Open your Bibles if you went
to the book of Philippians. We'll continue our study in this
wonderful, wonderful book written to the saints at Philippi, which
is the first European city, the city of Macedonia, that Paul
went to and the Lord started a church there. And so he's writing
these people. They're very dear to him. You
can tell. We can tell by the writing they're very dear to
him, can't we? He's very close with them. Now
let's read verses 15 to 21 to see our context. The name of
the message is Christ Magnified. And you know, this happened again
this week. I thought, oh, I'm gonna do two verses this week.
And as I got into this, I'm only doing one verse. There's so much
here. There's so much here. So we might
be a while going through Philippians, slow walking through some of
these verses here. So let's read verses 15 to 21. Remember, Paul is, he's in bonds,
and he says, some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife,
and some also of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the
other of love. Now, that's agape. In the Greek,
that's the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. That's foreign
love to us, right? It's the love of God shed abroad
in our hearts, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.
What then? Notwithstanding every way, whether
in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do
rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall, this
is our verse today, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation
through your prayer in the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ.
According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing
I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always, so now
also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by
life or death, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Oh my, what a statement. We'll
look at that, I was gonna say next week, we're gonna look at
that in two weeks, because we're gonna spend a little time on
verse 20 as well, Lord willing. Now, this section here, there's
a lot of practical instruction for us as believers. We ought
not to put that aside. See, we desire to live a holy
life, don't we? We desire to live unto God. Right? And we're going to see that with
Dorcas this morning in the book of Acts. She was known for her
piety. She was known as a follower of
Christ. And that's true of every believer, right? We don't desire
to go out and live crazily. We are constrained by the love
of Christ. But in this section, there's
a lot of practical instruction for believers. of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And verses 18 to 30 brings forth
living for Christ in this dying and lost world. And that's what
every believer does. We're living in this world for
Christ. We now serve Christ, don't we?
We used to serve self. Now we serve Christ. Now we desire
the things of Christ. But notice, as we go through
these verses, this is what I love about Paul. He never strays from
what he says. Remember he says, I'm determined
to preach unto you Christ and Him crucified, right? He never
strays from that. Even when giving practical instructions
for the believer, he always brings forth Christ. Always, because it's all centered
in him. See, religion has it wrong. They
tell you, you got to do this, you got to do that. And they're
all looking at each other. And none of them are looking
to Christ. Paul tells us, look to Christ
and live in this world unto Christ. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. Serve Christ in this world. Well,
how? Well, by attending a local body
by supporting the gospel as it goes out into this world, right?
You know, you are a blessing to each other. We're a blessing.
I look forward to seeing you guys every week. Vicki is pining
to be back in fellowship with us. She realizes more and more
what we have here. She goes, I love my life, our
life in Michigan. And I said, I love it too. See,
the Lord's planted us here and given us a desire to serve Christ
here. Right? And we live under Christ
every day. And so do you. So do you. It's wonderful. Now, someone
might ask, well, why, why does Paul do this? Why does he continue
to bring Christ before the believers, even though, even though he's
going to speak about some practical stuff for us? Why does he do
that? Someone might say that. Why while he's speaking about
the conduct of a believer in this world, why is he continuing
to bring Christ? Well, let's turn. Let's turn
to Colossians chapter three. Remember that Paul is a sent
gospel preacher. And our goal is to preach Christ
and Him crucified. And this is what we are sent
to do. If I'm going to talk about, and I don't talk about certain
topics. You guys know that about me.
Everything that I bring to you, even with Christian living, is
Christ-centered. It comes through the filter of
Christ. Because it's not about you and I. It's about what Christ
has done in us and doing in us still. He's working in us. He's conforming us to the image
of his son. Now we desire now, did we desire
to live a holy life before the Lord saved us? Nope. We didn't, did we, Brother
Charlie? We didn't desire that at all.
