Let's be turning to Colossians
chapter 1 and expand our text this morning
to look through verses from 14 to 19. Now, as believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we We rejoice in Him. We glory in Christ. He's made precious to us. And we're thankful for Him. We're thankful to the Lord when
we see who He is, what we are, and what He's done for us. He's
made precious to us. And God has purposed it to be
so. God has purposed for Christ to
have the preeminence in our hearts. It says in verse 18, And he is
the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So he's preeminent in our heart,
and He's preeminent in all things, all things concerning the heavens
and the earth that now are, Christ is preeminent. And we see this
confirmed unto us in the scripture. Our God is putting our hearts
and minds on Christ and what He's done for us in Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.30 and 31 says
that of God are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto
us wisdom. He's made unto us righteousness. He's made unto us sanctification. He's made unto us redemption. That according as it is written,
it's written here throughout the Word, him that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. The Lord our God and Savior revealed,
manifested, given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. So sufficient is Christ. So sufficient is his death and
what he accomplished by the shedding of his blood to redeem his people. So sufficient is that we now
are made fit to stand before holy God for all eternity. The scripture saying that we
stand before the throne of God, fall us. faultless. That's how soul-cleansing Christ's
blood is, how sufficient His blood is. He purges us from all
sin, from all stain of sin. You are washed. You are purified. You are clean before the eye
of God. Men and women might look at you
and say you're filthy, but God says you're purified. You are
cleansed. You're holy. I've made you so
in my darling son. My darling son. Christ is God. Christ is God, and that's why
the Father has made him preeminent in our hearts. There's nothing
wrong with glorying in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God-man
mediator whom the Father has sent to save his people from
their sins. He's holy God, and I want to
show you that in some scriptures today, that you would be settled
in your heart to rejoice in him, be glad in him, for he is the
true and living God, the true God, the Lord of hosts, who has
redeemed his people. In 1 Timothy 3.16, this verse
really stood out to me a lot as I studied this passage. This
verse is the verse that kept coming to me, where Paul says,
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached on in the world, because God says, I am, this is my salvation
to the ends of the earth. I'm going to declare by the messengers
whom God has raised up, those angels, those apostles and preachers
whom he sent, they preached him, they declare him, and he's believed
on to the ends of the earth, received up into glory. And so our eyes are set on Christ. The Father even said, behold,
my servant. You look to him. He's the one
whom I've sent. Christ, when the Son of God humbled
himself, taking upon him flesh, he came and as a servant Obey
the Father in all things to redeem his people to accomplish our
redemption our salvation to give us eternal life That means life
and fellowship in the light of God the all-seeing light of God
You are clean before him by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
now here In this flesh, we are humbled, we're brought low, because
we see our insufficiency in comparison to Christ's sufficiency, who
makes up all that we need. He's provided everything. And
in seeing His worthiness, we see our own unworthiness, and
yet how gracious and compassionate God is toward us. And that's
why we love Him, because He first loved us. and He's revealed and
manifested this love in our hearts and made us to rejoice in Him
who redeemed us unto God with His own blood, with His own blood. So today we'll see that Christ
indeed is God, and that's why God has made Christ preeminent
in our hearts, in our hearts. In 1 John 1-7, We're told that
the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Christ's redemption has delivered
us from the punishment of sin, from the wrath of God, from that
death, that eternal death which is coming upon the wicked, the
inhabitants of this world who know not God, Christ hath redeemed
us and delivered us from it. Our debt before God has been
paid, satisfied, settled, so that we are free. We are without
encumbrance. We are not weighed down. We hear
so much today about students, young people who have large student
loans, they're saddled with that debt so that it inhibits them
and prevents them from getting into more debt because they can't
afford to pay off their current debt. But when they're free of
that debt, They're free of it to do what they would, to buy
houses and to buy cars and spend more money and get themselves
into other kinds of debt. But Christ had delivered us from
all debt so that we owe nothing. to God, except to love Him, except
to love Him, to rejoice in Him, which are fruits that He reveals
and manifests in His people for Christ's sake. And so Christ's
death is what paid, His blood paid for our sin debt. And now we are delivered. Colossians
1.13 says, God hath delivered us from the power of darkness.
and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. And the reason is our redemption
by Christ, verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And so that power of sin
that held us, that power of sin which kept us in darkness, is
defeated by the Lord Jesus Christ and we are set free. from our
captivity. We are delivered from that pit
wherein is no water. We have life and liberty and
joy in the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God. Now the
fitness of Christ, why is Christ able to save us? Well, the fitness
lies in who he is. It rests in him because he is
the God-man mediator, chosen of the Father to redeem his people.
