If you will, let's be turning
to Genesis 42. I'd sent the link out for Clay's dad's obituary and the
arrangements they've made. So as you can remember that family,
remember them. He's gonna stay a few days after
the service to be with his mother. My friend, Brother Robbie Dudenath's
filling in for him. Robbie preached for him before
I ever moved to New Jersey, and then he didn't for a long time,
and he agreed to preach for Clay this morning. I text him, I pray
for him, I wish I was there. I thought a lot about him and
how this applies to what's taking place in our text. And so I'll
save that to the end. I'll save that story to the end.
I've got highlighters and the same thing I wrote at the top
of my notes in the very last page. I hope I remember. Here in Genesis
42, we're going to hear about Joseph fearing God. Remember Joseph's brothers. A long time ago, Joseph was the
favorite. He was born to the favorite wife,
he was the firstborn. He wasn't the firstborn among
all the brothers. He was the firstborn from his
mother, who his father loved, and he worked for for 14 years.
And he was preferred, and he had a coat of many colors made
for him. There was no bones about it, Jacob liked him best. And
so, and his daddy loved him, and his brothers hated him, and
they couldn't even say something nice to him. You reckon they
prayed for him? Couldn't even have a nice word to say about
him. And then he went to go serve them. And they said, you know
what? Let's cast him in a pit and get
rid of him. And we'll take that coat, kill a lamb, put some blood
on it. That way daddy has some closure. Well, how about good thoughts?
There's so many things that people congratulate me on. It's absolutely
horrible. It's terrible. I said, well,
that's so good. No, it ain't. I mean, it might
be, it will be for our good and our glory, or for his glory,
but boy, it sure ain't right. I thought, we'll do daddy a favor.
We'll sell him off to slavery and we'll never see him again.
Well, time goes on. He gets bought into Potiphar's
house, moving up the ranks, never said a word, never complained,
never murmured, never belly ached and whined and carried on and
threw a fit. Put his head down, learned a
new language, got a new name, got to work. New country, new
clothes. They didn't wear the same kind
of shoes, you know. His feet had to get new calluses in new
places. And he just did it. Just did what the Lord put in
his hand to do. And then on false charges, on a lie, he was cast
into prison. And in there, he interprets the
dreams of two men, the baker and the butler. Of course, one's
hung pretty quickly thereafter, and the other one forgets him,
forgets him, didn't care. And years later, he remembered
when Pharaoh had a dream, and he couldn't, nobody could tell
what it was. And he said, I remember. Years
later, like a two-edged sword, it cut through that man's mind
and he said, I remember. I remember. The Lord woke it
up inside of him, didn't he? To that butler. And he said,
I know Joseph can interpret your dreams. So Joseph came and he
interpreted the dream of Pharaoh. And he said, there's gonna be
seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. And nobody got
mad for six years or seven years and a day. It's awful easy to
be bouncy and happy on the seven years of good, ain't it? And
I bet the one they blamed, whoever got mad, blamed Joseph on that
seven year and a day when the famine kicked in. He didn't waver. He didn't waver. Didn't care.
He had a job to do. And he did it, didn't he? What
a thought. Now the famine came, and I'm
sure there's millions and millions that cursed and and murmured
about that famine, but the Lord used the famine. He did this
on purpose for those brothers of Joseph and for us. Right now, this morning in 2023,
can you believe that? Who's a God like under our God?
He sent these things and these pains and everything we whine
and bellyache over for the good of his people and for his glory
forever and ever. If he's done this for 4,000 years,
however long it's been, it's going to keep happening. He's
going to keep getting the glory for it. It's going to keep being
magnificent. He sent this famine and those brothers were told
because their father heard with the hearing of the ear.
where life was, where food was, where bread was. And he said,
get you down. Get you down. That's going to take place, isn't
it? That's growth, buddy. Look at me and I will speak.
