Genesis chapter 15. I think most people have already signed
up. The 28th we'll have a crawfish
bowl slash hot dogs and barbecue and maybe volleyball and giant
jenga. If you haven't signed up already,
get with Kimberly so we know how many mouths we got done. Genesis 15. We look before here in verse
1, Genesis 15, 1. It says, After these things,
the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear
not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. After what things? The Lord said,
after these things, Abram had just went to go get Lot out of
those multiple kings. All those people, all those armies,
it took 318 men to go get Lot. The Lord was with them. Melchizedek
came to visit with them. He said, the Lord did this. He
said, they worship God. And here comes the king of Sodom.
He said, I'll give you everything. And Abraham said, I want you
to take a shoelace from me. You keep it. Whatever you want,
take it. I don't want nothing to do with you. You think about
that. I was thinking here to be one of these billionaires
we see on TV, one of the oligarchs. Elon Musk come down and said,
you know what? I like your preaching. I like
y'all's gospel. I'm going to build you a building. Would that
be tempting? I'll pay you taxes for it. 100
years and I'll pay the lot bill for 100 years, wouldn't that
be tempting? I pray the Lord will give me the wisdom and the
courage to say no. No. Because for evermore, it
wouldn't be a house God built, that'd be a house that Elon Musk
built, wouldn't it? Isn't that right? Abraham told the king of Sodom,
no. You ain't gonna go where you
want God's done. I ain't gonna have you say, oh, I gave that
to Abraham. He said, that will not happen. Take anything you
want. He said, them people's mind,
Lot's mind. And he was afraid. He was fearful
in those things. He just gave away everything
he had. Does that make sense? He just rebuked a king. Does that make sense? It was
just a few of them, wasn't it? There was something to fear.
And Abraham took it to the Lord. But the Lord already knew, didn't
he? Abraham inquired of him. He asked the Lord, he went to
the Lord in prayer. And the Lord promised Abraham back in chapter
12. He said, and I'll make of thee a great nation. I will bless
thee, and I'll make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.
And he called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. And he said, I'm
going to make a mighty nation of you. Come. And he went. Where was he going? I don't know.
I'm following the Lord. The Lord repeated that promise. that promise of grace, that promise
of mercy in Christ to that seed of Abraham. In Genesis 13, he
said, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give
it and to thy seed forever. Thy seed forever. He promised Christ to him. Abraham
had the promise of the Lord. God was gonna bring forth Isaac.
He didn't know that yet. He didn't know when, he didn't
know how, but he had the word of the Lord. He had his promise. And here was a believer that
believed God, and he was afraid. What did I do? Is this going
to come to pass? And the Lord comes to him, to
his child, and says, fear not. Fear not. Don't you be afraid.
He gave him the word. He gave him the comfort. And
Abraham knew that thy seed, not as in many, but Christ, he knew
that, would come through his physical offspring, and Christ
would come through him. And he knew for several years
the gospel was Preach to him that that spiritual seed was
going to come. Through Christ's coming, that's
going to be our life. His seed's our incorruptible
seed. Abraham had a gospel preached to him. And the Lord spoke to
Abraham, fear not. You know, there's over 300 times
in the scripture that fear not's referenced. Don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid. If all things work together for
good to them that love God, them are called according to his purpose.
And if God be for us, who can be against us? There really isn't
anything to fear, is there? What's there to be afraid of?
Nothing. My right mind, when my pure mind's
stirred up, I know that. When that old mind comes back
in, I'm scared to death. Fear not, is what he spoke. So
this child of God pours out his heart. He says in verse two,
and Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me? seeing I go
childless, and the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold, to me
thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is my
heir. The Lord said, I am your exceeding
great reward. I am your shield, Abram. Don't
be afraid. And like a small child, Abraham
was kicking rocks. And he was like, what are you
going to give me? You've been saying this for seven years,
Lord. You promised me in Ur, and you promised me up in Haran,
and then you promised me down in Egypt. When's this going to
happen? I ain't got no seed yet. Abraham, by faith, cried out
to the Lord to ease his worrying and to ease his doubting. That's
a controversial statement, isn't it? Does that make you wiggle?
