The Collective Witness

Jesus has plenty of witnesses—but do we truly trust Him? In John 5, we’re reminded it’s possible to know Scripture and still miss Jesus.

This episode explores faith, hope, and love through community, and the practical steps to keep following Him through real-life struggles.

A call to fix your eyes on Jesus and grow in faith together.

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Transcript

Welcome And A Choice To Show Up

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Such a joy to be here. So grateful that I get to see you all. I was reading this story of this boy who went late to school to church, and the pastor asked him, What why did you take so long to come? No, I was deciding whether to watch the cricket match or to come to church.

Reading John 5:30 To 47

SPEAKER_00 0:35

So I was doing a coin toss. He said, a coin toss takes like a second. He said, No, I did it 36 times. And um so the fact that you're in church is a blessing. The fact that you chose community today is amazing. And I'm so glad that I get to be here. Um today we're going to be looking in continuation with your Lent series that you're doing as a church from the book of John.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

If you can open your Bibles to John chapter 5, verses 30 to 47. Uh, 17 verses, they feel a lot, but it's very vital because these are the testimonies of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels. Uh, John chapter 5, verse 30. By myself I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just. For I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true. You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony, but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burnt and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. I have testimony weightier than that of John, for the works that the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I'm doing, testify that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You studied the scriptures diligently, because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

I have come in my father's name and you do not accept me. But if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another, but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? But do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?

Sabbath Healing And The Real Offense

SPEAKER_01 2:58

This, to give you a bit of a background on this, Jesus has just healed a person on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees are not happy with it. So they're saying, How can you come and do this? Who are you to do this? And so he's saying, I'm doing the works of my father. He never rests on the Sabbath, so why should I? And so they're so offended that Jesus would equate himself to God. And so this whole thing comes out of this place where Jesus is addressing these Pharisees and the teachers of the law and saying, you read the word, you teach it to people, and yet you're missing the essence of the word, which is me in the flesh. Right? And so often when you read the gospels, I'm sure you've looked at the Pharisees and thought, what a bunch of goofballs. Why didn't they just believe him? This is Jesus, he's healing the sick, delivering demons out of people. Why couldn't they believe? And then before we judge them too harshly, we need to stop and say, hey, wait a second. Where is my faith today? Am I pharisaical in the way I look at things? God has done so much in my life, but the time another problem comes in, I again doubt him. I wonder if he will again come through for me. He did so much last year, and I'm worried about this year. I'm no different. I talk a big game about trusting God, but do I really trust him?

What Are You Leaning On

SPEAKER_00 4:13

And so to this morning I want to ask you, is your lean on Jesus? Or are you leaning on a whole bunch of other things? Do you lean on the things that the world asks you to lean? That bank deposit, that person, that friend, that parent, would you check where your leaning is today? Jesus was checking with them. Do you trust me? John talked about me, but did you trust? The works that I do speak for me, but do you trust?

SPEAKER_01 4:42

And so the question for us today is the title for that whole passage was Testimonies about Jesus. And so I titled this morning's sermon as the collective witness. What does that mean? At that point of time, there was a collective witness. John was speaking of it. The father had spoken, you know, his pleasure over the son. We had the word of God which was being made alive in Jesus, and yet they missed it. Today, you and I have each other. You know, when I was speaking to a pastor and I hear her story, there's so much of it that blows my mind. And it strengthens my faith for bringing up my children, for doing my life back in Chennai. The collective witness, you are part of a body that is a collective witness. But are we actually enjoying the power of the collective witness? The collective witness is so powerful because when someone else is struggling, I go to them and say, you know what, God comforted me in my sorrow, he will do the same for you.

