[0:00] Greetings to all of you in Jesus' name and good morning. It's been a blessing to be here this morning. Good to see visitors here with us.
[0:19] Trying to find a song here that I thought I knew what page it was. What was that first page that we sang this morning? Venus? 98?
[0:31] 91? 92, there you go. I sing the mighty power. Might come back to that later. Thank you. I'd like to look at a subject this morning about who God is and my heart is to exalt Christ maybe a little more than what he sometimes is in our lives.
[1:01] Talked to a man yesterday for quite a while, almost two hours I think. And as he was sharing and we were talking about church and what's church all about and what's the Christian life really all about.
[1:24] that thought just kept coming back to me. In fact, even earlier in the week and a few weeks ago, also when Ellie and I were out in Pennsylvania, that used to be the state next to us, it's Washington.
[1:44] We were in Washington and Idaho a few weeks ago and we met a couple at a restaurant and they started asking us questions. And so, of course, I have to ask questions back.
[1:58] Who do you, what do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus? And, well, the man said, I've been looking to try to find out what God's name is.
[2:11] If I could find a name for God, I could believe. Something like that. And I thought, wow, God has hundreds of names. And I want to look at that this morning.
[2:27] A week or so ago, I was reading in Exodus and came across God's name. And it just really struck me like it never did before. So we'll get to that in a minute here.
[2:39] The title of my message is simply, Authority Through Submission. Authority Through Submission. What is true authority and where does it come from?
[2:53] I think we all know that true authority comes from God. But is it positional or is it conditional?
[3:05] Was the question that I had. Is authority just a position or is there a condition? Do we have some authority just because of our position as a father or as a husband?
[3:21] Or as a leader? What if our heart isn't right? And our position with God isn't in line? When a person is in rebellion against God, does he still have authority?
[3:38] These are just questions to think about. In Romans 13, there's a verse I want to just read. Romans 13, verse 1, it says, it kind of answers this question.
[3:53] It says, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power. And whenever the Bible, King James says power, you can also most times use that as authority.
[4:07] So we could read it. For there is no authority but of God. The authorities that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power or the authority, resisteth the ordinance of God.
[4:25] And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. But here we see that all power, all authority is from God.
[4:40] And so whatever authority you have this morning, we can say it's from God. It's channeled down to you through God, from God.
[4:52] Now let's turn to Exodus chapter 13. And this is where I found God's name.
[5:04] One of his names. And I think it's maybe one of his most powerful names. You'll be surprised. I was.
[5:16] I've read this many times and it just never really dawned on me that maybe what he's saying. But here, Moses, we know the story of Moses and how he was herding sheep.
[5:30] He was a shepherd for his father-in-law. And he was out there and he saw this bush burning. And why was this bush burning?
[5:42] And it didn't disintegrate. It just kept on burning. So he got close and then God talked to him. And God told him what he wants him to do.
[5:55] We know the story well. We grew up with this story. If you have any Bible knowledge, you know. You probably, if you grew up in a Christian home, you heard this story from when you were a little child.
[6:06] The burning bush. And then God was telling Moses what to do and how he called him to go set his people free, his chosen people, the people of Israel.
[6:20] And how that they were slaves and were being misused by the Egyptian government. And God called Moses to go. And Moses, he just had these things like he was so disqualified, he felt like.
[6:35] And one of the questions Moses asked in Exodus 13, verse 14, or maybe start in verse 13 here.
[6:46] I don't think it's in Exodus 13. Let me see here. I might be in the wrong chapter.
[7:01] It's verse 13 that I'm looking for. I think it's in, yeah. Give me just a minute here. Here. Moses feels inadequate.
[7:19] How about chapter 3, yeah. Chapter 3, sorry about that. Moses' call. Starting in verse 13, but in chapter 3 instead of 13.
[7:32] And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name?
[7:51] What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you.
[8:11] I am. I am. You know, that's just such a small name in letters. Three letters. I am.
[8:23] But what all is in that? And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you.
[8:40] This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Friends, you know, that man at the restaurant needed a name.
[8:56] I am. What does that all involve? He is. He's the God of all eternity past. The God of the future.
[9:10] The God of the present. I am. Just let your mind think about that for a little bit. I am. I am. You know, we can't say that.
[9:21] We're not God. We can't say I am. I mean, we can say it as a term, but not as who we are. But this is just amazing.
