So once again in the help of the Lord I'd like you to turn with me to Isaiah 40 and the text you'll find in verse 22. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.

In the chapter we have read together, Isaiah seeks to comfort the Lord's people by declaring their deliverance and also declaring the one that would come, the one that would come to prepare the way before the Lord, which we know was fulfilled in John the Baptist. He was the voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, prepare ye the way of Jehovah, and made straight in the desert a highway for our God.

And as we look at this time of year especially, we come to remember the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also cannot miss the fact that John the Baptist came as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ and as he proclaimed in the deserts, clothed with the camel hair and as he preached repentance, many came out to hear him proclaiming the truth and as he witnessed the Lord Jesus Christ he declares, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and he confesses that the one who would come would be greater than himself and that the Lord had revealed to him that the one that would come, the anointed one, the Messiah, would be the one that he would see the Spirit of God descending from heaven in the likeness of a dove and descending upon the Lord Jesus.

And as John the Baptist, as he baptised the Lord Jesus Christ, he witnesses that take place and he hears that voice from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And so prophesied 500 or so years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and before the coming of John the Baptist is Isaiah the prophet declaring that the children of Israel would be delivered from the land of Babylon, would be delivered from captivity but there would be a greater deliverance to come.

It would be those who were delivered, not from the captivity of men, but the captivity of Satan, from the captivity of sin, that they would be set free. Those who were in the desert of this world would be set free by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and to be brought onto that highway of holiness and that they would enter into that covenant relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so Isaiah brings a message of comfort and hope not only to those people of that day but also to the people of our time as we see the fulfillment of that prophecy in the Lord Jesus Christ but also he seeks to portray the greatness of God He speaks of how great God is and seeks to compare him with the wonders of creation.

As we looked at this morning of the Lord Jesus Christ as he came to the aid of his apostles, as he came to them walking upon the sea. We saw this morning that as Christ sent his apostles out onto the boat to cross over to the other side of the sea, there was that great storm that came up. And they were afraid, seemingly abandoned in the middle of the sea, and then Christ comes to them walking upon the water, unaffected by the waves, those waves that were so fearful to the apostles, unaffected by the wind, that wind which was blowing against, which was contrary to the advancement of the apostles.

The Lord Jesus Christ comes walking upon the sea, unaffected by the waves and unaffected by the wind. coming and demonstrating to his apostles that he is above the storm, that he is above the difficulties that they were facing, that he had that power and that authority over the powers of this world, the elements of this world. And as he is able to walk on top of the sea, entering into the boat, there was that calm.

And so we see when Christ demonstrated to his apostles, his deity, that he is both God and man, that he has power and authority over those things that man has no power or authority over, it brings us back to the Old Testament. And as we saw in the Old Testament, that there were those things only attributed to the work and hand of God. It was the creation of the heaven and the earth, that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, that it was God who divided the Red Sea for the people of Israel to cross over. It was God who stopped the waters of the River Jordan to enable his people to cross over into the Promised Land. It was God who caused the sea to become a calm when Jonah was thrown overboard. And as we go to the time of judgment, when Noah was moved by God to build an ark for the saving of his house, it was God who brought the rain. It was God who caused the earth to break open and the water that was under the earth to pour out of the earth. to flood the whole earth and it was God who caused it to drain away again and there are these things in life that we have no control over but God has complete control over them and we're able to look at those examples from the Word of God but also in the lives of other believers.

And even in my own life, I've been able to witness, especially when we worked in Kenya, and there was those times of famine, and there were those prayer meetings that took place, and rain came. It was that time, especially comes to my mind, when we built the first rainwater tank, 100,000 liter tank. The day we finished and cleaned it out, A storm came from a place where the weather never came from, from the south. It always blew from the east or the west. But this time this storm came up from the south. And you could see it coming towards us. The dust was billowing off the roads and it hit us. And torrential rain came. and put about two feet, about 20,000 litres of water in the rainwater tank just as we had finished. And we couldn't have, we couldn't have worked that out if we wanted to. We could have bought tankers from the main city if we wanted to get 20,000 litres. But no, the Lord brought it in a moment in answer to prayer and in recognition of our work. He poured out the rains.

