Tell them when it's going to
be nice. Otherwise, the water's going to be cold. You better
not say it. We'll control it. Do you need
a coffee? Coffee? Yeah, let's not do sales. That's what I'm saying. It's OK. Uh-oh. No, it's I don't know I can't
get Facebook to come on For your Facebook Yeah, sure I Can't get
to it Great Why don't you just put it on
for now so we can... Hey, Kim. I always come in the
back way. It's a really nice drive for
us. Winding around. We actually went left one time out of here
just to check it out. Give me a second, I might be
able to do it. Ken had put this over here so
that there's no wires or anything. I don't know if you... It seems
to be working. No, I moved it back. I saw Barbara moved it. I'm not
done with you yet. I'm not done with you yet. I'm
not done with you yet. I'm not done with you yet. I'm
not done with you yet. Set it up. We'll try to plug
it back in that other one. We got that figured out. Alright, here we go. I don't
think so. I promise he's going to work though. I do. I do. I just need you to
stand up. Good evening. I'd like to open
this evening's service singing out of the softback, number seven,
In Jesus We Are Free, number seven. Free from the law's great curse,
in Jesus we are free. For Christ became a curse for
us and died upon the tree. The rituals of the Law and all
the Law's commands have been fulfilled in Christ the Lord,
established by His hands. No covenant with the Law can
now with us exist. Complete in Christ we stand by
grace, both free and ever blessed. No more the dread of wrath, no
more constrained by fear. We worship and we serve our God
with gratitude and cheer. In Jesus we are free. In Jesus we are free. Free from all sin and from all
guilt, we live in liberty. We'll join the happy song with
all the bug-bought throng. And sing the praises of the Lamb,
whose grace makes us His own. Our second hymn will be number
112, All Glory to Jehovah's Name, 112. All glory to Jehovah's name,
Almighty God, our King. His truth and faithfulness proclaim,
His grace and mercy sing. He spoke in love where time began,
His purposes of grace, Which form the glorious gospel plan,
To save His chosen race. He spoke the promises that shine
upon the sacred page. In Christ they are yea and amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Tonight's reading will be from
John chapter 3, starting with verse 1. John chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. marvel not that I said unto you,
ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
where it wishes, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot
tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that
is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know and
testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If
I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall
ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son
of Man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you
for gathering us together to to hear your Word and your Gospel
preached. We ask that you'd blow your Spirit
upon our hearts and give us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Cause
us to believe on him. We ask that you'd be with our
pastor as he speaks. We ask that you'd encourage him
and give him a clear mind and the words to say to lift up Christ. We ask that you'd be with those
who couldn't be here tonight. We think of Scott and Johnny.
We ask that you'd be with them and comfort their hearts. Bless
them where they are. We ask this all in Christ's name,
amen. Alright, brethren, let's turn
to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43, and our text is verses
2 through 7. Now, we began this chapter last
week, and we saw that the Lord laid a claim upon his people
which was described in the actions of grace that he performed in
them and for them. He said that he created them.
He said that he formed his people. He redeemed his people. He purchased
them with the blood of Christ and he called his people and
these are marks of His grace that God performed in Himself,
by Himself, apart from any aid from us, and He did that all
for us sinners whom He loves and chose for Himself in eternity,
before the foundation of the world. And so, we were seeing
that these are spiritual works. They're spiritual. That's why
we can't perform them in the flesh. They're spiritual. He's
blessed us in Christ with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. So these are spiritual works
now The final statement that we looked at last week was where
the Lord says I have called thee I've called thee by thy name
And he said thou art mine. I've called you by thy name. He said there in verse 1 and
We saw that when he says, I've called thee by thy name, we understand,
right, by the spirit of grace and power, we understand that
he's speaking of Christ. And we saw briefly on that point
where our name is the Lord, our righteousness, right? We looked at Jeremiah 33, 16
in closing, where the prophet said, in those
days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely.
