that I should live to what sovereign
mercy called me to heavenly glories bound I go back to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians 1. This will seem very similar. to Sunday's message from Philippians
chapter 1. If you were here, you remember
that. It was a blessing to me, and I think some of you. But
the reason it sounds so similar is because this is a letter to
the church, the church at Thessalonica. It's a letter to us. It's a letter
to every church, all of God's people. And the reason it's similar
to the letter to the Philippians is because God says the same
thing to all of his churches. God has the same words of promise,
hope, comfort, warning, rebuke, reproof to all of God's people. And this letter has the three
things now abided faith, hope, and love, the greatest of which
is love. These things are dealt with here
in this first chapter. All right, let's look at it.
Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, Paul and Silas and Timothy, that's
who that is, unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is
in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, Silas,
and Timothy, though Paul was the one who penned it, though
Paul was the used by God to pen the Word of God, yet he includes
Silas and Timothy in all that he says. And you remember, it's
just like Todd and Albert, you know. You remember that? Anyone that wasn't here. Someone,
I was somewhere and they said something to me about Todd and
Albert. They said, they go everywhere together, don't they? Todd and
Albert. I said, who? Todd and Albert. I hear, whenever
you mention Todd, you mention Albert. I said, you mean Todd
and Nybert, don't you? You know, Todd and Nybert, Todd
and Albert, they go everywhere together. But Paul and Silas
and Timothy went everywhere together. And whatever Paul, the love, affection he had, the things
he felt, the things he wanted to convey to the churches is
exactly what Silas and Timothy felt also. And so it is with
Todd and Albert, Todd and Albert, and the other men that you know
and love. They say the same thing. We're going to say more about
that, about you in a moment. But he calls it the church in
God the Father. The church in God, that's because
they're in God's purpose, in God's will, they were in God's
covenant of election, covenant of grace, which he purposed before
the world began. All of God's people were in his
mind before they had any being, and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were put in Christ, given to Christ who was the surety,
the covenant head before the world began. Christ agreed to
come and do that work of redemption for his people. So they were
in, they were in, they are in, and they will ever be in God
and in Christ. That's salvation, to be in Christ. Read on. Grace be unto you and
peace. from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. These two words make up the gospel.
Grace. God's electing grace. God's covenant
of grace. God's saving grace. God's regenerating
grace. The Holy Spirit's regenerating
grace. Christ's redeeming grace. calling grace, the Holy Spirit's
calling grace, God's keeping grace, God's eternal grace. By
grace, we are saved. Salvation is by grace 100 percent. In every facet of salvation,
every aspect of salvation, it's a gift. It's a gift from God
and from the Father and Son. And peace, peace which Christ
obtained for his people by the blood of his cross. peace which
Christ made for his people who would otherwise be under the
wrath of God. The world, the unbelieving world,
is under the wrath of God, not the love of God. under the wrath
of God, but not God's people. They're at peace with God because
Christ, the chastisement of our peace
was laid on them. And it says, this is from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls God our Father. You remember that? how we went
through John's gospel and how the Lord throughout John's gospel
calls the father, his father, the father, all the way through.
And then after he arose from the grave and he's comforting
his people, he says, I go to my father and your father. So God now is our Father by adoption
through Christ. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. He's the only begotten Son that
we're adopting, but God is our Father, just as much as He's
Christ's Father. Yes, He is. And He pities His
children. From God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. We give thanks, verse 2, we give
thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in
our prayer." This is something as we saw in Philippians. Paul
said the same thing in Philippians. He says this throughout. Well,
turn with me to the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians. This is common
language of Paul. He was a praying man. He was a thankful man, and he
He always gave thanks he said always give thanks for you for
the church. And he gave thanks for the church
at Philippi, Corinth, all the churches. Verse 13 of chapter
2, For this cause also we thank we God without ceasing, because
when you received the word of God which you heard from us,
the preaching of the word, you received it not as the word of
men, but as it is in truth, the word of God which effectually
worketh also in you that believe. And it goes on to say you became
followers. Second Thessalonians, turn over there. Second Thessalonians
1, verse 3, we're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, as it's fit, your faith and so on. Chapter
2, 2 Thessalonians 2, I love this verse, verse 13, we're bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. We sang that song, "'Tis not
that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be. Hadst
thou not chosen me, I would never have chosen thee." So he says,
we're bound from going to give anybody thanks. It's going to
be God. This is why we don't thank men
and women for coming to the church house. We don't thank men and
women for coming to worship God. We thank God for bringing them
here, for making them willing to come, else they would not. He says, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you. We didn't choose Him. He chose
us to salvation through And this is the work of the Holy Spirit.