The Power Of Collective Witness

SPEAKER_00 5:42

It will look different, but this is what my God does. That is the power of the collective witness. And I want us to look today a little bit more about what this collective witness, the power that it actually exudes.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Confucius, the Chinese uh philosopher, said, through the ages, one word, because he was passing uh a very confusing uh religious thought to the people of China. But I believe today, through the ages, it's one name, the name of Jesus. This is the name we proclaim, this is a name we believe on, this is a name that is a cornerstone of our lives. We build our marriages, our homes on the name of Jesus. And so the collective witness, all of us here testify to Jesus. Am I right? Jesus has healed you in some way, Jesus provides for you, Jesus has restored you. This is the collective witness. In Acts chapter 2, verse 32, it says, God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Acts 5, 32 says, We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him. See, the apostle Peter was telling the early church, guys, a couple of us saw Jesus in the flesh, then he ascended. But today, when Jesus was actually coming and the Spirit of God was falling on the early church, filling them with signs, wonders, and miracles, the numbers were growing week on week.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

And so they were visibly seeing the power of God. And he's saying, We are all witnesses of it. And so I want to ask you today, how ready are you to be part of the collective witness?

Romans 5 And Faith Hope Love

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Maybe you're someone who just walks into church, slips in, and then slips out because you're like, I don't know people, I'm a little embarrassed to talk, I'm not too social. I completely understand I've been there, done that. But God is calling you deeper into the collective witness because you have a part to play that only you can play. No one else can replicate what you are going to contribute to the body of Christ. And so today we're going to look at Romans chapter 5, verses 1 to 5 from the NLT version as to what the power of this collective witness is. Romans 5, verses 1 to 5. It says, Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight, by faith we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that when they that they develop in us endurance. And endurance develops strength of character. Character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us because he has given the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Faith Gets Stirred In Community

