Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Crew Lead Service by Eli Watson, Chase Johnson, Kason Eubanks

Transcript

Crew Lead Service by Eli Watson, Chase Johnson, Kason Eubanks · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Good evening.
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So Neil had asked us to talk on the Master Teacher,
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and whenever he said that, the first thing that popped into my mind was,
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well, Master Teacher, I'm not a good student, so I
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don't really think about teaching that often, but I'll give it a shot.
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The theme verse that Maddox just read was Matthew 7:28-29,
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if you want to jump there, that'll be the lead verse for what I'm talking
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about tonight.
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Starting off first with the question of what makes a great teacher?
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When we think about a great teacher, we might think about somebody who knows their
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subject really, really well. But being a great teacher is much more
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than simply knowing a lot. A great teacher knows how
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to reach people. They know how to take something complicated
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and make it understandable. They know how to challenge you
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when you need a little bit of encouragement and when you need a question to
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make you think. When we look at Jesus, we see the greatest teacher
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to ever live. He knew Scripture and he understood
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people and the hearts of those he was leading.
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Most importantly, Jesus didn't teach people what to
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believe, He taught them how to live.
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Now, Jesus taught with authority. It's going to be our first point,
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narrowing in on 7:28-29.
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At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells us that the people
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were amazed because Jesus taught as one having authority.
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That's important because Jesus wasn't simply saying, here's my opinion.
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He was saying— or He wasn't saying, here's an interesting idea that you might
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want to consider. He spoke with authority because he was the Son of God.
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Throughout the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly said things like, you have heard
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that it was said, but I say unto you.
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He wasn't afraid to challenge people with what they thought they understood,
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and that's something that we have to remember. Sometimes God's Word will
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challenge us. His teachings may make us uncomfortable,
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meaning that they may make others uncomfortable when we try to engage.
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He may tell us to forgive when we'd rather not or when it's hard
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or easier to hold that grudge. And he tells us to love our
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enemies. He tells us to turn
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our other cheek, and he tells us to deny our
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wants and to follow him. The question isn't,
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do I agree with what Jesus is teaching, but rather, am I willing
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to obey him?
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Jesus used different ways to teach and reach people.
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One thing that Jesus was really good at and that made him an incredible teacher
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is that he didn't teach everybody exactly the same. He used
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parables, questions, and scripture, and sometimes he gave people a
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direct answer, but most of the time he made them think and figure the answer
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out on their own. Looking back at this, Hiram is a great
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example of somebody who does this. When studying with him, he'll oftentimes make you kind
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of come to that aha moment, and then
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you've realized, he didn't tell me the answer, I figured
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it out, and it kind of makes you feel good. It's like a pat on
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the back in the end.
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Think about the parable of the Good Samaritan for an example.
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A lawyer had asked Jesus, who's my neighbor? And Jesus could have definitely
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given him a definition. He made the word.
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Instead, he used a story. And he said, a man gets beaten
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on the side of the road, and a priest and a Levite had walked by.
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Then a Samaritan, who should have been his sworn enemy, was the
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one to actually stop and help him. Now, which one of these was his neighbor?
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The man knew the answer. Jesus didn't tell him that, and he led him
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to discover it. That's good teaching, and sometimes God
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does the same thing in our lives. We'll have those moments reading Scripture
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where we'll ask a question and then looking into it, we'll think to
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ourselves, He's talking to me.
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Jesus taught through His life as
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the main thing, as an example. Looking at John 13:12-15,
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if you want to turn there. But perhaps the
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greatest thing about Jesus as a teacher is that He practiced
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what He taught. Perfectly. In John 13,
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Jesus makes his— washes his disciples' feet. Just think
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about that. The Master and Creator of the universe, Son of God, got down
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on his hands and knees and took his time to wash the feet of his
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disciples.
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That says it all. And it also says,
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for he has given the example that we should do
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as he has done unto us.
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Jesus didn't just teach humility, He demonstrated it. He didn't
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just teach love, He showed it. He didn't just teach forgiveness, He forgave all of
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us as He hung on the cross. Jesus said,
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Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34.