But now, Brother Travis, now we desire to live for Christ,
don't we? We desire to serve him. That's a miracle of grace,
I'll tell you that. That's incredible. That's absolutely
incredible. So the answer to why Paul continues
to preach Christ, even though he's talking about practical
Christian living, is actually found in verse 21. For me to
live is Christ. And to die is gain. Christ is
now our everything, isn't he? He's our all in all. Let's look
at Colossians chapter three. I'll give you some. I knew someone
who the Lord saved them and their wife told their child, oh, it's
just a fad dad's going through. It's just a fad. It wasn't no
fad. It wasn't no fad. That person
continues to serve the Lord by the grace and mercy of God. It's not a fad to us, is it?
It's not a stage we're going through. Christ is our life. He saved us. He saved us, beloved. Look at this in Colossians chapter
3 verse 1. And you talk about, you talk about, now he's talking
about living in this world. Look at this. If ye then be risen
with Christ, if you're born again, if you were raised with him in
his death, right? Which we all believers were.
Christ was raised for our justification. If ye then be risen with him,
seek the things which are above. Now that's the opposite of what
the world says, right? The world says, seek everything for yourself,
right? Don't it, brother Brian? The world says, get everything
you can. And we see here, The opposite. Paul's saying, while
you're living in this world, seek things above. Keep looking
to Christ. Right? Now look at this. Seek these things which are by
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Now that's a statement
of fact. He is ruling and reigning right
now. He's seated right now at the right hand of God. Right
now. And then it says, set your affection. In the Greek, that's
set your heart. speaks to your heart. Set your
heart on things above, not on things on the earth. Set our
minds on Christ, not on things of this world. Everything we
see is fleeting. It's all temporary. But so Paul, by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit of God, of course, is telling us, sister, to keep
our eyes on Christ, isn't he? To keep looking to him no matter
what. Don't look to the things of this world. Now, that's something
we have to tell each other all the time, isn't it? Let's be honest. We're not in
religion here, are we? Praise be to God. We're struggling
saints, aren't we? We're struggling sinners, saved
by the grace and mercy of God. Look at this. For ye are dead
and your life is hid with Christ in God. Hidden Christ, brother. We're the hidden ones, John Gale
used to say. We're the hidden ones. We're
hidden Christ. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, and
he's coming again. Look at that word. There's one of those words
again we love. Shall. People say, well, when's
he coming? He's not coming. Shall. He shall appear. And you know,
he's only coming twice. He doesn't come three times, right? You ever think of this? People
say that, oh, he's coming back in a secret rapture. Well, that
would be three times then, wouldn't it? He's only coming back twice.
First, he came as a lamb. Now, when's that catching up
going to occur? It's going to occur, because it will occur. It's going to occur. And I call
it catching up. I don't call it a rapture. That's
not in the Greek. It's a catching up. And that
will occur at the second coming of Christ. So if any of us are
alive at the second coming of Christ, we'll be transformed
in a twinkling of an eye. Isn't that amazing? He's only
coming twice, alright? There's the first coming of Christ
and there's the second coming of Christ. And it's going to
be very public. You read 1 Thessalonians chapter
4 and 5. It is very public. It's not secret. Oh my. Oh my. Look at this, when Christ who
is our life shall appear, oh my, then shall ye also appear
with him in glory. What, yes, we're gonna appear. And notice those beautiful words,
shall sister, shall. Oh, that's done. Paul's speaking of the future
and he's speaking of it, it shall be done. You know why? Because his confidence is in
God. His confidence is in Christ. His confidence is not in himself.
He's born again of the Holy Spirit of God. He's put his trust in
the one true living God, Messiah. Remember, Christ is the Messiah.
He's the long prophesied Messiah. Oh my. And remember, when Paul
preached, he preached from the Old Testament. So he's showing
them, this is the Messiah. This is the Messiah all through
the Old Testament. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Look at this. So then what should
we do as believers? Mortify therefore your members.
So notice, notice here, now he's talking about something practical
for us, right? But notice how Christ is weaved all through
it. Oh my, when you tell people you
gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, outside of
Christ, they can't do it. Remember what the Lord told us
in John chapter 15, verse 5? Without me you can do... Amen. Nothing. My God, so good to us. But here, here's some instruction
for us. Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth,
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness, which is idolatry. for which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience." Now notice
he says that, mortify your members, because we're still prone to
all this. You see, I hear some folks and
you think they never sinned against after the Lord supposedly saved
them. I'm a saved sinner. I know you are too, right? We
still struggle with stuff all the time. Oh my. Oh my! And the witch also... Now, see,
I love it. Paul does this in another section in Corinthians.
