In the sermon titled 'Authority To Say And To Do,' Jason Dohm examines Luke 4:31-37 to highlight the authority of Jesus in both word and action. Jesus, having all authority, teaches in the synagogue in Capernaum, where his words astonish the people due to their authoritative nature. Unlike the rabbis of the time who quoted each other, Jesus speaks directly with the authority from God, as he is the Word made flesh. The sermon also recounts a miraculous event where Jesus casts out a demon from a man in the synagogue, demonstrating his authority over spiritual realms. The demon recognizes Jesus as the Holy One of God, acknowledging his identity and authority. Despite witnessing these powerful acts and teachings, the people of Capernaum respond with amazement but fail to truly repent or accept Jesus' message, exemplifying what J.C. Ryle calls 'unsanctified knowledge.' The sermon emphasizes the importance of responding to Jesus' authoritative word and the danger of having spiritual privileges without genuine faith.

The title of the message this morning is, Authority to Say and to Do. Jesus is going to speak with authority and act with authority, because Jesus has all authority. Last week, Jesus came to his hometown. He went into a synagogue that we can safely assume he had been in many many many times as as was his custom he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And he reads, he's handed the scroll of Isaiah and he finds Isaiah 61.

And he reads Isaiah 61 which announces the day of God's favor. Imagine God has has made a time of his favor. Jesus stands to announce it And then he hands the scroll back to the attendant. He's sitting down. People can tell something really remarkable, really unusual has happened.

So all of their eyes are on him and he says, today this is fulfilled in your hearing. And they marvel at the gracious words that fall from his lips, But they also have known him for a long time, and they've known his family. Maybe his dad, the carpenter, did work for him. It just makes it hard for him to receive these words. And so Jesus brings up two Gentiles that were blessed by the Lord at a time where Israel was living under judgment and this fills the people with wrath.

And they almost throw him off the edge of a cliff, and then the Spirit says, but he walked through them and went his way. And really, this is just what Jesus says in John chapter 10, that no one took his life from him. So Jesus cannot be harmed. Jesus could never be killed until the minute that he's willing to voluntarily lay down his life. So actually in the Gospels you encounter many other times when people wanted to kill him but were unable to because it hadn't come the time to do that saving work yet.

This week in our text we see Jesus exercising authority both in teaching, he's going to be teaching authoritatively, and in acting, he's going to act authoritatively. Let's ask God to help us. God, your word is precious, and we find it to be good week after week. We also find ourselves needing help week after week. And so we begin this time by calling on you that your spirit would be here helping us.

Help me as I preach, help my friends, my brothers, my sisters as they listen. Cause this to be such a profitable time of hearing from you in Jesus name, amen. Hopefully your Bibles are still open to Luke chapter four. Follow along as I reread verses 31 and 32. That'll be our first subdivision, verses 31 and 32.

Then he, Jesus, went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. They were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. Here in these two verses, Jesus teaches in Capernaum with authority. Authority fills in the blank if you're taking notes that way on the handout. Jesus teaches in Capernaum with authority.

Text says that Jesus went down to Capernaum. That is actually literal. I didn't realize the extent to which this was true. He was in Nazareth, his hometown. His hometown is 1, 300 feet above sea level, and he goes down to Capernaum.

Capernaum is actually 695 feet below sea level. Can you imagine that? The Sea of Galilee is almost 700 feet below sea level. It's actually the lowest freshwater lake on planet Earth. Did you know that?

I didn't know that, but before this morning actually. So he goes down to Capernaum from his hometown at 1300 feet above sea level to the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum being on the Sea of Galilee, almost 700 feet below sea level. What is Capernaum? Capernaum is a blue collar fishing community on the Sea of Galilee. Listen to what David Garland, who's written this commentary on Luke, says.

Capernaum was one of the larger Galilean villages, around 600 to 1, 500 residents, so something in the range of 600 people to 1, 500 people lived there, and the main fishing village of the area. Archaeological evidence. The home construction was of low quality with no evidence of quote elite houses and no evidence of wealth. No fine pottery or even simple glass, no mosaics, no frescoes, no marble. In other words, when you excavate sites in Israel, you find some places with evidences of wealth.