And this is the name wherewith she, the church, shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. So that's our name because it's
Christ who in faithfulness laid down his life for his bride. And He brought her to Himself,
clean and spotless, and so that she is now the bride of the Lamb. And we're adopted into the family
of God. We're one with Christ before
the Lord. And so, the Lord is calling us
to to look to Him, to look to Christ, right? To behold Him,
to glory in Him, not to glory in man, not to glory in self,
but to glory in His servant whom He sent. Look there at Isaiah
42, verse one. Back at Isaiah 42, verse one.
Remember he said, behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in
whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him,
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. And so, knowing
this now, we live in him, we glory in Christ, we praise him,
we exalt him when we're speaking to others. When we're declaring
the hope of our salvation, We that believe are speaking of
Christ. I'm sure that when you speak,
when the Lord gives you liberty to speak of others, you speak
of what Christ has done, not what you've done for the Lord,
but what he's done for you in grace and mercy. But turn over
to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, and I wanna read,
picking up from verse five with you. This here, it speaks of Christ. And the Spirit by the prophet
says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days, Judah shall be saved. In the days of this one the Lord's
speaking of. And Israel shall dwell safely,
and this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. And he goes on saying, Therefore
behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more
say the Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out
of the land of Egypt. but the Lord liveth which brought
up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the
north country and from all countries whither I have driven them and
they shall dwell in their own land." So I read that because
as we go through verses 2 through 7 we'll find that this is exactly
what Isaiah is speaking of. He speaks of the seed being gathered
from the north and the south, the east and the west, and he
speaks of the name of God wherewith we are called, the Lord our righteousness. But as we go through this, we'll
look at some of the historical truths of it, but there's a spiritual
lesson here that the text is speaking of. And it really is
describing or laying out the growth of our understanding that
the Lord gives to his people, what he reveals to all his children
who are taught by him. What the Lord is showing us is
that when He says, I have called thee by thy name, He doesn't
mean our name, right? At first, when we hear this,
we think, well, the Lord's saying, I've called thee Joanne, I've
called thee Ken, right? I've called you by your own name,
and that's not what That's maybe how we hear it at first, but
the Lord shows us, oh no, I've called you in Christ, and that's
your name. And I know we saw this briefly
at the end, but this is really what this text, two through seven,
is showing us here tonight. So when he says, I've called
thee by thy name, he takes us all the way to verse seven, look
at Isaiah 43, seven, and he says, even everyone that is called
by my name. my name right so it changes from
thy name and to make sure we understand what our name is it's
my name the Lord says the Lord our righteousness so he's gonna
make that known to us here but there's there's he gives us the
spiritual understanding of what he's doing how we come to know
that we are indeed called by his name that the Lord isn't
looking to us in Adam He ceases to look to us in Adam. In Adam,
we're dead. We're dead to the law. We're dead to the wrath
of God. We have no part in Adam anymore. When Christ died, this old man
was crucified and God no longer sees me in Adam. He sees me in
His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who died in my place, shedding
His blood to put away my sins and the guilt of my sins. And
so now I stand in Christ and in His inheritance. I'm married
to him. I don't have my maiden name anymore. I have the name of my husband,
Jesus Christ. And so that's what the Lord is
showing us here. And in verse 7, he continues
saying, just as he said in verse 1, For I have created him for
my glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have
made him. In redemption and in calling
our God has made us and so this is what we see the Lord teaching
us in these middle verses 2 through 6. I titled this God Gives Us
His Name. God Gives Us His Name. So if
last week It was revealing the spiritual works of grace where
the Lord lays claim to his people and spiritual works of grace
outside of our control. This week we see the truth of
this witnessed in the experience. His grace. We're going to know
that God is our God. That's what He's telling us.
