evening sure good to be here
again tonight and if you were to open your bibles up if you
would the song Solomon chapter one the name of the message tonight
is Christ delights in his bride Christ delights in his bride let's read song a song in verses
1 to 11 I am black, but calmly, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
as the tents of Kadar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not
upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon
me. My mother's children were angry with me. They made me the
keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not
kept. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest,
where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. For why should
I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? If thou know not, O thou fairest
among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock
and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. I have compared
thee, O my love, to a company of horses and pharaohs' chariots.
Thy cheeks are calmly with rolls of jewels, thy neck with chains
of gold. We will make thee borders of
gold with studs of silver. Now last week we looked at verses
5 to 7 and we considered that the bride sees her sin and honestly
confesses the blackness of her heart and the blackness of her
sin. both in their natural state,
her natural state, and even how sin plagues her after we who are the bride are
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Throughout our struggle
with sin, after the Lord saves us and as we journey through
this life, we continue to keep our eyes upon our bridegroom.
Don't we? Christ. Because we know if we
look at ourselves, we despair. Because we know what we are.
We know what we've been saved from, but we keep our eyes upon
Christ. And then, as we looked at this
morning, we marvel at the fact, and it's a fact, beloved. And
you hear gospel preachers continually bring this up because it's so
important. The fact that we are clothed in the perfect righteousness
of Christ. It's amazing. We are made calmly, in verse
5, and we saw last week that in the Hebrew, that's beautiful. So the bride says, I'm black,
but calmly. Knowing that that calmliness,
that beauty, only comes from Christ. Only comes from being
clothed in his perfect righteousness. And in God's sight, when he looks upon his bride,
he sees Christ. God the Father looks upon his
people and sees Christ because we're clothed in that wedding
garment. It's wonderful. He doesn't see our sin. That's
why he says, I'll remember your sin no more. He doesn't see our
sin. We see it all in ourselves, but
he doesn't see it because Christ paid for it all. Isn't it wonderful? It's absolutely stunning. So
we've been made calmly. And in our many trials and afflictions,
we are often careless and we fail to keep our own vineyards,
which we looked at. And every heaven-born soul knows
and fully confesses his sin. We say we haven't kept our own
vineyard, we're sinners. And scripture says this, if we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And have you ever noticed, I
think it was Henry that said this, we come to Christ, we continue
to come to Christ. We never stop. We confess our
sin to him, and we keep confessing our sin to him, but we know that
He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. In verse 7, we looked at the
bride's burning expression of love for Christ. Look at this.
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth. Her heart burns for Him.
Her heart burns for Him. A burning expression of love
for Christ and a desire to find rest in Him. Look, it continues,
it says, tell me. O thou whom my soul loveth, where
thou feedest. Tell me where thou feedest. Where
thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. Where do your people
rest? Where does your flock rest? We know, we looked last week,
that was the elect of God. We desire to find rest in Christ. And we find rest in the preaching
of the gospel, don't we? We do. We want to be with the
Lord's people, and we can't understand when people don't want to be
with the Lord's people who profess to be saved. We don't understand
it. It baffles us, because that's
the only people we want to be with. Where thou feedest, where thou
makest thy flock to rest. Now, there's a beautiful word,
rest. We all like to rest. And the believers rest is in
Christ, in him alone. And he directs our steps, doesn't
he? For why should I be one that turns aside by the flocks of
thy companions? He directs, he directs, he directs
our step. And we saw that the flocks of
thy companions was false preachers. False preachers. Now, tonight we'll be looking
at verses 8 and 11. Look at this. And this is This is the bridegroom
now speaking. Up to the point we've been at,
it's been the bride speaking to the bridegroom. Now we see,
we get into the first section here of the bridegroom. Christ
himself speaking to his bride. And this time it was Solomon
speaking to his bride, but we know it's such a picture of Christ
speaking to his church. Look at this. If thou know not,
O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps
of the flock and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses and pharaohs'
chariots. Thy cheeks are calmly with rows
of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders
of gold with studs of silver. He's enamored with her. He's
enamored with the bride. We saw her expression of love
when she said, whom my soul loveth. Now we see him, he calls her
the fairest among women. The fairest among women. And
so here right before us in these verses, we see how Christ delights
in his bride. He delights in her. Can we really
fathom that? We who know we're sinners by
birth, nature and choice. Christ has purchased us with
his blood and he delights in us. Now we need to make this
personal. This is a personal application
for every one of God's people. He delights in his bride. He
delights in us. That's a wonder of wonders. We who believe have our constant
need for Christ revealed to us. Each time we hear the Gospel
preached, we have our constant need bought before us. And we see our constant need
that we must be saved by Christ and Him alone. And how much we
toil through our life, and we are continuously being taught
of our constant need for Him through everything we go through,
everything we go through. And as we grow in grace, what
happens when we grow in grace? We become more and more aware
of our own sinfulness. Don't we? See, religion says
you get better and better. As we're being conformed to the
image of Christ, we realize how sinful we are. It's incredible. We are continuously being bought
low. Bought low at the cost of the payment of our sins, the
shedding of Christ's blood, the God man himself dying upon the
cross for us, and that brings us low. It humbles us. It humbles us. to know that Christ himself died
in our place. But what brings us comfort and
joy? What brings us comfort and joy?