Look at this. He's not pointing them people
out and saying, look at those folks, is he? Because look at
these next words. In the witch, ye also walked
some time when you lived in them. Never forget the rock we were
hewn from. Never forget the pit we were in that the Lord took
us out of. It was a pit, wasn't it, brother? He took us right
out of there, didn't he? Oh, what a grace and merciful
Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, again. And let's read verse 19
again of Philippians chapter 1. It says, for I know that this
shall turn to my salvation through your prayers in the supply of
the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Now, we see the word salvation
there, and we think, well, wasn't Paul already a born-again, blood-washed
believer? Yep. He's already born again. He's already born again. He's
a blood-washed saint of God. So what does this mean when he
proclaims that the situation He finds himself in that he knew
it was all according to the providence of God that it will turn for
my salvation. Well, this is where the Greek
is important. It's always important. The Greek
word means deliverance. It means deliverance. It has
nothing to do with his salvation. He's already a saved man. He's
born again. He's a blood-washed saint of
God. So there's no contradiction in the word of God. Somebody
might say, oh, that's a contradiction. It's not a contradiction at all.
But people like to try to find those things, don't they? No. The Greek word for salvation
there means safety, deliverance, preservation from danger or destruction. Listen to this in the Greek literal
Bible. Bring it forth a little bit more. It says, For I know
that through your prayer, being the prayers of the Philippians,
and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn
out for me to deliverance. Isn't that wonderful? Does God deliver us from trials
and temptations? All the time, doesn't he? He
delivers us from all different situations. I'll tell you what,
when we get to glory, I think we're gonna learn He was delivering
us constantly. Constantly. We're a bunch of
sinners saved by grace. Now, note the words in verse
19. Let's go through this verse a little bit. It says, for I
know that Paul had been taught through trials and persecutions
about the providence of God, hadn't he? He knew, he knew that
all things were working for his good and for God's glory. He's
living that out right now, do you know that? He's saying here, I know this
has all come about for the glory of God, through the providence
of God. And that God would take care
of him, whether it be in his life or in his death. And some might kindle up wrath
against him, but the more the rage of his enemies, he tells
our brethren beforehand that their wicked attempts would do
no harm to him. And if he does die, it's gain
for him." Isn't this wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful, beloved.
They may plot Paul's destruction, yet he keeps trusting in our
great God. People may plot our destruction,
Just keep trusting in the Lord, beloved. Just keep trusting in
him. My oh my. And God, if he so chooses, will
deliver us from those situations. Sometimes we go through them,
don't we, for a little while. Sometimes we go through the whole
thing. But God's ever with us, isn't he? And we learn that,
don't we? We learn about God's providence.
Turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. So where does this confidence
come from? Where does this confidence that Paul has that he knows that
what's happening to him is falling out for the furtherance of the
gospel? Well, let's look at this. Do you know he's living out Romans
8, 28? See, Paul by experience, and us by experience, know the truth of this verse.
Let's read it in context. Let's read this verse in context.
He's living out the fact of Romans 8, 28. He's living in the truth
of that verse, beloved. May God, the Holy Spirit, give
us the grace and strength to do the same. Let's read verses. Let's start off in verse 24,
and we'll read all the way to verse 30, because the context
is so important. For we are saved by hope. Our
hope is Christ. But hope that is seen is not
hope. Do you ever think of that? If you see something, you're
not hoping for it. We hope to see David again and his bride
and his children, right? But if we see them, well, then
we're not hoping anywhere. He's right there. Oh, it's wonderful. But if we
hope for that, we see not, then we do with patience, wait for
it. Likewise, the Spirit also helped our infirmities, for we
know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. And he that searches the hearts knoweth what is the
mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints
according to the will of God. Now this next verse, Paul's living
out. He's living out this verse. He's
living out this. And we know, this is something
every believer knows, that all things, all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the call according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Now let's break down, let's break down Romans 8, 28 here. And we'll
see how Paul's living this out. This is not a matter of Paul's
opinion. This is a certainty for every
believer. Remember that. When we go through
things in this life, it is for our good, even though we don't
always think that. And it's for God's glory as well.