He sets us apart to believe the truth, whereunto, verse fourteen,
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. So go back to our text. So Paul
always gives thanks to God for the church, for you all. He said
that to Philippi, didn't he? For all of you. And this is so
similar. I had a good time Sunday, I don't
know about you, so much so that we're going to just do it again.
Different letter, same theme. He says, We give thanks always
to God for you all, every one of you. And I ask you, who is expendable in our little flock? Anybody? Why no? We're not from
the smallest to the largest or oldest. None are expendable. We're not willing to do without
anybody. We give thanks for all. Thanks for every member God has
put in the body. Making mention, verse 2, we make
mention of you in our prayer. A humbling thing when somebody
tells you that they were thinking about you the other day. Somebody
ever tell you that? Call you up and say, I was thinking
about you the other day. Oh, so and so and I was just
talking about you. As long as it was good, good conversation. It is with God's people. But isn't that endearing those
people to you? They say, we were just talking
about you the other day, how much, whatever. To make mention
of someone, especially to God, one of the greatest things you
can do, one of the greatest shows of love that you can do for someone
is to pray for them. And I've often told you that
You can't get mad at somebody you're praying for. You can't
do it. You can't hold a grudge. You
can't stay bitter if you're really praying for them. And so he says,
we'll make mention of you always in our prayer, make mention of
you. Remembering, verse 3, remembering without ceasing, never forgetting
your work of faith The work of faith that he's speaking of is
the support of the gospel, the support of the gospel, the stand
for the truth. That's the work of faith that
the church is about, upholding the truth. The church
is called the pillar, which upholds, and the ground, here we stand,
not going to give an inch. of the truth, the pillar and
the ground. We uphold the truth in an age, in a day, where men
turn away their ears from the truth, undefabled, but no, not
us, by God's right, not God's church. And so Paul commends
them for their work of faith, their work of faith. And it's
a labor of love, he calls it, a labor of love, love to God. God has shed abroad in their
hearts His love. Love for Him. We know all things
work together for good to them that love God. God's people do
love God as God. The world doesn't, but God's
people do. They love God as sovereign and just and righteous and in
control of all, especially salvation. They love God as God. They love
God's Son. They love God's truth. They really
do. They really do. And the labor,
whatever they do in the body, whatever they do to serve the
body, is in love. It's not because it's supposed
to. This is the motive behind everything God's people do. It's
love. It's not duty. It's not obligation. It's love. It's just like a marriage
relationship. Two that are truly in love with
one another, what they do for one another, how they serve one
another is Out of love, not because they're supposed to. Alright,
so he says this is a labor of love. And we remember, without
ceasing, your patience of hope. Patience of hope. The church
at Thessalonica endured a great deal of affliction and persecution
for the truth, as did all of the early church. All of the
early church endured an incredible amount of persecution for the
truth's sake. Thessalonica in particular, you
read the story of it, and that they were patient. They patiently
endured the affliction because they believed the truth, because
they loved the truth. And you'll endure persecution
if you know whom you believe and you're persuaded. And nobody
will persuade you otherwise, and nothing can deter you from proclaiming it. And patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope is in Christ and him
alone. And it's all in the sight of God. You see there? It's all
in the sight of God and our Father. Thou, Lord, seest me. It's all
in the sight of God. I like what Paul said over in
2 Corinthians chapter 2, I believe it is. He said, get the pages
apart. He said, we're not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, Truly, God's, not only, not just
the preacher, but all of God's people, they love the truth. They love God's Word. They wouldn't
dare corrupt it. They wouldn't dare change it.