Hope Gets Reignited Through Friends

Love As The Fragrance You Carry

Hebrews 12 And Throwing Off Snares

Get Up Dust Off Find Your Pace

Eyes Up Steadfast Hearts And Closing

SPEAKER_01 8:31

The Bible in the New Testament repeatedly talks about faith, hope, and love, of which love is the greatest. Right? But when you and I live in the power of the collective witness, when we keep choosing community and we choose to keep showing up and being all in, three things happen. The first thing that happens is your faith is stirred up. If you've ever made pasta in a bowl, you heat the water, and then when it's boiling, you put some salt to begin with, then you add the pasta in. Have you ever tried not stirring the pasta? What'll happen? It sticks to the bowl. And the stuff on the top gets cooked, the ones at the bottom get stuck, they're hard. It's not an even. What do you do when you want to mix it up? You stir it. So that the boiling, the molecules, everything starts moving together, all of it cooks, and then you have an evenly cooked meal. Right? This is what stirring up of faith does in our lives. Because many times in the Christian life, I come from a Christian home. My parents were Christians. For the better part of my teenagers, I piggybacked off their faith. Oh, mommy and daddy'll pray. I'll go and submit my prayer request daily to my mom. Pray for this. I'm going through this, do this, do that. I had to have my first child, I had to get pregnant with my first child to learn what it was to depend on God directly. Faith became my own. Because this is a child I'm interceding for. So I had to pray. I had to, and with each child coming into my life, I have three kids. Each time my faith was stirred. Now, after the kids grow, again the faith needs to keep being stirred. Otherwise, it gets stagnant. I'm just believing that Lord let them not fall off the bed. That's the first stage. Now I'm like, Lord, let them not wander off into wrong pathways in life. My faith needs to keep being stirred. And when I'm in community, I'm with older women who have done the hard yards of parenting teens and I'm always hungry for information. Tell me what you did. How did you pray? How did you and your husband prioritize marriage when the kids were growing? You need people to help stir your faith and believe for greater things. Because sometimes in the Christian journey, we stop believing for the big things. We stop asking God for the impossible. Lord, if you give me my daily bread, I'm good. We think we're very holy when we say that. But you need to be asking God for greater territory. Lord, how can I reach more people in my corporate office? How can I reach people in my neighborhood? He will begin to give you ideas, he will open doors. Too many times we're not even asking for these things. And it is in the collective group that our faith didn't end when I said yes to Jesus, but it continues for a lifetime. You're constantly stirring it up and saying, you know what, this person is doing this. How can I help them? Maybe I'm not a dreamer, but I can be a doer with them. Maybe you need more of a vision. Faith needs to be stirred up so that it's not stagnant. Anything stagnant smells bad. What is being stirred is fresh. Okay? So the first thing is faith is stirred up. The second thing, hope needs to be reignited. Is it possible for as a Christian for our hope to die down? Yes. If you say no, I'm really happy for you. But I have to be honest, there have been times when I felt hopeless. Situations in relationships, situations with health. I thought, God, I'm praying so much. I'm doing the right things. Is there sin in my life? Why are you not answering? You felt like you're knocking on doors. He said knock and it would be open, but Lord, no door is opening. You will have those seasons when hopelessness hits you. But the power of the collective witness is that you can bring that hopelessness honestly to a friend, a believer friend, and say, Hey, you know I'm not able to see any light at the end of this tunnel. And then someone comes alongside them and says, You know what? I've got this. I'll pray with you. I was just telling them a story in the previous service about how I met this girl after one of our church services. She just came to visit. She was six months pregnant, and she said, I just want to share my story with you. I was bleeding for about 10 years. Doctors didn't know how to control the bleeding. And the doctors had also said when I got married, you will never have children. It's not going to happen. But she had a friend in Chennai who said, You know what, let's not believe the diagnosis of the doctor. We both will believe and pray. They started praying from the time she got married, and she said, It's been two years now. The doctors are surprised. It was because this friend just said, We will not give up. You know, and this friend was telling the friend was also there. So she said, You know what, uh, Christine? I was pregnant at the time. I wanted her to be pregnant with me. This is what hoping re-ignites. She said, I had given up. And yet, because this friend stood in the gap with me, prayed for me, interceded with me, this baby is here today. How can you be an igniter of hope for someone else? Maybe your hope is in a good place. Can you come along some side someone and say, hey, I can see that you're flagging in hope, I'll help breathe upon it. And the beautiful thing about a reignition is that the Holy Spirit is a wind. And if you know, wind accelerates a fire. So if you feel like the fire of your hope is down, you need to invite the Holy Spirit in to breathe afresh upon it. Because He will. Hope does not disappoint, is what the Bible says. And I've always had a problem understanding that because Lord, it it feels like hope disappoints. I'm hoping this will be the month