That's an act of faith. Lord, you promised this to me.
I believe. But I'm in unbelief right now,
and I'm growing weary. I'm getting tired. I'm wearing
down, and I don't see the end in sight, Lord. Abraham knew
that the Lord would do it. He knew that he would provide
that seed that he promised. He'd provide the blessings forever,
but he didn't know how he was going to do it, and he didn't
know when he was going to do it. He was in a state of weakness,
just like a child. We rode in the car, and they
said, when are we going to get there? How much longer? How much, do you
just reach back and just hit him and throw him out the window
while you're going down the intersection? No! Be a while longer, calm down.
Have a cookie, give him pacifier or something. Keep him still,
though. You know, it's right for a child of God to call out
to the Lord in all things. It's right for, turn over to
Psalm 142. Psalm 142. There was a foolish time in my
life. I thought, well, I'll take that to the Lord. It's a petty
measure. I should have. It's right to
do that for the child of God too. The child of God too. David
did this here in Psalm 142, verse 2. Psalm 142, 2. He says, I poured
out my complaint before him. That word complaint is not whining.
It's not murmuring. This is how it ought to be done,
Lord. That means meditation, prayer, talk. Another translation
of that word complaint is badly. You ever prayed to the Lord and
just didn't have words? You didn't have big, fancy, rehearsed,
canned responses to give him? And you just went, oh, Lord.
And you groaned and you moaned and cried. I poured out my complaint
before him. I showed before him my trouble.
You know what Abraham's doing? Lord, I'm in trouble. I believe
you. Boy, it's been a long couple years. We're pulling up on a
decade now. And I know your word's true. I believe you. Can you
show me something? Can you give me something now?
What can you give me? The Lord's told us in Matthew
11. He said, come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden. That's a big burden on Abraham.
And I will give you rest. That's what he's asking for.
Oh, give me rest. Oh, give me rest. There's Abraham
casting all his worry and care to the Lord. Why? He trusted
the Lord. He didn't cast this on somebody
else. He didn't go to Lot and say, Lot, what will you give
me? Lot, will you show me something? Will you give me comfort? Lot,
he went to the Lord, didn't he? He knew the Lord's will shall
be done. He just couldn't see how. Has that ever happened to
you? I know the Lord's gonna call out His elect in this area
and throughout this world. I have no doubt. Zero doubt. His word will not return to Him
void. I know it. I know it. The more
it feels sometimes, and what I see with these eyes equipped
in this head of mine. Lord, I know your word ain't
void, but it sure feels like it is. Are your mercies clinging
on? How, Lord? When, Lord? Is this your will, Lord, or is
this my will? Have you left me to my devices? Have you left
me to what I wanted? I'm gonna cry those things. I'm gonna believe and praise
those things to the Lord. We're reading 1 John 5, and this
is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hearth us. According to his will. Abraham brought up concerning
the promises of God, didn't he? Lord, you promised. When's this
gonna come about? Can we have a part of it? Can we have an earnest payment
now? All Abraham saw was that servant
in his house. It doesn't seem like the Lord's working. What's
your will, Lord? What are you going to do? I got an Eliezer
here. That's it. Some said in the past, some writers of old
said this was disobedience. And James told us, he said, you
ask and you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume
it upon your lusts. I prayed to Lord, he ain't done
nothing yet. Well, let's stop blaming him. Let's draw back
a minute. Well, is this for me or is this
for his will, for his glory? Here's a result of Abraham's
question to the father back in our text. He asked, and he received. Those Pharisees, they wanted
to sign, didn't they? They said, Lord, show us something. And
he said, it's a wicked generation. You ain't nothing but bipers
wanting to sign. What's wrong with you? And here are the words to
the father to one of his children. Lord, when are you going to give
me something? Can you give me something now,
verse four? And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
This shall not be thine heir. This eleazar, this servant boy
that's in your house, that ain't gonna be your heir. But he that
shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. So I ask you, did Abraham ask
a miss? Lord knows the heart. Lord answered
him right then, didn't he? Abraham will have a child from
himself, his only son that he loves, through his bride, Sarah. And he was old. And Sarah was
old. Her season of bearing children
was way past. It was gone. It wasn't possible.