He's saying, I'm your God. We will, we shall experience
Him and believe Him and learn to lean upon Him and trust Him
just as His Word promises us. He promises us these truths here. So here's what I mean. Look at
verse 2 with me. And the Lord says to us who believe Him, and
are His. He's telling us, I'm never, never
going to leave you. My presence will not depart from
you. All right, verse 2. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. All right, so herein we understand
this is speaking of troubles. This is speaking of troubles,
a variety of troubles, but in all of them, the Lord says, I
will be with thee. Now, in a physical sense, the
people of Israel, when they were being, this is speaking of the
time when they were led into Babylonian captivity, right? Both Isaiah and Jeremiah were
speaking of this time of captivity in the historical sense, at the
time that they were given these words by the Spirit. We understand
them in the Spirit, but they had a historical sense in which
they were fulfilled, right? So, when they were taken to Babylon,
they would have, especially out of Judah, they would have crossed
over the River Jordan. They would have crossed over
the Euphrates River. Babylon lay just on the other
side of Euphrates and I guess it came down the Tigris on the
other side of it. And so they had to cross these
waters and these rivers and the Lord says, I'll be with you.
they saw fire when their city was attacked by the enemy and
and conquered the first time there would definitely in the
latter times especially there was burning and there was fire
and we know the personal account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
who were thrown into a furnace made seven times hotter than
normal and the flame never kindled upon them." So we know that there
was indeed, there was very much, there was a fulfillment of these
words there in the captivity. And so we see and understand
that there's really no limit to the way that we can look at
these troubles though now and spiritualize them and see how,
yeah, we go through many overwhelming things, right? We go through
various trials of overwhelming water and fires, things, right,
that destroy. And so in a broad sense, When
I looked at this, because again, there's many ways that we can
see these, you know, the troubles we go through and understand,
have an understanding that the Lord is saying, these are what
my people will go through, but it won't harm them. It won't
shipwreck their faith. They're not going to be destroyed
by these things. They're my people and I won't
leave them. And so in a broad sense, where
the body as a whole, the body of Christ as a whole experiences
these things. I see that as the waters and
the fire. The waters and the fire. When thou passest through the
waters, when thou walkest through the fire. These are things which
affect us all. These are things which can lead
to drowning and utter destruction of the things that might give
us creature comforts or some form of comfort, but they affect
a great many people. And then there's a reference
to smaller things such as rivers and a flame, right, a little
flame. And they would be those things
that affect us more individually, more personally, us individually
and not necessarily other people in the same way that it's affecting
us. And so In either sense, the thing is that we experience things
which oppose or come against our hope in Christ. And things
which oppose and come against our faith and our confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when these things come,
according to the Word of God, I want to say to you, believe
the Lord. Trust Him. He's given you His
word that He shall be with you. He's with you in those troubles,
and He's not leaving you. He's teaching you. He's strengthening
your hope, strengthening your faith. He's given you the gospel,
telling you, reminding you, look to Him. Let it bring you to your
knees. Cry out to Him. Don't be strong
in the flesh. Don't try and endure it and think
that He doesn't want to hear from you and that He just wants
you to buck up and be strong under it. Be weak in the knees
and pray to Him. Cry out to Him. Let it drive
you to the Lord and confess, Lord. It troubles me. It overwhelms me. I'm scared,
Lord. Help." And he says, I won't leave you. I'm with you. Because
he's bringing us to do that. He wants us to pray. He means
for us to seek him in the trials. And that's why he's telling us,
I'll be with you. I'm not leaving you. Don't think I've left you. Cry out to me. Seek me in this
and wait upon me. I'm your God. I'm your Lord.