But as of sincerity, they're sincerely in this thing for the
glory of God. As of God, it's all of God. In the sight of God. We're trying,
we're trying to glorify Him. We're trying to do what we do
to please Him. You know that? We're not seeking
to please men. We're not saying what we say
because men like it. Most don't. We're saying what
we say because it's God's truth and God likes it. God loves it. God will honor it. So it's in
the sight of God. Everything's in the sight of
God. That's who we seek to please, and that's who we want to see
us and hear us, is it not? We don't do what we do to be
seen of men, but rather we want God to see us and hear us. God
our Father. Verse 4, knowing brethren, now
here is the the theme, really, of this chapter. Knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election of God. Can a person know their election? Now, God's people were elected
before the foundation of the world, and their names were put
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world,
before there was an earth with people on it. God chose a people. God elected a people, particular
individuals, and he put their names in the Lamb's Book of Life
and sealed it. Is that not right? That is right. Okay. No one has seen that book
but God, the triune God. Right? Right. How can I know
my name's there? Can I know my name's there? Can
I have assurance that my name is there? Paul says so. This
is God's word, not Paul's word, but God told Paul to write this
down. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. How may we know that we're elect?
Well, my pastor said, you know your election by your calling.
Peter said, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. You know your election by your
calling. That's what Paul says in the next verse. You know your
God's elect because our gospel came unto you. Not just a gospel. Not just any
old gospel. Paul says it's our gospel. In another place he calls it
my gospel. The gospel. In Romans 1, which
is that great declaration of the gospel, the gospel of God
concerning God's Son, declared to be the Son of God, power,
and so forth. The gospel. Our gospel. In other places, he calls it
the faith once delivered to the saints. The faith of God's elect. Our gospel, as opposed to another
gospel that is being preached out there. He said, our gospel,
the gospel of God's, I've already been saying it. God's sovereign,
electing grace. Christ's particular, effectual,
eternal redemption. The Holy Spirit's irresistible,
saving, regenerating, calling, eternal grace. Saving grace. The gospel of God's sovereign,
saving grace. Our gospel, as opposed to this
phony gospel out there. This gospel that is no gospel.
at all, but it's another gospel. Paul says, our gospel came to
you. This is the call. This is the
gospel call. You remember reading it there
in 2 Thessalonians 2.13, you're bound to give thanks to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit, belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel. Our gospel came. If there's a
sheep, the gospel's going to get to him, wherever he is, and
he's going to get to it. Like the eunuch out in the desert,
God sent Philip all the way out in the desert for one man to
preach our gospel. Our gospel. Our gospel came. There's no gospel in a place,
no sheep there. But wherever the gospel is, there's
sheep. Count on it. It's the shepherd's call. Christ
said, my sheep hear my voice. He said, I know them by name.
I call them, and they follow me. It's the shepherd's voice. Come unto me. Every one of them
do. All that the Father give to Christ,
come to him. It's the gospel call, our gospel. It's not this phony out there. Our gospel came to you. And he
says, it came not unto you in word only, that is, doctrine
only. I hear people all the time talking
about So and so came to the knowledge of the doctrines of grace. So
that's not the way it is. You don't come to the knowledge
of doctrine. No, that's not it. That's not scripture. Our gospel
comes to you not in word only, not in doctrine only, not in
a head assent to truth only, but read on, it says, but in
power. It comes in power, that is, awakening, quickening power,
regenerating power, saving power. Gospel comes in life-giving power. The blind, those who are once
blind see. Those who are once deaf, they
hear. Those who were once lame begin to walk by faith. Those
who once were deaf, call. Those who did not understand
have their understanding, which was darkened, enlightened. The
gospel comes in power, power, heartbreaking, heart-piercing
power, life-giving. It doesn't change your life,
it gives you life. Read on. The gospel comes not
in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost. This is important. Oh, my. The gospel will come
apart from the Holy Ghost. And what does the Holy Ghost
do? This is how I know our gospel is the gospel. This is how I
know that other gospel out there is not the gospel. That other
gospel out there, people out there are talking about gospel,
saying gospel this and gospel that, but they're talking mostly
about the Holy Spirit. They're talking about gifts and
healings and tongues and signs and wonders and this and that
and the other and health and wealth and all of that. But Christ
said when the Holy Spirit comes, when the Comforter comes, the
Spirit of truth comes. He's called the Spirit of Christ.