And so there are things that we have no control over yet God who is the true living God he hears the cries of his unworthy people and he provides them with those things that they have need of and Isaiah seeks to demonstrate the greatness of God And as I said this morning, it's always good for the Lord's people to focus on the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That he's not just a man, although he is a man that was tried and tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. And yes, he's a man as our great high priest who understands our weakness and our infirmity, yet he is the God man. He has all power and all authority over all the things. Everything is under his control. And we can never have a small enough or a great enough view of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the greater our view of Christ, the greater our view of God, the easier it will be for us to pass through trial and difficulty and opposition. As Peter looked to Jesus, he walked on the water to Jesus. As Peter took his eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ it was then that he began to sink. As he looked at the problems that he was facing, as he looked and focused upon those things that were making him afraid, it was then that he began to sink.

And I can guarantee in our lives that is what causes us the most distress. We take our eyes off Christ, we take our eyes off God, we take our eyes off the word, we neglect prayer and we begin to sink. We become overwhelmed with everything that is taking place in our lives and we lose sight of the greatness of our God.

He says in verse 18, shall we liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? If I was to ask you what is God like if someone was to stop you in the street and say oh here you're a Christian oh can you describe to me your God? How would you describe God? What are the words that you would use to explain to somebody what your God is like?

And so that's the question that is placed to the people here. To whom will you liken God or to what likeness will you compare him?

There was once a little boy who was seen reading a Bible. And somebody came up to him mockingly and said to him, well, how big is your God? The boy thought for a little while. And he said, my God, is big enough to fill the whole universe yet small enough to live within my heart.

And if we want to sum up the greatness of God it can be that he's big enough to fill the whole universe the scripture says there is no place that we can go where we can hide from his presence. Yet we know that he lives within the hearts of his people.

Although he is so great, although he is so holy, yet he is also intimately acquainted with each of his dear people. For he knows them by name through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so to whom will we liken God? He cannot be compared to anything. is nothing on this earth that can be compared to God. People try to depict God We sometimes see people drawing pictures of the old man upstairs with a beard and long hair and sitting in the clouds. The scripture tells us that he has no form. God is spirit. He cannot be compressed into the likeness of men.

people try to make gods of their own. They can't comprehend a god without limits and so they try to create a god like themselves or from their imaginations and so Isaiah says the workman melts a graven image And the goldsmith spreads it over with gold and casts the silver chains. And they like to create a god that they can see.

Although in our country we don't really have people making idols and worshipping them, yet we still do have people worshipping the image, the image of man. People set up famous people who they follow, who they desire to be like. We have the celebrities, we have football players, sports players, athletics players. We have the pop industry and those, even it's called pop idol. We have those people that are set up as gods with whom people worship their image.

Then we have gold and silver. How easy it is isn't it for money to become our idol. We can become so obsessed with accumulating it it's so easy to become so transfixed with money. Either because we don't have very much and we're constantly trying to get more. We're thinking about it all of the time, trying to have schemes and ways by which we can accumulate more. And it becomes an obsession. It occupies our thoughts and we become obsessed with it. Even if we have so much. It becomes a concern, it becomes a worry. People move it from place to place wanting to get more and more interest and it becomes an obsession and a worry to people. It becomes their god, their idol. They lose sight of the true living god and they place underneath him or sorry above him another god of silver and of gold.

Even our work and other things can become idols. Our hearts are like a factory that can produce idols out of anything. We can become obsessed with our children. We can worship our children. We can become obsessed with education and we can worship our education and we say that is the main focus of my life. Our houses. our cars, our clothes and even ourselves. We can raise ourselves up as an idol and we can worship our own body, our own fashion. We say we are God. I'm in control. I will do what I want to do.

To whom will you liken God? Well there is nothing that we can liken God to. We can look to the Lord Jesus Christ and we can see in Him the very image of God. And we can look around us. We can look at the stars and the moon and the sun and we can see the work of God. And we can declare that this is the handiwork of the creator. if his handiwork is so powerful if his handiwork is so beyond our ability to control how are we going to control the one who made it?

See, people do like to control God. They like to have a God that they can control. They don't want a God who controls them, but they want to have the authority. They want to have the power. But if we can't control the things that God has made, how are we going to control God himself?

Isaiah had an amazing image of God as he had the vision of the heavens opened in Isaiah chapter 6. It says in the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple, his garment filled the temple. That was what he saw. The heavens were opened and he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. high and lifted up and he saw the angels crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.

And as we see the Lord's creation, we see the glory of God. We see all the things that he has made. And as we look at the human body and as we look at the detail and the delicacy by which our bodies function we see that our God is we see the wisdom of God even in our bodies He sees the Lord high and lifted up

In our chapter that we have read, in the verse that we have read, it says in verse 22, it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are grasshoppers. The image that we are getting is God high above his creation. As Jesus walked upon the sea, above the problem and the difficulty and the storm that his followers were in, so we see God the Father above the whole creation.