He is the God-man mediator in one body. The psalmist said that
in him mercy and truth are met together. they're brought together.
There's no shadow of darkness in Him. God may be merciful and
gracious to us in full transparent light and truth. God is justified
to justify us in Christ. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. There's fellowship. There's righteousness. There's light and perfection
in what God has done and accomplished in his darling son Jesus Christ
for us, unworthy, undeserving sinners. And it's all laid bare. Nothing's hidden. There's no
shame in it. God has settled the debt by the
blood of his darling son. Look at verse 15. Christ is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. The Son of God is the same nature
as the Father, as the Holy Spirit. He has the same nature. He's
one in essence. That which is God and makes God,
God Christ possesses it. It's what He is. He is, in essence,
the true and living God. He's one with the Father. He's not less than the Father.
He's not different than the Father. He is God. Manifest in the flesh. Come in the flesh. Revealed in
the flesh. He's the Redeemer that Job saw
and said, I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that the promised
Son, that the Father promised in the Garden, which was Christ,
speaking to Adam and Eve, pre-incarnate, my Redeemer lives, and He shall
stand upon the earth in the latter day, which He did when He came
in the flesh and accomplished our redemption, praise and glory
to His name. The only difference between Christ
and the Father, if a difference can be said, is that He now is
robed in flesh, even now, seated in the heavens. He is seated
in a heavenly body. When we stand before God in that
day, we shall stand before Christ and see Him. And He is the manifestation,
the revelation of Holy God unto us, because He is God. And I
realize I'm trying to describe this with words of flesh. And
I don't mean any disrespect to our God. I'm just saying it the
best that I can to you. that you would rejoice and be
glad in him who is made preeminent unto us in our hearts." And so
he's no less than the father on the spear. Look over at Colossians
2 verse 9. Colossians 2.9 says that in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now when you read the scriptures
you'll notice that there is great emphasis put on Christ being
the Son of God. There's much of that being emphasized
to us in the scriptures. He is the Son of God, meaning
that he is, in his person, God. He is one with the Father. That's why the Jews wanted to
stone him and put him to death, because all they saw was a man. But he made himself equal with
God, because he is equal with the Father. He's one with the
Father. Listen to these scriptures, Galatians 4.4. tells us that
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, born of a woman, made of a woman, made under the law.
1 John 5.20 says, And we know that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true. And we are in Him, that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. Listen, this is the true God
and eternal life. In knowing Christ, you know the
true God, because He is the true God, and you have eternal life. He is life itself. Apart from
God, there is no life. We are sustained and held by
holy God, even those who don't believe Him, who are enmity against
Him, they are sustained and kept alive and breathed because God
gives it to them. He holds their life in His hand. All life is in the hand of God
because He Himself is life and light and the liberty of men.
Titus 2.13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the great God. And so we
see in Christ that God, very God, is manifest in the flesh. In the flesh. Now the fact that
the Son of God came in the flesh, it tells us that he came to do
something. There's a purpose. God doesn't
do things except according to purpose. With the intent of God,
he came to do something and it's something that you and I can't
do for ourselves. He came to redeem His people,
to save His people, to put away their sin, because we cannot
save, redeem, or put away our own sin for ourselves. And we
can't do it for another. We don't have the ability in
ourselves. And so Christ is called the Redeemer. He's called the Redeemer. The
works that we do, the scriptures tell us, are our own way. We've gone our own way. When
we're laboring and trying to put away our sin, it's our own
works. It's our own way. I quoted this
in the last message, but I'm gonna quote it again. Isaiah
53, six, which says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have
turned everyone to his own way. his own way. Now, normally, the
natural man thinks, oh, they went off into filthy works, filthy
sins. He's talking about religious
works that men say, those are good things. That's my righteousness. Keeping the law, that's my righteousness.
No, God says, that's your own way. You think that's your righteousness
and despise the righteousness of God and are going about to
establish your own righteousness by the works of the law? God
says, that's not my way. That's your way. And that's not
my way. We don't see eye to eye, God
is saying. He's saying, when you turn to
your own works, you're turning from your salvation. And yet,
even though we went our own way, the Lord says that He hath laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. Praise God for His grace, because
even though we are fools and we are sinners and we go in our
own way, God wasn't moved or turned from His purpose of grace
in His Son. So that even though we went our
own way, God laid on his darling son the iniquity of the whole
body of Christ given to him before the foundation of the world. That's the all whose iniquity
was laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. So Christ, the God-man mediator,
says, I am the way. you're looking to your own way,
Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man
comes to the Father but by me. We come to holy God in the Son
of God, who is holy and precious and altogether lovely, and he's
made unto us all our salvation. We come through Christ the way
to the Father. And we come to the Father in
Christ the first time and every time after. That's how we're
always coming to the Father. We don't ever depart from Christ.