You might find fine pottery or glass or mosaics or frescoes or marble. You don't find any of that when you excavate Capernaum. Because it is a blue collar fishing village, maybe 600 to 1500 people living there, and the main occupation would be to be a fisherman. Listen to what is said in Matthew 4 verse 13, Matthew 4 13, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulon and Naftali. So Capernaum actually becomes his headquarters.

Nazareth is his hometown, but for the purposes of his public ministry, early in his public ministry, he is moving to and dwelling in this blue collar fishing village on the Sea of Galilee. Like last week's text, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath days. Last week it said that was his custom. So he moves to Capernaum, he dwells in Capernaum, and his custom stays the same. He's teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath days.

Again, a synagogue is simply a local location for worship and instruction in the scriptures. Three times a year you'd be going up to Jerusalem about 70 miles away to the temple for the worship prescribed in the temple. And week to week, normally you would just be going to the local location for worship and instruction in the scriptures, which was your local synagogue. It would probably hold a couple of hundred people. The reaction of the people is like the reaction of his hometown of Nazareth.

Last week, verse 22, said that they marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Here it says that they were astonished at his teaching. So you really have a similar reaction wherever he's teaching. The people found Jesus' teaching to be astonishing. Have you ever been somewhere where you felt like the teaching was astonishing?

That's quite a descriptor. You might like the teaching somewhere, but very rarely do you say, that is astonishing. All the people who heard Jesus were saying, that is astonishing. Why did they find his teaching to be astonishing? Well, one reason, the reason given here, is that his word was with authority.

This is like last week where the people were filled with awe at the sense that Jesus wasn't just reading Isaiah 61. They'd have a lot of men stand before the people and read, and they recognized this is a man standing before us and reading scripture to us. But when Jesus did it, it was something very, very different. It was like he was saying Isaiah 63, not reading Isaiah 61, sorry, 61. It was like he was claiming Isaiah 61 and then he confirms it by saying, today this is fulfilled in your hearing.

The people were used to rabbis quoting rabbis. Who quoted rabbis? Who quoted rabbis? Who quoted rabbis? Commentators quoting commentators.

But that wasn't Jesus. Jesus wasn't relying on someone else's view of the scriptures. He wasn't piggybacking on the credibility of Rabbi so-and-so. He did not need the credibility of Rabbi so-and-so. He stood before the people and authoritatively declared the Word of God.

No one in history has been able to say, Thus saith the Lord, like Jesus, because Jesus is the Lord. Small wonder since Scripture calls Jesus the Word in certain places. Imagine the authority that someone that Scripture calls the Word would teach with. In Mark 1-22, this is the parallel text, the text in Mark that relates the same instances, but in that other gospel it says that He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. They were used to the scribes, the experts in the law, rabbis quoting rabbis, commentators quoting commentators, borrowing credibility from one another, but Jesus didn't teach like the scribes.

He didn't teach like that. Jesus explains it himself in John 12, 49. Listen to John chapter 12, verse 49. Jesus says, for I have not spoken on my own authority, But the Father who sent me gave me a command what I should say and what I should speak." So why does Jesus speak with such authority? Because He has been sent by his father to say certain things, and so he can stand with the confidence that he is saying exactly what his father gave him to say and teach with that authority.

Not his own authority, but given to him by the commandment of his father. Let me just read that again, John 12, 49. Jesus says, I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command what I should say and what I should speak. When Jesus took to the pulpit, so to speak, that is what he was doing. He was saying exactly what he was sent to say and given to say.

Matthew Henry says this. Now I'm a rabbi quoting a rabbi. There you go. Matthew Henry says, there was weight in every word he said. You know, some words are light, Some words hit like a ton of bricks.

Matthew Henry is saying Jesus's words hit like a ton of bricks. There was weight in every word he said. The doctrine itself was astonishing and there was a commanding force in it and a working power went along with it to the conscience of men. Some preachers can just pierce through to the conscience. Jesus was such a preacher.