When He comes, it says, Christ said, He'll take the things of
mine and show them unto you. Whatever things I've said unto
you, He said, He'll bring to your remembrance. He'll not speak
of himself. The Holy Spirit won't speak of
himself, and the people won't be all the time talking about
the Holy Spirit. But he'll speak of me, Christ
said. He'll take the things of mine.
He'll point the people to Christ, because Christ is all and in
all. The Holy Spirit, that's his office,
to point men and women to Christ, to cry. And so, when the Holy
Ghost comes, what he does is shows you the things of Christ.
He teaches you Christ is all. All the fullness of the Godhead,
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all in salvation,
your only mediator, your only redeemer, and on and on. and the whole subject of Scripture. That's what the Holy Spirit teaches
all His people. That's how the Gospel comes,
by the Holy Ghost. Read on. And in much assurance,
much assurance. We can have full assurance. It says much assurance here.
We can have full assurance as long as our assurance is completely
in Christ. That's where our assurance is.
That's where we're to look. That's who we're to look to,
is to Christ alone. We're not to look inside for
some assurance of our salvation. We're not to look at our lives
for some assurance of salvation. We're not to look at evidences
for some assurance that we're a child of God. We're to look
to the Word of God. We're to look to the promises
of God. We're to look to the Son of God.
for all of our assurance. So as long as you're looking
to Christ and Christ alone and believing God's Word, you can
have full assurance, though you're the chief of sinners. Though
you look within and can't find any evidence in yourself, and
if you're honest, you won't find much, if any. But when you look
within and can't find hardly anything within to give you assurance,
That's your child of God. Yet, if you look to Christ, that
gives you assurance. You hear that? Don't forget that. You can have full assurance as
long as you're looking to Christ. And the gospel, that's what the
gospel does, people. That's the reason we keep coming
to hear it. We keep coming to hear of what Christ did for such
miserable people as we are. And that gives us assurance.
This is not a pat one another on the back meeting. This is
a Christ honoring, God exalting, God glorifying meeting. Every
service is Father's Day. You know that? It's never Mother's
Day. All right. And he says, And you
know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. God's
men, God's preachers. I made this statement, now turn
with me over to chapter two here. I was somewhere not long ago
where there were some people in a congregation that hated
the preacher. And it showed. They hated him. And the man is a wonderful man. I love him dearly. He's a preacher
of the gospel. If I said his name, you'd be
shocked that anybody could hate the man. But they do. And it's
obvious that those people had no real love for the truth, for
the gospel. But they gave this man endless grief. Endless grief. And are giving him grief. And so part of my job when I
go to a place like that is to hold up the pastor's hand. It's
like Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hand, you know. I'm not there
for people to take note of me Everybody's enamored with a visiting
preacher. When he's a nothing, he's a nobody. It's a man day
in and day out, day in and day out preaching and teaching. That's
the man they need to commend and be thankful for. He's the
one losing sleep over them and so on, bearing their problems
and all. But anyway, now I was trying
to commend that man under them, and he's commended them. But
I told those people, and this is true. Now, either a man is
sent by God or he's not. Either a man is a true preacher
of God or he's not. If he's not, what does that make
him? A false prophet. There's no middle
ground. Right? And we do need to trial. We do need to find out. We sure
do. before we go listening to some
man or following some man. Paul's going to say that in a
moment. We better ascertain that he's got, he's God's true man. If he is, remember what our Lord
said to the people. He asked the Pharisees, particularly
this question about John, the Pharisees who despised John,
the Pharisees who were jealous of John, because John preached
and everybody came to hear him. And the Pharisees, they were
such, who would want to hear those fellows anyway? But the
people came to hear the message of John, a man truly sent by
God. And our Lord said this of John
in commendation of his true preacher. He said, the ministry of John,
is it of God or man? So that's the question, and the
Pharisees didn't answer, because they said, well, if it's of God,
then why don't you believe him? Why don't you hear him? Why don't
you repent? Why don't you be baptized? Why don't you listen
to him? But if they said it's of men,
it's not of God, it's just of men, then the people get mad,
the people who heard him who were blessed by the message.