We don't ever go out of the way to our own way. We don't leave
the narrow way, which is Christ, to go into the broad way and
think we're going to get to the Father. Christ says, no. That
way leadeth to death and destruction. It goes to hell. You come into
the narrow way. You stay with me. You walk by
faith in me. I am your salvation, the Lord
says. I am your salvation. Turn over to John 6. John 6. We're seeing here that Christ
is God. In John 6, verse 45, it is written in the prophets,
verse 45, And they shall be all taught of God. All of God's people
are going to be taught by God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. This is
where the Father is directing us to go. Behold my servant,
you look to him. I've sent him for this purpose.
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God. The Son is of God. He is one with the Father. In
nature, in essence, Christ is God. He hath seen the Father. He hath seen the Father. And he sent to the Father to
save his people from their sins. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread
of life. I am your sustainer. I am your
keeper. I am your provision. I am all
your salvation, he says. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and be he saved all the ends of the earth. Look to Christ.
He is the name given to us under heaven whereby we must be saved. It's in and by Christ. Now, in
verse 15, Colossians 1.15 we're told that he's called there the
firstborn of every creature. And of course, people stumble
over that, thinking that, well, he was the first one that God
created. And that's not what it says.
Some have noted that it could just as easily have been translated,
he's the first parent of every creature. Because God is the
first cause of all things. All life flows and comes from
God. Without him, there's no life.
There's no life. And I realize we're but people,
and it's hard for us to comprehend eternity. and to think God is
eternal with no beginning and no end. He ever was. Before anything that is, God,
God. God is. God was. And that's about
as best as we can say it. I remember my daughter when she,
my oldest daughter, Alexis, when she first heard of eternity,
her body physically shook. She comprehended it. She was
shaken to the core. I was talking to her about it
the other day and she was telling me, yeah, I was shaken by that. Trying to comprehend that as
a little three or four year old child, it shook her. And it's
impossible for us who are finite creatures of time to comprehend
the eternality, the perfection, the complacency of holy God. And yet, I guess that's why David said,
what is man? That thou dost take thought of him, and the son of
man, that thou visitest him. I don't remember the actual verse,
but what a thought, that holy, eternal, almighty God should
take thought of you and I, little finite creatures who can do nothing
for him, and yet he's pleased, pleased to manifest himself to
us in Christ. I think the best understanding
of him being the firstborn of every creature, what is being
said is that truth with the Jews, where they say that the firstborn
is the king. The father puts all things into
him, into the son. His choice Son. And the Father
has given everything into the hands of Christ. And it's according
as He will. He dispenses and gives it out
as He will, as it pleases Him, according to the measure of Christ. He gives it, the measure of His
mercy, so that He is the preeminent One. He is made the preeminent
One in our hearts. We look to Him for all our needs. We worship Him. We bow before
Him. We rejoice in Him. And God has
exalted Christ's name unto us. Now let us see a little more
here, a few things. You're familiar with that first
verse of the Bible, Genesis 1-1. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. We're told God created the heaven
and the earth, and the first chapter then begins, we see all
these other creatures that the Lord brings forth, gives life
to by himself, by the word of his own power. Now, look at Colossians
1, 16 and 17. Here we see, even by inference,
that Jesus, the Son of God, is God himself. For by him were
all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. The Son of God is God and He
is our Creator. He's our Creator. When we read
of Christ as a man, as being a man, what we see, what we're
reading of Him is in His office as the God-man mediator of His
people. God was manifest in the flesh
in order to obtain our eternal redemption. He came to put away
our sin by the death of Himself. And God can't die. except he
be in a body, and he die in the room instead of his people, shedding
his blood for them." Another way of seeing this is Jonah said
salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2.9. It's of the Lord.
This is God's work to save whom He will. It's God's work. The
Psalmist 3.8 says, salvation belongeth unto the Lord. It's
His work. He gets the glory for doing this.
