We are one church. We love God, love people, love
His mission, and love His church.
Welcome to the One Church podcast.
I wonder, have you ever handed over a job to somebody else and
perhaps you've written a handover document or had a
handover meeting And in that document or in that meeting, you
basically put everything you want someone to know before you
go. Before I go, remember this.
Perhaps you've been to someone's house on holiday and just as
they're about to leave, they sit you down and they tell you all
the tips that you might need to know in order for you to have a
great holiday, things that only they would know because it's
their house. And so before they go, they want
you to know this. Over the past year, since
September, I've had the wonderful joy of beginning some
extra study. And so once a month I travel
down to Waverly College to Waverly Abbey, which is the home
of 24/7 prayer. And I'm there studying a
Christian counselling degree. And it's absolutely wonderful.
I'm having a brilliant time. I'm so blessed to be released to
go and and study there. But I remember the first time I
went away, it was for a whole week.
So it was Monday to Friday. And I remember writing down a
handover document for the family.
Before I go away, here is everything I would like you to
know so that you can have a brilliant week.
And I needn't have worried. They had a great time.
And to be perfectly honest, I've stopped doing the handover
documents and, and maybe a bit to my own detriment, because
last time I just left and I thought, Oh no, what have I got
ready for everyone while I'm away?
But there are sometimes things that before I go, I want you to
know this. Jesus knew when his time was
coming to an end. He knew when his earthly mission
was about to be completed. And So what he did is he had a
conversation with his disciples. In a way it might have felt like
a handover meeting. They didn't yet know that he was
about to go. He knew he had it in his mind.
And so he, he gathers his disciples together and it's
almost as if he's saying, before I go, I want you to know this.
And the words of Jesus that we're looking at today are found
in this handover meeting. If you didn't know, we're in the
middle of a series called Jesus said.
And we're looking at different things that Jesus said
throughout his ministry and time here on earth and how then we
can put those words into practise, how we can be impacted
and changed by those words and how we can live out the words of
Jesus. And, and the words that we're
looking at today happened in this handover meeting in John
chapters 13 to John chapter 17. We read an account of some of
this conversation and some of it happened in the upper room with
Jesus and his disciples as he shared with them the Last
Supper. It was in this room that he gave
instructions on how to remember him by breaking bread and
sharing the cup together. It was in this room that he
again predicted his death. It was in this room that he
predicted that one of his disciples would betray him.
And then he was in the room. And then he said to his
disciples, come on, let's go. And then he walks with his
disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane.
He crosses the Kidron Valley and there in the garden he prays and
there he is arrested and then later crucified and amazingly
came back to life defeated death.
And because of that amazing death and resurrection of Jesus,
now we can know eternal life with our heavenly Father.
And so I just want us to have that in mind as we think about
these words today. It was in a handover meeting.
It was before I go, I want you to know and we're going to read
John chapter 15 verse one to five together.
Jesus said this. I am the true vine and my Father
is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me
that bears no fruit, while every branch in me that does bear
fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you,
so remain in me as I also remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself.
It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the
branches. If you remain in me and I in
you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do
nothing. And we're going to focus on that
final verse. Then I just actually love us to
say it together. And perhaps by the end of our
time together, you're going to be able to memorise this verse.
John 15, verse 5, it says this. Let's read it together.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
Apart from me, you can do nothing.
Well, Father God, we thank you for your words today.
We thank you for your written words in Jesus.
We thank you for these words that you spoke.
And we pray today that by the power of your Holy Spirit at
work amongst us, would you make these words real to us.
We listen to what you've got to say, Lord, Amen. 4 things for us
today. And we're just simply going to
break up this verse. We're going to look at the vine,
the branches, the instruction, and the purpose.
First of all, the vine. Jesus said, before I go, I want
you to know who I am. I am the vine.
In fact, in verse one we read I am the true vine.
I am. This is one of the seven I am
statements from Jesus that we read in the Gospel of John.
And the I AM statements hold significance and wait, they
hold. Let's listen to what Jesus
saying, because when he says I am, he is almost revealing
against the people listening that he is divine, that he is
God himself. I don't know if when you read an
I AM statement, it draws your mind back to Moses and the
burning Bush. And he speaks to God and he
encounters God and God sends him to go and free his people.