Over in Hebrews 13, I was looking at the words here, they're similarly
worded in our Lord's promise not to leave us. And in Hebrews
13, verses five and six, the Hebrew writer says, let your
conversation, let your walk, your daily walk, right here and
now, let it be without covetousness, Not wanting those things which
the Lord has not given to us and thinking that we should have
them ourselves and they shouldn't. But be content with such things
as ye have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. And we see even the relation
there. Whatever things are taken from
us, In the fire, whatever things are brought to us, in the waters,
whatever these things are, don't look at those, especially those
who have no part in Christ. You have one more precious than
them, who counts you more precious than all these things. And He
loves you, and He tells us that in His Word. And so those things
will be taken away. Don't covet those things. Don't
worry about those things and your worldly possessions. They
can be... taken away and the Lord can give them again in the
time and the way and manner of his choosing, but that's not
our hope. And he tells us, you don't need
those things. I will never leave you nor forsake
you so that we may boldly say, the Lord's my helper and I will
not fear what man shall do unto me. We may be opposed, we may
have trouble, we may experience a variety of challenges and oppositions,
of persecutions, of afflictions, sorrows, and troubles. But the
Lord says, I'll never, never leave you. And so the Lord tells
us this because when those truths come, right, we're to hear and
to remember His promise to not leave us. And we seek Him And
we have it proven to us that He does not leave or forsake
us, and He causes us to seek Him. And so that we're blessed
to experience that promise. We're blessed to experience that
promise. When you don't pray, when you have trouble and you
don't pray, there's no Blessing in it, right? There's no real
thought you don't even think about the Lord but when that
trial is pressing and it causes you to cry out to the Lord and
the Lord brings you through it and You're near to the Lord You're
you're also near to the Lord because you see how he's proven
his word To you and and stuck with you and didn't didn't leave
you in it. All right so the Lord that now
tells us in verse 3 why we may prove his word and Why is it? He says, for I am the Lord thy
God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. All right, well, historically,
the Lord gave Egypt in several ways he gave Egypt rather than
Israel, right? The Lord slew the firstborn of
Egypt, not of Israel, right? And he plundered Egypt when Israel
went out from them. He plundered them and Israel
went through the waters, right? They went through the waters
on dry land. They weren't overwhelmed at going
through the Red Sea, but when the Egyptians went through it,
they were overwhelmed and their entire army was wiped out destroyed
and Egypt numerous times was beaten by other nations right
when they tried to come to aid Israel they were beaten and then
Ethiopia there's also several times in scriptures as well we
know one even in Isaiah where it speaks of them being a distraction
to Assyria when they came up and just right up to the neck
of Jerusalem and Judah there and then all of a sudden Ethiopia
came and They let the whole army of Assyria left and they never
conquered Jerusalem and Judah just like the Lord said that
they wouldn't and so he did that and there's a few other times
as well in the scriptures, so what he's showing us is that
Even when it appears like the righteous are going to be destroyed
and overcome and overwhelmed by the opposition or their enemies
Lord will come in in the time that is of his choosing at the
right time and he'll take the righteous out and I'll put the
wicked in and they'll be the ones that are destroyed we see
that in Proverbs 21 18 says the wicked shall be a ransom for
the righteous and the transgressor for the upright and so what he
means there another verse in Proverbs that that makes that
a little easier to comprehend Proverbs 11 8 where it says the
righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked cometh
in his stead and so the Lord is able to do that you'll be
there you're looking like you're the one that's going to be overwhelmed
and the Lord will remove you from it and the wicked who comes
against you will be the one who's taken in their own snare all
right so in all this the Lord's moving us to seek him for His
deliverance, because when you seek Him, you know when the Lord
delivers you, you glorify Him, and you saw it. He softened your
heart to cry out to Him, and then He shows you that indeed,
He not only heard your prayer, but He's the one that led you
to even pray, that you might know and see the hand of the
Lord and His work in it. That's why He does it. We're
not changing God's mind, but he's bringing us into that view
of our God actively doing these wonderful works for us, and we're
not just cold and distant and indifferent to the things of
our God and his kingdom. He brings us in to see what he's
doing, and that's how we see them. The scriptures say, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be Ashamed and so we learn that
we learn that very truth, right? We know that that speaks of the
day when we stand before him in Judgment, we won't be ashamed,
but that he's even speaking of this day. We'll have confidence
even Shadrach Meshach and Abednego they said God's able to deliver
us from your hand, but even if he's pleased to let this be a
our last day. But we know that He's true and
just and righteous. Yeah, we're given grace for that
hour. And it turned out that the Lord delivered them from
their hand, right? And so we have faith. The Lord
gives us faith and grace for that hour. And we trust Him.