We think of Jesus as the miracle worker who walked on water and raised the dead, and so he was. But know this, Jesus was the greatest and mightiest preacher who ever lived. And the miracles authenticated those mighty sermons like a stamp of approval from heaven. Okay, so how do we know that These things that you're saying with such an authoritative sense are actually not just the ruminations of a man because they were stamped with approval from heaven by the miracles that he was working. Called authenticating miracles by many theologians and that's the right way to think about them.

It is approval from heaven, proving that this is the revelation of truth from heaven. Anyone can have any opinions. Many people have taught things boldly, but they have no power to show that the things that they teach are from heaven. Jesus was completely different than that. Now notice, we don't know what Jesus was teaching at this point.

We're going to learn a lot about what Jesus is teaching. We're going to get full sermons from Jesus in the future. But right now we don't know what Jesus was teaching, just the people's reaction to it. They were astonished by his teaching. They were amazed at his teaching because he taught with authority.

He wasn't a rabbi quoting rabbis. He was standing and speaking authoritatively on behalf of God before the people. And it was astonishing to hear him do this. Let's continue. Verses 33 through 35, the next section, 33 through 35.

Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice saying, "'Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet and come out of him.

When the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. These verses, Jesus exercises his authority. He's been teaching with authority. It's astonishing to people. Now he exercises his authority.

That authority fills in the blank. Now Jesus, excuse me, now Luke brings us, Luke, our gospel writer, brings us to a specific event. Jesus is in the synagogue teaching with authority. And there is also a man there who has a spirit of an unclean demon. What does that mean?

Well, from this text, we can understand that it means that this man was under the control of this foul spiritual being. There's a foul spiritual being that is controlling this man to such an extent that the demon can do the talking. This foul spiritual being is controlling this man in our text to such an extent that the demon can do the talking. The man's mouth is moving, but the demon is doing the talking. Revelation 12 gives us a glimpse into this spiritual war.

Just listen to Revelation 12 verses 7 through 9. Helps us to understand what this is all about. Revelation 12, seven through nine. And war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer." So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Earlier in chapter 12 it says that a third of the angels were cast down with the great dragon. And it's just identified with perfect specificity here. That's the devil or Satan, whatever you call him, is this great dragon who rebelled against God. A third of the angels rebelled with him and they were cast down to earth.

So demons are the angels who rebelled against God and the devil or Satan is the greatest of them and their ruler. So we've already encountered this in Luke chapter 4. Jesus is fasting in the wilderness for 40 days and the devil is tempting him for those 40 days. And we get three of the very specific temptations and Jesus is rebuking the devil with the use of scripture there. And here, now here, we get one of these demonic beings who is confronting Jesus in the synagogue.

In the New Testament when we have a person under the control of the demon it is always an unregenerate person who has been given over to that control and never a born-again person. This is really an important thing to point out here in the New Testament. When we have a person under the control of a demon, where the demon controls to an extent where the demon can do the talking. It is always an unbeliever, an unregenerate person who has been given over to that control. It is never a born again person.

People who are born again are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and cannot be controlled by demons like we see in today's text. So a human is no match for these demonic powers. That is an understatement. They are so much mightier than us, but these demonic powers are no match for the Holy Spirit, and that is a greater understatement still. And so when the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, these demonic powers can have no control there.

Born again people can be greatly oppressed from the outside by the devil and his demons like we see in Job chapter one and chapter two, how terribly is Job oppressed from the outside by demonic powers, but never possessed on the inside like we see in today's test. So, believers, know this, you can be severely oppressed from the outside but never possessed and controlled on the inside. This demon cries out in verse 34. So, we're in the synagogue and now we have this unsettling disturbance. Have you ever been anywhere where the normal things are going on at the normal volume level and then there's this unsettling disturbance and everyone stops what they're doing and just looks there because this unusual thing has sort of Penetrated the normal things that are happening in the synagogue.

Maybe while Jesus was teaching authoritatively, We don't know exactly what was happening at this moment. The New King James has translated the first Greek word, let us alone. That's a single Greek word, and the New King James translators have put that there for that Greek word, let us alone. But the different translations are all over the place. That's really unusual.