As we look at the world today and as we see President Trump and Putin arguing and reasoning with each other and threatening nuclear attacks with each other and we've got Iran and we've got Israel and Palestine and All of these wars taking place all over the world. You've got the Muslim extremists pushing down in Northern Africa and the hostilities that are being faced there by believers. It looks like a complete mess, total chaos. But then you've got God sitting above it all. You've got God's word that is an unchanging word. You've got the world that is constantly changing and struggling and groaning under the weight of sin. And then you've got God who is sitting above it all. He says heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. This true God This one true living God who sits above all of his creation as King of Kings and Lord of Lords can be known. He can be known. He's not a God who is far off, although we see him sitting far off from his creation, yet he is also a God that is near at hand. He's a God that dwells within the hearts of his people. He's a God that can be known through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

A God that we have offended because of our sin yet a God who is able to be pacified through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ as his Son took the full wrath of his Father for the sins of his people. In John 14 it tells us there from verse 9 Or in verse 8, Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it satisfieth us. Jesus says to him, you've known me, you've known the Father. If you've known the Father, you've known me. Philip says to Jesus, show us the Father. We've heard about him high and lifted up in Isaiah. We've heard about him sitting upon the circle of the earth. We see his creation. But show us him.

' And Jesus says to him, Have I been so long time with you? And yet have you not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believe thou not that I am in my Father, and the Father in me? And the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but my Father that dwelleth in me. he doth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the very work's sake.

You see as God is so great he appears to us in the person of his Son the Lord Jesus Christ and in his Son the Lord Jesus Christ we are able to visualise how our God is. He's the very image of God and if we want to know what God is like if you want to describe what God is like we only have to look to the Lord Jesus Christ because he says if you've seen me you've seen the Father and if you believe in the Father then you have to believe in the Son because Christ's work testify that he is God manifest in the flesh because he walked over the sea, because he raised people to life, because he healed the sick, the blind and the lame, the deaf and the dumb.

He says, believe me for the works sake, the things that I am doing testify of who I am. and the works that I do the Father does in me. This great God who's high and lifted up can be known by individual sinful people through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so Isaiah elevates God to the highest degree Then he tells us of how man is before God. So I've said people like to create a God who they can control. A God who is like them. If we can imagine what God is like we will imagine him like ourselves. But the scripture reveals to us who God is and who we are before him.

Verses six, he tells us of the frailty of our lives. He tells us of the greatness of God, that every mountain will flow down at his presence, the crooked things shall be made straight, the rough places shall be made plain. And he will cry and say, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth and the flower fades away, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the word of the Lord, our God, shall stand forever. And so he declares that people are just like the grass of the field. And Jesus also takes up the same theme, that our lives are but a vapour, that we are here today and we are gone tomorrow, that we will be gathered up and thrown into the furnace. just as the flowers that we pick and put upon our table they are beautiful for a few days but then the petals begin to drop off one by one and the flowers begin to wilt and so it is with us you think how quickly this year has passed we're nearly at the end of another year this year has flown by like no other and we've all got older Olia who was born not long ago, she's now getting big. Daniel, two years nearly and he's walking around and laughing and trying to talk. How quickly that time has gone and how true the word of God is that our lives are just as fragile as a little flower.

But God's word remains the same, it is unchanging. This book does not alter But the people who read it are as the flowers of the field. They come and they go and they realise or hopefully they realise while they read it that the Word of God is true. But if they don't then they will realise it that it's true after their days are over.

And so he describes us as the flower of the field. But also he describes us as grasshoppers. It describes us here in this chapter as grasshoppers. Now when you're dyslexic the words all sort of mix together and you can't see anything. But anyway in there it says that we are grasshoppers. As God looks down from heaven and he sees the inhabitants of the earth they are as grasshoppers, as a thing of nothing. As we see sometimes in other countries of those grasshoppers and locusts that swarm a mass of things causing destruction as they go and as God looks down from heaven what does he see? He sees a mass of people just as individual grasshoppers moving along in a destructive way and so he likens the human race to these grasshoppers.

He also through the scriptures likens us as worms fear not thou worm Jacob. You see if you stand next to a great person you feel insignificant and as we stand next to the great God we should feel insignificant, the high and lofty one, the holy holy holy God we should feel as a grasshopper in his presence, we should feel as a worm in his presence, we should feel as a small flower in his presence but also the scripture likens us to sheep sorry it's verse 22, he sits upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, it's our text, and stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out a tent to dwell in.