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His life was a lesson and challenging
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for us because people don't only learn from what we say,
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they learn from how we live our lives and what we do, especially as
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Christians.
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While we may forget— while they may forget a verse or a quote or
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a sermon that we preach, they won't forget the way that we treat them.
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They may remember the way that we showed patience and whether we— whether
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we actually live lives like Jesus.
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Now, in that, are we good students? If Jesus was the
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Master Teacher, then what makes us students? Being a student means
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that— doesn't just mean sitting in class or attending lessons
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or learning or how many scriptures we can recite.
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A student puts what they've learned into practice.
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James 1:22 says, but be doers of the word and not
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only hearers. Let that be a reminder to us that it's possible to
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hear Jesus' teachings every week and still not let it change our hearts.
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We can know what he says about forgiveness and refuse to forgive. We can know
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what he taught about love but still treat people poorly. We can
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know what Jesus says about resisting temptation but continue putting ourselves
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in situations where we continue to fall. We can know the lesson
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without learning the lesson. So tonight, maybe the question isn't How much
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do I know? Maybe the question is, how much does his teaching show up
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in my life? Jesus being the master teacher— Jesus
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is the master teacher because he had the authority of God, he understood people perfectly,
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he taught in ways that we could understand even today, and most
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importantly, he lived everything he taught. And Jesus
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gives us an invitation in Matthew 11:29. He says,
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take my yoke upon you and lean on me. Lean on me. That's what
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Christianity is. We're lifelong students of Jesus.
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We're supposed to learn on him. We're never going to reach
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a point where we're going to learn everything there is to learn about him.
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So as we go through this week, let's ask ourselves, what is Christ trying to
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teach me right now? And as we find that answer, let's take it and put
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it into action. Because God isn't simply— because the
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goal isn't to simply know the teaching of the Master. The goal is to become
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closer to the Master.
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Next song tonight will be Every Time.
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Every time I kneel to pray,
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I open up my heart
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to the Lord. I open up my
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heart to the Lord. Every time I kneel to pray, I open
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up my heart to the Lord.
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Every time I close my eyes, I feel
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the sweet embrace of my Lord.
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Every time I close my eyes, I feel the sweet
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embrace
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of my Lord. But oh no, why so
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strange things seem
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to get in the way of seeing?
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My God's glory.
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But I try every
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day to see him
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and to thank him for all
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the things he's given
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me. Every time
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I see the sun, I see the gentle
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of my Lord.
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Every time I see
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a child, I see the
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gentleness of my Lord.
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Every time I watch a storm,
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I know the awesome power
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of my Lord. Every time I watch a
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storm, I know the awesome
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power of my Lord. I don't
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know why so many
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things seem
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to get in the way of seeing
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my God's glory,
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but I sigh every day.
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To sing and to thank
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him for all the things he's
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given unto me every
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time I see the cross.
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Scripture reading will be from Matthew chapter 13,
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verses 10 through 13. And the disciples
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came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables?
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He answered and said to them, because it has been given to you to know
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the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
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For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance.
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But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away
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from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing
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they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do
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they understand.
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Good evening, everybody. That wasn't the scripture
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I was looking for, but that's okay. What I will do, actually, is go
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ahead and read it. So, if you will, John chapter 15, verse 5.
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We're actually going to be in verse 4, actually. John chapter 15,
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verse 4 and 5.
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Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself
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unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide
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in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and
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I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from
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me you can do nothing. All right, I'm going to be talking a little bit
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about Jesus, how Jesus, the master teacher,
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redefined righteousness. And I'll be doing that through looking
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at the Sermon on the Mount. I'll be doing that through looking
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at the 2 men that came to the
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throne of God to pray, and that's the Pharisee and the tax collector. And then
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also through the unclean spirits and the house that was swept
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clean. So, I want to start by this one kind of sentence
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that'll sum up everything. But, and try and get you guys
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to understand the point I'm trying to make and the point that Jesus
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is trying to make here. Purity and righteousness is not the
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absence of sin, but it is the presence of God.
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So, throughout Jesus' ministry, He encountered
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people who were obsessed with spiritual cleanliness, right?
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They measured their standing with God by what they avoided.