My oratory will increase and my knowledge will grow down. We grow down. His brothers came
down to buy food. Look here in verse 14, Genesis
42, verse 14. Remember he said, we looked last
time, if they was true men. And he said, y'all a bunch of
spies. He spoke harshly to them. That's not recorded as something
bad. This is recorded as something
good. It's verse 14. And Joseph said unto them, that
is it that I spake unto you, saying, ye are spies. Hereby
shall ye be proved. I'm gonna prove if you're spies
or if you're true men. By the life of Pharaoh. You shall not
go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. The thing
that's most precious right now to your father, the most precious
thing to you all, that's your baby brother, unless you bring
him to me. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and
you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved,
whether there be any truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh,
surely your spies. You send one of you to go. That's
the commandment. Now look what happens. And he
put them all together in the ward three days. Right now, go
get your youngest brother, I'm killing everybody. Now put them
in jail for three days. That ain't right now. They didn't
know it was three days. They just know they went to jail.
I thought about that. Do this and live. And then being
cast into prison where you cannot do what's commanded, even if
you wanted to. You think about them brothers.
Do you think they wanted to go get Benjamin and bring him back?
They said, this fella's about to, this prime minister of Egypt,
speaking through a translator, an interpreter, is about to chop
our heads off. Why would I go get Benjamin?
He just said we was all spies. Maybe one of us could make it
out alive. They had no desire to do that. And they had no ability
to live, to do what was commanded of them. We get that? Think of the finger pointing
while he was in that prison for three days. And the blaming and
the accusing. This is your fault. You got us
in here. If you'd have done this, if you'd
have walked faster, if you wouldn't have turned left when we turned
right, if you wouldn't have spoke to that guard. Later on, Reuben
says, I told you so. Way back yonder, 20 years, when
we threw him in the pit, I said, don't throw him in the pit. But look at what a sweet and
precious thing occurs. This is bad, right? If you was
living this and you didn't know the outcome, things have turned
south. We should have stayed where we
was instead of getting, coming down here to get bread, huh?
And then look what happened. Look what the precious thing
that happens, verse 18. And Joseph said unto them the third day,
this do and live. That's what he told them. For
I fear God because That word's italicized, it's added for us. Do this and live because you
fear God? That's not what it says. You
do this and live because I fear God. Who's Joseph a picture of?
The Lord Jesus Christ is who he's a picture of. Do this because
I fear God. That's a shocking statement to
those brothers. The same as it would be for me, knowing what
that means. If I bumped into somebody that
truly feared God, There's some times I heard they speak the
language I speak. I wonder it's not declared if
that's in Hebrew or not. This whole time he's been speaking
the language of the Egyptians through an interpreter. And now
he speaks clearly. He said, I fear God. Believers
or even unbelievers that's raised in a believing home. They're surrounded by people,
I mean a bunch of them. Everybody you work with, everybody
you know, everybody you relate to, everybody. The bulk, majority of people
that do not speak this language. These men were down in Egypt,
they were completely surrounded by someone that did not know
their God, they worshiped a false God, and they did not speak their
language, and then out of the blue, The very one they thought
was an Egyptian, the very one that had a different name than
Joseph, the very one that was a prime minister, the very one
that was a corn giver, the souped up grocer. He said, man, we got
to go get groceries from. This is one that fears God. Talk
about being taken aback. You got out of prison for three
days and this one says, I fear God. Not just scared of God. not just afraid of God, not just
the opposite of what Pharaoh's outward opposition was. Remember
that? When Aaron and Moses went into Pharaoh and they said, thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may
hold a feast under me in the wilderness, they may worship
me. And what Pharaoh said, who's the Lord that I should obey his
voice and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither
will I let Israel go. He didn't even know God. It's
not that this fellow just came into acquaintance with the Lord.
He was afraid. Not that Joseph was just scared.
This man, Joseph, this means he feared the true and living
God. He's speaking to those 10 brothers,
and he says, the God of your father, and of your grandfather,
and of your great grandfather, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. I fear that God. I reverence that God. That's
a strong declaration. Just a couple of words. That
means something. That means something. There's
millions and millions and millions and billions of people, billions
probably with a B, billions of people that say that in vain
and without understanding. I don't hear it anymore. When
I was a kid growing up, I used to hear people say, well, that's
a good fellow, man. I like him. He's a good man. He's a God-fearing man.
