Let's begin our evening service.
As you remain sitting, let's sing 134. I once was a stranger. 134. I once was a stranger to grace and to God. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree, Jehovah's safe canyon was nothing to me. Like tears from the daughters
of Zion that rolled, I wept when the waters went over his soul,
yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree. Jehovah said, Can you? T'was nothing to me. And free grace awoke me by light
from on high, And legal fear shook me, I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self
could I seek. Jehovah said, can you? My Savior must be. My terrors all vanished before
the sweet name. My guilty fears banished, With
boldness I came, To drink at the fountain, Life-giving and
free. Jehovah said, Can you? Is all thanks to me. Jehovah said, Can you my treasure
and boast? Jehovah said, Can you my ne'er
can be lost? In thee I shall conquer by flood
and by field, my cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield. Thank you. Good evening. Let's go to Philippians
chapter 3. Philippians 3, I'll pick up in
verse 8. And I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but dumb, that I may win Christ, and be found in him not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, his faith, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power
of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means, any means
he sees fit and proper, I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect, but I follow after, that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before. I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God and Christ Jesus. Let us
therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything
ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have
already attained, let us walk by the same road. Let us mind
the same thing. Let's go to the Lord and pray.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace. We thank
you, Lord, for your word. We thank you for your Spirit,
which reveals to us your most precious, unspeakable, glorious
gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom you have redeemed us,
and saved us, and delivered us from death, and delivered us
out of the hands of justice. For He went into thy wrath. He died our death to deliver
us, to set us free from our captivity, and to give us light and life. and that good hope, the hope
of the saints, of Christ in us, the hope of glory. Lord, to believe
your word, your testimony, your promise that you are our very
righteousness. You've provided everything for
us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all. And you've made him
precious to us. You've made us to see our need
of him. You've delivered us from vain things that cannot save
and given us that hope which is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Lord, thank you for this night. Thank you for gathering together
your people to hear your word. We pray for your spirit, that
you would rest upon me and upon your people, that you would open
my mouth to preach and to proclaim this glorious gospel to exalt
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that you would open the ears and the
hearts of your people to hear it and to receive it by faith,
rejoicing in what Christ has done for us. Lord, we pray for
those that are sick. We pray for those that have need
of healing and help, need of righteousness, Lord, which is
all of us. We pray, Lord, that you would
be merciful to us, be gracious to us. Lord, help us in our way. lead us in the paths of righteousness,
for your name's sake, it's in Christ's name that we pray and
give thanks. Amen. Our second hymn would be on page
four, Hail Sovereign Love, page four. Hail, sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen men. Hail, matchless grace, eternal
grace, that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who rules
the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised the mention of
His grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. Wrapped in thick Egyptian night,
and fond of darkness more than light, madly I ran the sinful
race, secure without a hiding place. But thus the Eternal Counselor
in almighty love arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress,
then found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view,
To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. But justice cried with frowning
face, This mountain is no hiding place. Ere long a heavenly voice
I heard, And mercy's angels form appear, Whom led me on with gentle
pace To Jesus Christ, my hiding place. On him almighty vengeance
fell, That must have sunk the world to hell. He bore it for
a chosen race, And thus became their hiding place. A few more rolling suns at most
shall land me safe on heaven's coast. There I shall sing the
song of grace to Jesus Christ my hiding place. Thank you. Get a little workout with that
one. Good evening, brethren. Let's be turning to John chapter
17. I want to open reading verse 25. Christ prays, O righteous Father. The world hath not known thee,
but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me. You think of how precious it
is that we should be given a place to hear to read these words,
to hear the prayer of our precious Lord and Savior, our High Priest,
He that is the Savior that the Father sent into the world to
save His people from their sins. This is the Savior. This man is the mediator between
God and men. He is the elect of the Father,
the chosen of the Father, the eternal Son of God, who has come
in the flesh, and He's praying for His disciples. And you, gathered
here this night, have been given a place to hear His blessed words. And these words are full of grace. The word grace isn't in this
scripture, but you think of all the grace of God that has gone
into bringing us to look to Him who is righteous, the holy, righteous
God, when all we are in ourselves are base, corrupt, vile sinners,
common people. common people, nothing special
about us, nothing worthy in us that we should be able to look
upon Him and to know Him whom man cannot know, whom man will
not know and worship, but Christ reveals to us the righteous Father. Righteous Father. If you want
to know the Father, Hug up on Christ. Know Christ. Look to
Him. Ask God to reveal to you His
Son, the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, because He's the one
that reveals to us the righteous Father. The righteous Father. When He was speaking to that
woman at the well, He said that the hour is coming, and now is. When the true worshipers of God
will, we're not going to worship Him in this mountain. They're
not going to worship God sitting in Jerusalem. The true worshipers
of God will worship God in spirit and in truth. Because God is
a spirit. And if we're honest, we don't
know how to worship God who is spirit. All we are is flesh.