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They put these big walls up and around their lives to
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keep the sin out, right? And I think a lot of times we fall into
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those same patterns, and we associate being righteous
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with our behavior and what people see on the outside,
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and treating holiness like a list of boundaries,
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lines that, you know, are around us that we
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cannot cross, rather than a living relationship with our Lord.
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So, yet, Jesus, as the master teacher, he completely
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flips the whole self-righteousness teaching and the
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culture of that time. And he flips it on its
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head. He reveals that it's not about behavior management.
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You know, true holiness is never achieved by sweeping
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your life clean and empty of all the bad behavior
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and the sin in our lives. It is realized
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when your life is utterly, you know, occupied by
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the presence of God. Alright, so first, let's talk about deconstructing
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the performances that we put on, right? And what we're going to do is we're
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going to look at the Sermon on the Mount. So, if you want to go
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ahead and— we're going to be looking at specifically verse 21 through 28
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where he kicks off the Sermon on the Mount by basically calling
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out the good enough behavior, right?
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He makes it clear that just checking boxes and following rules on
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the outside doesn't necessarily cut it. And that's exactly what the
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Pharisees thought of themselves. God is looking at what's actually
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going on in the heart. He directly addresses
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the religious standard of the day. He's saying, you have
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heard it said, But I tell you, and he's claiming authority,
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right? It is entirely possible to maintain
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a clear or clean record while keeping a
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distant and a compromised heart. And you see that in the different
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sections where he's saying, you know, I have, you know, it could be the,
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you know, the physical, the murder. He says, you've heard it said, do not
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kill, do not murder. And he says, but do not store hatred
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and anger in your heart. So, we can refrain from physical murder
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while nursing hatred. We can, you know, refrain from physical
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adultery while harboring lust. Righteousness isn't
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managed from the outside in, it grows from the inside out.
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When we focus only on external behavior, we try to fix the
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fruit that people see and ignoring the root,
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and that is our heart. So, Jesus shifts the focus
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entirely to the condition and the motives
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of our inner heart. The key here is motive.
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When you decide to fix your habits, I find myself doing this a lot.
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There's a lot of, like, health social media out there. It's fixing your
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habits. You're eating healthier.
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You're reading your Bible more, praying more,
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serving more, working out more, reading more books,
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listening to more podcasts. And you've got to ask yourself,
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are you doing those things to be loved or because you
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are loved? Do you follow him because you love God,
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know he loves you, and want to please him, or are you simply out
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of guilt and obligation? And I know we all fall into this performance
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from time to time, which is why we have to constantly need to check our
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hearts. And something that you can— we should
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ask ourselves is, am I evaluating my walk
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with God by the bad things that I've avoided and kept away from myself,
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or by the condition of my heart when no one else is watching.
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So, that was number 1. That was about the performance that we put on.
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Number 2 is exposing the illusion of our self-cleansing,
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our self-cleansing. So, to do that, we're going to look in Luke chapter
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18, and that's verse 9 through 14.
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Luke 18:9-14,
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and I'll go ahead and read that.
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He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they
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were righteous and treated others with contempt. 2 men went up into the temple
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to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by
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himself, prayed this, God, I thank You that I am not like other men— extortioners,
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unjust, adulterers— or even like this tax collector. I fast twice
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a week; I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector,
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standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but he
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beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner!
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I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than
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the other; for everyone who exalts himself will will be humbled,
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but the one who humbles himself will be exhausted— will be exalted.
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So, that beating on his chest was a humility and
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a desire to humble himself before a holy
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God. So, what Jesus is doing is to illustrate how
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external righteousness leads to spiritual disaster.
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Jesus tells the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee presents God
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with a checklist of sins, he didn't commit and religious
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duties that he did do and perform.
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I think it's very interesting while I was reading this that— and
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I don't know if this has significance, but I couldn't, you know,
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miss it— but I think it's funny that the Pharisee
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seems to list more of the things that he didn't
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do and that he abstained from than the things that he did do and perform.
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He named all those things, and there were more of the things that he didn't
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do than the things that he did. His righteousness was defined by
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the comparison to the tax collector and then the avoidance
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of all of these sins that he said he hasn't done. But the Pharisee left
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the temple unchanged because his self-reliance and self-righteousness left
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no room for God. He was already good.