Salvation is of Him. And yet in the New Testament,
we're told very plainly that Christ is our Redeemer. He's
the one who delivered us, who saved us from our sins. Believers are even called the
Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. Acts 20, 28. God purchased us
with his own blood in the person of Christ as our mediator, as
our Savior. When the Son of God came in the
flesh, being in the form of God, we're told he thought it not
robbery to be equal with God. He's one with the Father, but
he humbled himself. He humbled himself. He took the
lowest place, the form of a servant, in order to accomplish our redemption
and salvation. So that in Philippians 2, verses
10 and 11, he willingly laid down his life and accomplished
that work which the Father sent him to do. And we're told that
at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father." That language of bowing the knee, of confessing
His name before all, those words are reserved for God in the Old
Testament. I'll show you. Let's go to Isaiah
45. Again, we're seeing that Christ
is God. The Son of God is God. Very God. Let's first stop at verse 18,
Isaiah 45. We'll first go to 18. We'll see our Creator. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made
it. He hath established it. He created
it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited.
I am the Lord, and there is none else. God, hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one God, is one Lord. One Lord and one God. Now
look at verse 22 and 23. Look unto me, and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. That language
is what our God shows us is given to Christ. We shall bow before
him, our tongue shall confess his name before men, so that
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the ends of the world, Received up into glory. Believed on in the world. Received
up into glory. So the natural man doesn't receive
this. He can't receive this. It's foolishness
unto him, but unto us which are saved. Christ the Son of God.
He's the glory of God. He's given to us whereby we know
and understand the love grace, the mercy of the Father who purposed
to redeem his people, and he brought it all to pass, to the
praise, honor, and glory of his own name revealed and manifested
to us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. We worship and thank
God in worshiping and thanking the Lord Jesus Christ for what
he's done and rejoicing in him. He came, he laid down his life
to deliver us of our sins. And we believe Him by faith because
we are redeemed. Because Christ died to save us,
that's why you, who believe on Christ, believe on Christ. That's
why you have faith manifested and revealed in you. It's the
gift of Christ, who obtained for us ascension gifts and gives
them to His people, that we might know Him. and be settled in him,
and comforted in and by our Lord and Savior. As man, as a man
he was made like unto us, yet he was born of the seed of woman.
He wasn't born of Adam's corrupt seed. You and I come forth from
Adam's seed, which is corrupt. That's why we're sinners. Christ
came as the seed of woman in the garden, is how it says. And
so Christ comes forth being conceived in Mary's womb by the overshadowing
of the Holy Spirit. He's not born of man seed. He
is the Son of God. He's perfect and spotless and
holy and righteous. But he was made under the law
and he obeyed the law perfectly. And being a man meant that he
could bear the penalty. of the law. Though he was not
worthy of it, though he committed no sin and did nothing worthy
of death, yet for his people he stood in their place as their
shorty, bearing their debt. The sins of his people were laid
on him, and he on that cross suffered and died under the wrath
of God against our sins. And he put them away, because
even though he's a man, believe it or not, the wrath of God could
not consume him. He endured, He put it away, and
He rose again, perfect, holy, righteous as He ever was, as
the Redeemer now. Glory to His name, and we rejoice
in Him who saved us. In Him, Ephesians 1, 7, much
like our verse 14 in Colossians 1, it says, in whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His. grace. He's made full, adequate
satisfaction to the law of God, to the justice of God, so that
we are delivered out of His hands. We saw a couple weeks back that
the full, perfect price must be paid to be redeemed. And that's exactly what Christ
did. His blood is perfect. His blood
is of infinite value. His blood is of infinite virtues
so that God is well pleased and he delivered us from from death
and and the wrath of God. Now we could go into many many
many more verses but you know I don't I don't understand it
any any more than you that God was manifest in the flesh. What
a beautiful mystery. And all we can do is thank God
for what He has done for us, for His people, who are undeserving
sinners, who could not pay the debt ourselves, but He has provided
everything needful, everything necessary in the blood of His
Son, Jesus Christ. Thankfully, our God doesn't require
us to figure it out. He doesn't require us to understand
the science and principles and properties that were used and
how it was done. I don't know. I don't even care.
I'm just thankful. I believe it. I believe, God,
that His Son came in the flesh and hath put away my sin, and
given me life, and dispelled the darkness, and revealed the
light of God in my heart, to believe Him, to look to Him,
to trust Him. With men salvation is impossible,
but with God all things are possible. And He reveals that and manifests
that to us every day, all the time, showing us His greatness.
Was He the Son of God? Was He sent of God? Was He sent
to save His people from their sins? Yes, absolutely. By faith, I know this to be so. Did He accomplish our redemption
and rise from the dead? Yes, absolutely. No doubt in my heart, I know
that God has saved us. Apart from Christ, there is no
salvation. We see the filth and folly of
our works, of our meditation, of our doing, of our trying,
it all comes to nothing. We see God has shown us that
what we do is filled with sin, filled with self, filled with
pride, filled with things that should sink us to hell. But in
grace and mercy, for Christ's sake, the sake of His holy righteous
Son, we are saved and delivered and blessed of God to know Him,
to rejoice in Him, made to confess Him and walk before Him in faith.