It's for God's glory as well. And we know this truth. Remember
where he says, and we know, we know this truth as much as we
know that we're redeemed by the blood of the lamb. We know that
God works all things out for our good and for his glory. Something
we've been taught, right? By experience too. See, Paul's
experienced. And knowing trials, tribulations,
he now, he understands more about the providence of God. And the
more we grow in grace, and God gives us the knowledge of who
he is and how sovereign he is over all things, we grow in this
knowledge, don't we? Okay, so it says, look at it.
What do we know? That all things, God the Father, the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit, all good angels, rulers, and ministers,
all evil beings, such as Satan, all good events, such as peace,
prosperity, health, happiness, all bad events, such as war,
famine, sorrow, sickness, and death. All things. All things. Okay? Then note the words, work
together. Verse 28, all things work together. All things, not only that are
present and operate in us and towards us, but they all cooperate
under, now look at this, they all cooperate under God's direction.
He's absolutely sovereign. This is our God. This is our
savior, beloved. All things work together. Think
of this wonderful truth in light of Joseph's journey from being
thrown in the pit to being the second most powerful man in all
of Egypt. He wouldn't have said all those
things work for good in his mindset, but he was trusting the Lord,
wasn't he? He learned that all these things
work for good because it ended up that his father and his brothers
were brought into Egypt and they survived the famine. Oh my. Notice the next words, for good.
For good. Eternal good is what's meant
here. Eternal good. And this is for God's people,
eternal good. Not necessary present comfort,
ease, and joy. That's what false preachers say.
They say, it's all about the here and now. It's all about
what you can get now. No, it's not. It's not. Our ultimate goal is to be with
Christ, isn't it? As a believer, right? That's what we desire. And God's
put that desire in our hearts that we want to go home and be
with Him. We never thought that way before the Lord saved us.
I was terrified of death before the Lord saved me. Were you? Now, we know, like Paul, to live
as Christ and to die as gain. To see Christ. To see Him face
to face. Oh, it'll be magnificent, beloved.
To see our Redeemer. And then to them that love God,
to them who are the call according to his purpose. So our ultimate
goal is to be with Christ and to be like Christ, right? He's
conforming us to his image. And this is how all things are
working to accomplish that. Now we don't see our own growth,
do we? But God sees it, and others see it. It's amazing. Then look
at these words in verse 28. To them that love God, a lot
of people stop right there. They'll go, put the brakes on. Don't stop there. To them that
love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. Purpose,
purpose, purpose. God has a purpose, doesn't he
brother Travis? And it will be accomplished. It will. Christ saved his people from
their sins. He's going to get every one of them lost sheep,
isn't he? They're all going to be born again. They'll be brought
into the fold, and we'll all be in glory together. Because
God has a purpose. Do you know, Brother Charlie,
he saved you on purpose? If you're a believer, he saved
us on purpose. Oh, my. That'd make us jump and
leap for joy going out the door. He saved us on purpose, beloved.
His purpose, according to His will and purpose, His goodwill.
Oh, it's wonderful. I'll tell you, this is wonderful.
So the promise of eternal good and well-being is not a blanket
promise to all men. Have you noted that? It's not
a blanket promise to all men, is it? In this verse. No, but
only to those who have received Christ and who love Christ, who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who've been affectionately called
by his grace, that we see that, to them that love God, to them
that are called according to his purpose. Notice who does
the calling? God called us, didn't he, Brother
Travis? We can't do it, amen, brother, amen. But he called
us. Do you know there's no mercy
outside of Christ? There's no grace outside of Christ. Scripture
says this, for in him dwells all things, dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete. Complete means complete. In the Greek, it means to fill
to the brim. You can't get another drop in
it. You are complete. Him in Christ, which is the head
of all principality and power Colossians chapter 2 verses 9
and 10 and we say hallelujah What a wonderful merciful Savior
Now, let's go back and read verse 19 of Philippians chapter 1 So
now we have an understanding of where where Paul was coming
from when he said for I know Well, he knows something he knows
that this shall turn to his to his deliverance and that through
their prayers and the supply of the Spirit of God, Paul brings
forth believers out to pray for one another. And we do pray for
one another. I love our little, our prayer
group where we can send it out on text and all that. That is
so wonderful. That is so wonderful, beloved.