[9:33] The Almighty God. You know, that term I am includes all of God's hundreds of other names. I believe this morning. I am this.
[9:46] I am that. I am almighty. I am the bread of life. I am everlasting life. It's all wrapped up in this name. I remember reading that many times.
[9:57] I am. I am. I am. I am. What does that mean? But He is. And He is everything. And the burden this morning, and the burden this morning, or one of the burdens that I have, is that people, and sometimes it includes us, we get a small image of who God is.
[10:18] And we begin to think of God as, you know, not as mighty and great as He really is. And because of having a wrong concept, or wrong view of who God is, we live accordingly.
[10:38] People live according to what they believe. And so if God is just a small God, and He's indifferent about things, or He has less power than we think He does, in our minds, we live according to that God, don't we?
[10:58] People do. But if we see Him as high and lifted up, and mighty, and almighty, it will make a difference, on our view of Him, and how we live our lives.
[11:13] And our whole, yeah, our whole life changes, according to the God that we believe in. And I'm afraid today, many people worship the wrong God.
[11:25] They have, in their minds, they have brought Him down to something much smaller than what He really is. Now let's turn to Ephesians, chapter 1. Ephesians, chapter 1, starting in verse 17.
[11:44] That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Verse 18, the eyes of our, I'm sorry, the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened.
[12:04] I want to read that verse again, in the Amplified. The eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, in the King James.
[12:14] The Amplified says, the very center and core of your being, may be enlightened, flooded with the light of the Holy Spirit.
[12:26] I like what that says in the Amplified. That ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
[12:39] And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He hath wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under His feet.
[13:13] Just listen to this, all things. Far above all principality and power, which is authority and might and dominion, and every name above every name, not only now in this world, but that which is to come.
[13:33] This is our Christ that we're talking about. All things under His feet. And He gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body.
[13:48] The church is His body. The fullness of Him that filleth all in all. This is our Christ. Perhaps one of the main burdens of the message today is that verse where it says, the eyes of our understanding be enlightened.
[14:14] that our eyes of understanding, our spiritual eyes, would be enlightened that the church, the people of God, the people that call themselves Christians, would have their eyes opened in a renewed and in a deeper way as to who this Christ is.
[14:39] And the authority that He has to know the greatness of His power, His authority, His dominion over all things.
[14:52] And that outside of Christ, you and I really have no authority. Man may say we do. And on earth, men do have authority.
[15:07] I'm not taking away from that. You know, our government has authority. I'm not, you know, we read that in Romans. But even that comes from God.
[15:21] Romans is very clear about that. So, if you consider it, that even that, even our physical authority as men and as people on earth, that, you know, how governments are set up and all that, even that comes from God.
[15:42] And so, without Christ, without God, in fact, Jesus said to one man, I forget who He said it to, He said, you know, was it one of the kings He was meeting or governors? He said, you wouldn't have this authority unless God gave it to you.
[16:00] So, without Christ, my assumption is, my conclusion is, rather, that we have no authority. Only as we submit to this almighty King do we have true authority.
[16:19] Now, let's look at a few verses in Matthew 28. I have quite a few scriptures here and you don't have to turn to all of them, but, if you want to.
[16:30] Matthew 28, verse 18, very familiar scripture. of Jesus speaking to His disciples, I believe, before He left this earth.
[16:47] When He was still here, He said, it says, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power. He said, all power, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
[17:06] Do we believe that this morning? That all authority, all power is given to Jesus. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
[17:30] And here is the promise, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Let's turn now to Philippians 2.
[17:47] May God's Word, may His Word stand, may His Word be true this morning in our hearts like our brother prayed, that it would penetrate our hearts.
[18:05] It would do something in our hearts, right? Change our hearts. Give us renewed vision, renewed purpose. These scriptures are not powerful because I'm reading them, but they're powerful because they're God's Word.
[18:23] Philippians 2, starting in verse 5, it says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
[18:45] This was our God coming to earth, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
[19:00] Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[19:27] He says here, Paul, I believe, to the Philippians said, let this mind be in you. No reputation, but the mind of a servant, humble and obedient to God.
[19:46] Let this mind be in you. He is above every name. He has given Him a name which is above every name.
[19:59] I came across this morning and I'm going to share some notes of a message that I preached eight years ago, I believe.