All we are is corrupt flesh. We don't have anything to bring
to God or to recommend ourselves to God. We're common people. We're common folk, and He is
righteous. He's a Spirit. If you want to
know the Father, look to Christ. Know Him. Know Christ. Philip said, Lord, show us the
Father, and it sufficeth us. It'll be enough. Show us the
Father. Philip, he said, have I not been
with you for so long, and yet you still do not know me? He
that seen me hath seen the Father. We see in Christ everything we
need to see. In Christ is the fullness of
God Almighty. The fullness of the Godhead dwelleth
in him bodily. everything we need, God has provided
for us freely, graciously, in his darling Son. You that know
Christ, rejoice. Rejoice, because as he says,
the world hath not known thee. When he prayed, when he taught
his disciples to pray in Matthew 6, he said, Our Father who art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Your name is sanctified. Your name is set apart from all
other names. Your name is unlike anything
that man is. Hallowed be thy name. I find it amazing that when we
read in Genesis chapter 4 at the end of that chapter, and
it says that Seth, who was begotten in place of Abel, when Seth had
a son, he named his son's name Enos, or Enosh. And I was looking
that up today, and that name means man, as in a general, plain,
common sense. It's just common, plain old,
stinky man. And when he was born, then began
men to call upon the name of the Lord. That is grace, the
grace of God, that common man who is a sinner, born of woman,
born in this flesh, this sinful, corrupt flesh, is blessed of
God to call upon the righteous Father, holy God, by the grace
of God, freely given in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the righteous
one, the holy one, and the world hath not known thee." You want
to see ignorance, you just look at what men do in the world to
worship holy God. They are always talking about
getting more religion. They talk about getting to church
more often, more frequently, more consistently. And it's good. It's good to go to the services. It's good to hear the gospel
preached. It's important. to believers
to hear the Lord Jesus Christ exalted and glorified, lifted
up, to be reminded of our need of Him, to be reminded of what
He has accomplished for us freely by the death of Himself, by the
burial, and by the resurrection of His person, being raised from
the dead, because in Him we die, in Him we are buried, in Him
we are raised from the dead to live unto God. eternally living
in Him. And the world just looks at the
things, the objects, and thinks, that's my righteousness, that's
my holiness, that's my acceptance with God. And He says, righteous
Father. We don't know the Father, except
we know Jesus Christ. We don't know how to worship
Him. We don't know who He is. We have no light or understanding
of Holy God, except Christ reveal Him to us. except to whom He
said, to whom the Son will reveal Him. That's how we know when
Christ reveals Him to us. And so, Peter, when he was speaking
of what man does, what this world does in ignorance, He says, when
you've done all that you can do, when you've done everything
that you think is your righteousness and your acceptance with God,
which is according to the tradition of men, according to the tradition
of religion, he says the fruit of that work, the fruit of your
labor is a vain conversation. It's a vain conversation. When man dies and he comes before
God in his works, he thinks, I don't think he's gonna do this,
when he sees holy God, his mouth will be shut. But we think in
our minds that we're gonna come before God and show God our works,
our conversation, because that's what it means. It's my wall.
My whole life's work, this is what I've done, Lord. And Peter
says, it's a vain conversation. it will not profit you. Those
things that we do thinking that this is our acceptance with God,
they shall not profit us. The only one who is profitable. The only one who has satisfied
the Father, the only one who has obtained eternal redemption
for the people of God, is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father
sent. And He sent Him because the Father
Himself is righteous, and the Son is righteous, and the Son
makes His people righteous by His own blood. And they've sent
the Spirit who gives us life and liberty and light in the
Lord Jesus Christ to know Him, to call upon Him, to believe
Him, to look to Him alone. In Romans 3, 321, let's turn
there to Romans 3. Would you be righteous? Would
you be justified of God? Has the Lord shown you that your
works are filthy rags and that they cannot save you? Has he
shown you your need of Christ? He says in Romans 3.21, But now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. The scripture hath
concluded that we are all under sin. Men have tried to make a
righteousness for themselves by the law, and we come up short. We cannot do it. The law testifies
against us. And the prophets whom the Father
sent have declared the coming of Christ, the coming of the
promised sea, the Lord Jesus Christ, even the righteousness
of God, verse 22, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all
and upon all of them that believe, for there is no difference. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We, in ourselves,
we cannot please God. We cannot come to Him by our
works. But God has shown us through
His Son who is righteous. Him who is righteous. Him who
makes His people righteous. What He has done and accomplished
by His death for His people. Look now at Romans 7. Romans
7, verse 5. For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death." The motions of sins which were
by the law, that's how the world tries to come to the Father.