She's a God-fearing woman. That's a good godly woman. Outside
of Christ, there's no such thing. It's spoken in vanity. It's spoken without understanding,
without knowing God, who they claim to fear. Now, I'm not against
morality and people being good neighbors. That's a good thing
you ought to. But to fear God's not what man
thinks it is. We have a nature that thinks
we know what that means. It's not what we naturally think
it means. Being an outwardly moral person or living as much
as one can according to the Bible and going to church and reading
the Bible all the time, memorizing some verses, that doesn't mean
a person fears God. Me making this statement about
that statement's a bold statement. Say, I fear God means something,
doesn't it? This declaration, I fear God, it identifies Joseph
as a person of one or two categories. That's it. There are only two kinds of people
in this world. Two kinds of people. Those that fear God and those
that do not. There are sheep and there are
goats. There's believers and there's unbelievers. There are
those that are made righteous and those that are left to their
wickedness. Paul wrote of those wicked. He
said, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Not even physical. Look around. An old fellow cut in line to
me yesterday. I had a 40 pound sack of chicken feet on my shoulder.
I'm six foot four and 250 pounds. And I've been told I look mean
all the time. And he cut in line, gave me attitude.
I was like, what makes you think this is okay? I said, go ahead. I said, this bag ain't hurting
me. Go pay for your stuff. There's not even a sense of physical
fear of God. And these pride parades and abortionists
and all these other things are an absolute abomination just
in the body. Nobody's afraid. How come nobody's
told them? They're left to themselves. That's
the man's natural mind, isn't it? It's getting worse, huh? Who makes it different? There's
these two classes of people, those that fear God and those
that don't fear God. Who makes the difference? Who makes you
to differ? Mankind doesn't. We don't. We will look at this word fear
for a second, but in our vernacular, if it only meant afraid, I thought
about this. Even then, if it just meant afraid,
I can't make myself unafraid of snakes or heights. People
say, well, just don't. Just get over it. Address your
fears. No. I'm scared of snakes. I'm scared
of heights. And I don't want nothing to do with them. I can't change
that. And I'll tell you something else. I saw a person one time.
They walked into a room. And there was a couple of rifles
laid out on the table. And they screamed. Just guns
sitting around the table. I can't make myself unafraid
of a gun. I can act like I am. I can put
on a show. I can't change that. I can't
make myself not be afraid of snakes, and I can't make myself
afraid of something that I'm not afraid of. I can't even do
that physically, right? What is the fear of God? Solomon,
the wisest man born Adam, we ought to hear what he has to
say. He said, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Psalm 1 verse 7, the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise
wisdom and instruction. What's instruction? Every time
we open this word. Well, I don't like that, Kevin.
That doesn't affect me. I hate that for you. The Lord's
teaching his people something. He's showing us something. And
a fool despises it. That's harsh. That's what it
says in Proverbs 1 verse 7. But the fear of the Lord, that's
the beginning of knowledge. You start having knowledge, right? But
what does the Lord give us? We can read these things, and
we know how to read. We have some knowledge, but we
need understanding, don't we? Proverbs 9, verse 10, the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge
of the holy, his people, his sanctified, his saints, is understanding. to fear him, to honor him. The
fear of the Lord is not being afraid. Here's the things it's
not. It's not being afraid of punishment. I don't want to get,
you want to get in trouble? I can't stand being in trouble.
I'm grown, I ought not be in trouble anymore. I get in trouble
all the time. It's not, fearing God's not being
afraid of punishment. It's not afraid of going to hell.