They'd come down on him, so they just didn't say anything. And it's the same thing with
every preacher. It really is. It really is. But God has some
true preachers. And I'm not saying that for my
sake, but Paul here said that you know what manner of men we
were among you. That's what Paul said. Look at
chapter 2. The whole chapter, the first part of the chapter
is spent along these lines. Verse 2, he
said, we were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi. We
looked at that story last week, the jailer, Paul was in jail.
But he said, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the
gospel of God with much contention. This is one way you're going
to know a true preacher. The gospel he preaches is going
to meet with much contention. He's going to be the only one
that the preacher's prayer breakfast in the community won't invite.
He's the only one. Exhortation was not a deceit,
trickery, uncleanness, nor engow. That's what God said of Nathanael,
didn't he? A man of no guile. That means no ulterior motive,
no trickery, nothing. What you see is what he is. Read
on. And as we are allowed of God
to be put in trust with the gospel, that's what we do, he said. How
do you know a true gospel preacher? That's what he does. As Paul
said, I'm determined not to know anything about you. That's what a preacher does.
He's not a socializer, politicizer, is that a word? He's not a whatever. He's a preacher. Read on. It says, that's what we do, not
as pleasing men. But God which tried the heart.
Paul said in another place, if I yet seek to please men, I'm
not the servant of Christ. Not seeking to please men. If
the bank president walks in, I don't care how much money he
has. We don't need his money. It's not his money anyway. We're
going to call him an old rotten sinner just like the president
of the United States. And we honor his office and the man
in the office, yes. no respect for persons. We're
not going to tone the message down for whoever it is. No, we're
not trying to please men, read on. But neither at any time use
we flattering words. As we've said, you know, the
gospel, God's word is so plain and forthright. It uses terms,
when it talks about us, it uses terms like stinking, filthy,
worms, dogs. And, you know, you stand up on
a Sunday morning and you're not going to get a big hearing when
you call people stinking, filthy, worms, dogs. But that's all right. You're
not looking for a hearing, per se. You're looking for God's
sheep. God's sheep will hear that. Like
the Canaanite woman, they were all saying, Truth, Lord, over
a dog, or like with Phibosheth. And it says, don't use flattering
words, nor, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. Why
do men use flattering words? Why do they seek to please men?
The more people you get in, the bigger
your salary. Huh? And he says, Nor of men sought
we glory. Oh my, true preachers loathe
to use his own name anywhere. Neither of you, and so on, we
were gentle among you, affectionately desirous, verse 8. We love you,
he's saying. We love you. We're willing to
have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but our own
souls, because you're dear unto us. You see that? Could you,
could you listen to a man like, is that God's man? That's God's
man. And on and on he goes. Go back
to chapter one. I've got to hurry. So he says,
you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
And that's, that's good to know that the man who's preaching
to you is God sent. That's, you know, your election.
God sends a true preacher. And you became followers of us.
You became followers of us and of the Lord. Can you follow a
man? Well, it depends on who he's
following. If he's following Christ, you
can. And it's not that you're following him, per se, but if
he knows the way, he's a leader. God does have leaders in every
aspect of life, doesn't He? You, you, you, we have leaders
in every, every walk of life. We have leaders that we follow.
You go to war, you were in the army, you had a captain, you
better follow him. Well, the ultimate authority
that was handed down to him is what you're following. That's
who you're following. And you follow him as he, and
there again, if you understand, if you ascertain that that man's
sent by God, you can follow him without worry. Because God's
not going to let him lead you astray. He'll make mistakes,
yeah, but he won't lead you out of the truth. No sir. No sir. He says, and Paul says this four
times throughout the epistles, follow me, follow me, follow
me. If man knows the way, I'm going
to follow him. I follow my pastor. I sure do. And other men who
are Christ-like men who have more wisdom than I do. I follow
their leadership. I follow their advice. I read on. He says, having received
the word in much affliction, received the word with much affliction,
as I told you, they were persecuted for the truth's sake, and so
will you be, and so are you. All of God's people suffer persecution
for the gospel's sake. Some more than others. But all
of them. and you open your mouth and just
declare who God is, somebody's going to hate you for it. Somebody's
going to dislike you. Somebody's going to snub you.