And that birth of Isaac, it's going to seem impossible to us.
And the Lord promised him again. He said, no, it's going to come
out of your bowels. It's going to have to be miraculous, isn't
it? That's a picture of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaac
is born of a virgin. That's impossible, isn't it?
That can't be. That can't be. Couldn't be. How's that going
to happen? When's that going to happen?
When's the Messiah coming? In the Lord's time. And the Lord
said, you know, when our Savior showed up to this earth, He was
born of a virgin exactly when He purposed and it pleased Him
to do so. When will the Lord give Isaac to Abraham and Sarah?
Exactly when it pleases Him to do so. When will the Lord give
me my next breath or my next meal or whatever else? Exactly when it pleases Him to
do so. When it's right. When it's right. The physical
bodies of Abraham and Sarah, they were unable. What's that
mean? They can't have children. That
means there would be absolutely zero room for them to glory in.
You see Isaac, I made that. I used to come home and she'd
tell me how hard I worked. Whenever she was pregnant with
one of the children, she'd say, I made a liver today. What did you do? All of
a sudden, whatever I was doing didn't seem that important, did
it? There'd be no room for Abraham and Sarah to glory in Isaac. The Lord's going to do it because
it's going to be miraculous. That's impossible with me. It's as much
a miracle. of Abraham and Sarah having Isaac,
of our Lord being born of a virgin, as it is for a sinner receiving
a new birth, when the Lord comes and gives life to one of his
children, when we're born again. James also said, of his own will
begat he us, in the word of truth that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. He begat us of his own will. We must be given life by God,
and there's nothing in us that can produce us. We can't produce
our own righteousness. We can't give ourselves life,
and we can't give ourselves anything that profits from that life.
Because this flesh is nothing but withering grass. That's all
we are. And the Lord says this Eleazar,
it's a picture of an old man. That's what was there already,
wasn't it? This ain't gonna be your heir.
This thing that was already there, that first Adam, that's not gonna
be your heir. You're gonna have a son out of your own bowels.
Abraham had the word of the Lord. Look how tender and how thorough
our master is. He gave Abraham his word one
more time. This keeps happening. He told
him and then he told him again and then he told him again. He
tells him again. He gave his word one more time.
He promised him. But now the Lord gives him a
visual. He shows it to him. He's going to give Abraham something
to look at, something to see, something he can understand,
to witness the magnitude of the Lord's promise. of his power
to show his mercy to his people. It says in verse five, Genesis
15, five. And he brought him forth abroad and said, look now
towards heaven and tell the stars, count them, if thou be able to
number them. And he said unto him, so shall
thy seed be. There's gonna be a child come
out of your own bowels, Abraham. And you go outside and look up.
You said, Milky Way, can you number those stars? That's what
your seed's gonna be. Our father Abraham, this mighty
man, used of God, mighty man recorded of God. Do you know
when this pain come to him? At night time. You ever walked
out and seen the Milky Way during the day? We see the moon sometimes. Abraham was crying at night to
the Lord. The Lord made him at night. But the moon didn't smite
him. At night time didn't get him. The Lord was there. He said,
fear not. We were in New Hampshire one time. That's the first time
I really remember. That's the first time I remember remembering
seeing the Milky Way. It was way up there, way out
in the country. There was no big cities around at all. And
I walked outside and looked up. Wow, wow. Look at that thing. That's huge. I thought it was
closer to it up there, but it was farther north. Like a mile
makes a difference. Oh, look at the stars. Look how
beautiful that is. How many stars could there be?