I don't want to go to hell. Who does? That same It's not
simply understanding that you can't keep the law and I need
to be out from underneath that law because there's punishment
attached to that law. That's not fearing God. It's not quid pro quo. Fearing
God's not this for that. I know a man one time, he said,
I'm afraid if I don't, he's a Catholic fella. He said, if I don't keep
Ty, then he said, I can't sell as many cars as he used to. He's
a car salesman. That's doubly wrong. You don't
want to hang out with him. If I quit, tithing or praying
or I quit going to church and Lord may not bless me. That's
not a fear of God. That's not knowing the holy God
of heaven and earth, the living God. Those kinds of fears are
types of being afraid without knowledge. That's a type of being
afraid without wisdom. That's a type of being afraid
without an understanding of who God is. Hebrews 5, 7 speaks of
Christ and it says, who in the days of his flesh, when He came
to this earth, when He offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto Him that is able to save
Him from death, unto the Father, and He was heard. In that, what
was the reason He was heard? He feared. Christ came to this
earth and He feared the Father. That's not a fear of being afraid
of punishment. That's not a fear of being afraid
that He's gonna lose something. No, that's a fear of reverence. of reverence, of awe, of devotion. If you fear God, you're devoted
to Him. Of worship, of thanksgiving,
of glorifying, of honor. That Hebrew word here in our
text for Joseph said, I fear God. That word fear, it means,
and it said this in the definition, physically to be afraid, spiritually
to be reverent. And I thought they did all the
hard work for me. It broke it down real well, didn't
it? The natural man will physically fear God. Well, I'm gonna get
something bad coming to me. Where there's spiritual life,
there's reverence. That's night and day, isn't it?
That's night and day. Is that my thoughts in the dictionary? What did Paul tell us? Romans
8, 5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things
of the flesh. We're worried about this body. We're worried about
me. I'm out for number one. But they that are after the spirit,
the things of the spirit, worshiping a holy God, reverencing him. What if I don't get a warm fuzzy?
My warm fuzzy don't matter. His name needs to be proclaimed.
And if it is, I'll have the warm fuzzy. I'll be happy about it.
The flesh may fear punishment and pain, and that spirit that's
put in us is reverent. David wrote, he said, serve the
Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. That explains itself.
How can you rejoice physically if you're trembling? You can't
rejoice if you're scared to death. That means something spiritual,
doesn't it? You can tremble in the spirit when your body's rejoicing
and your heart's rejoicing in Christ, doesn't it? Just quiver, don't we? So happy. I thought that thief on the cross,
turn over Luke 23. Luke 23. Remember verse 34, Luke 23, 34. And said, Jesus, forgive. Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do. The last of the
seven sayings. And they parted his raiment and
cast lots, and the people stood beholding. And the rulers also
with him derided him, saying, He saved others, let him save
himself. Let him save himself, if he be
the Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him and offering him vinegar and saying, If thou
be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And the superscription
also is written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew.
This is the king of the Jews. And one of the malefactors, which
were hanged, railed on him, saying, if thou be the Christ, save thyself. We read over Matthew 27 that
both of those malefactors at the point, at one point, says
they cast the same in his teeth. That means the same thing come
across their teeth. Both of them did, didn't it? But this one
had heard some things. He heard those seven sayings.
He heard, and I thought, would I hear if I heard what he said?
But what do you have to have to have life? The Lord says live. What doctrinal proof did the
apostles have to have when he said, follow me? They just got
up, they straightway left the boat. They walked off of it like
four scouts, just clean, went, they followed him. Didn't they? Because there's power in his
words. I talked for an hour and a half a week. Follow him, come
to him. As he sees fit, buddy, right
then, isn't it? He spoke on that cross and that woman that was
hanging already had nails in him. The same thing came across
his teeth. He turns, look here in verse
40. But the other answering rebuked him saying, does not thou fear
God? Seeing thou art in the same condemnation.
He ain't saying, are you afraid? He said, don't you honor God?
And this is God hanging right here between us. That man knew
something, didn't he? He knew the living God, and he
feared the Lord. He honored the Lord. He reverenced
the Lord that was right there next to him. And he knew his
guilt, verse 41. And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done
nothing amiss. That's a holy one of Israel.
That's a savior hanging right there. And he said unto Jesus,
Lord, Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Not that there
is a kingdom that you happen to be a citizen of, it says thy
kingdom. You're the king, you're the Lord,
you're the king, you're God. That's fearing God. Ascribing to him who he is as
he says he is. That's believing God, isn't it?
