ll be able to see other people’s faults. You may be able to see this, but there’s something bigger within you, and you must speak after receiving the correct priority first, then you will see there’s no reason to judge others, and this is something that God is going to take care of, not you. God is telling you to look at your own faults, first.
(4) 1 John 5:14
If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, so we have to have this correct order, why is it like that?
2) God’s Will
You just have to know that all things are done according to God‘s will. So there’s nothing to fight about, because the other people’s assertions are not aligned with God, but because they don’t acknowledge this, they keep trying to make their own spassertions, not even realizing their own assertions are incorrect as well. Ultimately everything works out according to God’s will, and if you let them be, everything will go in the direction of God’s will. There are personalities that say, “I have to do something to fix it,” but those are actually the troublemakers, why? Because what about yourself? You can’t even look at your own faults, but when they receive criticism from others, they say, “No, that’s not true!”
There’s no need for you to do that, because it’s not like your life works out according to your will, anyway. Everything flows according to God’s will. The more you realize this, the more you will see that every assertion you make is so useless. And then you’re going to start thinking, “Go ahead and kick and scream, because according to God’s word, everything’s going to work out anyway.” To anyone else, it may seem that you have no power, Bieber, that’s not it, because that is real power. Why? Because the reason you’re able to do this is because you believe in God’s will.
(1) Proverbs 16:1
So, people may live according to however they want, and this is something anyone can do. They can live the life they want, but ultimately they cannot control the answers they receive because this all comes from God, so ultimately, you have to follow after God’s Word. You immigrated here and heard a lot of different things, “You have to do this and do that,” how many words do you hear? “This is how you must educate your kids,” there’s a lot of good things, but if you look long-term, is it going to work out? Just because you do those things doesn’t mean your life is going to work out. It’s according to God’s will and His Word.
(2) John 15:7
If you remain in Me and My Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be given to you. “You must remain in Me,” what does that mean? It means I am within Christ and you have to believe this, only then can you remain in Him. And if my words remain in you, the first things are very important. “If you remain in Me, and My Words remain in you,” that’s the priority. First, I have to be inside Jesus Christ so I can receive God’s Word. That means your starting point must be acknowledging Christ as your Lord and Master. If you do not say that and you are the Lord and master of your own life, can you hold onto your God-given Word? No.
My Master is Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and He is the True God. You have to acknowledge this first, then God’s Word will remain in me, then ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.
2. How?
How can we obey?
1) Faith, Genesis 22:1-15
It’s not just faith, it says today, “Because God gives us better things.” When Abraham was told to sacrifice his own son, he immediately believed God’s Word, but why did he immediately obey? It says it’s because he believed that even if his son died, he could be raised again. Why is it that people cannot obey? It is because they do not believe in God, so they cannot obey. They believe, but their faith is noly to the extent of, “This is my only son, how could I kill him?”
Do you think God would give something bad to His children? Even the parents of the world, do you see anyone who says, “Give up your own life,” ultimately, they do not believe in God. Because if you do believe in God, what’s going to happen. And if you just stay still, do you believe? In Romans 10:17, it says faith comes from hearing the Word. Before you come to church, let’s say you listen to worldly music, then the worldly music is going to hold onto you. If you listen to the world’s news before you come here, then the world’s news will seize you, why? Because according to what you listen to, that is what will be manifest. But if you’re not able to discern this, you must reject these things.
All of you may think it’s very fun, why? Because it’s connected to your Genesis 3, but if you’re not in a state where you cannot look at it spiritually from the eyes of the gospel, then absolutely, you will be influenced by this. Every once in a while, pastors will gather together and talk about politics, and I can tell they’re just listening to YouTube and saying everything they’ve heard. There are people who only listen to the reports of select people, and they recount those things. There are people who assert these things saying, “This is everything,” then there are other people who assert another point.
I’m sorry to say this, but ever since I was a college student, I had an interest in politics, and as I came to see this, I had a viewpoint, and it’s not about the majority or minority, but if you see the flow, you’ll have this viewpoint. Then you’ll be able to discern that those who assert their own positions, “You’re just repeating what you heard on YouTube.” Isn’t this the same in all specialties? Right? You can tell the difference between a person who reads one scientific essay and “This is the answer to everything,” versus those who live a scientific lifestyle. After they receive all this influence in the world, it seems so bland in comparison.