The good translations usually have a really narrow range of translation, but not here. ESV, for instance, just says, ha! That's it. H-A exclamation point. Ha!

Listen to the lexicon, Greek lexicon. An interjection expressive of indignation. So ha is pretty good, right? That's an interjection expressing indignation. Or of wonder mixed with fear.

That's what the Greek word actually means. An interjection expressive of indignation or of wonder mixed with fear. So this unclean demon expresses his displeasure at the presence of Jesus and at Jesus's authoritative teaching of truth. He doesn't like Jesus being there and he doesn't like Jesus authoritatively declaring for God truth from heaven. And the demon is filled with wonder mixed with fear.

What do we learn? The demon knows the identity of Jesus. He says, I know who you are. And he's right, by the way, Jesus is the Holy One of God. And Angel Gabriel said exactly that in announcing Jesus' birth.

Fast forward in Luke chapter 4, this will be next week's text, but look forward to verse 41. And demons also came out of many crying out and saying, You are the Christ, the Son of God. So this is what you find in all of the gospels is that demons immediately understand the identity of Jesus. They can identify him with breathtaking clarity and accuracy. They're right.

And the demon recognizes the authority of Jesus. Did you come to destroy us? On another occasion in Matthew 8, 29, the demon says, the demons say, there are multiple demons, this is those that go out into the 2, 000 swine and they rush down into the water and drown themselves. This is Matthew 8, 29, the demons say, have you come here to torment us before the time? So they recognize his identity and they recognize His authority, His identity, not in question, His authority, not in question.

So people may struggle with the identity of Jesus, But just know that demons have no such struggle. And people may struggle to acknowledge the authority of Jesus, but just understand that demons have no such struggle acknowledging the authority of Jesus. They know how this all ends. That Jesus will come for their destruction and torment, and that the only thing to wonder about is the timing. They don't question for a second his authority to do it or that he will come and do it.

Listen to James 2, 19. James chapter 2, verse 19, James writes this, you believe that there is one God, you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. James says, you're not an atheist? Congratulations.

The demons are not atheists either. The demons believe that much and they tremble. This is exactly what we have in our text. So understand, to intellectually accept that the God of Scripture exists is the faith of demons, not saving faith in Jesus. To simply understand at an intellectual level that the God of Scripture, the God set forth in this book exists is at this point no more than the faith of devils.

Not saving faith in Jesus. Except of course that the most, that most human non-atheists don't have the good sense to tremble while the demons have the good sense to tremble. Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ and the saving faith that implies is a fundamentally different thing. Accordingly, this demon wants nothing to do with Jesus. Back to our text.

This demon wants nothing to do with Jesus. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? If you're here, I want to be anywhere else. If you're teaching If you're teaching truth, I'll make other plans. Jesus responds.

Jesus rebukes the demon saying, be quiet and come out of him. The Greek word literally means be muzzled. So the most literal translation of that Greek word is be muzzled. You are muzzled. I muzzle you.

And release this man and come out of him. What happens? There is not another word. The demon against his will is muzzled by Jesus And the demon comes out of him. It throws the man in their midst, but the man is left unharmed.

You can believe if this demon was at liberty to harm this man, he would have harmed this man. Demons hate anything and everything about the image bearers of God, because they hate God. He would have harmed him if he could have harmed him. He was not at liberty to harm him. So he throws the man into their midst, but the man is left unharmed.

Wait, Is Jesus proclaiming liberty to the captives? Is Jesus setting at liberty those who are oppressed? That's our recitation text. That's Isaiah 61. That's exactly what the prophets said the Messiah would do.

Now Jesus is here doing these things. These are the marks of the Messiah. The prophet said, essentially, you'll know the Messiah from all the pretenders, from everyone else, because the Messiah will do this, and the Messiah will do this, and the Messiah will do this, and the Messiah will do this. And as we work through the gospels, we find Jesus is doing all those things. They're the marks of the Messiah.

So you'll know this is the one God promised to send to save his people. And it can be none other than This is what's happening in our text. Jesus is setting at liberty those who are oppressed. Jesus is proclaiming liberty to the captives, just like Isaiah 61 said the Messiah would do. One final point.