In religion, in works, in what we have done, and all it is is
the working of sin. It's the revelation of what we
are, how far short of the glory of God we fall, how little we
think of the true and living God. We may say one thing with
our lips, but our heart is far from what we think about the
true and living God. The world has not known the Father. We that know Christ by His grace,
that's how we know the Father. We bring forth fruit unto death,
otherwise a vain conversation. A vain conversation. And so,
without the grace of God, we don't know the Father. But that,
this verse, verse 25 is full of the grace of God. It speaks
of the grace of God. We see how that the world doesn't
know Him, we can't know Him, but God has provided everything
that the sinner needs in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what He does in Romans
7 verse 6. But now we are delivered from the law, we're delivered
from religion, we're delivered from vain things that cannot
save, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should
serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. God must give his child a new
heart, a new spirit, a new man, a creation of his own. He must
make us anew, not reforming the old, but making us new, giving
us a new birth in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us
His Spirit to do this by His grace, not because we've earned
it, not because we've merited this, but because He will be
gracious to whom He will be gracious. and all for whom Christ died
and laid down His life, the Father sends the Spirit to give them
life, seeking them out, making them to know what Christ has
done for them. The Spirit regenerates us, gives
us new life, and He takes the things of Christ that are preached
in the gospel word and shows Christ to you. shows you your
need, shows you His sufficiency, that He is the salvation and
the righteousness of God. If we would be righteous, we
must come to Christ, look to Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved from your sins. All that believe
on Him have the remission, the forgiveness of sins, and they
are righteous before God. Look again in Romans 3. Romans 3 verse 24. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. If God justifies you, it's because
you are righteous. And if you are righteous, it's
because Christ has made you righteous in Himself. He is our righteousness
by faith. We stand in Christ. We come to God in Christ. Not talking about what we've
done. Not looking to what we've said or done. We look to Christ. And we come to the Father in
His name. In His name. Believing Him. having boldness in and by him
whom God, verse 25, hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." And so, The Lord is
just to forgive us of our sins, because He has made an atonement
for us by the death of His Son, who died in the place of His
people, shedding His blood to put away their sin. to carry
their sins away. That we should be reconciled
to God in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And God is just. He's
not doing anything wrong in forgiving us. He's not doing anything shady
in receiving us. Because we are righteous in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Those who believe Him, those
who trust Him, the Scriptures say they are righteous. They
have received the remission of sins because Christ has put their
sin away. and the day of His grace and
the day of His power has come and delivered us out of the captivity,
out of destruction, out of death, out from under the wrath of God,
out of the house of the strong man, and we are Christ's. We
are seated with Him in heavenly places. And so when Christ says,
these, his disciples, have known that thou hast sent me, he's
saying, by the grace of God, we know what we know, that Christ
is all. We are confident in him. We trust
in him. We have no confidence in the
flesh, but we have every confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we thank God for him. We know why the father sent him,
because we cannot save ourselves, we cannot keep the law, we break
the law continually and constantly, but God in grace and mercy has
sent his son, and he's provided everything that we need. And
so he says, righteous father, the world doesn't know you, but
I know you, and these know you, because I've shown them, I've
given them your name. Look at what he says now in verse
26. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare
it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them. Our Lord says here that he has
declared unto his people the name of his Father, the name
of God. And really what he's saying there
is that he's put our eyes off of ourselves, off of the vain
traditions of men. He came in there and by his word,
who himself is the very word of God, just separated man, just
exposed what we are in this flesh, dead letter religionists. We cannot work a righteousness
for ourselves. We look to the traditions of
men, we look to religion, we look to our good works, thinking
that these things are our salvation. But Christ, having exposed all
that, declares to us, reveals to us in His own person, the
name of God. So that in Him we see all the
attributes of God. Now, we don't have time to look
at every name of God that's given to us in the scriptures, but
we'll look at a few of them. And what we see there is that
every name given to us in the Old Testament, it's witnessed
by us. We see, by the grace of God,
that's Christ. I see that very attribute of
my God in the Lord Jesus Christ. so that he's the name that we
call upon. And all that call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved. For example, his name is called
Jehovah Jireh in scriptures, and that means the Lord will
provide. Turn over to Genesis 22. Genesis 22, verse 13 and 14. Here we read that Abraham lifted
up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a
thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead, in the
place of his son. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day, in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And what we see there
is that by grace, we see what our God has done for us in grace. How that he's provided the sacrifice. He's provided, made provision
for everything that we need in his darling son, Jesus Christ.