I don’t know if you watch dramas, but the dramas take the things of people and relay them to you, and people open their mouths, drooling, saying this is so entertaining. But they are actually being mocked by those who produce the dramas because you’re funneling money into this, why? Because if you’re not paying money, they get money through advertising fees, so you’re actually paying. If you’re not in a state where you can discern with the gospel and the Word, then you’re going to receive influences from the world, it’s the same with politics. If you’re not able to spiritually discern for yourself, you’ll be influenced by something else, so faith comes from hearing the Word of God.
2) With knowledge, God considers the future more important than the present.
3) We obey with devotion, accepting any laws that may appear at the present time.
You may be facing many losses at the present time, and you can’t just do it without knowing anything, for example, if you’re serving to try to receive blessings, that person will not be able to serve for a long time, then absolutely, the thing you will hear is, “Do you know how much I gave to the church?” No one will tell you to do that. They took it upon themselves based on their own motives, but because things didn’t go according to their plan, they now spew words of complaint. There are those who really serve, and there are people who serve because they understand this is what God desires ,and they think this is what will please God, and so they give everything toward that, people like this don’t live for themselves, but they’ve received grace and understand what they’re doing.
Isn’t that Noah? Noah gave his life because he gave his entire life into making this ark. Even if we told you to do it, you wouldn’t because it’s so hard. But, he was able to do that work because he knew what was going to happen in the future and he knew what he had to do right now. Continuously, in the future, the churches are going to disappear. The future generations, even if they are raised in the church, will have a hard time because it’s to this extent that the culture is formidable right now. What do I have to hold onto now, based on this future? In what way must I challenge?
It’s the same thing for Temple Construction. Only those who know this are able to serve. How can they do this when they don’t know? If we just think of it as, “I’m going to do Temple Construction to receive some kind of blessing,” that person is a quack, because our service isn’t service; it’s actually a blessing. God told Abraham in Genesis 12, “Leave your country and your father’s land.” How could you possibly leave your father’s land? He knew something, he received this kind of grace.
Then, what is the goal? The purpose is because God wants His power to be revealed through us. There are some examples of disobedience. Who is it?
Disobedience
King Saul, how did he disobey? King Saul was going to war but Samuel was supposed to offer a sacrifice, but Samuel came late. All King Saul had to do was wait, but he gave the sacrifice himself even though he was not anointed as the priest, so from that moment, he was actually disobeying God, because this is not just a joke. God anointed these three roles with oil through the Holy Spirit and God worked through these people. God is doing His Work so that the sacrifice may be done through Samuel, but what did King Saul do? He did not have this sureness when he went to God, so he didn’t know what the sacrifice was, because only through the priest are the problems of sins and curses resolved, but this person who was a king thought he could do everything because he had power, so he said, “Let’s do it, and go into war hurriedly” but it’s because he doesn’t know why the sacrifice is, it seems he is very humanistic.
Isn’t that correct? He probably thought, “Samuel is taking a little longer, so why don’t we go ahead of him and save him some time, too, wouldn’t that be better?” Isn’t this kind of humanistic? But this is how people lived until this point, so it says Saul had much leadership ability so he was able to gather many people, but does that mean that if you have leadership, you don’t need God? You have to follow God. What is leadership? Leadership is going down the direction God guides me. Me going whatever direction I want is not leadership because God is the leader, and you have to play the middle man where you can guide people so they can follow God.
Ultimately they were supposed to give a sacrifice, so King Saul brought all these good animals, but God actually considered that to be disobedience and un-anointed him. King Saul brought these things before God, but God said, “Don’t bring these before Me.” So, he was actually doing his walk of faith completely irrelevant from what God wanted and only based on his own experiences, so you have to be careful about things like this, because the older you get, there is a nature by which you live. With other people, it may be okay, but you will keep living like this, then ultimately, that’s disobedience to God’s Word.
For the week, you receive God’s Word and there’s a nature you live by, and so irrelevant to God’s word you love according to your nature, so that’s why the fulfillment of the Word and answered prayers don’t really come to you. These kinds of things arise when you have decisions to make, because when you look at your decisions, all your skills will come out. The people who look humanistically will make their decisions based on humanism. The people who follow after their own benefits will be calculative and only do what is to their advantage, but people keep comparing this to the Word of God. If you’re just able to do that, you’re going to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Does that mean you did not receive the Word? No, you heard it, but we’re talking about a nature where you have no choice but to live completely irrelevant from the Word of God. I actually have this nature as well. I used to think that I didn’t have a lot of humanism, but I see that there are many times where I try to lead with humanism instead of the gospel, and this is the nature I used to live with as an unbeliever that I didn’t even know I had. It’s not that I wasn’t following the Word of God; I thought I was following the Word of God, but in the moment of decision-making, I followed humanism instead, and in that moment, my nature seized me.