And he says, who shall I say has sent me?
And God in that moment reveals his name to Moses.
He says I am, has sent you. I am who I am.
In that moment, God was declaring his authority, his
supremacy, him being the source and sustenance of all things.
And so when Jesus says I am, it's Jesus proclaiming his
divinity, his authority. He is revealing and unmistakably
identifying himself as God and the exclusive source of life.
Jesus says I am the vine. The first thing I would love us
to reminded of today is who is Jesus?
I am the vine. Let's think about what we've
been thinking about over the past few weeks.
Who is Jesus? He's the one who comes to bring
life in all its fullness. Who is Jesus?
He's the one who, if we seek Him, we will find him.
He's the one sent by the Father on a mission to give his life as
a perfect sacrifice, to pay the price for our sin and to give us
the gift of eternal life. Because our Heavenly Father is
the one who goes after the one who has wandered away.
His heart is that none of us should perish.
This is Jesus, the perfect spotless sacrifice.
Who is Jesus? He as I am, He is the one who is
the bringer and giver of peace. At his word, storms are calmed
and waves are still. The disciples in the boat.
And when Jesus calms a storm and they say, who is this?
Even the winds and wave obey him.
This is Jesus, the giver of peace.
And I just want to say this morning sometimes when we wake
up and we read of things going on in the world, our hearts can
be troubled. And I just want to say he has
overcome all things. Hear his words today says do not
let your hearts be troubled, for I have overcome the world.
This is Jesus that I am, the giver and bringer of peace.
Who is Jesus that I am? He is the light of the world.
Jesus is the light of the world, and anyone who walks in him will
never walk in darkness, but they will have the light of life.
How wonderful. This is the Jesus that we're
talking about. This is Jesus the one who says I
am, the one who says I am divine, I am God himself.
I am all these things, and today he says I am the vine.
Now the vine is an analogy. It's a metaphor.
It's not literal good news. We're not going to walk out of
this place and actually have our minds open to the fact that we
are all branches. That's not what Jesus is saying
here. OK, He's using an analogy, A
metaphor, but this analogy would have been very familiar to the
disciples listening at the time. Throughout Jewish culture, this
analogy of a vine and a vineyard was used.
Just like the disciples would know about a shepherd and sheep
or a farmer and his field, a vineyard and a vine was
something they would have been very familiar listening to.
So why is Jesus saying I am the vine?
Why does he choose this moment now?
It could have been that he still sat at the table with his
disciples and he's sat and in front of him is actually the
fruit of the vine, and he's just used the cup to talk to his
disciples about what is going to happen.
He's given them instructions that whenever you drink the
fruit of the vine, whenever you drink this cup, you do it in
remembrance of me. So it could have been that it's
before him and he's looking at the glass.
He says I am the vine. It also could have been that
he's already on his journey. We don't fully know.
He did say in the verse before, come on, let's go.
But we don't yet know if he has actually made the journey.
But it could be that he is walking across the Kidron Valley
and and perhaps he's walking through a vineyard on his way to
the Garden of Gethsemane. Or it could have been none of
those things and he just decided to talk about the vine.
It doesn't really matter, okay? What matters is what is he
saying By saying I am the vine, Jesus is saying this, I am the
vine. Before you go, I want you to
know that I am the source of spiritual life and sustenance.
He actually says I am the true vine.
And in Jewish literature and culture, when it's the word true
is mentioned, it talks about a perfect, a complete.
He is the true vine, the perfect complete vine.
We read in the Old Testament in Psalm 80 and Isaiah 5 that the
nation of Israel and God's people are often referred to as
a vine. This vine, though, fell short.
It produced worthless bad fruit. And here is Jesus declaring I am
the flawless fulfilment of what Israel was supposed to be in
spite of effort, in spite of second chance after second
chance, God's people still disappointed Him.
And in fact, they never really stood a chance because people,
in spite of effort, cannot be this flawless source of life.
Instead, in steps Jesus, the life, giving flawless presents
to the rest of the world. He is flawless.
He is the vine. He is the true vine.