We get to pray for one another. We get to bear one another's
burdens. Isn't that amazing? It's truly amazing. So believers
are to pray for one another. Here he proclaims that this shall
turn to his deliverance. And he knows that this will only
occur according to the will and purpose of God. He's not saying,
well, if you pray, I'm going to be delivered. No, because
he's already stated, he's already stated, for I know, I know that
if it's God's will through his providence, this shall turn to
my deliverance. So having bought forth that all
things contribute to the advantage of God's true worshipers, you
ever think of that? All things happening in this
world contribute to the advantage of God's people. My, that's wonderful. Even though the world and the
devil should conspire for the ruin of God's people, God's will will prevail and all
things shall happen for our good and for his glory. My. Then we see through your prayers
in verse 19 here. Paul desires that the saints
would pray for him. He desires their prayer. He covets their
prayers. That they would pray to who? Our great and glorious
God for his deliverance. from prison. What he really desires,
though, is to stir them up to pray. That's what he desires. Stir
them up to pray. Pray more passionately. And he
declares that he's confident that the Lord will give them
an answer to their prayers, whether it be yes or whether it be no.
Right? See, that's why we pray for folks,
if the Lord be pleased to heal them, if it be his will. or her
if it be if it be his will leave it in his hands right but does
that stop us from praying for our loved ones and praying for
people we know and no absolutely we're gonna just keep praying
for him i love that i love that again that little the the text
group we have because when you get that you know sometimes sometimes
i'm sitting having a bite to eat and i'll just stop and pray
it's wonderful it's wonderful My oh my. So no matter where
we're at, whether we're at home and relaxing or whether we're
doing something, we can see that and we can pray in our minds,
can't we? Well, we're doing those things. Isn't that wonderful?
Bearing one another's burdens. And you know what that'll do?
It'll do this. It'll just knit our hearts together.
That's what it'll do. In love. In love. Mmm. And we see that he who depends
for help on the prayers of the saints relies on the promise
of God because it's God who answers the prayers. It's God who answers
the prayers. It's God who we're praying to.
And we depend on his unmerited goodness, don't we? We depend
on his unmerited goodness and we just offer up the prayer to
him and it's God and God alone. who answers that prayer. We're
not trying to gang up on God. You know, I remember when I was
in religion. Let's get more people to pray,
because the more people who pray, then God surely answers the prayer. I remember that foolishness.
I see some of you are laughing too and shaking your head, because
you know what I'm talking about. It's like, let's gang up on God.
It don't work that way. Right? The effectual prayer of
a righteous man availeth much. Remember the publican by himself,
God be merciful to me a sinner. And the Lord says he went home
justified and the other one perished in his sins. The publican went
home justified and the Pharisee perished in his sins because
he was full of self-righteousness. So we're not trying to gang up
on God, are we? But we desire the prayers of the saints, don't
we? Oh, we desire that. Oh, yes. But we know We know
in noting this text, notice this text here in verse 19, the source
of supply for the born again blood-washed believer. We're trusting on the Lord Jesus
Christ, but look at this in the latter part of verse 19. It brings
forth, brings forth who the supplier of this is, who the answer of
our prayers is, and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. That's another title for the
Holy Spirit. He's the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? That's another one of his titles. So he's the source of supply
for us. Calvin brings this forth. I thought
this was really neat. Calvin brought this forth. He
said, he said, I know that all this will turn out to my advantage
through the administration of the Spirit, ye also helping by
prayer. So he took those words and he
made them where it'd be easier for us to understand. I'll read
it again. I know that this will turn out
to my advantage through the administration of the Spirit, you also helping
by prayer. We don't in any way aid God in
what he does. He does what he does because
he's God. But we do desire to pray for one another. That's
something the Lord... Did we pray for others before
we were saved? I know I prayed for myself. God, I'll never do
that again. Right? Do you remember those
things? And just the next week, just did it all over again, right?