I have this baby, but it didn't happen. I'm hoping this will be the year my child has a breakthrough in health, but it's not happening. I'm hoping my marriage will be restored this year, but God. But the beautiful thing is, Paul writes, hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured into your hearts. And I didn't understand that for a long time. But recently I understood that when I make room for the love of God in my life, perfect love casts out fear. So I don't live with this fear of losing hope. I don't live with the fear of my desires not being fulfilled. I live with this realization of how loved I am. I am deeply loved by God. I am fully known by God. He knows me, flaws and all, and yet he loves me so deeply. And for that reason, I don't have to give up hope. I can keep believing, I can keep hoping. That's what that verse means. So I want to remind you today if your hope has died down, let the Holy Spirit come upon it and refuel it. Because hope needs to be reignited. The third thing is that we need to emit the fragrance of love. If you can just put up that picture of the yeah, so picture this. If I was to cook something without a stove, it really doesn't taste good, right? It needs the heat. And what you actually detect in the room is the fragrance. Love is the fragrance that you will emit collectively in the spaces you walk into. Too many of us have lost opportunities to be the fragrance because maybe we are not that great in our work. Maybe we consistently show up late at work and people are like these Christians are like this only. Maybe we have been so dismissive of our responsibilities in our family that the aroma that is coming off us is not of Jesus. I want to ask you, what is the fragrance you're emitting? We're so picky about the perfumes we wear on us, but is the fragrance of love coming off of us? Because if my faith is being stirred up, if my hope is being re reigned, automatically the fragrance will change. Because he says in that Romans verse, if you look at the last verse, he says, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love, anything that is filled eventually will start to overflow. It cannot stay contained. You will tend to love on people around you. I have three kids, and so my kids assume that my love tank is only for them. But they're always amazed that when I walk into church and there are the babies and little kids running around, I have so much love to pour on them. Sometimes they felt jealous. They're like, You call us darling, why are you calling that one darling? Because they're darlings. You see, the love of God in you will compel you to love others. And if you are struggling to love, it's understandable. Because I'm gonna get to that in a bit. There are obstacles to living in the fullness of this. I myself, for one, I have a great capacity to love, but I also get hurt quick. And so the Lord had to correct that. He said, Hey, you know what? You have a great capacity to love, you have to become a bit unoffendable. And so that brings me to the next thing that we can live in this place of the fullness of faith, hope, and love. But it does, it's not a you know, a real life hits you with a ton of bricks, and this doesn't always happen. So we're gonna look at Hebrews 12, chapter chapter 12, verses 1 to 4, to understand what actually keeps us from living in the power of this witness. Hebrews 12 says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. If you notice this, Hebrews 12 comes after Hebrews 11, when all these big guys are mentioned Samson, Jephthah, Gilead, uh, Abraham, Moses, Sarah, all these big hall of faithers, right? And he's saying you are surrounded by these cloud of witnesses, but you take off the things that are holding you back. So many times you look at Abraham and Sarah and think, wow, I want to be like that. But you can be like that if you take that snare of self-preservation off you. Abraham didn't look to preserve himself. When God said, get up and go, he went. But when God tells me, get up and go to that other city, God, but that's not my city. I love Hyderabad more. I love Chennai too much, Lord. When God is saying, Do this, I want to do something else which is comfortable for me. The ones who are mentioned in the hall of faith had a different level. They all hoped for a country that they hadn't seen yet. They were hoping for eternity. Many of them didn't get the things they asked for on earth. Are you willing to live in that state of constant tension between the now and the not yet? That is on us. But what is holding you down? Sin and snares. A snare is like a trap that is set for animals in a forest. Unconsciously, it walks in and gets stuck and eventually debilitates them, and they're caught by the hunter and finished off. The enemy sets snares for us in our everyday. Like I said, we some of us love easily, we get hurt easily, also. One of the snares are that unforgiveness, bitterness, envy, greed, sins, lust, covetousness. What is it in your life that is preventing you from running the race marked out for you? Only you can diagnose that. I cannot diagnose it for you. I can diagnose myself. I know exactly where the sin and snares lie. And it's on me to invite the Holy Spirit in to come and break those snares off. And I want to encourage you, when you hear this, you have to be confident that when we celebrate Lent, especially, we're talking about a Jesus who's risen and victorious. He had given us victory over sin and death. So you have victory over every snare. You have victory over every sin. Nothing can hold you down. You are an overcomer. And so it means that we need to get these sins and snares identified and take them off so that you can actually live in the power of the collective witness. Right? And I just want to leave a couple of things with you as to how to