This morning we here. Before I go, I want you to know
I am the vine. I am the source, the sustenance.
Everything you need is found in me, that I am himself, God, the
exclusive source of life and the perfect flawless life giving
presence in the world. Jesus says I am the vine.
Secondly, the branches. Before I go, I want you to know
who you are. You are the branches.
Now I love intonation. You don't know what that is.
It's the rise and fall of the pitch of your voice which can
change the meaning of what you are trying to say.
In some languages, you know, if something is a question, if
someone raises the pitch of their voice at the end of their
sentence. And This is why texting, I
think, can be particularly hard. Has anyone ever had a text
conversation with someone and, and they meant to say something,
but the person who receives the text has read it in a different
way and they've had a different pitch to their voices.
They've read it. And you never know, you might
accidentally offend someone, perhaps by what you say.
But how we say something can give a different perspective, a
different truth to what we're trying to say.
So let's just play on this idea for a minute as we think about
us being the branches. Paul says this in Two
Corinthians chapter 6 verse 10, and he's talking about how we
can have two differing perspectives that are both true
at the same time. He says this, our hearts ache,
but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give
spiritual riches to others. We own nothing and yet we have
everything. We can have two true but very
different perspectives when we consider ourselves as branches,
and it all comes down to how we say it.
Firstly, me a branch. Can you say that me a branch?
A branch? We are just branches.
And what do I mean by this? If it is the vine that gives
life, the vine that is the source, the vine that sustains,
there is Jesus that gives life, the Jesus that is the source.
Jesus is the one who sustains. What power do I have?
I'm just a branch, just a branch.
Actually Jesus goes on to say at the end of the verse, apart from
me you can do nothing. We are just branches.
We own nothing. We have no special ability
compared to Jesus and a challenge for some of us.
Perhaps we've allowed ourselves to think of ourselves higher
than we ought. We can sometimes think that we
are actually as good as the vine.
It can at times be easy to split into a bit of a saviour complex.
I can change things. I can save that person.
I can be the answer they're looking for.
I can be the one to help them. So we can somehow slip into that
and also we can slip into this saviour less desire.
We think that we don't need a source, that we don't need an
answer, that we don't need someone else to come and save
us. We've got it all sorted by
ourselves. Well, today we remember that we
are just branches. We are nothing without the vine.
We can do nothing without him for a while.
We may be able to run in our own strength for a while, we might
be able to try and answer people, but in the end we come
to know this. Apart from him, we really can do
nothing. We're branches.
We don't need to see this as a sad realisation.
Some of us might think, oh, I'm just a branch.
When I realise this, I actually think fantastic, I'm just a
branch. I can't do anything.
It doesn't really rely on me. Whether I'm good enough, whether
I'm perfect enough, whether I'm wise enough and have the right
answers to help someone, whether I'm patient enough and and I'm
willing to keep on going and be determined.
I am just a branch. But here is the wonderful thing
about Jesus. He chooses branches like you and
I to work through for His glory. See, we can just say I'm a
branch, or we can say I'm a branch.
Should we say that together? I'm a branch.
I'm a branch of the vine.
I'm connected to the vine. And who is the Vine?
We already know it's Jesus the great.
I am the source, the sustainer life itself.
I'm a branch of the vine, which means, yes, I might just be a
branch on my own, but connected to the vine I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
Connected to the vine, my God will supply all my needs
according to his glorious riches.
Connected to the vine, I can know this.
The same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead lives
in me because I'm connected to the vine, the true vine, and
Christ dwells in me by the power of His Spirit.
It doesn't rely on me, however. I am a jar of clay who is being
moulded and then used for God to shine His glory through, Paul
writes. We have this power in jars of
clay. To show that this all surpassing
power is from God and not from us.
We actually need to be a branch in order for God to make His
strength made perfect, in order for God to allow his glory to be
known. It's really important that we
are just branches. I'm a branch, but God uses
branches like you and I. When we're connected to the
vine, we have everything we need.
We're just a weak branch. On our own, we're nothing.
Without the vine, we're nothing. But connected to the vine, we
have everything. I love this.
A foolish branch can do nothing, but a foolish branch connected
to the vine can be used to shame the whites.
A weak branch is just a weak branch, but a weak branch
connected to the vine can shame the strong.
Jesus, Jesus, wonderful Jesus, He's all about using the lowly
things, the despised ones, the things that are not to be used
for his glory. And all this is possible because
we are in Christ Jesus. We are a branch connected to
Him, the vine. So me, I'm a branch.
I have nothing but me. I'm a branch.
I have everything. Before I go, I want you to know
who I am, says Jesus. I am the vine.
Before I go, I want you to know who you are, says Jesus.
You're the branches. Let's move on to what He then
asked us to do the instruction. I am the vine, you are the
branches. If you remain in me and I in
you, we're called as branches to remain in the vine, to remain in
Jesus and allow Him to remain in US.
I love the word that the King James Version uses says to
abide. Abide in me, stay in me, rest in
me, be fully connected in me. What does it mean to remain in
Jesus and why is it important? Opposite our house are many tall
trees, and I love the trees. When we sit in our bed we can
look out and we can see the trees.
And when it's windy, you can hear the trees.
You can hear the wind swishing and swashing and swashing the
branches as they sway in the wind.
And what happens when it's particularly windy is the
branches. They fall off the tree.
And so when we wake up in the morning after a particularly
windy night, we go out on our drive and there are branches on
the ground that have fallen off. When the kids were younger,
they'd love to go and collect the branches and collect them
all. And they are merely sticks.
Once they fall off the tree, once they're no longer connected
to the tree and source of life, they're just dead sticks.
But the kids love them. Jesus says you are the branches,
I am the vine, and you need to remain in me.
Why? In order to live.
In order to be sustained. Abide in me, Jesus says, if you
want to live. But what does it mean?
What does it look like to remain in Jesus?
We're called to an active, connected life, to the source
and sustainer of all things, to remain in him, to abide in him.
To remain is to trust and believe.
John, chapter one at the beginning of the Gospel that
we're reading. Yet to all who did receive him,
to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children. I've got to remain in Him.
To abide in Him is to believe in Him, to trust that He is who He
says He is, and to become a child of God.
To remain in the vine is to trust and believe.
To remain in the vine is to be obedient to His Word.
In just a few verses time in John 15 in the same topic, Jesus
says this, If you remain in me and my words remain in you, to
be a branch that remains in the vine is to be the one who
listens to Jesus words and puts them into practise.
This requires us to remain in Jesus, to open his word, to not
just read it, but then allow it to become life to us to to put
his words into practise, to remain in him.
We're called to dwell on His words, to meditate on it, and
then be changed by His words, convicted by His words, not
condemned, instructed and made whole.
We all have a choice. To remain, to abide in Jesus by
listening to His words and obeying them.
And to remain and abide in the vine is to love and be loved.
John 15 verse 9 says this. As the Father has loved you, so
have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
I don't know about you, but I never want to grow tired of
hearing about the love of Jesus. I never want to grow tired.
But here they go again. Grace.
Yes, He lavishes his love on us. I want to be so abiding in the
in the vine that I think, wow, Jesus, you love me.
You lavish your love on me. And here's the thing, I can
never understand just how amazing the love of God is.
We're never going to understand how great and big and wide and
vast and deep is His love for us.
To remain in the vine, to be a branch that remains the vine, is
to remain in His love, to allow His love to be lavished on us
and to love Him in return. So choose to abide.
Choose to remain. Maybe you want to ask yourself
this question. What am I going to do this week
that's going to help me remain in the vine?
Be devoted and part of the relationship of remaining in the
vine, of being a branch that remains in the vine is it's not
a one way system. Our relationship with Jesus when
we are branches that remain in Him is two way.
It's a two way connection. He says remain in me and I will
remain in you. John 14.
He says it just the chapter before verse 15 to 16.
If you love me, keep my commands, I will ask the Father
and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with
you forever. The spirit of truth.
How wonderful that being a branch connected to the vine
means there is a constant two way connection between US and
God. It's not just us remaining in
Christ, it's Christ remaining in US by the power of His Spirit.
He's our advocate, He's our helper.