Somebody. Our Lord said it'll even be your
own family. A father against son, a mother
against daughter and so forth. That's the way it is. That's
a mark of election. Know your election. There's no
offense to the Gospels being preached out there. Nobody's being hated for that. Our Lord
said, woe is unto you if men speak well of you. Must not be
telling the truth. So the Gospel, if you dare to
tell it, it will be met with persecution and affliction. And
trials and tribulations that God's people go through, God
sent them with joy, though. Joy comes, weeping endures for
a night. Joy comes in the morning. Persecution
endures for a while, but the consolation of Christ's approbation
And he said, all rejoice for so persecuted the prophets before
you. And joy of the Holy Ghost read
on. And you were examples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. Examples. This is another
mark of God's elect. They're examples. They become
examples to all throughout, well, wherever. Our witnesses, verse 8, from
you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and
Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread
abroad. And I told you this Sunday, and I'll say it again, it doesn't, it pleases me that you're so
well known, this little church is so well known in other places
by the church, that is, and appreciated And there's these other men,
these other preachers, they like coming here. And I know why.
Because you love the gospel and its show. You love them. And
they love you. And so from you, the word, it's
known. The word sounds forth, witness
to the truth. And it's known everywhere, spread
abroad, so that we need not speak anything. I don't have to brag
on you. They know for themselves. Though
I do brag on you anyway. Verse 9, And they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you. In other
words, when Paul would go somewhere, somebody would say, I was just
down at Thessalonica, and boy, they sure do love you. They sure
do love you, Paul, for preaching to them. And I've heard that
many times. about you. Read on. And they
tell us how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and
true God. How do you know someone's an
elect? They turn from idols. Anything that's not the living
and true God, any gospel that's not our gospel, is an idol. It's a made-up gospel. It's an
idol. It's not the true God. It's the living and true God.
And you, most of you, came out of religion, which you renounced. You didn't try to retain your
seniority. You know, that's why people like
to hold on to an old profession of faith they made years ago.
Seniority. We don't want anybody to think it just got saved. Why
not? We're all equal. Why not? As Brother Tim James
said, I get saved every time I hear the gospel. Except we
receive the word as little children every time. He says, be children
in attitude and malice and not in understanding. So, you know,
we renounce that false religion we were once in. We renounce
that form of profession of faith. We renounce it to serve the living
and true God. That's part of the humiliation
of confessing Christ. It really is. Here I am, a brand
new babe. But who cares? I'm his now. Verse 10, And to wait, knowing
your election, because you're waiting on Christ. Patiently
waiting, looking for the coming of the Son of God, who's in heaven
right now. whom God raised from the dead,
even Jesus, who delivered us, which delivered us from the wrath
to come." Now, that work of redemption. All right, I know you're elect,
I do, because of these things, these evidences. And you can,
too. You can have assurance. Your assurance is in Christ,
and I can say Can't you say that, yeah, the gospels come and I
believe it? Huh? Can you say that? Yeah, the brethren,
I love God's people. Can you say that? Hereby we know
we've passed from death unto life. We love the brethren. Can
you say that? Yeah, the people that I work
with don't like me because of the gospel. Can you say that? Sure you can. You're not touting
yourself, but it's just a fact. So knowing brethren, Beloved,
your election of God. Okay, stand with me. Our Father, thank You for Your
Word. It gives us such hope, such comfort,
peace, encouragement. Thank You for it. Thank You for
bringing us to hear it. And thank You for that great
work. Your will, Your purpose in salvation,
the Holy Son's blood and righteousness, the Holy Spirit's call and regenerating
power. Thank you, Lord. Salvation is
of the Lord. We thank you, Lord. We give you
all the praise, honor, and glory in Christ's name. Amen.