actually live in this power. The first thing is you need to get up. What do I mean by that? Many times on the journey of our believing lives, when we are following Jesus, we get tired. Lord, the warfare is never ending, Lord, the struggles are never ending, my bank account is not growing. I'm going to check out. And instead of running, we go and sit on the pavement. I'm done. I have many friends who got saved, came to the Lord, loved Jesus so much. But when they didn't get married at the age that they wanted, when they didn't have the things that they wanted happen, they turned away from him. They said, Christine, we don't want him anymore. And I tried to explain that it's not that conditional. He's sovereign, he knows when to give you these things, but it didn't make sense. And I could understand their pain, but they got off the track and sat down. Some of them have gone back to the old ways of worshipping other religions in other religions. They have left the faith. But I still pray that. They would come back, but I want to ask you. Maybe we won't do that. Maybe we won't leave and go to another faith. But sometimes we check out and say, Lord, I don't want to fight anymore. I'm good with all this warfare. Let it happen for the warriors. I'm good. I'll sit down. Lord, all these setbacks in my relationships, I'll just be solitary. I don't need people. God is asking you to get up. You were meant to run. You were meant to walk with God. You remember what happened to David when he had to be out on the battlefield, he was on his terrace and he fell. There is a season for everything in our lives. This is a season. If we have life in our bodies, we have breath in our lungs, we need to be on mission every day. We need to be doing the things we were created for. What have you been created for? Get up. That's the first thing. The second thing is that you would dust off. Shake off everything that has been on you, that has been holding you down for live from living in this powerful way. If it is anger, if it is hate, if it is lust, if it is greed, whatever it is, you don't need to live with it anymore. In the name of Jesus, you dust it off. By the blood of Jesus, you are cleansed. So that you can run with intention. These are things that bog you down. I think if you read the same chapter and the passion is beautiful, the wounds that have held you back, he says, let it go. Too many of us are carrying the wounds of previous relationships, previous churches, that we're not committing to the season we are in. If you're here, you need to be all in. So get up, shake off. The next one is start running. I'm not a runner. I run so pathetically. When I run, my knees pain after that. And so for me, when I used to read these analogies in the Bible that Paul writes, I'm running my race, I'm fixing my eyes, I feel God, I don't have the energy to run. But God has been teaching me every season of our life there's a pace we need to find. When you've just had a baby, you can't spend that much time in the word. So you can just listen to the audio Bible as you nurse them, as you clean the diapers, you're listening to worship music. That is worship. Then these seasons of college life, you have energy, you're running around, you can do more for God. Then when you're newly married, you don't yet have kids, it's just both of you. Find your pace. How do you establish your family altar? Do you both fast and pray? Do you pray together every morning and night? Find your pace. When he says running, Enoch walked with God, it says, which means literally Noah, Enoch, a couple of these guys were in constant communion with God. You need to get up, shake off, and start walking or running, be it the pace you're in. Some of us run when we should be resting. You'll burn out. Find your pace. I think it's in Matthew 11 in the message, it says, find the pace of grace, rhythms of grace. Because our God is not in a hurry. Eternity is there, is waiting for all of us. He is willing to take his time with us. So will you find your pace? Next thing is to get your eyes fixed, eyes up. When your eyes are down on your temporal problems, you miss out on looking at the one who called you. When your eyes are looking at the person in the track beside you who lives next door, who doesn't follow any God, and who seems seemingly happy, prosperous, you're thinking, I'm following Jesus, I'm having so much struggle. This guy is living a cushy life. Why, God? Or you see that other friend who gave up on the faith, doing whatever they please, seemingly happy. Stop looking at others running the race and keep your eyes up on Jesus. When I look to Jesus, when I, what does it say? Author and perfecter, he called me. He made me, he called me, he recreated me for him. So, God, if I keep my eyes on you, where are you calling me? What are you asking me to do? When your eyes are up, your perspective shifts. I was just sharing this before we before I came to Hyderabad, my husband was in Dubai for work. He works for the UVersion Bible app. And so he was there for meetings. Just as he was about to leave, um, we get news that the war had broken out in Iran. So he got stranded there. His flight got cancelled. My brother-in-law was staying in another place in Jumeirah, and he sh sent us pictures of the missiles actually coming in. So it was such a scary time for us, and I had to come here, I was prepping for this. But both of us decided when we spoke to each other on the phone, we said, you know, we'll just keep our eyes on the Lord. Whatever he wants to do. If he needs you to be there longer, it's fine. His parents were telling me, tell him to come down somehow. And I was like, no, I don't want him in the air when there are missiles flying around. I'd rather him be there, he'll be safe, he'll be okay. Um, I had to handle three kids who were panicking here. Um, it was it was a weird season, okay? But as I was at home quietly, didn't fret for the first time. I am someone who's a constant warrior. This time the Lord had prepared me so well. I was not worried. I said, Lord, you brought him taken him there for something. Tell me what he's doing there. And this is what the Lord said. This guy was born and brought up in Dubai, my husband. Right? And from a child, his parents had told him, one day Iran will hit us. So be prepared. He grew up with an understanding of the tension in that country. Even though many people say Dubai is very safe, very neutral, his parents had forethought. They had trained the sons for that. Secondly, for the past two years, we have been writing Bible plans and translating it into the Iranian language. And so the Iranian church there, the underground church, has been reading our plans. We're getting so much of traction in Iran and Afghanistan. And so our heart has been so burdened for the Iranian church. And mind you, I am not politically inclined, so I didn't know what the dictator was doing. I didn't know anything. We were just praying as women's groups, as men's groups. Lord, bless Iran, bless the people. That's all we were doing. And the Lord was like, I've kept him there for have a vantage point view of what your prayers are doing. I need him there to understand what's happening on the ground. He got to hand a hangout with pastors from Syria, from Lebanon, to understand the ache of these lands. We see it from a superficial level. These men are on the ground. They told him about how their countries are suffering, how churches and believers are being persecuted. He met Iranian pastors who were rejoicing when the dictator was removed. They said, You don't know what we go through. How many thousands have died? Because they followed Jesus. We don't know these things. It doesn't make it to the news cycle. And so God was saying, Hey, I have a different view. I want you to see it. When your eyes go up and not around, I refused to open Instagram those three days because every time I opened it, it was like my phone was listening to me. It was showing me bombs falling in Qatar, in Bahrain. It was not pleasant. And I said, I don't want that in my head. God, I'm trusting you. You took him, you'll bring him safe. Just before I left, my dog fell ill. And so my husband, my husband had returned by then. We took her and went to the doctor. And she's a retriever. She's literally like an angel on earth. She's such a sweetheart. So when she falls sick, it's really hard for me to watch. Because these animals, they don't deserve it, right? So I was in the hospital with her. Infection was so bad. So the doctors were going to treat. The assistant doctor was there and all the assistants. And she said, let's we'll put her on a course of antibiotics, she'll be fine. And I'm just standing there thinking, gosh, I'm not going to be there. Lord, why are you allowing this poor thing gets hurt every time when I'm going to travel or something? And just as they were about to, you know, get her off the examining table, the see the senior physician walked in. And this man has been out of commission for about one year because of cancer. He's going through cancer himself. And we haven't seen him in a year. But that day he chose to walk in at the exact time that my dog Mocha was on the table. Minute he walked in, he went up to her, he hugged her, and he asked what's happening. They told him he immediately administered an infusion for her, which would start the healing process faster. And my mind was blown because at that moment the Lord was saying, see how much I love her because she belongs to you guys, that I bring the chief guy in for her. When my eyes are down, I miss seeing what God is doing around me. But when my eyes are up, I get to see the supernatural moments in my ordinary day. So I would encourage you to get up, start running, dust off, eyes up, and finally keep your heart steadfast. Why? Because you know what? If you don't purpose to keep your heart steadfast, your heart will fail when you need it to be strong. You will have storms, you will have setbacks, you will have struggles. That is the life that we have signed up for. But would you choose to say, Lord, no matter what, I will still praise your holy name. I will still lift up my hands, I will still worship you, I will still show up on Sundays, I will still show up for life groups because I know that you will speak to me through someone. You will encourage me through the community. I won't give up. That's what a heart that is strong looks like. And so even as we close, I want to ask you: are you ready to experience the power of the collective witness? Are you ready to say, you know what, I want my faith stirred up. I am done with that old faith which just believes for the daily. I'm asking God for bigger things. Maybe you need a reignition of your hope. Maybe you stopped hoping. You thought maybe you were not worth hope being hopeful for. No, I want to encourage you. When God's love fills your heart, you can hope again. You can dare to hope. The interesting thing is, all of us, we are hardwired to hope. That's how God has wired us. We're always hoping for God to come through, correct? Even the most uh negative of us, one part of our brain is like, but God maybe come, might will come through. We are hardwired for hope. And finally, that you would emit, not just as individuals but as a church community, even in your communities where you live, that you will be emitting the fragrance of Jesus. So that many are attracted to him. See, they may not be too attracted to us after a point when they see that you know we have these small issues in our life where we are not perfect. If your aroma attracts them to Jesus, hundred on hundred for you.