I'll tell you what brings me comfort and joy. And I think
it's so with you too. When I ponder that in His eyes I'm unblameable
and unapprovable because I'm clothed in His righteousness. I can't tell you the joy that
brings my heart. And that's a reality for every
single believer. And He has put on that robe upon
us, It's him who puts that upon us. And again, he wove it out
for us by his life, right? Let us never forget that. He
wove that code of righteousness by living a perfect life in our
place. And he's the one who puts it
upon us. My goodness. And we know all spiritual blessings
are in Christ for us. And the beauty spoken of in verse
five, in verse five, when she says, I am black, but calmly,
the word calmly there is beauty. When the bride says that she's
calmly, that only comes from Christ, we know that. And note how the bridegroom,
Christ delights in his bride, the elect. In the verses tonight,
if thou know not, O thou fairest among women. Go thy way forth
by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the
shepherds' tents. I have compared thee, O my love,
to a company of horses and pharaohs' chariots." Royal horses. Horses for a king. Thy cheeks
are calmly with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.
And we'll look at this verse later on, but notice, we will
make the borders of gold and studs of silver. It's plural.
We. My goodness. But look what Christ
calls his bride. Look at this marvelous truth.
Thou fairest among women. And let us remember that we are
washed in the precious blood of Christ, robed in his righteousness,
and through this life we're being conformed to the image of the
Son. And we know that no good dwelleth in us, but what a blessing
it is for the believer to hear our Heavenly Bridegroom call
us the fairest among women. That means He has eyes for no
other. Isn't that incredible? God's
people to Christ are the fairest among women." Turn, if you would,
to Ezekiel. Ezekiel. Chapter 14. Or chapter 16, I'm
sorry. Ezekiel 16. Verse 14. And we're going to look later
on again at this. But look at this. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty. For thy beauty. The renown went
forth among the heathen for thy beauty. For it was perfect through
my calmliness. Notice that. Through his calmness. which I had put upon thee, saith
the Lord God. We are made righteous by Christ,
and he sees us as absolutely beautiful in his righteousness. That's why the scripture declares,
thou fairest among women. And notice, which I put upon
thee. Thy beauty is perfect through
my calmliness, which I put upon every single believer as clothed
in His righteousness. Again, the Hebrew word for calmliness
in Ezekiel there is defined as this. Magnificent, that is ornament
or splendor, beauty, calmliness, excellency, glorious, Isn't that wonderful? That's
how Christ sees his bride. That's how Christ sees his bride.
He sees his bride washed in his own precious blood, beloved.
Clothed with his perfect spotless righteousness. And he is the
one who has clothed her. He is the one who has clothed
her with the garment of his salvation. Again, which like fine linen
and gold and silk are the beautiful robes for her covering. And let
us never forget it is Jesus' righteousness which makes the
church calmly. It is His righteousness that
makes Him call us the fairest among women. It's His work. It's all Him, beloved. And let us remember this, that
the Song of Solomon is a song of love between Christ and His
bride. One commentator brought this forth about this wonderful
book. And I'd like us to remember this as we read this book. He
said, as we read the book, we who belong to Christ, we who
are married to the Son of God, ought to make it personal as
possible. Whenever the bride speaks, read
it in the first person. Read it in you, saying that to
him. Her words are the expression
of every believer's heart, and read his words as personally
to you. You'll be blessed. You'll be
blessed by it. So we who believe should read
the words of the bridegroom to the bride, his words for us.