Listen again to David Garland. Jesus no longer fires scripture verses at the devil. Four verses three through twelve. So he's just taking us back to the beginning of chapter 4 where Jesus goes in the wilderness as tempted by the devil and Jesus is firing scripture verses at the devil. And David Garland said he's done doing that.

Jesus no longer fires scripture verses at the devil, but raids his outposts, routes his demonic legions, and sets free their captives. Early in chapter 4, the devil is pressing in on Jesus, tempting him. Now, Jesus is going into the devil's territory and setting his captives free. Listen to what Jesus says in Mark 3 verse 27, and this is right in the context of the casting out of demons. Jesus says this in Mark 3 verse 27, no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house.

So I've already said it. Demons are stronger than we are. Sometimes they make a person their house, okay, and they're strong, okay, and you don't you don't plunder that strongman's house unless you go in and bind that strongman, then you plunder the house. That's what's happening in our text. One stronger than the strong man has come to bind the strong man and to plunder his house.

So that is Jesus exercising his authority even over demonic powers. He did it in his teaching. People recognize this man is not teaching. Like the rabbis who quote rabbis, He's declaring authoritatively the word of God. Now he has done it in muzzling and casting out this unclean demon.

Be muzzled, and he's muzzled. Be gone, and he leaves the man unharmed. Finally, verses 36 and 37. Follow along as I reread 36 and 37. Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves saying, what a word this is!

For with authority and power he commands the unclaimed spirits and they come out. And the report about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. These two verses, we have a response that isn't all that it seems to be. Taking notes in the handout, seems fills in the blank. A response that isn't all that it seems to be.

The people are impressed. The people are amazed. They recognize that Jesus's word has authority and power. He teaches with authority. And when Jesus speaks, the demons do.

When Jesus commands, the demons obey. Naturally word gets around fast. How fast would the word get out in Youngsville in Wake County and Franklin County and Granville County if something like this happened? The report about Jesus goes out into every place in the surrounding region. Stories like this story travel like wildfire.

You can't go anywhere in the region where people are not talking about Jesus. There's a buzz about Jesus and how he's teaching and what he's doing. That's all good, right? In a way, parts of it are good. But temper your optimism for a moment and turn with me to Luke chapter 10.

Luke chapter 10. Jesus' preaching, he's just done his first of 21 miracles that we'll encounter in the Gospel of Luke. Here's what we read in Luke 10, I'll read verses 13 through 15. Luke 10, 13 through 15, woe to you, Chorazin. Chorazin is in Galilee, same region.

Woe to you, Bethsaida. Bethsaida is in Galilee, same region. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, these Gentile cities, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes. It will be more tolerable for tire and side in these Gentile cities at the judgment than for you. And you Capernaum, that's where today's text takes place in Capernaum.

And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven will be brought down to Hades. You, Capernaum, You've been exalted to heaven. In what way? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, preached in you. There's only 600 to 1500 people there.

You had access to the Son of God and His preaching. He's the greatest and mightiest preacher who ever lived. And he did the authenticating miracles, the miracles that told you these were not just the ruminations of a man, but the revelation of truth from heaven. It's the stamp of approval on these mighty sermons, his miracles. You would have thought, you would have thought, there's revival in Capernaum.

There's not revival in Capernaum. Though they heard the preaching of the Son of God and though He did miracles in their midst. That is the sense in which they were exalted to heaven. They got Jesus' preaching and Jesus' miracles. Said, you'll be brought down to Hades.

J.C. Ryle calls what the people had an unsanctified knowledge. The truth was declared to them. They heard the truth. On some level they might have believed the truth, but sanctified means set apart by God, for God.

It wasn't that kind of knowledge. Knowledge that sets you apart to God. Knowledge set apart for God's use. J.C. Ryle says, it's a dangerous possession.

Knowledge that just increases what you know but doesn't move you to repent and run to Christ. It's a dangerous possession. So this is a response from the people that isn't all that it seems to be, sadly. They seem to be very excited about his teaching. But you know what?