He also likens us to the sheep that he will gather, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young. And so God, though he is this high and lofty one, he declares himself as a shepherd. I am like a shepherd. I take care of my sheep. We know that sheep by nature are foolish. They're vulnerable. They have no protection. They're dependent upon their shepherd for their care. And so God says that we are like sheep. We all like sheep that have gone astray. David says the Lord is my shepherd and God declares that he is the shepherd of his people Israel.

But look at the care by which he takes care of his sheep. He gathers the lambs with his arm and carries them in his bosom. this great God is so loving and so compassionate and so caring for his people that he sees those that are weak in the faith, he sees those that are young in the way and he takes particular care of them. He gathers them in his arms, he carries them in his bosom and he gently leads He gently leads. He understands the weakness and the infirmity of his people. He understands the hardness of the way and therefore he leads his people in a way by which they can follow because he understands how much they can handle, how much they can cope with.

It's with the Lord Jesus Christ. as Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. He cried out, Lord save me, and Jesus stretched forth his arm and brings him back to the surface and says to him, O thou of little faith, why did thou doubt? He understood his weakness. He understood it was little faith that caused him to sink and he lifts him up as here we see he gathers the lambs in his arms and he gently and he brings them to his bosom.

So we are compared and contrasted to the greatness of God we are like a grasshopper, we are like a locust, we are like a worm, we are like a sheep, our lives are so fragile like a flower yet in Christ Jesus we are offered the greatest protection and care from this great God who sits upon the circle of the earth although the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers and reputed or seen as nothing yet those who are in Jesus Christ are not counted as nothing, they are counted as his sons and daughters because they have been adopted into his family, they have been brought into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the kingdom of light and they belong to God himself.

he says as though the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers but he also says that he stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. As we look at the sky we see the sun it's been there for so long since God created it 6,000 years ago, it's been there shining brightly. It seems like an unmovable object. We look at the stars, the scripture tells us that he knows them by name. There are untold billions and trillions of stars. Yet God knows each one by name. They look like a permanent fixture in the sky, an unchanging picture.

Jacob, as he laid down on that pillow, he looked up into the stars. Those same stars that he sees are the ones that we see, that he saw, we see. But God here describes them as a tent. as something like a curtain to be opened and closed, to be put up and to be put down. Not fixed, not permanent, but something that is one day going to be taken away and folded up. Sometimes we go on holiday, we go camping. We pack the tent into the car, we drive to our destination, we put it up, we stay there for a few weeks, we put it down again and we travel home. God is describing this earth and this universe as like a tent. A tent for the inhabitants of the world to dwell in for a short time. Although that time may be long for us yet for God it's just a period, it's a temporary place. It's just a curtain. He spread it out as a tent for us to dwell in and one day that tent is going to be closed up. It is a temporary thing.

Isaiah 34. Verse 1.

Come near ye nations, come hear and hearken ye people. Let the earth hear and all that is therein, the world and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations and his fury upon all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has delivered them to the slaughter. their slain also shall be cast out and their stink shall come up out of their carcass and the mountain shall be melted with their blood and all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved and the heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as the falling fig tree the falling fig from the fig tree Isaiah, speaking of the enemies of God at that time, also speaks of the enemies of God in the fullness of time.

That at the end of the age, this world by which we, what we view as a fixed feature is going to be dissolved and rolled up together as a scroll. a seeming impossibility yet we know that there is nothing too hard for God. With the same God who put up the tent is the same God who will take down the tent. The same God who created the heavens and the earth is the same God who is going to take down the heavens and the earth and create a new heaven and a newer the Lord Jesus Christ speaks in a similar manner regarding the end of time. Matthew 24 verse 29. And immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And so Jesus begins to expound on the the end of time as it says in the book of Isaiah that there will be that folding up that rolling together of the scroll and the things of this world will disappear and be burned up the Lord Jesus clarifies it and stamps his approval on the prophecy and says this is what will take place this world will be finished in Revelation 6 and verse 12 it says I behold when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their place

And so what will take place is the same God that created the heavens and the earth is the same God that will put an end to the heavens and the earth. And this Jesus whom we have seen walking upon the sea, this God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come again. will come again not as a little baby to be born under the law of God to die upon the cross but he will come in victory to gather his people those who have trusted in him will be gathered together with him and they will be with him forever.

And so the God who stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them as a tent to dwell in will one day fold up that tent. As our lives continue in this world we meditate upon the greatness of God maybe that we may be tempted to think that why would God want anything to do with me? Why would God want to have anything to do with me and my life? Other people aren't interested in me. I'm just a lonely person but why should I have anything to do with this great God?