In Acts 5:1-11, for Ananias and Sapphira, there was a predetermined amount of offering they would give, but they withheld some of that, and the couple ended up dying. It makes me wonder, was the male the one who suggested it or the female? In the Bible, it seems like it’s the female, so they saw someone next to them and said, “I will give this much towards offering,” but later on, when it came to giving the offering, they felt this kind of fear, so the wife thought, “After much thought, isn’t this too much?”
So the two began to talk, “Let’s only give this portion. Even this is already a large sum.” Peter knew this and said to them, “Are you trying to deceive God?” The couple immediately died. Nowadays you don’t see someone die so suddenly because of a resolution they made, but for your spiritual state, you will go in this direction where things are bound to not work out.
What is the result of obedience? Look at Noah. Think about it right now, what kind of Ark is he talking about? There’s no sea there, why would you build an ark there? The majority of people would say, “This is not correct. Even if it is the word of God, this is not correct,” and make their decision, but we must acknowledge that we don’t know what will happen after 1 year or 10 years. We couldn’t even fathom that the coronavirus would come and so many people would die.
Even if a war broke out, this many people would die. Think about it, could America have foreseen this? There’s no nation that would attack America in war, but because of the coronavirus, countless people died. Who would have thought of this? It is not just a disease, it is absolutely related to the spiritual state of the region. There’s nothing we can do about it, because physical illnesses and diseases are God-given; it’s in God’s hands, and it’s not something we can do something about.
If you look at Abraham from a humanistic perspective, he couldn’t give his son as a sacrifice, but because God commanded it, He followed that command. He wasn’t just simply following, but he knew and believed that God is the One Who could raise his son from the dead, even if he died, why? Because God gave him his son according to his covenant, so he prayed held onto that covenant.
It’s the same as the Apostle Paul in Romans 16, he believed in the covenant of world evangelization, so he made decisions according to this faith. It is not just any faith, I’m just believing? What kind of faith is that? You have faith and live your week by week holding onto God’s covenant.
3. How do we discover God’s will?
We have to discover God’s will, but the first point is that God’s will is good. What is “good”? Are we talking about mankind’s good? God Himself is good, God’s Word itself is good. We’re not talking about morals or ethics; there is only God Who is good. There is nothing else besides God’s Word that is good.
1) Matthew 5:8
God’s will is peace. No matter how much you say you’re correct, that’s not God’s Word. Why is fighting God’s will? That’s not God’s will. Even if you fast but you’re fighting, that’s not God’s will. God’s will is peace. If I can be quiet and peaceful, then that’s God’s will. In that moment, even as people ridicule you and call you stupid, you can enjoy God’s peace, and that’s God’s will, why? Because everything will happen according to God’s will anyway.
So there’s nothing more stupid than fighting, why? Because that person is asserting, “You’re absolutely right.” There is nothing more arrogant than this. God’s will is in His Word. We say we live according to His will, but what is His will? It is His Word. If we live according to our experiences, the result will only be Genesis 3. If I live according to my experiences, even if I see a benefit, I will go down the dissection of Genesis 3, because Genesis 3 is being seized by Satan, being dragged around as he gives me benefits, as he gives me success, so that’s why you have to find this within the Word. That’s why week by week, God gives us the Word. Your walk of faith will be determined by how well you’re able to do this.
God’s will is fulfilled through those who pray. Isn’t that correct? Prayer is not asking about what I want, because that kind of prayer isn’t real prayer. That’s not a prayer given to God; that’s something religious people do. God’s will being established on earth is prayer. You ask what God’s will is, and that’s prayer. If there’s a problem, you discover God’s will and plan within that problem and that’s prayer. “Oh there’s a problem, please do this, please do that,” that isn’t prayer, there is nothing more foolish than this.
God has prepared something big for you, but instead you try to make your own judgment, and ask God, “Do this, and do that,” and you’re trying to make all these determinations yourself. So, for example, it’s the same thing as a 3-year-old saying, “Give me two pieces of candy.” Those two pieces of candy are pretty foolish but that’s all he knows, so look at the special characteristics of people who have a shallow walk of faith. When a problem comes, they try to think about the problem within the light of their life, instead of looking at it from God’s plan, they look from their own perspective.
Isn’t it a big blessing for you to discover God’s will and God’s plan? If there’s a failure that comes to you, that failure is not a failure if God’s will comes to you. But if a failure comes, most people’s reactions are one of two things, “I cannot do it,” or, “I can do it,” and that’s why their level is only at Genesis 3, and you cannot overcome the devil at this level. No matter what kind of level you are or what school you go to, or what degree you get, you will only be at the level of Genesis 3. But if you discover God’s will and plan, that is the level of heaven.
Then, what is God’s greatest will? Matthew 5:24 says, forgiveness. There is nothing greater than forgiveness for God. But if you are able to forgive someone means that there’s a lot included in that. For someone who loves the gospel, this is possible, why? Because I’ve received forgiveness, but if you do not love the gospel, you cannot forgive because you don’t know that you’ve been forgiven.
They think they’ve received salvation because they did something, so they cannot forgive anybody else. The reason people have scars is because they cannot forgive, so constantly, they are seized by Satan. How is forgiveness possible? I have been forgiven, it is the incident of the cross that finished all problems in the past, present, and future, and there is a path I will run down.
Then, what is there to do about anything else? All you have to do is forgive. If you forgive, Satan will leave; but if you do not forgive, Satan will constantly attack you. Then, it is the salvation of souls.
If there are ninety-nine sheep but only one sheep wanders, all of God’s interest is finding that one wandering sheep. Some people hold the salvation of souls in their hearts, and those people live according to God’s will, because this is not something they can hold onto because they want to, and it’s not something that works out because the pastor tells them to do this, but there’s something they hold onto every day.Look at these people, alter on, what’s going to happen? There will be tremendous results that come.
Nobody knows because they’re holding onto this in their hearts. Even if they say they are evangelizing, it doesn’t mean they’re actually evangelizing, because, who can’t just talk about it? But there are people who go out into the field, holding those who are prepared to receive salvation in their hearts. God works upon such people differently, and God will block all embarrassment for them, and through that person, many people will come to life.
It says this spiritually, but physically, everything is going to come to life and you’re going to see a lot of benefits. Isn’t that true of Joseph? Joseph was 17; what kind of power could he possibly have? But because he held onto this during his slave life, after time passed, it didn’t matter what would happen; God made that decision.
It is the preaching of the gospel. The proclamation of the gospel is something we stake our lives on, because God’s will is only proclaiming the gospel; anything else is corrupt. If you’re diligently making money, it’s corruption. “Pastor Park, how is that corruption? That’s just what people do,” but it’s corruption because you have no interest in the people who are supposed to be saved through you. This is even something unbelievers are doing, diligently making money is what unbelievers do, and for us, the problem isn’t about diligently making money, that’s not the reason for which God is with us.
We must do the things unbelievers and religious people cannot do, what the prosperous and successful people cannot do. It’s about these people. It is through those people whom God works. Evangelism is not something that “works out,” God has to attach people to you, but if you don’t know this, you might not have that experience, so you’ll keep doing it. But ultimately, God will attach a person to you, because that person is holding onto this, and spiritually, God will attach that person to you to save lives.
For people who have the spirit of a conman who seeks benefits through any means, those people will be attached to you because you attract those kinds of people, and this is the result of your life. Thieves for some reason, will only hang out with thieves. People who have the heart for evangelism will be attached to those who have the same heart.
The factors of obedience. The first is the point of view, the perspective. Because in front of the Red Sea, there were two perspectives. One is that God would open the way, and the other is that they were doomed.
Second, your decisions are important. When Lot and Abraham were fighting, Abraham chose God’s Word. In Acts 13, God said, “Raise Paul and Barnabas to do God’s work, and send them specially.” Even the method is important because the method comes from God, because it’s not by mankind’s methods, it’s not about how hard you can go towards it, because God has prepared all the people to do His work.
It’s important that you follow after this. “Oh, that person has power,” but God didn’t say to raise those who had power. “That person has a lot of life experience,” but God didn’t say to raise these kinds of people. He said to raise people who will relentlessly follow after God’s Word.
The purpose is important as well, what’ s the purpose of all this? It’s for the glory of God, whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God, it means you are revealing the name of Jesus Christ, and that’s revealing God. But we tend to block it for ourselves because we think, “This is something I am doing,” even if it is something God gives us the grace to do.
We’ve received the Word about obedience today. There are the nature, preoccupation, prejudice, and biases that prevent us from obeying God’s Word, and you must always acknowledge these things. You have to confirm every day the fact that Jesus Christ has finished all those things on the cross, because only one who loves Jesus Christ will be able to obey God’s Word.
Prayer
Father God, thank You. Before we obey Your Word, would You bless us so we may know who we are and what the Gospel is. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.