We trust Him and know that we stand in Christ. Alright, now
the next thing, we won't be ashamed because the Lord himself isn't
ashamed to declare his love for us. Isn't that amazing? Knowing
what we are, that he's not ashamed to declare that he loves us,
who are that people who have been created and formed and redeemed
and called. That's a blessing. For you that
are sitting here and hearing that gospel word, that's a blessing. And he says, I love you. You
that are here and hope to hear the Lord and his word to you,
he says, I love you. Look, verse four. Since thou
wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable and I have
loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee and people for thy life. And so, His love for us is an
eternal love. And that's not even just others,
other enemies being destroyed, but the Lord even gives people
who are righteous for your lives too. He gives people and others
who are made willing to sacrifice themselves for you, that you
might hear the gospel and that we sacrifice for one another,
right? of our time and our gifts and our resources for the good
of the body. Christ himself was given for
us. The perfect, righteous, holy
man, the only one who ever was, was sacrificed that you and I
would have life, eternal life in our God and Savior. so we
see how precious we are in his sight and how he loves us because
he gave his only begotten son that those believing him should
not perish but have everlasting life and so we see his love right
we see his love and so these assurances here again, are meant
to assure us, they're meant to confirm to us that the trials
we go through, he shall be with us, right? And he promises, he
says we're gonna have trouble, we're gonna have oppositions,
right? He said, Paul said to Timothy,
yea, and all, all that will live godly in this life in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution, right? And they shall suffer.
And Peter 2 speaks of our fiery trials. Turn over to 1 Peter
1. Go to 1 Peter 1 and we'll pick up in verse 5. He says, these are precious fruits
that the Lord brings out and that he bears in his people as
a result of his love toward us. First Peter 1.5, speaking to
us who believe, he says, you who are kept by the power of
God through faith, there's a precious fruit, unto salvation ready to
be revealed in the last time. wherein ye greatly rejoice, more
precious fruit, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And so when
our God appears for us, right, which he's done and worked in
us shall shine brightly and appear, having been proven by the Lord
for his own glory, honor, and praise." And he makes us willing
and happy for that and rejoicing greatly in him, all right? And
so, because this is so, we have much to be confident for in our
Lord Jesus Christ, who says now back in our text, Isaiah 43,
Isaiah 43 verses 5 and 6. Fear not, for I am with thee.
I will bring thy seed. Jeremiah said that, right? I'll
bring your seed from the north, because he was focused mainly
on Babylon, and then he said all the lands around, and here
it is. I'll bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from
the west. I will say to the north, give
up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far,
my daughters from the ends of the earth. And so this seed is
that chosen elect seed in the Holy Seed. which was promised
to Abraham, promised in the garden, the seed which is Christ, in
whom we are favored and blessed and given life. We're regenerated
by that spiritual seed of Christ. We're born of his spirit. And so he's gonna gather his
seed out of all the nations, Jew and Gentile, wherever they're
scattered, he's gonna gather them to himself unto unto himself
wherever they are he's gonna bring them to themselves and
they're born of the work of our Savior Jesus Christ who came
for that very purpose taking upon him the likeness of our
sinful flesh without sin and gave himself the Lamb of God
willingly sacrificed himself to the Father to make atonement
for us and to reconcile us to God, that we might have fellowship
and life with him in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, verse
seven says, even everyone that is called by my name, for I have
created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made
him. And so we see there how the Lord
wraps it all up nicely. He lays claim upon his people,
performs all these works of spiritual grace in them, and then reveals
that glory to us in the experience where we're made to know Him,
and to cry out to Him, and to call upon Him, and to behold
and see His works. that he's performing in us and
for us. He performs, right? That precious
fruit, that greatly rejoicing, that's only something that the
Lord can do. Especially as you get stripped away more and more. I have a dear brother in Christ
and he was telling me the other day, he said, I have nothing. I got nothing. I really gave
it up. It's a brother in Christ who's
actually going through a divorce and he just said, I'm not fighting
anymore. I don't want any of it. You can
have the house. You can have the bank account.