Well because this great God has promised to take care of his individual sheep. He says, I know my sheep, I know them by name. Although he looks down from heaven and sees a mass of grasshoppers, yet he knows those grasshoppers. He knows who they are. He knows the ones that are his. He's a God who is near at hand. He's a God who is a shepherd to his people. A God who brings his lambs into his arms. A God who carries them in his bosom. A God who leads his people. But he's a God who promises to give strength to his people. Sometimes in our lives we begin a day and we don't know how we're going to have the strength of mind or the strength of body to finish. So overwhelming are the pressures of life, such is the opposition of Satan, such is the opposition of the things of the world, the difficulties that we are in. We wonder how on earth I'm going to get through this day.

But this God has given us a promise. He has promised this. Have you not known? Have you not heard? That the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth, he doesn't faint. He is not weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He knows everything. your case, your need, your inability. He knows it and he understands it. He knows that you're tired. He knows that you can't go on. He knows that you're struggling and you're fainting and that you're weary. That your understanding of his pathway is limited.

As we've just read, he plants his footsteps in the sea. He rides upon the storm. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain. As we scan God's providential workings in our life we're filled with unbelief and fear and tiredness. Yet it says he gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases in strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. The natural strength as we look at young people or we may remember when we were young and we ran everywhere, we played football, we rode on our bikes, we went everywhere all over the place and we weren't tired. But he says the youths will become tired.

But those that wait upon the Lord, those that trust upon the Lord, who rest upon the Lord, they will renew their strength. The same God who created the heaven and the earth has the ability to strengthen and uphold his people. There is nothing that should be called too hard for God. Do not think that your case is extra special and that God's not going to help you. Are you resting in Christ Jesus? Well if you're resting in Christ Jesus then God the Father loves you and he will grant you all sufficient strength and ability that you need to walk out his will. He has said and he cannot lie, his word never changes, he will gently lead those that are with young and he will gather the lambs into his bosom. So you can't say that your case is super special and God is going to neglect you. It's not true because God can't lie.

The youths will be faint and weary. But those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. I don't know if you've ever proved it in your life. You've woken up and you think I can't cope. You pray, ask God for help, you may read the word and get encouraged, you get up out of bed and you begin the day. The next thing you know you're at your bed again at the end of the day and you wonder well how did I do that? How have I managed to go through all of the things that I was so dreading? Well you committed your way unto the Lord at the beginning of the day. You waited on the Lord at the beginning of the day and he fulfilled his promise. He gave you the strength. He gave you the ability. He carried you through on eagle's wings and he brought you safely to your bed at the evening. You shall walk and not be faint. And so this God who sits upon the circle of the earth high and lifted up looks at the inhabitants of the earth as grasshoppers. He's so great, so powerful yet through his son the Lord Jesus Christ he is acquainted closely with his dear people and he grants them that strength to walk out his will in their daily lives.

May the Lord grant us that strength to follow our shepherd and know what it is to be fed day by day with that providential strength and ability needed to walk out his purposes in our lives. Amen.

Sing together our final hymn, again from Gadsby's number 227.

227. From whence this fear and unbelief?
Hast thou, O Father, put to grief thy spotless Son for me?
And will the righteous judge of them condemn me for that debt of sin which, Lord, was charged on thee?

Hymn 227, tune 714.

? This dear old home living ?
? Has never for the moon to grieve ?
? My spotless self for me ?
? And till the righteous joyful way ?
? Gone in before the day ?

If sheltered in thy righteousness, and sprinkled with thy blood.
If the Father's light is shattered ground, and breathed in thy
And then again at twilight. of thy praise, thy praise.

Sleep, peace, and relaxing. Drowsiness and vacations, but nothing

Almighty God, we do give Thee thanks for Thy Word, Thy Word that declares to us who You are. And we pray, Lord, as we look at the wonder of creation, we thank Thee, Lord, for it, but we pray that we may look into the Word and find and know our God.

We acknowledge, Lord, that there is nothing in our lives that is hid from Thee. We acknowledge, Lord, that there is nothing too big and nothing too small that we can bring unto Thee. And we pray that Thou will give us that faith to trust in Thee and keep our heart and mind focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ in our various walks of life.

we pray that we may be dismissed with thy blessing follow thy word we pray and enable it to bear fruit in our lives and now may the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god the father with the fellowship and communion of the holy spirit to be with you each now and forevermore amen