You'll remember that, that Isaac was going to be sacrificed. God
told Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, the son of
promise, Isaac. And while they were going up
there, Isaac was about 14 years old. And he's seen the sacrifices
before. And he looks around and says,
Dad, I see the fire. I see the wood, but I don't see
a lamb. Where's the lamb? We normally
have a lamb with us. And Abraham said to him, my son,
God will provide himself. a lamb for a burnt offering. And that's exactly what we see.
We see Jesus Christ, whom God provided Himself, His own Son,
eternal God, in the place of His people to give His life,
to lay down His life that we, like Isaac, go free and return
and come down off that mountain of sacrifice, because Christ
took our place. And in Him, all the provision
of God is made, so that we lack for nothing, and we bring nothing,
because God has provided. We can't bring a sacrifice. We
come in Christ, the sacrifice. The next name is Jehovah Rapha,
and that means the Lord that healeth thee. Now, let's look
at this. I want you to see this with your
own eyes in Exodus 15. Exodus 15, verse 26. This is what the Lord said to Moses
to tell the people, "...if thou wilt diligently hearken to the
voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in
his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep
all his statutes, and I will put none of these diseases upon
thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord
that healeth thee. Now we know by the works of the
law there shall no flesh be justified." How are we going to be healed?
If I've got to keep all the statutes of God's law, if I've got to
keep all the statutes by my works, by my will, then I shall never
be healed of God. I've got a sin problem. I am
a filthy, wretched sinner. And according to the testimony
of scriptures, you are too. You are too. The testimony of
scriptures The conclusion of the scripture is that we are
all sinners who come short, terribly short, of the glory of God. We cannot keep even one commandment. We like to think we can, but
we're only fooling ourselves. And so my works aren't going
to heal me. My religion isn't going to heal
me. I need the grace of God. I need the great physician. the
Lord Jesus Christ who came for that very purpose to heal the
sinner. Under a covenant of works, I
cannot receive any healing. I cannot have any fellowship
with holy God. I have no business calling upon
the name of the Lord. But thanks be to God for the
Lord Jesus Christ who heals me. who heals the sinner. He said
to the Pharisees, they that are whole have no need of a physician,
but they that are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. Doesn't that bless your heart,
sinner? When you see how that God wouldn't heal them unless
they kept all the law perfectly, but in Christ. Thanks be to Christ. That's how sufficient, how powerful,
how wonderful His blood is, which was shed to put away the sins
of His people. If you would be healed, look
to Christ. If you would have fellowship
with God, look to Christ, because His blood heals us from all our
sin. Isaiah said, With His stripes,
which He took for His own people, for the sins of you that believe
on Him, Christ took them, and with His stripes we are healed. Another name we'll look at is
Jehovah Tzadkinyu, as we sung in the first hymn tonight. Jehovah
Tzadkinyu, which means the Lord, our righteousness. We are as
righteous as God is righteous, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. There's not a stain, there's
not a blot of sin in you, sinner. You that stand in Christ, it's
been put away, purged from you. Christ has washed it away in
his own blood. So that in Jeremiah 23.6 it says,
in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. Safely. And this is his name
whereby he, this is speaking of our Lord, he shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. Christ is the Lord our righteousness. We believe God. We believe Him. We trust Him. And He is our righteousness
and acceptance with God. Colossians 2.10 says, Ye are
complete in Him. Perfect in Christ. You can't add anything to what
Christ has done. And God doesn't want it. You
can't add anything to what he's done. You're already perfect
in him. And then in Jeremiah 33, 16, it says, and this is
the name wherewith she shall be called the bride of Christ,
the church of Christ, the Lord our righteousness. Michelle has
my name. You have your husband's name.