He talks about his estimation of her and his love for her. His love is all for the bride. All those the father gave the
Christ, may we marvel in those precious truths. And in the text
preceding verse 8, the bride asks her beloved where he feeds
his flock and where he makes his flock to rest at noon. Let
us never cease to look to him for guidance, direction. And
note in our text the gentle rebuke of the Savior for his bride. And then note immediately that
he professes how precious she is in his eyes. Notice in verse
7, right? Notice in verse 7, "...tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest
at noon. For why should I be as one that
turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions, and in the gentle
rebuke, if thou know not?" Just a gentle rebuke. The Lord gives her direction,
His beloved, and then He calls her, O thou fairest among women. Just a gentle rebuke, if thou
know not, and then O thou fairest among women. We'll go back to what he says
to the bridegroom and his estimation of the bride in his eyes later
on in the message. And it says, If thou know not,
O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps
of the flock and feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tents.
The latter part of this verse is the Lord Jesus Christ directing
the bride to the flock, which is the whole
body of Christ. his church which the Father hath
given him, in which he has purchased with his own precious blood.
And the shepherds here spoken of are the ministers of the gospel,
the underpastors of the fold, who are called to be faithful,
to preach the gospel of God's free grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the believer is fed and finds
rest in the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. And only as
we follow the footsteps of the flock and feed by the tents of
his under-shepherds will we find him. You won't find him in many
other churches. Now they talk about a Jesus,
but it's a Jesus who can't do anything. Or they mix something
in and say, you gotta do something to be saved. No. God's preachers
stand up and we proclaim Christ and Him crucified. We proclaim
the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ, that salvation
is all of the Lord, and that we are simply receivers of this
wonderful grace and mercy which is in Christ Jesus. And only as we follow the footsteps
of the flock and feed by the tents of His under-shepherds
will we find Him. The footsteps of the flock are
the paths in which God's people have always walked. They are
the paths of the Lord's sheep, the paths that Abraham followed,
Isaac and Jacob. They all walked in these paths. David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah walked
in these paths. Peter, James, John, and Paul
walked in these paths. They are paths of faith and trust,
of submission and obedience, of righteousness, and godliness
of love and kindness which we all find centered in the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him alone. Turn if you would to Jeremiah
chapter 6. Do you know they're called the old paths? The old
paths of doctrinal truth which are proclaimed in Jeremiah 6. Now where do all these doctrinal
truths find their center? Where do these old paths lead
to, beloved? Christ. Some churches out there now are
all about entertainment. I don't even know why they call
them churches. Some of the greatest preachers said they should call
them circuses. Because there's a bunch of clowns
over there. I don't mean that mean-spirited because preaching
is serious, serious, as Scott Richardson said, it's serious
business. We're to preach Christ. Every time we get the opportunity
to stand in the pulpit or stand before people, we are to preach
Christ and Him crucified. We who are called by God. The
problem is a lot of those, it's not a lot, they're just not called
of God to preach. Oh, the old paths of preaching
Christ and Him crucified. Look at Jeremiah 6.16, Thus saith
the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old
paths. Where are the old paths? Preaching
Christ. Preaching Christ. Where is the
good way? And walk therein, and ye shall
find rest for your souls. Where do we find rest for our
souls? In Christ and Him alone. But they said, we will not walk
therein. Just like the Jewish rulers who
said, we'll not have this man reign over us. And what are some
of the old paths? Oh, the old paths of the doctrine
of the election of God. That he chose a people in eternity.
The old paths of salvation in Christ alone plus nothing we
do at all. The old paths of us being justified
by God because of what Christ has done. And the old paths of
a God who's absolutely sovereign. And we are at His will, beloved.
Oh my. He's not waiting to save anyone.
He's moving and saving His people as He is pleased. People don't like to hear this.
Well, we're still going to preach it and we're still going to proclaim
it to the glory of God in Christ alone. Because that's what he
commands us to do. That's why we're here, isn't
it? To have the gospel go forth of God's free and sovereign grace. The old paths. Let's look at our text again,
it says, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and
feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. The church is directed
to feed her kids. Gill brings out that this is
the young converts amongst the body, who are weak in the faith,
men of little faith, and they must feed They must feed and
feast on the green pastures of His Word, on the clover of His
Word. And how do we feast as believers
when the Gospel is preached? We feast, beloved. We feast on
the clover of His Word. It's magnificent. And we are to encourage young
believers to feast upon Christ. God's pastors are determined
Not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The old paths. Praise God for
the old paths. And you can faithfully or you
can safely feed by the tent. The tent of God's preachers. And the shepherds spoken of here
are the true servants of Christ, who preach Christ and Him crucified. They preach all of Christ, and
they preach nothing but Christ and Him alone. Lord willing, you won't hear
what you have to do from this pulpit. We will not have someone
get in this pulpit and tell you what you have to do. No, we tell
you about what Christ has done for His people. And God moves,
and He saves as He is pleased to do. Because that's how He
saved each one of us, isn't it? We weren't looking. We didn't
merit His salvation. But we who believe, He saved
us. And it's all His work. In the shepherds' tents are the
churches pastored by God's faithful servants. God's shepherds are
placed where He desires them to be. And they have their tents
pitched in the wilderness wherever God pleases to pitch their tents, wherever He pleases to place
them. And just as shepherds in ancient
times pitched their tents in the wilderness where they led
their flocks, so God's servants are placed by His providential
hand in the places that He desires. It's magnificent again. It's
wonderful. Why? For the feeding of the flock
of Christ, so that we might feast upon the green pastures of his
word. And again, God's preachers preach
and proclaim the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. And remember, I'm a sheep, too. I'm feasting all week in my study.
And then we feast together when we gather together upon his word. And we are fed by God. It's wonderful. We feast upon the precious truths
of the free grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now contrast
that with false shepherds who feed the goats upon the upon husks, upon husks of free
will, upon the husks of works religion, which will lead to
their eternal doom and will not feed anyone. It will lead to the eternal doom
of those who teach the errors and those who follow them. Now
let's look now at Christ's estimate of His people. And we'll look
at the words of the Bridegroom in these four verses. Just that one part in verse 8
where it says, O thou fairest among women, and then he goes
on in verse 9 to 11, he says, I have prepared thee, the Bridegroom
speaking of the Bride, O my love, to accompany of horses and pharaohs
chariots Thy cheeks are calmly with rows of jewel thy neck with
chains of gold We will make the borders of gold with studs of
silver So first of all in verse 8 again, he calls his bride the
fairest among women Speaking of her beauty in his eyes now
think of that You and I who believe are sinners And this scripture declares that
we who believe that God looks upon us and sees no spot, but
sees beauty in us. And not just that he sees us
as a woman being the bride, but he sees us as the fairest amongst
women. In his eyes. Beloved, let us find sweet rest
in these words. In our eyes and in others' eyes,
we see our own sinfulness and so do other people. And we see ourselves as black because of our sin. But contrast
that. Contrast that with these words
right here. And trust. Trust in these words
from our heavenly bridegroom. O thou fairest among women. He says this of his people. So
if you are a believer in Christ, in his eyes you are the fairest
among women. Personally. Personally. Look at verses 9 and 10. I have
compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses and pharaohs'
chariots. Thy cheeks are calmly with rows
of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold." This is our Redeemer's
declaration to every one of His blood-bought saints, to His people who believe on
Him, to those who trust and rest in Him, sinners. who have been
redeemed and purchased by his own precious blood on Calvary's
cross. And he says, I have compared
thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
Thy cheeks are calmly with rows of jewels. There's that word
calmly again, beautiful. With rows of jewels, thy neck
with chains of gold. Turn if you would to Ephesians
chapter 5. The Son of God, our mediator, our heavenly bridegroom,
sees us in the beauty of His own imputed righteousness and
declares that we are perfectly beautiful in His sight. Now think of that. Perfectly
beautiful in His sight. My goodness. And that's while
we're here on earth. And one day He will present us,
though, spotless. Look at Ephesians 5, verses 25
to 27. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Christ
himself, the God-man mediator, gave himself for his people,
the church, the ecclesia, the called-out assembly. Why? That he might sanctify it and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Look at this,
beloved, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church,
not having spots. Remember the bride said, I'm
black. She sees her sinfulness. We see
our sinfulness, but let us rest in this precious truth here.
Let us not despair because we know, we know what we are. Look
at, let us just soak this in, beloved. not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, perfect, blameless in his sight, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. holy and without blemish. Do you see how Christ sees his
bride now, clothed in his righteousness? And then it says again, I have
compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses and pharaohs'
chariots. Thy cheeks are calmly with rows
of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. Let us ponder this wonderful
truth. that we are perfectly beautiful
and gloriously complete in Christ. In Christ. So that we may confidently
exclaim with Paul, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? Anything. Oh my. In thy surety thou art
free. His dear hands were pierced for
thee. With his spotless garments on,
we're as holy as God's own Son. My goodness. Because we are clothed
in His righteousness. Now turn again if you would to
Ezekiel chapter 16. And let us marvel at this truth
which is spoken. We're going to look at verses
8 to 14. I know we looked at verse 14. We're going to look. Ezekiel 16. Actually let's start. We're starting verse 1. Again
the word of the of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man,
cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. And thus saith the Lord God unto
Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is in the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, and
thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the
day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was
thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at
all, nor swaddled at all. None I pity thee to do any of
these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast
out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou wast born. This shows our absolute depravity,
beloved. And when I passed by thee and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood, polluted in our sin, dead
in trespasses and sins. I said unto thee, when thou wast
washed in thy blood, live, yea. Oh, is that not what Christ says
to us? I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live.
Remember what He said to Lazarus? Lazarus, come forth. I have caused
thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased
in wax and grape. and Thou art come to excellent
ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, and Thine hair is growing, whereas
Thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by Thee, and
looked upon Thee, behold Thy time." Look at this, beloved.
Look at this and just sit there and, oh, Thy time was the time
of love. My goodness. And I spread my
skirt over Thee, and covered thy nakedness, yea, I swear unto
thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord, and
thou becamest mine. Every one of God's sheep are
His. Then washed I thee with water,
Yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil. We have been cleansed and washed
in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved. I
clothed thee also with bordered work, and shod thee with badger
skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, O the righteousness
of Christ. I covered thee with silk, I decked
thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands,
and a chain on thy neck, and I put a jewel in thy forehead,
and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine
head. Thus was thou decked with gold and silver and ramnet, was
of fine linen and silk, embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour
and honey and oil, and thou was exceedingly beautiful. Thou did
prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my calmness,
which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. My goodness, beloved. Clothed in His perfect spotless
right hand, He found us dead in trespasses and sins. And now
we are clothed and made fit for glory. Now also in our passage in Song
of Solomon, Our Lord uses a well-known picture
of royal beauty to typify the beauty of his people in him.
I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's
chariots. Choice horses. Perfect. Perfect. The best. Bring forth the best robe we
looked at this morning. Oh my, He compares us to a company
of horses in Pharaoh's chariots, beautiful horses, chosen horses,
costly horses, and strong horses. I have compared thee, O my love,
to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are calmly
with rows of jewel, thy neck with chains of gold, with chains
of gold. He shows how we are adorned by
His grace with rows of jewels, which are the graces of the Holy
Spirit of God, and chains of gold, which are the blessings
of God's grace in Christ. My goodness, beloved. But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such. There is no law. Adorned with these beautiful And then look at verse 11. Our
beloved Savior tells us what will yet be done for us. We will
make the borders of gold with studs of silver. And note the
we in the text. The commentator said God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is symbolic
picture of the heavenly Jerusalem and our everlasting glory in
heaven. Isaiah proclaims this, O thou afflicted, tossed with
tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair
colors and thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy
window of agates and thy gates of carbon nickel and the borders
of pleasant stones. And so let us ponder this precious
truth. proclaimed when it says we will
make the borders of gold and studs of silver. Turn if you
would to Jude. Jude verses 24 and 25 and keep
this in mind. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless. Christ will present his bride
faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. And he does it with joy. Why
does he do it with joy? Because he purchased her with
his own precious blood. She's his. She's his by choice. She's his by purchase. May our great God King graciously
cause us to keep looking to Christ, beloved, to keep looking to him
alone for our strength, our grace and our cleansing. And let we
who are redeemed resolve that by God's grace. We will ever
be found walking in the footsteps of the flock. gathering with
God's people, feeding by his shepherds tents as long as we
are in this world. And let us always take special
care to watch out for younger brothers and sisters in Christ who are just starting out in
the faith and in the kingdom of God. But let us remember we
who are here gathered tonight. Let us remember the great things
which the Lord had done for us. Let us leave here remembering
Christ's estimation of us, the fairest among women. And let us leave here remembering
what He has done for us and how He sees us clothed in His perfect
righteousness. And let us live in anticipation
of glory. Our lives are just like a vapor.
in anticipation of glory, which awaits us because of what He
has done for us. Lord Jesus, we come before Thy
throne humbled, knowing that we see ourselves
as sinners, but reading these words tonight, it leaves us in
awe that You see us as the fairest among women. that you see us
perfect and spotless in your sight. And we who believe know that
this is all because of what you've done for us. And knowing that those horses
of Pharaoh were chosen horses, and how you have chosen your
people. And in our weakness, We are weak in ourselves, but,
oh, in our weakness, you are strong. We pray that you would
guide and direct us this week. Watch over us. And may the messages
we heard today, may they strengthen us as we journey through this
world this week. And may you bring us back together
safely, if it's your will, next week. We love you and praise
you. In Jesus' name, amen.