Alright, brethren, we're going
to be in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, and our
text will be in verses 15 through 21. Philippians 3, 15. Now in our last message we looked
at Paul's expressed desire to see Christ more clearly. He wanted
to know Christ as much as is possible while he's still here
in this flesh. But what we'll see today now
is he calls the brethren to unity. He wants us to come together
as one body, because that's what we are. We are one mystical body
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And our title is, Walk in Christ. Alright, so we're going to begin
looking at the Walk of Brethren, and then we'll see the Walk of
the Wicked, and then finally the End of the Believer. So our
text begins in Philippians 3.15 saying, And what Paul is doing
here is he's returning back to what he was saying in Philippians
chapter 2. Look back there in verse 1, Philippians 2.1. And he says, if there be therefore
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies. Now, here he begins,
he calls us to unity. He says in verse 2, fulfill ye
my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. And then in verse 5 he says,
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And then, as he goes into chapter
3, he warns of those arrogant, puffed-up dogs that come in to
scatter the flock of God. And he says in verse 2, Philippians
3, 2, Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the
concision. And then he uses an example of
himself as an example to show that our religious ceremony,
our religious experiences, these aren't salvation. They're nothing
but dumb. They don't help us in our salvation. But rather he shows that in humility
he begins to say and confess to the brethren, I, as an apostle,
am still pressing to know Christ. I want to know him. I want to
know him more because I don't know him as I ought to know him. And he confessed his weakness
in the flesh, and he desired to see Christ and know Him. So
Philippians 3, 13 now, he says, 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. So in light of those things,
in light of the weakness of his own flesh, in light of the fact
that we can't work a salvation for ourselves, He's saying, he's
urging the brethren, come together in Christ, come together, be
unified of this one mind, understanding that it's not our works, so that
we're not puffed up and exalting ourselves over another. Understand
that we're saved by grace, by the grace of God through his
Son, Jesus Christ. Now, the word perfect here in
our text, in Philippians 3.15, that word perfect, it means a
full-grown or mature adult in Christ. So you could be an older
person and not be mature in Christ, and you could be a younger person
but know the truth and have sat under the gospel for many years
and be Very mature. You could be a perfect man or
woman in Christ, even though you're young. And Paul used this
word in his other epistles. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 2.
He used it in 1 Corinthians 2, 6, but we're going to begin in
verse 1. 1 Corinthians 2, and we'll look
down verses 1 through 7 there. And he says, I, brethren, when
I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. So recall what we saw in Philippians
3, and Paul says, showing us here that he came in that same
humble spirit, not puffed up, not arrogant, not coming to the
Corinthians saying, I'm this religious guy, listen to me,
give me your attention and do what I say and be like me. He
didn't come in that attitude. He says, I came to you in weakness. I came to you not with fleshly
power and strength, but in demonstration of the Spirit. He says in verse
3, And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. And so we see what we understand
from this is that Paul is basically saying that it doesn't matter
if we have people here that are highly educated, or strong or
super bright and intelligent or charismatic or anything like
that. Those things don't count for
salvation. The Lord doesn't need our gifts
according to the flesh to profit his people and to send that gospel
forth with success. Our perfection is manifested
in the fruit of the Spirit working in us. We see that through love
so that the Spirit's fruit in the believer is we're taken down
off of our high horse and taken down off of thinking that we're
something when we're nothing and being unified with the brethren
so that what's on display rather than arrogance and intelligence
and things that people look to in the flesh, what's on display
is our gentleness. and our kindness, and patience
with one another, and long-suffering with one another, and that shows
maturity. Because truly, when it's not
just an external show of the flesh, but that shows that you
trust Christ. that if your brethren have offended
you in some way, you pray for them and trust that Christ will
teach them, just as he's taught you. When people are patient
with you and long-suffering with you, the Lord taught you. We
don't know all things and do all things right and perfectly. All throughout our life, we're
growing and constantly coming to Christ. There's a constant
coming to Christ. And so in that sense, he teaches
us that way towards our brethren, to be long-suffering, that we
might be unified and move as one body. in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, verses 6 and 7,
Howbeit we speak wisdom, that heavenly wisdom from above, by
the Spirit, among them that are perfect, among them that are
matured in Christ, that have been settled and grown up in
Christ, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes
of this world, that come to naught, or nothing. But we speak the
wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the world, unto our glory. When we look at the religious
world around us, because there's plenty of churches all around
us, and we look at what we are in the flesh and what we were
and what the Lord saved us, we know that man trusts in his religion. Man trusts in his church. He trusts in his baptism. He
trusts in what he knows and what he tells other people that they
should know and be doing. That's what man naturally trusts
in. He's looking to something in
the flesh that separates him. Something that gives him a feeling
of security. Because his security isn't in
Christ. It's in what he does or doesn't
do. But we preach Christ. Because
Christ is the mystery of righteousness. He is the mystery of godliness.