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He had no need for God. He was already made— he's made it.
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He's reached that peak righteousness, right?
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And then the tax collector, what's he doing? He brings his
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heart. He brings only his mess and his plea for mercy.
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And what did he do? He went home justified, Jesus says.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
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of heaven. Matthew chapter 5, verse 3. That's in the Sermon on the
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Mount and the Beatitudes. Self-righteousness,
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uses a clean exterior as a barrier to
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the real intimacy that we should have with God. And here is
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a reflection: where in my life has religious routine or
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self-disciplines subtly turned into a
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spiritual pride rather than genuine dependence on
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the mercy and grace that we receive from our Father in heaven?
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And that was our second point, exposing the illusion of self-cleansing.
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Number 3, the abiding life. And to do this,
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we're— to prove this point, we're going to go to Jesus' teaching, His parable
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on the unclean spirits, which is in Matthew chapter 12. So, if you want to
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turn there with me, Matthew chapter 12.
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This is a very small section, yet very
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Sorry, 43 through 45, yep.
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When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places
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seeking rest but finds none. Then it says, I will return to my house
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from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house empty,
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swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it 7
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other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell
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there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also
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it will be with this evil generation. Jesus delivers
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this warning against defining holiness as just an absence of evil through
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this parable of the returning spirit. A house is swept clean,
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put in order, but left unoccupied and unfilled.
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The spirit returns with 7 others worse than itself.
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Behavior modification cleans the room,
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right? Sweeps it clean, puts it in order, but it's empty.
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Purity and righteousness isn't an empty space.
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An empty life is actually vulnerable, very vulnerable.
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You cannot conquer darkness simply by sweeping
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out the dirt and cleaning up our lives, putting things in order.
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What you have to do is turn on the light and bring God into your
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life. So, drawing closer to Jesus isn't just about, you know,
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staring at your sins and trying harder not to commit them.
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Abiding means fixing your gaze on Christ.
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The closer you get to God, the less attractive that the
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sinful things in life are. Holiness happens when
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he takes full residency in our lives and
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in our empty homes. Only he can provide that true fulfillment.
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Ultimately, the question isn't just, is your life swept clean,
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but is King Jesus sitting on the throne of your heart.
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And I'm going to read John
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15:4-5 again because I just want to emphasize
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that— remember I was talking about the
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fruit and trying to fix the fruit instead of the root? And John
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15 points exactly to that point.
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This is Jesus' teaching. Abide in me,
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and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it
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abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am
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the vine, Jesus, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me
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and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me
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you cannot do nothing. So,
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abide is the key word here. Reflection: What
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sins or habits and thoughts am I trying to fix
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myself instead of letting God transform. So that was abide.
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So to conclude, I mean, at the, at the end of the day,
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Jesus does not call us to be empty vessels swept clean
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of life and put in order just to stay untouched
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by the world, right? Putting the walls up like the Pharisees. True righteousness isn't found
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in a quiet room of self-denial. It is found in
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the consuming presence of Jesus and And when
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God fills the house of your life, righteousness stops
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being a standard that you struggle to achieve and
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becomes the natural overflow of the one who lives inside of you.
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Through these 3 teachings of Jesus, we see a Savior who just wants our
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heart, right? I want to read a few verses and then I'll be done.
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And if you want to follow along, you can. I'm going to be going fast,
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so. 2 Corinthians 5:21. For our
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sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him
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we might become the righteousness of God.
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Romans, chapter 3, verses 21 through 22,
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But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from
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the law, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all
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who believe. Romans, chapter 5, verse 19,
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For as by the one man's obedience many were
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made sinners, So, by the one man's obedience,
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the many will be made righteous. And then this is one
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directly, Philippians 3:8-9,
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that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a
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righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which
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comes through the faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness from God
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that depends on faith. Thank you, guys.
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So for our next scriptural reading and lesson will be Seek Ye First.
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Seek ye first the kingdom
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of God and his righteousness,
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and all these things shall be added
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unto you.
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Singing hallelujah,
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hallelujah.