And the bride of Christ, his church, has the name of her husband. the name of her husband, the
Lord our righteousness. His name is our name. because
he has taken us unto himself as his bride. Then there's other
names, Jehovah Shalom, meaning the Lord, our peace. Paul said it this way, therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into
this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory
of God. God has given us peace in our
hearts by the faith which He's revealed and manifested in us
that looks away from self, that looks not at our works but at
Christ, at Him and what He has done for us. And God has given
us peace and rest for our souls in the Lord Jesus Christ. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. upon him, he did this. Another
name is Jehovah-Reah, meaning the Lord is my shepherd. And
he, as our shepherd, he leads his sheep in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. We're looking to him and following
him because he is our very righteousness. And he keeps us. He teaches us. He instructs us. He's the bread
of heaven. We come to services not to get
ourselves saved. We come because we want to hear
the Lord. And He gathers us even times
when we don't want to hear the Lord. And we're tired and think,
I'm not going to get anything out of this. But He brings us
here And He blesses us to hear the bread of heaven, to feed
upon the heavenly bread, the Lord Jesus Christ, and gives
us food and nourishment so that we thank Him. Lord, thank You
for bringing me here tonight, for giving me Your Word, for
reminding me again how precious You are and how vain my conversation
in this world is when all I do is look to the things of this
world. But Lord, in grace and mercy, You keep and you draw
me, and bring me to yourself, and you feed me with the bread
of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, because He's our shepherd. And I know that this is true.
I know that he keeps us, because it's his very glory and his name
that's at stake. He leadeth thee in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. For his name's sake, because
he will be glorified and have the preeminence in our hearts.
Christ said, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You shall know the true and living
God through Jesus Christ. Would you know the righteous
Father? Look to Christ. Believe on Him. Jehovah Shema,
the Lord is there. In Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and He shall always be there and appear
for you, to keep you, to deliver you, to provide for you, because
He is there. He said, I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee. Jehovah Nissi, the Lord my banner. He is the name that the Father
hath given us under heaven whereby we must be saved. We walk under
the banner of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. So all these names,
and there's many more that are given in the Old Testament, and
they reveal to us the attributes of God. And all these attributes
come together in the name that we're given in Matthew 121. where
the angel said she shall bring forth a son, the seed of woman,
the promised seed has come, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. for He shall save His people
from their sins." The name Jesus means Savior. He is the Savior
whom the Father had sent to save His people from their sins, to
bring us into the presence of God, righteous, holy, without
fault, having no guile in our mouths, no hypocrisy. We know
what we are in this flesh, but we know Him who is greater. who
has overcome the world and overcome this flesh and has made us righteous
by himself and he leads us into the presence of the father saying
behold I and the children which thou has given me They're righteous. I've obtained them. I've gotten
them by the death of myself. I've done that which you sent
me to do, Father. And here they are, all your children,
your blessed children, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. call upon Christ, call upon the
name of Jesus the Lord and Savior whom the Father sent and you
shall have the remission of sins. I pray he bless your heart. I
pray he give you that faith in the heart and open your mouth
to confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ that God hath
raised him from the dead and delivered you from all your sins.
Amen. Alright brother, you close us
in hymn and then close us in prayer. Our closing hymn is going to
be 126. 126. To Him be the glory forever,
Amen. With harps and with viols there
spins a great throng in the presence of Jesus and sings this new song. To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, to Him be the glory forever on. All these once were sinners defiled
in His sight, But now in pure garments in praise they unite. To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, To Him be the glory forever, Amen. He maketh a rebel, a priest,
and a king. He hath bought us and taught
us this new song to sing. To him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, to him be the glory forever. Amen. Aloud in His praises our voices
shall ring, with a ransomed glory to Jesus our King. To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, to Him be the glory forever. Amen. Thank you. Our heavenly merciful Father,
we thank you for allowing us, Lord, to gather and assemble
together this evening and to hear the unsearchable riches
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you
for saving sinners as we are. You have taken reasons out of
yourself and you have opened our blind eyes, our religious
eyes, and you have shown us your grace and your mercy and your
all-sufficiency and Lord we thank you for delivering us from ourselves
from the dominion of sin and from the world of religion. Father
will you go with us as we leave this place keep us safe and we
also think of our loved ones Lord you know perfectly where
they are and who they are and Father if it would please you
lord to have mercy on them also and to gather in your people
from this local community also father as you see fit remember
those that are struggling amongst us whether it is with things
that we do not know of but also physical ailments and troubles
father will you give healing where it is needed and continue
to be with Brother Eric and Sister Michelle. Give them strength
and courage and all that they need to continue to labor amongst
us. For Jesus' sake alone, Amen.