That man thinks it's I need to do things. I need to be reading
my Bible a certain amount during the week. I need to be going
to church. I need to be praying. I need to be doing this and that
and all these other things. And that's what we think is our
salvation, naturally. But the Lord delivers us out
of that death, because that's not salvation, and shows us that
the Lord Jesus Christ, He is salvation. He's the one that
came and put away the sins of His people. By grace, He saved
us. not because we're savable, not
because we're special, not because we've done something to earn
God's favor, but in spite of us, in spite of our wickedness,
in spite of the fact that we all do deserve hell, Christ came
in love and in mercy and worked salvation for his beloved people
whom he loved from all eternity. When they were chosen out, by
God the Father and put into Christ and entrusted to His care, He
came as their surety to bear their sin and put it away forever
to make us acceptable with God, to make us accepted of Him in
that Beloved. So that we are now His people. We always were His people. And
He just came in time and fulfilled that covenant. All that was required,
He did it so that we are now perfectly secure in Him. So that's our hope and our rejoicing. Now, He says, look at verse 13
again. Notice that there's a leveling of the believers that goes on
here. Verse 15, let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus
minded. He's saying you that are mature
in Christ, don't think of yourselves more highly than you ought to
think, because remember, all our religious experiences now
have been done. They don't profit us in the things
of God, but we're striving to know Christ our Savior. And he
says, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, that is, there's
always among us, even we ourselves go through times when we're weak
and hurting and suffering and in pain, and we're trusting ourselves
and we're trusting our brethren that the Lord's going to teach
us and he's going to restore us and he's going to strengthen
us and he's going to give us all things that we need that
lead to that comfort and that joy in and rejoicing in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he says, you know, God shall
reveal even this unto you. So we're trusting that the Lord
is going to do this among us. James said, if any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God that give it to all men liberally
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. And he went on
to say, The reason why many of us don't know these things and
don't grow in these things is because what we're asking for,
we want to consume it upon our lusts in the flesh. We want to
lord it over somebody or we want to use it in a way that is not
right and not profiting the body of Christ. Turn over to Isaiah
40. Isaiah 40 and go to verse 1. This is that passage which speaks
of the coming of John the Baptist, the Lord raising up and sending
John the Baptist, and you'll notice here how there's that
leveling that's going on. He's leveling the brethren. Those
that are high-minded and puffed up are brought low to see that
they're nothing, and those that are low are raised up to see
that You know, back then, when people were religious, they were
typically, you know, the people that taught the scriptures, that
were supposed to explain the scriptures to the people, they
were generally educated, and they set themselves apart. They
looked the part, so that if you were a poor, bankrupt sinner,
and you'd see these people, and say, well, look at their robes
and look at their broad borders and their robes and how they
have all these things. They have wealth and riches in
order to afford these things to even look like the way that
they do, that these are the religious people set apart from the rest
of us. And it was a stumbling block
to the poor and the lowly and the uneducated. And what the
Lord is saying is, I don't need your riches. I don't need your
beauty. I don't need your clothing. I don't need any of those things.