That's faith that God gives. He said, you're the king. Remember
me, that's all that I need. You just to think of me. And
Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be
with me in paradise. What did he want? He wanted to
be where the Lord was. Those that fear God want to be
where God is and they want to be with the Lord's people. North-South. That's so. The word
says so, doesn't it? And Ruth. Naomi said, what a
horrible thing, isn't it? Well, that was Lord Kepper. He sure did. And he killed her
husband and both her sons for leaving the house of bread and
going to Moab. I wouldn't want that on anybody. But the Lord
was faithful. And she tried running off her daughter-in-law. And
she said, y'all, go find husbands. If I had a child where the law
was at the time, you'd be by the time I render another child
that's old enough to marry you, go find the other husbands."
And one kissed her and cried and all, there was tears hitting
the floor, wasn't it? Oh, she loved her and she left
her. And Ruth said, I ain't going nowhere. She said, entreat me
not to leave thee or return following after thee, for whether thou
goest, I'll go. Whether thou lodgest, wherever
you lay down to sleep at night, I'll lodge. And your people's
my people, and your God's my God. We're together, we're of
one heart. Where thou diest, will I die. They went out from us because
they're not of us. They weren't faithful to the end because God
didn't keep them faithful to the end. Ruth said, as God will,
I'm with you to the end. Where you're buried, where you're
putting that ground, I'm going to be putting it around. The
Lord do so to me and more so if all but death part thee and
me. She was married to Naomi. Till death do us part. That's
what we say when you get married. We're that bride of Christ till
death do us part. We're with him forever. I don't
know if we'll get to it next hour. Pay your vows. Does that
mean you gotta go and tithe? No! Remember your wedding vows
that he made. I'm with you always, thick and
thin, good or bad, it doesn't matter. We're united with the
Lord. The fear of the Lord is evidence
of being born again. It's believing he is as he says
he is in his word. That's it. That says it right
there. People say, oh, he has no hands but your hands. You ain't
read the Psalms, have you? My Lord has two hands. They drove
nails through him because of me. Speaking of the wicked, David
said, the transgression of the wicked saith within my heart
that there's no fear of God before his eyes. I see them transgression
and I know in my heart they don't fear God. And now that mean people
out shooting heroin and killing babies. That's those that are
really good neighbors and wear ties and have King James Version
Bibles and they go to church and now you just got to do a
little something. Just a skosh 11. Just a touch. One molecule 11. They don't fear
God. He also spoke of the righteous
in Psalm 115. He said, the Lord, he will bless
them that fear the Lord, both small and great. If that fear
of the Lord's put in us, that honoring, that reverence, glorifying
Him, whether it's just a little bit of fear of Him or a great
fear of Him, it don't matter, the Lord's gonna bless it. That's
called life, life eternal in it. Well, who makes the difference
of a person fearing and worshiping? Turn over to Jeremiah 32, we'll
close. Jeremiah 32. You remember Wednesday
night, the I haves of the Lord? He said, I have glorified your
name, I've finished the work, I've manifested your name to
these people, I've given your word, I've kept them, I've prayed
for them, I've sent them, and he gave us his glory. What a
thought, isn't it? Jeremiah 32, verse 36, 32 verse
36. And now, therefore, thus saith
the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof
you say, it shall be delivered into the hand of the king of
Babylon by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence. His
city of God, is what you're saying. You know what some dry bones
did? They were clean dead. And then when the sinews come
on them, and the flesh, and the life's bringing them, they said, we're
gonna die. You just now started living. The Lord puts life in
you, you'll declare he is dead. And that's what you deserve. He's asking them, why are you
fearful? Why aren't you fearing the Lord? Verse 37, behold, I
will gather them out of all countries, whether I have driven them in
my anger and in my fury, my great wrath, whether I've driven them
in famine, right? I'll gather them, I'll bring
them again into this place, just like Ruth and Naomi brought to
that house of bread where corn is, where life is, just like
these brothers being brought to Joseph to bow to him. He brings
us together. and I will cause them to dwell
safely, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart. Do you love something different
than I love? We love the same one, don't we? That's the same
heart. He dwells in you, he dwells in me, we honor the Father. We
fear him, we honor him, we respect him. Same thing, same in you,
same in me. I give them one heart, and one way. How are we gonna
get to the Father that we've offended, Christ the way. There's
the same Savior. That, I'm gonna do this, I'm
gonna give them a new heart, I'm gonna give them the eyes
to see Christ and behold Him and glorify Him, that they may
fear me forever. for the good of them." That's
precious to me. That's for your good. All this
famine and nations dying, babies dying in the streets, that's
terrible. God says, this is for your good.