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Singing praise of the kingdom
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of God and
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his righteousness.
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And all these things shall be added
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unto you.
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Alleluia!
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Alleluia!
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Ask, and it shall be given
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unto you; seek,
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and ye shall find; knock,
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and the door shall
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be opened unto you; sing,
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Alleluia! Ask, and it shall be
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given unto you; seek,
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and ye shall find;
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knock, and the door shall
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be opened unto you, singing alleluia!
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We'll skip the verse.
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If you want to turn to Luke 15, that's where we'll be in a
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minute. In 1951, a young boy named
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Louis Albano was abducted while playing at a park with his brother
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in Oakland, California. On February 21st,
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1951, a woman approached Louis and
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lured him into a van promising to buy him candy. Instead,
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she took him to the airport, purchased 2 plane tickets,
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and flew to the East Coast. In a matter of hours,
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a family lost their son, a brother, and loved one.
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But his family never stopped looking for him. His mother never
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gave up hope that her son was still alive. The authorities
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eventually closed the missing person case, but his family never truly
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closed the doors. His niece continued searching
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for him, and in early 2024, she and her children
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began searching again.
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Eventually, investigators determined that the new information was substantial enough
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to reopen the case. After more than 7 decades
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of searching, they found Luis Armando Albino on
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the East Coast. A DNA test confirmed what his family
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had hoped for all these years— it was him.
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After 73 years, the missing son had been found.
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His family never forgot him, and the story reminds me of the parable
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Jesus gives us in Luke 15.
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When we think about a parable, we might think of it as a short story
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with a heavenly meaning. But Jesus often used parables to
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teach people about the kingdom of God and more importantly,
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the character and heart of God. In Luke 15,
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Jesus tells us about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and finally
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a lost son. All 3 stories have something in common: something
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valuable is lost and there is great joy when it is found.
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So tonight I want us to look at 3 lessons from the parable of the
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prodigal son, and the lesson is yours. Number 1, I want us to see
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that God watches with compassion, waiting for us to come home.
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Luke 15:20 says, and he arose and came to his father.
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But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt
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compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
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I want you to notice those words. It says, while he was still a long
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way off, his father saw him. The son hadn't made it home
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yet. He was still a far way off, but the father was watching for him.
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The father saw him before the son ever reached the house.
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The son had taken his inheritance, left home, and wasted everything.
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He had made terrible decisions and found himself in a place
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he never imagined he would be. But when he finally decided to come home,
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The father didn't stand at the door with anger. He didn't say, where have
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you been? He didn't remind him of everything he had done.
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Instead, Luke says that the father felt compassion,
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ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him. That is
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the heart of our God. Psalm 103:8
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says, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding
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in steadfast love. Lamentations 3:22-23
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tells us, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
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His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning.
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God's mercy has not run out. His patience has not run out.
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His love has not run out. You may have walked away
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from God, but God has not walked away from you. Maybe there
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is something here, someone here who feels like they have gone too
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far. Maybe you have allowed sin to separate you from God. Maybe you have
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made decisions you're ashamed of. Maybe you've been carrying
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guilt and wondering if God could ever forgive you.
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But I want you to understand some— something: the Father is
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still watching, the Father is still calling, the Father is
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still waiting. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28,
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come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
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and I will give you rest. He doesn't say, fix yourself and
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then come. He says, come to me. James 4:8 says,
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draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
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Sometimes we have to put our pride aside, turn around,
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and simply say, Father, I'm coming home.
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Secondly, I want us to see that God restores us fully and
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not halfway. When the prodigal son finally comes home, he doesn't
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expect to be treated like a son anymore. Luke 15:19 says,
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I am no longer to be called your son; treat me as one
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of your hired servants. The son had already decided
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what his place would be. He thought that because of what he had done,
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he had lost the position in his family. He was willing to
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settle for being a servant, but the father wasn't willing to settle for
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that. Luke 15:22
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says, But the father said to his servants, Bring quickly the
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best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and
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shoes on his feet. The father didn't put his son on probation.
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He didn't tell him to work his way back into the family.