He is with us forever. And so this week, as we think
how we can put these words of Jesus into practise, think yes,
of how you're going to remain in him and devote your life to him
and spend time in his word, in his love, grow in your faith.
But also think, Jesus, come and remain in me.
Jesus, by the power of your Holy Spirit, equip me.
Jesus, by the power of your Holy Spirit, strengthen me, send me
out, empower me. Jesus, I thank you that I am a
branch. We have instructions to remain
if we decide to remain in Him. We're not just deciding to
remain in the vine, we're actually deciding to remain in
the vineyard. Jesus said this.
I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.
In some translations it uses this word, My father is the vine
dresser, the one who tends to the vine and its branches.
He goes on to say the gardener has a few job.
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, and we're
not going to focus on that bit today.
But then it says this, while every branch that does bear
fruit, he prunes so that it would be even more fruitful
being connected to the vine, Remaining in the vine.
We don't just have this internal strengthening and internal
connection, but our loving Heavenly Father comes from the
outside and helps us from outside by pruning us that we'll
be even more fruitful. As I was preparing for today, I
just felt good. Remind me of a story.
A few years to go we went on a holiday to Scotland and it was a
beautiful place and we were in this log cabin that was in
someones farm and it was the only thing you could see for
miles around. And all along the side of this
log cabin was a decking and it was wonderful.
And where we were in Scotland it was part of the Dark Sky park
which meant that the stars were amazing, you could see the Milky
Way with your own eyes. It was truly wonderful and I
remember sitting out in the hammock on this decking looking
up at the stars and just thinking wow God you really are
amazing. The decking was amazing but it
had one floor. Can anyone guess what a floor of
having a giant decking might be? Splinters.
OK, I remember one of our children in particular getting
splinters in their feet. Now I won't mention which one,
but one of them was very vocal about the splinters in their
feet. And not only that, they were
very vocal when we came to them to try and remove the splinters.
See, the splinters were causing with all three girls pain and
the splinters were also preventing them from enjoying
the rest of the holiday. And So what we'd have to do is
we'd have to sit them down and even though it was painful for
them, we'd have to remove the splinter so that they could go
and enjoy themselves. And this one particular
daughter, she would scream any time we came near her.
And it just, I just felt God say sometimes we're like this.
See, the gardener's role is to pruners.
Sometimes our lives have things that are like splinters, things
that SAP joy out of us, things that hold us back from being
fruitful. And what the gardener does, the
vine dresser does. He comes and he brings his
shears. They're sharp, they're painful,
But he has to cut bits away so that we can continue living the
life that we were made to live, so that we can continue enjoying
life in all its fullness and that we can continue to be
fruitful. But it's a painful process and
our daughter would scream when we came near her.
However, eventually she saw that our other daughters sat down and
even if it was a bit painful, they had their splinters removed
and then they were able to go and enjoy the rest of their
holiday. And eventually this daughter
came and sat and there was a bit of screaming and squealing, but
she realised that we could come. We could hold her foot gently
and firmly, but we'd hold it. She'd be very loved and safe in
our arms, and we would remove the splinter and it hurt for a
moment, but then she could go and enjoy the rest of the day,
enjoy the great day that was planned for her.
And I just felt God say, if you decide to be a branch in the
vine, not only do you remain in Christ, but you remain in the
vineyard. And there are times when we have
to let the gardener, the vine dresser come and pruners.
And I just felt that there's some people here that, you know,
that needs to happen, but you don't want the temporary pain
because it might be painful. Maybe God wants to point out
some things in your life that are stopping you from living
life in its fullness. Maybe there's some things in
your past that are painful for you to think about.
And the idea of the gardener coming with his shears, exposing
them and then cutting them off, you don't know if you want to
allow that temporary pain to happen.
Would you know this? The gardener is a loving
gardener. The gardener is firm, but he's
gentle and he can come. And just like our daughter
realised, he comes and he holds us safely.
He tells us it's going to be OK. He lets us know it's only
temporary and then he sorts us out.
He removes our splinters so we can go and enjoy the rest of the
time. And finally, before I go, I want
you to know your purpose. I am the vine.
You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in
you, you will bear much fruit. How wonderful.
What is the purpose of us remaining in the vine?
Is it so that we can just enjoy life and be healthy?
Is it so that we can at times, you know, have a bit of
discipline in our life? When the gardener comes?
No, it's so that we can bear fruit for his glory.
It's so that we can go and make disciples and advance his
Kingdom. It's so that we can spread the
good news. It's so that we can shower love
on the world around us. It's so that we can go and be a
blessing to our workplaces, a light to our families and
friends so that we can go and we can reflect the glory of the
sun. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10
says this. For it is by grace that you have
been saved through faith, and that is not from yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not by works that no one can boast.
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We are called to be branches connected to the vine so that we
can bear fruit. It's part of our destiny.
It's part of Our Calling. God chose us.
He grafts us into His vine, and then he reminds us of the good
works that He has planned for us long ago.
We're not just branches. We are branches that are called
to bear fruit. We are called to be fruitful.
I just want to encourage you that you might be looking at
your life thinking, oh, what fruit am I producing?
Oh, I must try harder. I must try and do something that
bears fruit. Here's the beauty.
You're a branch on your own. You can do nothing.
If you want to be a branch that wants to be more fruitful, don't
try and be the best branch you can be.
Instead remember Jesus words before I go, I want you to know
remain in me and I in you. If you want to be a branch that
bears fruit, you don't have to muster up something.
Instead you simply remain. You simply belong.
You simply abide and allow your life to be changed by Him.
Allow His Spirit to work in you and then you will go and produce
much fruit. This week I spoke to a lady
during little ones at the Oak Centre, which is the home of one
church, Braunstone site. And this lady came in and I've
been building a relationship with this lady for a lot of
years. And we've spoken about God a few
times and she's actually even come to some of the events that
we've done over the years and she comes in to me and she says
I needed you this week. I thought oh OK, cheers.
I've been speaking to your God And she told me about how she
was experiencing some trouble in her life and so she actually
asked God to help her. And as it happened, she said he
didn't listen to me. He wasn't listening.
But in that moment I was able to sit and talk with her and talk a
little bit about God. And here's the exciting thing.
I'm believing that that conversation, that relationship
is going to bear fruit. I'm believing that she is going
to come to realise that actually God is the one who hears her,
that God does listen to her. In fact, he listened to her and
he loves her so much that he sent Jesus to die for her so
that she too can be a branch in His vine.
But it wasn't anything to do with me.
I'm just a branch. It was all to do with Him at
work within me, His power at work within me.
I was listening to his words and He is the one who called me to
go and bring good news, to go and make disciples to share the
good news of Jesus. We're called to bear fruit.
Before I go, I want you to know the end goal.
Why are we called to bear fruit? In verse A it says this.
This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit.
A branch, a branch on its own, it's just a branch.
It may make a difference in the world.
A branch on its own may able to be kind and may be able to offer
happiness or a temporary solution to someone, but it is
just temporary. But to be a branch on the vine,
fully connected to the source of life brings glory to God.
To believe, obey, love, and act like He does brings glory to
God. To be fully reliant and changed
by Jesus and to live a life devoted to Him, deciding to
abide and remain in Him, brings glory to God.
To be equipped and empowered, loved and sustained by the power
of His Holy Spirit at work within us as He remains in US
brings glory to God. To allow yourself to be pruned
even when it's painful. To acknowledge that you are just
a jar of clay. But through you, God intends to
shine His goodness and His glory brings Him glory.
When we are a branch and we give our weakness to Him, He, he
gives us his strength and His strength is made perfect in our
weakness. It brings glory to God and to
bear fruit, to love and witness to the world around us, to do
the good things that He has planned for us long ago, brings
glory to the Father. I don't know about you, but I
want to be someone who brings glory to the Father.
I want to remember that Jesus is the vine, the great.
I am the source of all things and I am a branch.
I'm a branch. I'm connected to the vine, the
sustain of the source of all things.
And as a branch, I choose to remain in Him, which means to
remain in His words, in His love, to remain in every good
gift that He has for me, and for Him to remain in me, to be
empowered, sent out, strengthened in courage, set
apart so that I can go and bear fruit for His glory.
The Lord bless you. And keep you.
The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.