My salvation is to those that are broken and poor and weary
and weak and don't think highly of themselves. It's for all my
people." And that's what he's saying here. And he says in verse
1, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. And what he's saying
there is, in our warfare being accomplished is, Christ has put
away the enmity. Because naturally, we all come
forth sinners, and being carnal-minded were enmity against God. We're rebellious sinners deserving
of His wrath, but that's why Christ was sent, to put away
that enmity, to put away that wrath. So stop looking to those
external things. Stop looking to those things
that man is trusting in and rest in the salvation God has provided
in His Son, Jesus Christ. And so, every one of us needs
a complete salvation. There's no one here on the earth
that has worked part of their salvation, or two-thirds, or
three-quarters, or 90% of their salvation, and Christ just makes
up the difference for certain people. No, we all need 100%
salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ. We all are saved completely. There's no one in heaven that
has contributed any part of their salvation to any part of their
salvation. It's all of Christ or none of
Christ at all. And so we're reminded why Christ
came in the next verse, in Isaiah 40 verse 3. He's speaking of people. He's speaking of the
people and those that are before him. Some are high and puffed
up and some are low and weak and wounded. And the crooked
shall be made straight and the rough places plain. and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry,
and he said, What shall I cry? Here it is, all flesh is grass,
and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of
the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. What we see here, when the Lord
brings us under the gospel, to hear that it's not my works that
saves me, but that he's provided all that salvation, when he brings
us there and we're hearing it, and we're hearing it each time
that we come together, the vain thoughts of man, those thoughts
that creep in, that cause us to think, I need to be doing
this now, I better start doing this more and stop doing that,
those thoughts all perish. And we see by faith what Christ
has accomplished for us, that it's his blood that makes me
clean, that it's his work that wrought my salvation. He put
away the debt that I had acquired in my sin and iniquity, and it's
all been put away. And he gives his spirit. so that
we're not left to the flesh, but he gives us the spirit whereby
Christ is revealed to us. He reveals that in our hearts
so that we're settled that indeed this is how the Lord saves, by
grace, through his Son, Jesus Christ. And we let go of those
fleshly works whereby we exalt ourselves over another because
we've done something or haven't done something. That all perishes. And Paul says now back in Philippians
3.16 and 17. Nevertheless, whereto we have
already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind
the same thing. Brethren, be followers together
of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us forever, and
ensample. What happens is as we hear the
gospel and we're settled, the Lord delivers us from the hand
of those wicked people that are puffed up, that exalt themselves,
who boast of their righteousness and are whipping you and beating
you with the law and telling you, you need to be doing this,
you need to start doing things this way. He delivers us from
that and looking to and following those people that are just talking
about things that they don't know anything about. that are
turning you back to your flesh. And so our fellowship then becomes
sweet among the brethren, among those that are like-minded, and
those that, just like you, have been shown, it's not in my works,
it's not in the flesh, it really is the Lord Jesus Christ who's
accomplished everything I've needed. And so the Lord's sheep
are brought to, and they come and they assemble together because
They want to hear that same message. They're fed in those same pastures. And when they go to those rocky
places, they're not fed. That fiery mount of Sinai, they're
not fed there. They're made afraid, and they're
scared, and they're scattered when they hear about the works
of the law. Turn over to Ephesians 4.13.
Ephesians 4.13, and we'll look down to verse 16 together. Now
Paul, up to this point, up to Ephesians 4.13, he had been speaking
about the gifts which Christ obtained for the church, for
her edification, for her benefit, when he came and did that work,
and when he rose from the grave, his people were in him, he accomplished
salvation, and his people were in him. so that when he was raised,
they were raised together in him. And so these gifts are given
to the church for her edification, for her understanding. Verse
13, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a perfect man. That's the same word there.
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, our
maturity in Him, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the
slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive."
So we stop listening to just everybody who says, oh, I'm a
pastor, I'm a preacher, listen to what I have to say. We stop
hearing them because we know that there's many that don't
speak according to the truth. And we will listen to those that
do speak according to the truth that's revealed in Christ. We'll
gladly hear them, but we don't want to hear those that are talking
about my works of the flesh, what I need to be doing. And
we'll see momentarily more about them in the next point. But he
says, verse 15, speaking the truth in love may grow up into
him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love. were matured and grown in this
gospel. And you know when you go to a
church where the gospel has been preached for many years faithfully
by a pastor, and there's people sitting there that have been
sitting there for many years, you go there and they're so settled,
and they're so calm. and they're relaxed and they're
not worried about what everybody else is doing because they're
just settled. Christ has gathered them together
and they're happy and joyful and glad because they're so thankful
in what the Lord has done that He's not looking to them to determine
whether or not they're saved or not. He's pointing them to
their finished salvation, to His Son, Jesus Christ, and they're
glorying in Him. We follow after Christ and it's
not to use our liberty for an occasion to the flesh. The flesh
is still there, the flesh is sinful, the flesh lusts for the
things it wants and we don't want to as he grows us. More
and more, we want this flesh to be dead. We want the things
of this flesh to die, and we don't want to feed that lust
he delivers us from that. But we don't get that by looking
back to the law, because the law was the initial thing that
pricked that enmity. The law was the thing that brought
out that enmity and hatred against God. No, instead he gives us
a spear whereby he settles us in Christ and Christ delivers
us, separates us from pursuing the things that this world is
pursuing because we're not walking by the flesh anymore, we're walking
by the spirit. So you can be sure he's going
to teach us in such a way so that we grow together and mature
together and walk in that way together. as a unified body. He'll teach us. He instructs
us. He knows how to take that Word and apply it to each of
our hearts and show us Christ always. He's such a blessed,
kind, and tender Savior that He knows just how to grow His
people perfectly. So it's not by another whipping
you and beating you. It's by Christ applying that
Word and saying, don't do that anymore. Don't go there. Don't do that. He'll do it, though,
and he'll give you the strength, and he'll show you why we don't
do those things. And so he does it in his way. So he grows us, and we're thankful
being assembled with the brethren. We're thankful for having a pastor.
We're thankful for hearing the gospel. We're thankful for having
brethren of like-minded where we can grow and be settled together,
all right? Now, let's see this walk of the
wicked. Look at verses 18 and 19 in our
text because we want to understand that they're there because we
want to avoid them. They're dangerous. And he says, verse 18, "...for
many walk, of whom I have told you often," this is back in Philippians
3, "...of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose
end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory
is in their shame, who mind earthly things." And what Paul is addressing,
what he's saying here is he's speaking about those whose hope
of redemption and hope of holiness does not rest solely in Christ
crucified. They're not trusting that Christ
really has completed their salvation perfectly. There's still something
that they're looking to in their flesh to complete that work and
to make it better. So these were more subtle in
their approach. They spoke of Christ. They had
the name of Christ on their lips, but they were introducing subtly
other things to the sheep, so that the sheep didn't have a
single eye on Christ, but were divided. They were looking to
Christ, and they were looking to something they had to do in
the flesh. As it says in Acts 15, 24, the brethren in Jerusalem They wrote to those in Antioch,
and it says, for as much as we have heard that certain which
went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your
souls, saying ye must be circumcised and keep the law, to whom we
gave no such commandment. And he weeps because these were
brethren who claimed to believe in Christ. And when they were
together, they probably spoke pretty well about certain things.
But as they went out, having only the wisdom of man and not
the spirit of Christ, they began to think it logically through,
a man's wisdom, and say, you know what, but if we're going
to keep ourselves straight and narrow now, we've got to turn
back to the law, because, hey, that's what the law was given
for, right? And so they turned the flesh back to the law to
do things better. And they ended up perverting
the gospel, because now they weren't trusting in Christ. Look
over in Galatians 1. Turn to Galatians 1, verses 6
and 7. Paul here is dealing with the same thing, that introduction
of the flesh to the brethren. And he says, Galatians 1.6, I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another
gospel, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. So false teachers were coming
in right in the days of the apostles. So you can imagine how it continues
to this day, as they were right there, bold-faced, right in the
face of the apostles, even as they were confronting the very
Lord of Glory himself, Christ, when he was in the flesh. And
Paul told Timothy that these desire to be teachers of the
law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. They're teachers of the law and
they don't even know what they're talking about. And they shouldn't
be talking because they're just subverting men's souls. And that
gospel that they were perverting is there in Galatians 1.4, which
says, And that really is the gospel, that Christ gave himself to put away the
sins of the people. And he gives his spirit. And
people just don't believe that by the spirit he teaches us. It's a complete salvation by
his work. We don't need the flesh. He rules
the flesh. He overcomes it and conquers
it through this gospel. Turn over to Galatians 3, 1 through
3. Galatians 3. 1 O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you? This only would I learn of you,
received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing
of faith. And so these same teachers that
are still about today doing the same practices, they always look
at that and say, oh, well in Galatians 3, up to that point,
all he's talking about is justification. He's not talking about sanctification.
We're just talking about sanctification, that you perfect yourself, you
become more holy, and they'll tell you, if you ask them, if
you say, are you more holy today than you were yesterday by your
looking to the law and your being religious, and they'll say, yeah,
yes I was, yes I am, I'm more holy today, I'm better off today.
than I was yesterday because of my practice of the law. But
he says, listen to verse 3, I don't know how you can get around this,
this is sanctification. He says, Are ye so foolish, having
begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? So
churches today, they'll say, yup, we're justified by Christ
alone, but when it comes to sanctification, it's a partnership. And that
partnership is affected by our looking to the law of Moses.
And the Lord, he does call us, he does teach us and grow us
in grace and knowledge. We do grow in Christ, but he
does it by spirit. He never, ever turns us back
to the flesh. And as soon as you look to the
law, you're engaging that flesh and you're bringing it right
in because your eye ceases to look singly at Christ alone and
now you're looking in two places and you can't, I can't do it,
I can't separate my eyes like that. You're either looking at
the law or you're looking at Christ and what happens? We know
it because they start whipping you and telling you, you've got
to be doing better. So they cease looking at Christ
and there's no more mercy and now they're just beating you
with the law and telling you what you need to be doing better.
Alright, so our salvation begins with Christ alone, it continues
with Christ alone, and it ends with Christ alone. It's always
Christ, Christ alone. And it's His good work. Turn
back to Philippians 1.6. We'll march through this. Philippians
1.6, we see it's Christ's good work in us, being confident of
this very thing, Philippians 1.6, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Alright, flip over to Philippians
chapter 2. Philippians 2 verses 12-13, Wherefore, my beloved,
as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. Now he's not saying get yourselves
saved, you need to save yourselves now, or he's not saying go back
to the law. He never tells them to go back
to the law to work out their sanctification. He's not telling
them to make themselves more holy, but rather He's reminding
them, you have the Spirit of Christ. Walk in what the Lord
is showing you as He's teaching you and growing you. Walk in
these things because you have His Spirit because, verse 13,
it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. He never turns us to the flesh.
He just reminds us that we have the Spirit of Christ in us. He's
working in us. And so he sets our minds on Christ
and brings us back to him so that he grows us. It's never
Jesus is the Alpha and Moses is the Omega. That's not how
it is. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.
He's the beginning and the end. He's the first and the last.
It's all of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so these teachers in Paul's
name, they began to speak ill of him. just as law teachers
today speak ill of grace preachers, and they call us antinomians.
And many seek to gain a following just by saying something new
and by saying something that teaches people some new thing
to gain a following. But that's not what we're doing. We're preaching Christ, and we're
staying on Christ and trusting Him. Because when you turn people
away from Christ, you make yourself an enemy of the cross of Christ.
And that's not where we want to be because therein... his
destruction," Paul said. So be careful what you hear and
don't subject yourself to that because it shipwrecks men's souls. Don't hear it. If it's not Christ
alone and His work, all His work, and it's not your work, unless
it's Christ, it's destructive and it's subversive and it's
subverting men's souls and bringing them under bondage. All right,
very quickly, the end of the believer. Look at verses 20 and
21, Philippians 3. For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto His glory's body, according to the working whereby He is
able even to subdue all things unto Himself. See, so He's able
to subdue our flesh. And we looked at last week where
we saw, so I'm not going to go into this very long, but we saw
in Ephesians 2.6 it said that we sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. So our life now is hid in Christ. And Paul said to the Colossians
in Colossians 2.20, wherefore, listen to how he words this,
wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of
this world, Why, as though living in the world, are ye subject
to ordinances? Why, as though living in this
world, are you subject to ordinances? People, we switch that, right?
We talk as though we were seated with Christ in heaven. And yet
the Scriptures say we are seated with Christ in the heavens. And
we say, you know, we're living in this
earth, but eventually we'll be in heaven. And Paul, he switches
it. He says our conversation is in
heaven. Our walk is in heaven. And to
the Colossians, he said, why as though living in the world? Why as though? We have it backwards. He's saying you are living. You're
with Christ, even now. And we see that by faith, but
this is the vapor, this is the momentary transient passing through
thing that we're going through, but we have an eternal life to
live and we're either in life with Christ or we're in death
apart from him forever. Turn over to Colossians 3 and
we'll We'll close with Colossians 3. I read this last time, but
I'll read it again. Colossians 3, 2 through verse
4. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. Remember Paul saying, press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Why? Because you're dead and
your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our
life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. And when he appears, we're told
he shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body. I pray that the Lord would bless
us, that he'd comfort us and settle us in the Lord Jesus Christ
to keep looking with a single eye to him. And he settles us,
and he's able to subdue all things unto himself. He does the work. And as Paul said, our conversation
is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, well, I'll pray and
then we'll come back and let's come back in 10 minutes after.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your word. Lord, help us to look to Christ. Help us not to think of ourselves
more highly than we all. And Lord, for those of us that
are weak and struggling and hurting, Lord have mercy because we all
need your grace and we pray that you would open our ear to help
us to hear your words of grace, comfort us in the Lord Jesus
Christ, make us to hear him, settle us in Christ our Savior
and grow us together in him, that we be one unified body that
loves our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoices and enjoys the love
that you have for your people. It's in Christ's name that we
pray. Amen.