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He didn't say, you can stay, but you're going to have to earn my trust
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again. Instead, he restored him. The robe, the ring, and the
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shoes showed him— showed the son that
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he was being welcomed back into the family. The father wasn't
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simply allowing him to come home; he was restoring his identity.
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That's what God does for us. God doesn't forgive us halfway.
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2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore,
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if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has
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passed away; behold, the new has come. When God
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saves us, he doesn't want us to spend the rest of our lives chained to
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the guilt. He wants us—
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he makes us new. Isaiah 1:18 says,
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though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
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Sometimes we accept God's forgiveness, but we don't
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accept his restoration. We say, I know God forgives
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me, but I'll always be the same person I used to be. But that's
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not what scripture teaches. 1 John 1:9 says, if we confess
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our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and
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to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God doesn't just forgive,
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he cleanses. He doesn't just bring us back,
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he restores us. Your past may be part of
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your story, but your part— your past does not have to determine your future.
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The enemy may remind you of what you did, but God reminds you
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of what he can make you. You may feel unworthy,
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but God's grace was never based on your worthiness in the first place.
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Ephesians 2:4-5 says, but God,
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being rich in mercy, because of the great love with
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which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ.
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When God restores you, he doesn't give you a second-class place
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in his family. He calls you his own. Thirdly,
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I want us to see that God celebrates when we come home.
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Luke 15:23-24 says,
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and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate,
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for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was
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lost and is found. The father didn't simply let his son
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walk through the door; he celebrated his return. He didn't
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focus on the years his son had wasted; he focused on the fact that
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his son was back home. He didn't say, look what you've done. He said,
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my son was lost, but now is found. This is the
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reason Jesus told us these parables. Earlier in Luke 15,
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Jesus says in verse 7, there will be more joy in heaven
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over one sinner who repents than— than—
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in verse 10, he says, there is joy before the angels of
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God over one sinner who repents. Think about that.
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When one sinner turns back to God, heaven rejoices.
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When one person lays down their pride and says, I need God,
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heaven rejoices. When one person turns away
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from their old life and comes back to the Father, heaven rejoices.
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Luke 19:10 says, for the Son of Man came to
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seek and save the lost. That's why Jesus came.
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He came for the people who were lost. He came for people who had
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made mistakes. He came for people who were broken, and he
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came for people who knew they needed a Savior.
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1 Timothy 1:15 says, Christ Jesus came into the
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world to save sinners. That means if you feel like you've gone too far,
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you're exactly the kind of person Jesus came to save.
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The story of Luis Albino reminds us that a family can spend decades
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searching for someone they love. His family refused to forget him.
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His mother held on to hope until the day she died,
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and his niece continued the search until they finally found him.
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But the love of God is even greater. God knows exactly
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where you are. Psalm 139:7 asks,
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where shall I go from your Spirit, or where shall I flee from
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your presence? You cannot outrun God. You cannot
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hide from him. And that's good news, because the God you may be
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running from is the same God who is calling you back home.
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James 4:14 reminds us that our life is a mist
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that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Life is short.
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We don't know how many days we have, so don't wait.
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Don't let pride keep you away from God. Don't let shame
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keep you away. Don't let your past keep you away.
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Don't let the enemy convince you that you've gone too far and
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can't return. The Father is still watching. The Father
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is still waiting. The Father is still calling. Jesus said in
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Revelation 3:20, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
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The question is, will you answer? The Father
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is not standing there waiting to remind you of everything you've done.
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He's calling you back because he loves you. He's calling you back
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because he wants to restore you, and he's calling you back because you
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belong to him. Maybe you've been away from God for
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a long time. Maybe you've been running for years. Maybe you've never
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truly really came home. But tonight,
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the invitation is still standing. His grace is sufficient.
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His mercy is still available. His forgiveness is real,
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and his arms are still open. The prodigal son was far
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away, but he came home. He was broken, but he was restored.
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He was lost, but he was found. And when he came home,
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there was celebration. The same invitation is being extended to
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us today. The Father is waiting. The Father is watching.
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The Father is calling. So don't run anymore. Don't hide
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anymore. Don't let pride keep you away. Don't let shame keep you
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away. Turn around, take the first step, and come home.
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If this is your invocation, please come forward as together we stand and