[20:13] And I'm just going to share a little bit of it. But eight years ago was like it was maybe 11 months or so before I was ordained.
[20:26] I had the message at Cornerstone and preached this. to put it in perspective, that's like when Justin was eight. And I was just surprised at some of the things I must have said.
[20:39] I'm going to read some of it about submission. Biblical submission is not slavery. God is all powerful and all authority.
[20:50] all biblical authority is simply channeled from God to us. And in many cases he uses people.
[21:02] The subject of authority has been abused. Authority has been abused. Yes, absolutely. Just as there is abuse with money, marriage, freedom, but that doesn't make those things bad or invalid.
[21:21] The mistakes and sins of church leaders and Christians is not an excuse to violate godly principles, but they must be upheld in practice the way God intended.
[21:34] It is safe to say that many of us sitting here have been hurt by abusive authority, but there is healing and victory. The Bible is very clear on the subject of submission, not just in the church, but also for husbands, okay, not just for the church, but also husbands, wives, children, employees, civil, parental, and spiritual authority.
[22:10] Find a person who understands submission to authority, and you'll see a person who is humble, full of love, unselfish, accountable, and personally responsible.
[22:22] Find a person who does not understand submission to authority, and you'll see a person who is prideful, full of criticism, selfish, self-ruled, wow, that's a big one, self-ruled, and spiritually irresponsible.
[22:39] Again, biblical submission is not slavery. It is a fundamental principle of life that is to be practiced in the world today and in the church.
[22:54] If we get this right, we don't have to fear it. But if we get it wrong, then we have everything to lose. Perfect love casts out fear. authority and submission are beautiful words if our hearts are right.
[23:12] Without these two, there is no Christianity. Think about that. Without authority in our life, without submission, you can't even be a Christian.
[23:28] And then I had gone on into Corinthians 11 and talked about the woman and the man and the headship order of Christ, God, the husband, the wife.
[23:42] The woman has authority over her head. Why? Because of the angels. No one understands authority and submission like the angels.
[23:53] They have been around for much longer than we have and been in God's presence, except for the third that left heaven like lightning. They understand authority, the authority structure like no one else.
[24:10] Jesus had said, remember, that he saw Satan falling from heaven like lightning. He said that to the disciples when they were amazed that the demons listened to them in the name of Jesus.
[24:24] And then Jesus said, listen, I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven. and he said, don't rejoice in that, but rejoice that your names are written in the book of life.
[24:37] A few more notes here that I found. you know, it talks about the woman having power or authority on her head because of the angels.
[24:51] I believe when angels see a wife or a young lady that finds her scriptural place of the headship order, they are delighted, the angels, and give her a protection and a power that only God can send her way.
[25:05] We have heard many stories of God's angels protecting. A young woman or young lady outside of this place of divine safety and protection is quite the opposite.
[25:20] Ladies that may think they are more spiritual than their God given authority, here's an example, dad, husband, or the church leaders don't understand the scripture like I do, so I'll just use my own interpretation.
[25:41] The angels understand that spirit all too well. They were there when Satan lifted himself up above God and said, I will, many times.
[25:55] That was before God cast him out of heaven. Unfortunately, we can see the havoc that the devil has caused with this. submission God's way equals power.
[26:11] Do you think Eve thought she had a little more and a little better discernment than Adam? Then my last note was, we are still reaping the consequences of that thought.
[26:24] I just thought when I found these, it kind of fit with what I had on my heart today, so I thought I'd just read those.
[26:38] Now let's turn to Psalm chapter 24. let's just continue to allow God's word to just penetrate our heart.
[26:55] I like that thought. God would just minister to our heart. Father, we just come to you and we just thank you, Lord, for your word. Lord, we thank you that we don't have to come up with ideas and words to say that are outside of your word.
[27:14] Father, we thank you that it has all been established. Your word is forever settled in heaven, your word tells us. And Father, today we ask that your word would become settled in our heart, settled of who you are and how mighty you are, how great you are, and how much you love your people.
[27:37] So much that you are willing to shed your own blood and die for us so that we can know you and come back into a relationship with you. Father, just be with us the remainder of this message.
[27:52] In Jesus' name. Psalm 24, I believe in verse 1 here, it says, The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.
[28:08] For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?
[28:20] He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity or sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
[28:38] This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in.
[28:57] Who is this king of glory? Who is this king of glory? the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in.
[29:14] Who is this king of glory? He asks again. The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. Selah. The Lord of hosts, the Lord Almighty.
[29:27] Almighty is your God this morning. How great is our God. Have we given him the rightful place in our hearts?
[29:42] Do we love him? Do we fear him? With a godly fear and reverence.
[29:54] Let's turn to Colossians 1. for the next little bit of scripture here. I believe that God would have his people.
[30:06] I know for me what God is speaking to me is just that thing of him being the preeminence of everything. And that hit me again yesterday as I was talking to this man that's in a religious setting with a lot of questions and a lot of what about this and what about that and every time it's just like the more the older I get I guess the more I realize that it's all about him.
[30:36] If it's not about him then it's vain. If it's not about this Christ it's not for his glory it's all vain. You can make any denomination you want or any religious organization you want but if Christ isn't the center and the head of it it is vain and it's empty and it's so futile.
[31:02] Colossians 1 verse 10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness.
[31:27] This is Paul talking to the Colossian church and he's telling them to walk worthy being fruitful in every good work increasing in the knowledge of God so in case you thought well being a Christian is all I get I got saved you know 30 years ago or 10 years ago or 5 years whatever and that's good enough I don't need any more here here he is challenging them to increase in the knowledge of God I'm so thankful this morning that we're not left alone just because we got saved that was just the beginning of the walk but as we sit here this morning we can increase in our knowledge of this God and who he is and what he wants what his desires are and when will we have it all when will we know everything about
[32:30] God you ever thought about that do you think that will happen in this life what do you think when will we know everything about God he's the I am any thoughts anybody accomplish that yet that's why it says here increasing in the knowledge of God we can always increase we will never get there we'll never arrive to the fullness I don't even know if we'll arrive that in eternity maybe that's what eternity is about is to get to know this God verse 11 says strengthen with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness unto all patience have we arrived on that one how patient are we how about long suffering and joy fullness do we have enough joy in our hearts joy of the
[33:46] Lord is our strength need more strength we often pray for strength Lord give me strength well Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength giving thanks do we do that enough unto the father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints of light you know these are so powerful statements so powerful the father has given us or has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints of light just think about that verse 13 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins just want to stop there for a moment who has delivered us you know there's also a power in the dark side the devil is also powerful the kingdom of darkness it says right here but
[35:13] God this great and almighty God is way more powerful we know that he is so much more powerful and he has delivered us from that other power he has delivered us from the power of darkness delivered are you delivered the next line says and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son that's the purpose of the deliverance to be translated into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption in whom we have redemption can you say the word redemption with me redemption have you been redeemed through his blood not because you're like we heard this morning a good person I think Enos kind of started out with that the first thing was you know we're not here because we've been good or something like that nothing we bring no we didn't get redeemed by that if we would have
[36:22] Jesus would have never had to come to this earth and redeem us even the forgiveness of sins who is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him I know we are read these verses probably many times and they're familiar but I pray this morning that they will never become less powerful just because we read them often or we talk about it but that they would have a power in our lives by him were all things created you know the
[37:23] Jehovah's witnesses believe that Jesus is not the creator they believe he's just an angelic being like Michael the archangel and he was created by God the father and that he doesn't have a deity he's not God I don't know what in the world they would do with verses like this other than throw him away but right here it says for by him that means he was there when God said let us make man in our own image by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth who is this talking about just back up a few verses and you know brought in Christ when he raised him from the dead set him down at his own right hand in heavenly places we're talking about Christ and then he just goes on he says by him
[38:33] I mean Paul must have been way off if Christ isn't the creator that are in heaven that are in earth visible and invisible thrones dominions principalities and powers all things were created by him not only by him but for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence there is the word he is the head of the body the church you know and anything that calls itself a church that Christ is not the head is not his body it just is what it is if Christ is not the preeminence if Christ is not the head if he's not the authority then you can call it whatever you want but it's not his church for it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell what is all fullness does anybody care to explain that what is all fullness
[39:57] I just love this word it's all inclusive it pleased the father that in him Christ should all fullness dwell and having made peace through the blood of his cross right there it is you can't get more clear of who this is talking about by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven you know Christ did all this through the blood of his cross so that he could reconcile you and I to himself are we reconciled to this Christ next time you're discouraged about something think about that you have a God that in him all fullness dwells you belong to him he has taken you out of that place of darkness and put you into this marvelous light transform your life in him all fullness dwells he is above all authority he has all authority he is all authority and he is above everything and yet he was humble so humble that he became a man and the bible says there in philippians he went to the cross for you and i he was a man just like you just like me that's how humble god is even though he is almighty has all authority and then it goes on in verse 21 here and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works who was an enemy of god here did you have wicked works in your mind maybe you didn't have all the works but in your mind you were wicked bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of god but that was at another time we hope right that was that kingdom of darkness and then it says yet now hath he reconciled now he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death he reconciled us thank you lord for that amazing love that has reconciled us and then it says to present you holy unblameable and unreprovable in his sight why did he reconcile us what was the purpose to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight
[43:11] I have a thought on that and it just now came to me but if the lord is doing a work let's just pick on jeffrey and he's not perfect right outwardly he's not perfect but God transformed him and he's doing a work in his life so that he can present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight then who am I to what who am I to disagree with that I guess is what my thought is or to challenge that or to doesn't mean I can't challenge him but in a godly way what about talking behind his back or anybody else for that matter especially
[44:18] God's people people that have been redeemed been blood bought and blood washed and I'm here slandering them and putting them down and you know because I'm not in agreement with them on something or maybe I think they're wrong and yet Jesus died for that person in the body of his flesh through death he is presenting them holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight and then we as people do the opposite try to destroy each other just came to my mind right now as we're preaching but if God is doing that can we say amen brother I encourage you in the Lord and come alongside and be a help verse 23 if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven whereof
[45:35] I Paul am made a minister now that last verse this will be the last verse I have but it says if you continue this thing of being presented holy and unblameable and unreprovable what happens if we don't continue there's a qualification just because it happened and we found Christ twenty years ago one year ago whenever what happens if we don't continue are we grounded and settled it says if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel these people that say you can never move away is a false doctrine because right here it indicates that you can but if you continue are you grounded and settled is your faith and your hope in this great
[46:47] God this I am the I am of your life is your faith and your hope settled is it unmovable are you surrendered and submitted to him do you have authority the answer to that is found in your submission the answer to whether you and I have authority is found in our submission without submission you have no spiritual authority and then has Christ redeemed you through his blood and forgiven you of your sins and I might add of your sinful and rebellious nature there was a lady in our church in Ohio many years ago not the last church we were in but way back when asked by the pastor about salvation and about her new birth she would argue that she didn't need that because there was actually two ladies another one just came to my mind
[48:13] Ellie reminded me of this the other day but they didn't need to be born again because they grew up being a Christian they were just always a Christian they never did any they always wanted to serve God sure they're not perfect but they never sinned John says he that saith you have no sin is a liar they were lying according to the Bible they just didn't know it I don't doubt their sincerity but they were sincerely wrong have we been redeemed have we been forgiven of that sinful nature see they didn't recognize that they had a nature that was against God we were all born with it can he present you holy and unblameable in his sight you know I had to think of that lately with my friend
[49:16] Chris our friend Chris how is it so close to death what if that was me what if it was you you know we see the needs in each other's life and you know we know none of us are perfect right but have we been redeemed is the question if I would die today would I be blameless before God and redeemed and transformed changed and ready been made ready to enter into that eternal rest oh to be washed in the blood and to be forgiven just to be accepted in his sight what he's looking for is the same thing he looked for when the children of
[50:16] Israel had to put that blood across that door post and if they saw the blood the angel the death angel would pass over can that death angel pass over your life not because there's blood over the door but the blood has been applied to your heart by faith you have received Jesus where are we this morning is our conscience still clouded and there's a guilt in your heart because you're not surrendered fully to Christ God will transform you today if we choose him over ourselves if we choose him over ourselves our own way where are we have we strayed away that verse that says and be not moved away from that hope have we moved away from that or perhaps we've never had that hope either way we need to pray either way we need to submit and surrender to him remember without submitting to this
[51:50] Christ we can't be a Christian we can look like one and talk like one but we can't be one I think a lot of us have tried it tried so hard to be a Christian without knowing this God this Christ why don't we just those of us that can I know we don't often do this but why don't we just kneel today if you can at the place you're at we just all kneel and pray to God and we'll just come to him and ask him to cleanse our heart to wash us to make us who he wants us to be