They're not anything else. And they're not anything else. Every once in a while, there will be a stir somewhere, and people will say, look, revival. And we'd be smart to say, oh, let's wait and see. Let's hope.

Let's hope. Revivals do happen. God can bring revival, but every stir is not a revival. There was a stir in and around Capernaum. Applications, let me give you four.

Four applications. Number one, opposition never stopped Jesus. Last week they almost pushed him off the edge of the cliff. If they could have, they would have. They couldn't, so they didn't.

Next thing you know, Jesus is in Capernaum declaring authoritatively truth from heaven and casting demons out. Next week, he'll be healing the sick in Capernaum. He was on mission, he just kept going and just kept going and just kept going. This is helpful for followers of Jesus because you know what? We're going to encounter opposition.

What are we gonna do? Stop, throw up our hands and say, well we tried but we encountered opposition. No, no, no! How they treat our Lord is how we can expect that they'll treat us. And he wasn't put off by opposition.

He just kept going because he was on mission. We need to learn from that. Number two, we desperately need the authoritative revelation of truths from God. How else are you going to know these things if God doesn't authoritatively declare these things to us? In John chapter six, the word has gotten out and the crowds have swelled and swelled and swelled.

He has huge crowds now. And then Jesus starts with the hard sayings. So It's great when the preaching is, this is the year of God's favor. You can't get too many amens from the preaching. Then the preaching turns towards, you must take up your cross and follow me.

If you don't hate father and mother compared to me, you cannot be my follower. That'll thin out the crowds. And in John chapter six, That does thin out the crowds a lot. Okay, Jesus looks at the 12 and say, do you wanna leave too? What does Peter say?

Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. Brothers and sisters, we have been authoritatively given the words of life. If the hard saying stop so that the crowd's thin out, where are we gonna go? Where is there to go?

These are the Words of life. We desperately need these words. There's no life outside of these words. All life is found here, only here. We desperately need it.

Number three. Application number three, Jesus came to crush the head of our mightiest enemy. Think of your mightiest enemy. Jesus came to crush his head. This is the fulfillment of Genesis 3, 15, the promise that the seed of the woman, that's Jesus, would crush the head of the serpent.

That is Satan and the demonic powers. His heel is bruised. He's going to suffer and die, but he crushes the head of our mightiest enemy. Listen to what J.C. Ryle says, Christ is the appointed healer of every evil which sin has brought into the world.

Christ is the true antidote and remedy for all the soul-ruining mischief which Satan has wrought on mankind. Christ is the universal physician to whom all the children of Adam must repair if they would be made whole. In him is life and health and liberty. This is the grand doctrine which every miracle of mercy in the gospel is ordained and appointed to teach. Each is a plain witness to that mighty fact which lies at the very foundation of the gospel.

The ability of Christ to supply to the uttermost every want of human nature is the very cornerstone of Christianity. J.C. Ryle wants you to hear a sermon every time we see Jesus do a miracle. What's the sermon? He's able to save to the uttermost.

Nothing can stop him from doing good to you. Nothing can stop him from liberating you and healing you. Everything that he's doing in the natural realm, he can do in the spiritual realm for you. Listen again to that one sentence. This is the grand doctrine Which every miracle of mercy in the gospel is ordained and appointed to teach every miracle teaching the same truth Number four It is possible to have tremendous privileges but still be lost at last.

Many in Capernaum, I venture to say most in Capernaum, there's just hundreds in this town, maybe 1, 500, heard the preaching of Jesus Christ, and were present for miracles that he did in Capernaum. And it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment than it will be for Sodom and Gomorrah, who they named certain of the most vile sins after, to whom much is given, much is required. Think about it. Have you been given much or little? Will much be required of you or little be required of you?

Let's pray. Kind of think about the people of Capernaum is very sobering, as we live in a land of such privileges. Youngsville is a place of many privileges. We've been exalted to heaven in many of the same ways that Capernaum was. Pray that you would help us to own these privileges and to respond in a way that's just more than intellectually ascending to certain gospel propositions, but that you would give us a new heart.

We would Be people born again, repenting and entrusting ourselves to your son. I pray this would be true in Jesus' name, amen.