For the good of them and of their children after them to honor,
to worship, and to revere the Lord is good and it's good for
our children. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them and I will not turn away from them to do
them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts. How'd that
fear get there? I chose to be afraid of God.
I chose to honor him. No, I'm gonna go worship today.
You might not. We ask God to make us that way.
Put your fear in our hearts. Put your reverence in our hearts.
You have to do it. He said, I will put my fear in
their hearts and they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good. I will plant them in the land
assuredly. with my whole heart and with
my whole soul. You think you're gonna leave
if the Lord does with his whole heart and soul? For thus saith the Lord,
like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people,
like as all that evil come upon, in Joseph's time, that famine,
like as all the evil that's all around us, the Lord brought that
on, so will I bring upon them all the good that I've promised
to them. He's on his front. You can't worship a God that
ain't sovereign. You can't. That's almighty. And
holy, you can't do it. So if he's like us, we can't
do it. This one says, all that evil that I brought on it, just
in the same manner, I'm gonna be as good to my people, because
it pleased him. I love his shalls. He said, I'm
gonna make them a covenant. David said, although my house
not be so of God, it sure don't look like it. Yet he hath made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,
and for this is all my salvation. That's my only hope, and it's
all my desire. I wouldn't have it any other
way. A person that fears the Lord,
one that had that covenant made with them, they proclaim that
the Lord made the covenant. One that's kept by the Lord proclaims
that the Lord's the keeper of them. One that fears the Lord,
They proclaim that the Lord put the fear in them. One that's given faith to believe
proclaims that that faith is the gift of God, just as he says
it is. Back in our text here in Genesis
42. Verse 16, he says, send one of
you who will go, who will go tell this good news. Send me,
I'll go. Here I am, Lord, I'll go. Look,
everything's done for us. Send one of you, and let him
fetch your brother, and you shall be kept in prison, that your
words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you, or
else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you were spies. And he
put them all together into the ward three days. And Joseph said
unto them on the third day, this do and live. I fear God, because
Christ honored and revered and glorified the Father, I live. And I fear God because He did."
That's comfort to those 10, isn't it? They're there in a foreign
land and they said, I know what that means. I know what he just
said. Do you think they wanted to go
eat lunch with anybody else? You think they wanted to go hang
out with like, well, that's not man. I can't believe we need
to talk sometime down the road. I'll be back in about a week.
I'm going on vacation. We'll go fishing for a little
while. Now, let's come here. I want to talk to you. Keep talking. I thought my brother, Robbie,
2015 came when I went to New Jersey and he read scripture
and prayed that night. And as he prayed, he got through.
I looked at, I said, that's my brother. He speaks the language
I speak. He fears God. He knows who God
is. He reverences him. That's so. And just like Joseph's brothers,
that was a comfort to me. And that was precious to me.
And I won't be where he was. I texted him yesterday. I said,
I wish I was there with you. I hope it recorded. I want to listen
to it later this evening. Wish I was there in person when the
spirit was there with him. I've been something with him.
All right, let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word,
simplicity of it and how majestic it is. Thank you for giving us
brethren that you put Christ in, reverences you and Lord be
with us, be with me. Make me have a heart that honors
Christ and adores him and is in awe all the time. What I believe
help my unbelief. We're thankful you put that fear
in your people and thankful that Christ has kept us. He will glorify
us with him. What a blessing, what a salvation,
what a savior. Thank you for this hour, Lord,
be with us next and be with your people everywhere. Be with her.
The Curtis family is they're suffering and they're not with
those without hope, but as they mourn. Give us tears a week with
them. Forgive us for what we are. It's
because of Christ we ask these things. Amen.