Now, in closing, let's read the final two verses of our text,
verse 18 and 19, Colossians 1, and I'll make one final comment,
and then we'll be done. Verse 18, and he is the head
of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. Our Lord tells us in the scriptures
that one day every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going
to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But believers, not only
have that privilege of bowing the knee to Him now and confessing
Him with our tongues that Jesus Christ is Lord, that God hath
raised Him from the dead and delivered me from my sins, but
we also, willingly now, being made willing by His power, rejoice
in Him. He's made preeminent in our hearts. He is our Redeemer. Christ is
our Savior. Christ is our Husband. He is
our faithful, dear Friend who never turns from us, or abandons
us, or forgets us. He never leaves us. He is ever
present with us and blesses us and keeps us. He is all our salvation. That's the privilege that you
and I who believe on Him have this very day, so that Christ
is preeminent in our hearts. I pray the Lord bless you that
He draw you to Himself to walk in Christ, believing Him by faith,
trusting Him unto the very end. So look to Him in all things.
Rejoice in Him. Be glad in Him. Thank the Father
for sending the Son to bless us this day as He's done. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace. We thank you for sending your
son, that he was manifest in the weakness of this flesh, made
like unto us, yet without sin, obeying your law perfectly, obeying
your word, and believing you and trusting you in all things,
Lord, the very thing which we cannot do in this flesh. We thank
you, Lord, that you accomplished our salvation, our redemption,
and have given us life and peace and reconciled us to holy God. Lord, we thank you. We pray that
you would bless your people. Lord, teach us, comfort us, draw
us to yourself, grow us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Make us to be settled and comforted
and rejoice in him. Lord, you know our infirmities,
you know our weaknesses, you know our struggles, physically,
mentally, spiritually, you know all things, Lord. Comfort your
people, wherever they are, this day, where we are, whether we're
weighed down with a physical thing, a mental thing, a spiritual
thing, Lord, comfort us, bless us, turn us away from self, and
turn us to Christ, bring us into His arms, make us to know Him
that we may rejoice in joy in Him. Lord, establish this work
more and more, Lord, that You would bless us, that You would
pour out Your Spirit upon us, that You would unstick my tongue
from the roof of this fleshly mouth and glorify Your name in
the hearts of Your people according to the praise, honor, and glory
that is due to Your name. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. All right, brethren. We have
the privilege of coming to the table, rejoicing in what Christ
has done for us. And I pray he bless us now as
we remember our Lord and the bread of his body, which was
broken for you. Put away your sin and the wine,
which pictures the shedding of his blood, which was shed for
many, including you that believe on him this day. What a mercy,
what a grace that God should do that for us. So I'm gonna
ask Brother Joe, would you hand it out? Can you hand it out?
Is it just on one? Well. Yeah, I can do it. Okay, brother. All right, thank
you. And then I'm going to read from
1 Corinthians 11. All right, 1 Corinthians 11,
verse 23. We read, for I have received
of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus,
the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when
he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This
is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of
me. after the same manner. Also he
took the cup, when he had sucked, saying, This cup is the new testament
in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink
it in remembrance of me. for as often as ye eat this bread
and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Brother Joe, would you close
us in a hymn and then pray for the meal, thank the Lord, and
then we'll be dismissed to enjoy the fellowship meal together. Let's all stand and sing Amazing
Grace, 236 Amazing Grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. Was blind, but now I see. Was grace that taught my heart
to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come. His grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. And we've been there ten thousand
years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's
praise Than when we first begun Thank you. Let's pray. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you for your amazing grace to save sinners
as we are, where you have poured out. Father, you have saved us
and you have saved us from the dominion of sin, from the power
of darkness, and you have delivered us into your kingdom of light. Father, we thank you for this
one-sided work from you. For Lord, surely if you had left
us to ourselves, we would still be blind. We would not know that
riddle, that sweet riddle. And Father, we thank you. We
thank you for all that you have done for all of us thus far.
And remember us, Lord, as we go further. Remember us as a
local assembly. Continue, Lord, to pour out your
grace and mercy upon us. Continue to watch over us, Lord,
and be with each and every one of us, Lord. You know our different
struggles and difficulties, and Father, continue to give us strength
and give us health where it is needed. And Father, bless this
food also that we hope to eat and bless the fellowship. Have
mercy upon us and our loved ones, Lord, for Jesus' sake alone,
amen.