Oh, my. So who's the source of our grace
and strength? God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of Christ. Do you know it's supplied every
day, every second to us? Without the supplying grace of
God and the mercy of God, we would fall a thousand times just
from getting out of our bed to sitting at the breakfast table. Praise God for preserving grace.
Praise God for the Spirit of Christ. So then the supply of
the Spirit is effective, is the effective cause. Well, prayer
is subordinate to that. See? Our prayer is subordinate
to God, isn't it? Whatever you will, Lord. Isn't
that wonderful? But the supply comes from the
Spirit of Jesus Christ, comes from the Holy Spirit of God.
Let us remember that as we're daily going through this life.
We're being sustained. We're being upheld. We're being strengthened. We're
being given grace, all according to the Spirit of Christ every
single day. Isn't that wonderful? And He's ever with us, like we
were talking about, sister. He's ever with us. He'll never leave
us. He'll never forsake us. He's ever with us. Oh my. I found this interesting. The
Greek word for supply means to supply, but it's employed, when
this word is used, it's employed, it's employed to meaning the
furnishing of what is wanting. So this Greek word is used, supply,
to tell us that it's supplying what we are found wanting in.
What are we wanting in? Everything. We need strength,
we need grace every day, don't we? We need joy, or we need that
to be, we need to be, have the Spirit work in us, or else, I
know, personally, if it wasn't for God, the Holy Spirit, and
if it wasn't for being saved, going through this world, right?
Oh, woe is me. That happened to me again. Oh.
Not even realizing it was my own cause that's causing that.
But now we can, we can walk with joy, can't we? We can walk with
hope. What a hope we have, beloved.
God, the Holy Spirit, just think of that. God, the Holy Spirit,
in this, this portion here, it tells us He's supplying what
we're wanting in. We need grace, we need strength,
we need mercy. We need mercy to give mercy,
don't we? We need grace to give grace. My, that's why you see me a lot
of times and it's just something I've learned from old preachers
of old, pray for grace and strength. That's what we need, don't we?
Every single day. every single day, and may God
comfort us. Remember, one of his titles is the God of all
comfort. He comforts us, doesn't he? Oh, he's wonderful. So marvel
at what's set before us. God, the Holy Spirit, pours into
us everything of which we are destitute. Isn't that amazing? Everything of which we are destitute.
And note again, Paul calls the Holy Spirit by one of his titles,
which is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This brings forth that
as Christians, he's common to all of us. We have the spirit
of Jesus Christ in us. We have the Holy Spirit in us.
Every believer. There's not no second blessing.
He's in us. He's working in us. He's conforming
us to Christ. That's why we now struggle with
sin. So, marvel at this. According to the measure of His
grace, He might give out so far as is expedient to each of His
members. As we need grace, we're given
grace. So marvel at God's providential
supply here. We are destitute and in need
at all times, even as believers, and He provides for us continuously.
We're daily loaded down with benefits. If we're persecuted for our faith,
God will give us grace to get through that. Right? And he's truly amazing and abundant.
Think of this. People say, well, I don't know.
I don't have dying grace. You don't need it now. But when
you need it, here, provide it. Right? I don't know if I can
go through persecution. When you need it, here, provide
it. I don't know, sometimes I'm a
little, I don't always want to talk to folks about Christ, or
I'm a little nervous about it. When you need it, he'll provide
it. And he'll give you boldness to
talk to people. You ever think of that? It's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
praise God for His grace, which again, He planned and purposed
our salvation in Christ. He supplied the wonderful, merciful
Savior, God the Father did, who came and saved His people from
their sins by His perfect life and His perfect redeeming death,
and by the shedding of His precious blood, and we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, who now is in us and continues to supply
for us that which we are destitute of. Oh, God's so good. Isn't he? Let's leave here rejoicing. This is wonderful, isn't it?
This is wonderful. Brother Travis, can you close
us in prayer?