You can have the cars. You can have everything. And
I said, well, you know, you got nothing, but it makes it a whole
lot easier if everything in this world is taken away. from us. You know, you've already lost
everything, so there's a blessing in it. Don't seek anything, just
trust the Lord and trust that He did it for a purpose. You know, His purpose is being
worked out. So, our Lord is bringing us to see that we're His. The
Lord, our righteousness, is our name. We go by His name and we're
married to Him and He'll never leave His people. So, He's dealing
with us in our Lord and that's the one in whom we stand. He's
our inheritance and we're His inheritance. And so we have no
part in that wrath which is coming upon the sons and daughters of
wrath and the children of disobedience. So rejoice in your Lord and believe
Him. Trust His word and remember Him
in your hour of need, whether it's to the whole body or to
us individually, the Lord will never leave us. So I pray he
blessed that word to your hearts, brethren. All right, let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father. We thank you for your love to us, Lord, that you made
us precious in your sight. And you chose a people for yourself,
not because we are lovely, not because we are worthy, not because
we've done anything good of ourselves to earn this favor, but of your
own free grace in your son, Jesus Christ. And you tell us you're
not ashamed to own us and to declare your love for us and
to show all what you've, how much you love us and sending
your son, Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that you would
warm our hearts, stir us up to our Lord, to our Savior. Let
us ever be living and feel the warmth of His flame in us. Let
us be hot, Lord, and not lukewarm. Let us indeed be alive in Christ
our Savior. Lord, watch over your people.
Bless us. Lord, we know that it's a confusing
time for for many and there's much misunderstanding and even
hatred among the people. Lord you say in your word that
the love of many will will grow cold and that false teachers
will wax worse and worse and Lord we certainly see that truth
in our days but we pray that you would stir your people up
in a spirit of love for one another, for care, that we would remember
our brethren who are suffering, who are in need, who are struggling,
maybe in sin or maybe in other personal matters. But Lord, that
you would strengthen your people by the gospel of your son, Jesus
Christ, that you would give us wisdom when speaking to others,
and that you would indeed help us, make us to glorify your son
always and every opportunity that we have that we would cease
speaking so much of the flesh and instead speak of our Savior,
Jesus Christ. We pray for those that have confessed
your name and have requested to be baptized in the name of
their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that
you would bless them, protect them and their families from
the evil one who would seek to harm us. And Lord, that you would
indeed continue to feed them and give them joy and gladness
in your son, Jesus Christ. Heal our brethren who have beat
up knees and backs and wounds and surgeries. Father, you know
our many troubles. We ask for your help. We ask
for your healing upon them and that you would forgive us of
our sins and restore us in the spirit of grace. and stir us
up to love our Lord and Savior in one another. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our closing hymn will be out
of the softback, number 128, In Christ Alone, 128. In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song This cornerstone, this
solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm Heights
of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled and strivings
cease. My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone, who took on
flesh, fullness of God in helpless faith. This gift of love and
righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save. Till on that cross, as Jesus
died, The wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I
live. There in the ground His body
lay Light of the world by darkness slain Bursting forth in glorious
day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stands in victory
since curse has lost its grip on me. For I am his and he is
mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear in
death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry
to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of
man can ever pluck me from His hand. Till He returns or calls
me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand.