Plus One: I Need A Hero

So like Brian said, Mike text me on Friday morning and said, hey, can you preach on Sunday? And I'm like, yeah, thanks for the heads up. But no. So be in prayer like they have a new baby granddaughter in Everlasting and so be in prayer for Everly and Mike and Heather's daughter and Mike and Heather as they travel back and forth. So it's exciting times. But anyways, what I was going to say is I am always amazed at the Holy Spirit working. And I don't know why I'm amazed at the Holy Spirit working because we shouldn't be amazed because God is always at work and doing amazing things. So, but all that to say. So with the short notice, David and I did not have time to plan together. And if we had planned together, I would have asked him to sing those exact songs. That was amazing. And that leads right into our service today. So once again, like I said, the Holy Spirit is at work in our church. So anyways, Mike said, hey, do you got a sermon in your back pocket? Can you preach on something on Sunday? And I'm like, like, well, I got lots of sermons in my back pocket. But as some of you know, I like to think up sermons. I'm one of those weird guys think up sermons. I actually like write down notes all the time. Oh, that would be a good sermon. People need to hear that. Or I need to talk about that. That would be awesome. So recently I have been studying through the book of Revelation. So you're going to get a revelation sermon. So buckle up. Let me first give a shout out because one of the things I do when I study is I read a passage. I study the passage and then I watch as many sermons as I can see on that passage. And some of this sermon, some of the points, some of the things in this sermon come from a sermon that J.D. greer did a couple years ago. And I thought it was really good. I don't want you to think that Marty's really smart. I am smart, but, you know, I want to give credit where credit is due. So today I titled the sermon I Need a Hero. Let me see a show of hands. How many people went straight to the Bonnie Tyler song I Need a Hero. Yeah, I know that. Yeah, I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night he's got to be strong he's got to be fast and he's got to be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero till the morning light he's got to be sure and it's got to be soon he's got to be larger than life for you youth. Just so you know, that is one of those great ancient hymns from the 1980s. You can go watch Footloose, another epic movie back in the 80s. So, anyways, today we're going to be in Revelation 4 and 5. If you are new, if you don't have a Bible, we're on page 1030 in the Pew Bible. If you don't have a Bible, please take that. That's a gift of from us to you. We want you to have that today. What I want us to do is focus on worship and what worship means. So as we jump into Revelation, I need to give you a little context. The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John. It was written sometime between 85 and 95 A.D. and John was probably between 85 and 95 and A.D. he's the last surviving apostle of Christ. All the others had been martyred. John had actually been burnt, not burned. He had been boiled alive in oil and still would not renounce Jesus. So the Roman government, they sent him to the island of Patmos, and Patmos was a penal colony. And so basically, every day, they broke rocks, and then they moved the rocks, and then they broke the rocks, and then they moved the rocks. And he's probably 85, 95 years old. So if anyone needed a hero, it was John. And while on Patmos, John receives a revelation from Jesus, a revelation. Notice there's no S at the end of Revelation. This is just one revelation, and it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not John's revelation. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ. The Greek word there is. I always mess this up. Apokalupsis. All right. And you can obviously hear that's where we get the word apocalypse from. Apocalypse is not meant to be a scary word. It actually means revealing or unveiling. So what we're going to see is Jesus is giving and unveiling. He is giving a revealing. He's revealing to John things that are to soon take place. And we need to understand that revelation isn't meant to be scary and full of dread. Revelation is meant to be a book that fills us with hope. It fills us with comfort. It fills us with this certainty, the hope that Jesus holds the final victory over sin and death, the comfort that he will come again and make all things new in the certainty that once again God will dwell among his people. This revelation starts off with seven letters to seven churches. And we did a series on this a couple years ago, so you can go back and look at that. Mine were really good, just. But these churches, they were losing their hope due to all the persecution that was going on. They were starting to find their comfort in things other than Jesus. They were not sure what was going to happen to them. They were not certain about their future. They looked around the world and they were going, what the heck is going on? So Jesus gives this revelation to them to give them hope and comfort and certainty. Jesus wants to give these confused, struggling, disoriented churches something or someone to focus on. Jesus is basically saying, stay focused on me and I will give you the power. I'll give you the hope and the comfort and the certainty to endure all that comes your way. So here we go. We're jumping in Revelation 4, starting in verse 1, and this I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven, exclamation point. We don't see a lot of those in Scripture, So that means what's behind this door is a really, really big deal. What's going on is pretty exciting. And then continuing, it says, and the first voice, that's Jesus, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. So Jesus is inviting John, and he's therefore inviting us to take a peek at what is going on in heaven. And the first thing we see is a worship service. He wants us to focus on worship. Look at verse two. At once I was in the Spirit. And behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and carnelian. And around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. So there's this throne and someone sitting on it, and John starts to explain the appearance of God with the words that he has. And we don't have time to go into all the details, but my summary of what Jesus or what John saw was awesome. What John sees is pure awesome. And then around the throne, he sees this verse 4. Around the throne there were 24 thrones. And seated on the thrones were 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their head. From the throne came flashes of lightnings and rumblings and peals of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures. Once again, John is trying to describe God, his power, his awesomeness. So here's what I want us to see. Look at the participants in this worship service. There's 24 elders. That most likely represents the 12 or 12 tribes of Israel. So that's all the people of the Old Testament redeemed by Jesus. And then we see probably Most likely the 12 apostles, the 12, the people of the New Testament. So in other words, John is seeing the whole united redeemed people of God from the Old Testament to the New Testament, standing around the throne and worshiping God, who is seated on his throne. So think about that. You got King David, you got Ruth, you got Isaiah, and they're standing next to CS Lewis and Tim Keller and Adonia Judson. If you don't know who that guy is, look him up. Everyone redeemed by Jesus, standing together and worshiping. Then he said, there are four creatures and those creatures represent all of God's created order. The heavens, the earth, the creatures here below in all creation, all of creation praising God. So here's the first point. It all ends in worship. Everything ends in worship. When everything is said and done, when we are finally able to see everything from heaven's perspective, the redeemed, those that have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, all the redeemed people of God in all of creation, we are going to worship and it's going to be. Here's that word again. Awesome. All we will want to do is worship. That's Jesus's focal point. He says, look who is on the throne and worship. What we'll see is that God is God has everything in control. He has had everything in control the entire time. He has been weaving everything together for his purpose and his good plan. So just so you know, there are 14 worship songs in the book of Revelation, and five of them are in these two chapters. And all of those songs are about God's faithfulness to his plan. Verse 8 says this. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Holy means perfect, means without flaw. And saying it three times means he is perfect, perfect, perfect. So whatever attribute you apply to God, it is perfect, perfect, perfect. There's not one flaw, not one breakdown in God's goodness, in his greatness, or in his plan. We need to get in touch with that church. The whole reason Jesus is opening the door and inviting us to peek in, inviting us to see, is he wants us to get. That is what happens is we don't always get that. If I'm honest, it doesn't always feel like I'm part of God's plan. It doesn't always feel like God's plan is perfect. It doesn't always feel like God sees me, or God hears me me, or that his plan includes me. It doesn't always seem that God is in control. But I know where my hope lies. And I know that one day, when I finally see things from heaven's perspective, when my faith is finally made sight, I'm going to see that God's good and great plan was truly good and great, and not one part of it was left unfulfilled. And when I see that, I'm going to have no other option. I'm going to have no other recourse, no other emotion except to worship. Think about the book of Psalms. I've been reading this in my quiet times. You know what the word psalm means? It means praise. And as I'm reading those, I'm going, man, there is not a whole lot of praising going on. Most of these are what I might call complaint prayers. God, where are you? Why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you fixing that? God, I don't understand what's going on. On Eugene Peterson actually asked this question. He says, is it false advertising to call the book of Psalm praises? But then you get to the end. You get to Psalm 146 through 150. And these are called the Hallelujah praises or the Hallelujah Psalms. And in these, you find not one word of complaint. All the doubt, all the confusion, they're all gone. All you're left with is unbroken, unfiltered praise for God. And it's giving us a picture of what's going on. In Revelation 4 and 5, Peterson says this. All prayer pursued far enough and long enough becomes praise that is really good news. Let me say it again. All prayer pursued far enough and long enough becomes praise. And that is what Jesus is showing us. He wants us to remember that one day we will see everything from heaven's perspective. And we will see God has been in charge the entire time. Governments haven't been in charge. Cancer hasn't been in charge. Depression hasn't been in charge. There that situation at work has not been in charge. We will see that God has been in charge the entire time. And all those prayers that I have prayed all those times I thought nobody was listening. I will see that God has been listening all along. I will see from heaven's perspective and I will worship. Because God is good and his plan is good. Verse five. Let's skip over to chapter five, verse eight. I'm sorry. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. The four living creatures and the 24 elders, they fall down before the throne and they have these bowls of incense. Look what it says. They are the prayers of the saints. Those are the prayers of God's redeemed people. All the prayers for healing, all the prayers for justice. All the prayers for the prodigal son to come home. All the prayers for FSU to be good at football again. Just kidding. All the prayers of God's redeemed people are laid at the feet of God, God's throne. And God hears every single one of them. And he has collected every single one of them. And in God's timing and his perfect plan, he has answered every single one of them. He has fulfilled every one of them in his own way. None of them are ignored or unheard. There is going to be a day when God said, I heard you. All prayer pursued far enough, long enough becomes praise. So we need to anticipate, focus on that moment where my faith is made right and I unite with all of God's people in sing. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. All right, so that was a lot. Second thing I want us to see is worship is what we were created for. That's the whole point of those four living creatures who represent all of creation. The whole point of creation is worship. God created everything for worship. Have you had one of those moments where you're just kind of standing there and you like the Grand Canyon moment? You know, you're looking out at the Grand Canyon like Man, I am really, really small and that is really big. So I had an opportunity, thanks to a good friend, to take each of my boys separately to California for some, just one on one time. And each time we went through the Avenue of the Giants. And this is a 30 mile road that goes through the redwood forest. And you get out at these different places and you just, just walk and you just see these huge ginormous trees, trees that you can literally drive through. I let my 14 year old drive through a tree, don't call the cops. And standing next to them you go, man, I am really small. But then you start to think I'm only seeing a few of these trees and there's miles and miles and acres and acres of these trees. And then you start going, man, and then all these trees are just on this little insignificant planet. And then this little insignificant planet is in just this little mediocre galaxy. So science fact, they say if the Milky Way galaxy were the size of the United States, our solar system would be the size of a quarter. And just so you know, there are 2 trillion galaxies in our universe, each one containing billions and billions of stars. Here's the thing. In the vast, vast majority of energy produced by those stars is wasted. Our sun puts out the equivalent of a trillion nuclear bombs every second. And they say that our planet benefits. Get this, I put it up there. Our planet benefits from.00000045% of all of that energy. That means that 99.9999-999955% is wasted. Think about that. And there are stars out there putting out millions and millions of times more energy than that. There's a star out there called Uy Scuti. So if you ever decided to be a rapper, there's your name for you. All right? So they say that Uy Scuti, if Uy Scuti sat where our sun sat, the edge of Uy Scuti would go outside of our solar system. It puts out millions of times more energy than our sun. And apparently there is absolutely nothing benefiting from the energy from Uy Scuti. There's no planets orbiting it. There's no life being sustained from it. All that energy wasted. Here's what I'm getting at. If all of creation is just for the habitation of man, if all of creation is just for us, doesn't that seem a little excessive? Doesn't that seem a little wasteful? But if all of creation was created to give us a glimpse of God's glory, man, it's spot on. If all of creation, the billions of galaxies, were created for us to see God's glory, then none of that energy is wasted, none of that space is. Is wasted because it all testifies to the greatness of God. That's the secret. People ask, what's the secret to life? What's the purpose of life? Here's the answer. You were created to worship. Now, the question is not if you worship. The question is, what are you worshiping? Are you worshiping status or comfort or security or wealth? Are you worshiping work or family or friends or yourself? Are you worshiping sex or drugs or alcohol? Your heart is always looking for something to worship. And your heart will always be unsatisfied. You will never be satisfied until you are worshiping God. So that is the opening scene in heaven. When we get that peek inside, that is what we see. All of God's redeemed people and all of creation consumed in worship. Now, let's be honest. Some of y' all are thinking, is that all we're going to be doing? Like one big choir concert? Everyone's standing around in angel diapers and playing harps and singing songs for eternity? And let's get. Once again, be honest. You don't want to be unspiritual, but it sounds like that could get a little boring after a while. And you think, man, I like a good worship service, but let's wrap this up sometimes. And then we hear that we're going to be doing this for eternity. Is that all I'm going to be doing? So the Bible tells us that there are a lot of things that we are doing in heaven. And what we're seeing here in these chapters is a metaphor. It means that in everything we do, we will be celebrating and rejoicing in God's glory. When we are singing, when we are eating, when we are drinking, when we are working. Yes, we will be working. Whatever it is we will be doing, we will be doing it worshipfully. Everything we will be doing will be rejoicing in the glory of God. Worshipful will be everything. So back to that passage. John is showing a lot more than all of creation worshiping. He shows us why they are actually worshiping. So there's two reasons. The first one is because God is in control. We've already touched on this a little bit. So. But let me just point out, in chapter four and five, there's 17 references to the throne of God. And that is significant because in the entire New Testament, there's only 61. And 17 of them are right here in these two chapters. And what we're seeing is God's sovereignty. God is in charge. He has everything under control. And when it feels like your world is spinning out of control, God is sovereign and he holds the whole world in his hand. God is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and he is sitting on his throne in control. And when we finally see things from his perspective, we will say with all of creation and all of God's people, perfect, perfect, perfect is the Lord God Almighty who was and is to come. Now here's the big one. Here's the second thing that makes them worship. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Chapter five. It opens with a problem. Chapter five, verse one. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seal? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. So first question, what is this scroll? John's first century audience, they would have recognized the scroll as a legal document, kind of like a last will and testament. And what John sees is this legal document is actually the title deed to the earth. It is the earth as God created it. Good. An earth without natural disasters, without wars, without spiders. A world of perfect justice. A world with no prejudice, no racism, no abuse. A world with family, no divorce, no estranged children. A world without addiction, no disease, no cancer, without sin, without death. It is the world that we all want. It's the world that we all crave for. It is the world that God originally created for us. But then we see John weeps and he weeps because there's no one to break the seals and open the scroll. There's no one to give us this inheritance that we have been promised. No one to lead us to the world that we have yearned for. And John is looking back through history and saying, is anybody, anybody meet the criteria to open the scroll? And there is no one. Why so? Because those seven seals, those seven seals on the scroll, they actually represent God's judgment against sin. And every person, every member of the human race ever born is guilty of sin. And they are worthy of these judgments. Therefore, they are unworthy to break the seals. No one can break the seals. So growing up, I was a superhero fan. But I like the old Superhero guys, you know, with the pow and the splat and the kaboom and all that kind of stuff. Y' all remember those, like the old Batman show, Campy and everything? Those are the good old days. But today we have superheroes, and they are super. But now they all have character flaws. They all have these demons that they have to wrestle with while they're trying to save the Earth. They have X ray vision or they can turn invisible or they can climb walls. They have superhuman strength, but they also have super blind spots and super dysfunction. And they are super corruptible. You never know if they're actually going to be able to save the world. Many have called this the rise of the antihero. And it's like society or culture has had a hard time presenting anybody, even fictional superheroes, as entirely good. And why is that? What it's most likely showing us is we feel let down by those that we trust, those that are supposed to be good, those that we depend on for help. Almost every day you turn on the news and you hear of another trusted figure, some political, some religious, some cultural icon that turns out to be someone that they are not. Listen, I'm not saying there's not trustable leaders out there. But what I'm saying is the more you get closer to somebody, the more and more flaws that we see. And that leads to a dilemma. There's no one, not anyone, no one able to open the scroll. Listen, the person doing the saving can't have the same problems as the one who needs saving. John looked around and saw that there was no one, literally no one, who was able to save the human race from its sin. And he wept. Some of you like, well, what about John? He's standing right there. I mean, John is an apostle of Christ. He walked and talked with Jesus for three years. He laid his head on Jesus's shoulder. He was the one that Jesus loved. He was tortured. He was boiled in oil. He was exiled, all for Jesus, and then remained faithful. What about that guy? Can't he do it? Nope. John probably realized stuff about himself. It's kind of like what I've realized about myself. Listen, nobody has disappointed Marty more than Marty. Nobody has lied to, made false promises to or let me down more than me. In fact, the more I know myself, the less impressed I am with myself. Tara's sitting right there. We've been together for almost 30 years, and she's going, preach, brother, preach. When people are impressed with what I do, she goes, oh, yeah, but you don't have to live with that guy, listen, I want the world to have peace and harmony, But I think how many people that I have actually hurt, how many tears I have actually caused. And in heaven, there's no more tears. How can I get in? How am I worthy? How is anyone worthy? Is anyone able to break the seals and open the scroll? No. And I weep. And John weeps because no one is worthy to open that scroll. But verse five. And one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered, so he can open the the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures, and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Don't miss this. What John sees is actually kind of confusing to him. They said, hey, look, there is the lion of Judah. But when he looks, he sees the lamb that has been slain. The Greek word most often used for a lamb is amnos, just a normal lamb. But here the word is arnion, and it refers to a small, helpless, sacrificial lamb. John sees a small, weak, helpless creature that has suffered, that has been beaten, that has been slain. Jesus, the son of God, the one at the center of the throne, came to earth not as a lion, but as a lamb. He came and he served, and he died a suffering death. But John makes sure that we still see this. He is still God. Verse 6 says that he had seven horns. And in the Bible, the horns represent power. The number seven represents completion. So seven horns means that this lamb is omnipotent. He has all the power. Seven eyes symbolize his omniscience. He sees everything, he knows everything. And the seven spirits symbolize his omnipresence. He is present everywhere. Jesus is the lion of Judah. And yet what John sees at the center of the throne is the mighty lion who came in tenderness, came in weakness, came in humility, came in suffering. He came as a lamb to be sacrificed. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the lion of Judah, who sat on the throne. He stepped down off of that throne, came to earth not as a lion, thank goodness, but a lamb, because he was coming not to dispense the judgment of God, but to take on the judgment in our place. Although Jesus was sinless on the cross, Jesus experienced all seven of those seals, all seven of those judgments. I want to real quick just walk you through those seals. The first two seals are oppression and war. Jesus suffered an unjust imprisonment at the hands of an occupying Roman army. The third seal is famine. On the cross, Jesus cried out, I am thirsty. The fourth seal is death. Jesus, though he was innocent, died a cruel criminal's death. The fifth seal is the cry of the martyrs. Cries of despair, unanswered prayers. How long, God, how long? And we all know, on the cross, Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The ultimate prayer of a martyr, the sixth seal, are cosmic disturbances. Specifically, the Bible talks about earthquakes and the sun turning black. When Jesus died, Matthew said that the sky went dark and there was a great earthquake. The seventh seal is a great silence in heaven. When Jesus cried out from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? There was no response. For the first time in his life, no response. A great silence from heaven. And heaven stayed silent for three days. What you read is on the cross, Jesus literally absorbed all seven of those seals. In our place. The key word in the gospel is substitution. You can summarize the gospel in four words. Jesus in my place. Jesus lived the life we should have lived. He died the death. We were condemned to die. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our inequities. The price that brought us peace was put upon him so that by his stripes we could be healed. And that, my friends, is why he can open the scroll. That is why when he opens the scrolls, all those that have put their faith and trust in him are not destroyed. All the curses, all the plagues, all the disasters, all the things contained in those scrolls, they were poured out on Him. Jesus is the hero that the human race has always yearned for. He is the one who can give us life. We've always wanted the life that God intended for us. And that is why the 24 elders representing all of God's people and the four creatures representing all of creation, that is why they worship. Listen. God's glory was not demonstrated by creating all the universes, all the planets, all the galaxies, all the stars. As awesome as that is, God's glory is best demonstrated by his willingness to become weak, to become a servant, to humble himself, to step off his throne and to become a weak, humble, sacrificial lamb who allows himself to be sacrificed for a rebellious, traitorous human race. How he took on the penalty of our sin in our place because of the great love he has for us. That is the glory of God. Remember when the elders and the creatures, they laid the bowl of incense down, the prayers of the saints and the feet of Jesus, they also laid down their crowns. And crowns represent everything you and I can boast in my intelligence, my skill, my success, my family, anything that I feel gives me worth. And these elders, they fall down and they lay them at Jesus feet. Because Jesus is the only thing that is worthy. He is the only one that is worthy. And they're all saying, the only reason that I am here, Jesus, is because of your grace. I'm not here because of my righteousness. I'm not here because of my goodness. I'm not here because of my wisdom or my strength. I'm here because of your grace. Think about the old hymn. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my riches gain. I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. Listen. All my crowns, all my accomplishments, I cast them at the feet of Jesus as worthless. Think about this. All true blessings and honor and glory and wisdom and righteousness. They all come from him. What did I contribute? The only thing I contributed was the wounds. Listen. In heaven, we will all have new bodies. We all have perfect bodies. Thank God, right? All things will be made new. Here's what we forget. There will be one body with scars. Jesus. And those scars will remind us forever how Jesus stood between the wrath of God and us. And those scars will make us fall in love with him even more. Jesus is the worthy hero that we have been looking for. The one whose love is perfect. The one who can't, who we can always depend on. The one who will never disappoint you or let you down. Because he is the lion of Judah. He's strong enough to save you. But because he is a lamb, he's humble and loving enough to do it. The hero we need is not somebody who could bend steel or stop bullets or have X ray vision. Vision. It's somebody who could face death, bear our sin, and was willing to do it. And we see him there at the center of the throne. And it draws us to worship. Back to that hymn. We're the whole realm of nature, mine. And we're a present far too small. Love, so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Let me finish with this. I'm going to wrap it up. Verse 9. And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain and by your blood. You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nations. And you have made them a kingdom of priests to our God. And they shall reign on earth. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels numbering myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands. That's a lot, just so you know. Saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven, on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, saying, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and they worshiped. This is what John wants us to see. This is what Jesus wants us to see. This is what Jesus wants us to focus on. The one who is worthy of all of our worship. Listen, when your world feels like it's spinning out of control, focus on the one who sits on the throne. Our hero. The Lamb is slain. The tomb is empty and the throne is occupied. Put your eyes on him and never take them off. Amen. Wow. Okay. Got myself worked up. Let me pray. Lord, Father, you are worthy, worthy, worthy. You are perfect, perfect, perfect. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God, I just pray that as these words went out that you were glorified, you were blessed. Lord, I pray that they were a sweet offering up to you, Lord, I pray that eyes were open, ears were open, Pray that hearts were open, Lord. Lord, you are our hero. We need you. We need a hero. Lord, thank you for being the Lamb that was slain. Thank you for sitting on your throne, Lord. And all we can do is worship you, praise you, give you all the glory, Lord, as we enter into this time of invitation, Lord, I just pray if there's anyone that doesn't know you, anyone that needs a hero, Lord, that they will come forward, that they will declare their love for you today. Lord, I pray that in all of these things, Lord, once again you be glorified. And we pray this in Jesus name. And everyone said amen.