There's no way I could count those. And that's just a small
portion. That's just that one little area. I wouldn't look
another way. All the way around. Just a small portion. Here's
Abram with the promise of God, and the Lord tells him, count
the stars. And there's no way. It's innumerable,
Lord. And he said, that's not just going to be your physical
seed from Isaac. This is the Lord's people. This
is my spiritual seeds will come through you, Abraham, through
Christ. those that I've everlastingly chosen, everlastingly loved,
those I've everlastingly known in Him, in the Beloved. That's
what they're going to be, like the sands of the sea. Do you
believe that? Do you believe God has a people
that would be like the sands of the sea? I do. Can you imagine
that? Can you get a hold of that? I
can't. If I start doing math, there's 8 billion people on earth
times this many generations, right? Our old man goes to doubt
my Lord. He said so. I'm sure Abraham
had the thought God spoke these stars into existence. He knew
whatever pleases him. He looked up that milkway and
said, God made that. He said, that's what my seed is going
to be. I believe it. He does what he wants, an army of heaven.
He's looking up at it. He does what he wants in the
habits of the earth. He just defeated those kings with 318
men. That's what Nebuchadnezzar says.
And none can stay in his hand or say to him, what doest thou?
Abraham knew once again. He's in unbelief, he was doubt,
and he was sad, he was low, but he knew once again, and as the
Lord spoke tenderness and grace to him, spoke to his heart, look
up, so shall I see thee. He knew the Lord's counsel shall
stand. what you've determined will happen,
Lord. It will come to pass. It says in verse six, and he
believed the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Abraham believed the Lord and counted it to him for righteousness.
This verse of scripture is one that the Holy Spirit pleads to
thoroughly explain to us in the New Testament with several references
that he lays out clearly for us. Abraham wouldn't look at
this earthly altar His heart didn't just believe
that there would be a great legacy on earth. He was gonna remember
me. Oh no, he heard the gospel of
Christ. And he believed the Lord's most
sacred people. It says in Galatians 3a in the
scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying in these
shall all nations be blessed. The Lord preached the gospel
to Abraham. What's that? What good news will be the blessing
of people of any generation, ever, of any nation throughout
time? Paul wrote to us in Romans 1,
he said he was a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated into the gospel of God. What gospel is that, Paul?
Concerning his son, Christ Jesus, our Lord. That was the gospel
that was preached to Abraham. Abraham believed the Lord, that
Christ would come through his offspring, And he would save
a people of every tribe, of every tongue, of every kindred, under
the sun and throughout time. He believed that. The Lord counted
it to him for righteousness. Abraham believed God. That new
man in Abraham said, that's right, Lord, I believe. And the Lord
said, righteousness. What shall we say then that Abraham
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, not
for God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now, to him that worketh is a
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If you're gonna
do something, if he believes, If you make a work out of not
working, you can indebt God to you. He owes me something. You
know who I am. You know what I've done. He better
let me in His presence. You're indebting God to something.
I believed. He says it's up to me. I chose
Him, whatever it may be. Him that worketh is not to reward
reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on Him that justifies the ungodly, That's justification by faith. I've heard that many times in
my life. I've heard it preached to me
multiple times, and I want to hear it one more time. What is
justification? It's an act of God's free grace
where the Lord freely pardons a sinner and makes them just
before the law in His Son. It's not just as if. I was told
that as a child. Well, justification is just as
if I'd never sinned. No, it's not. It's not pretend. It means you are just. You are
right. Everything you did was right.
You know, the heathen always thinks they're right. And the
righteous always thinks they're heathen. Isn't that the case?
The Lord set judgment. He said, on that day, I'll set
up and I'll put the goats on the left hand, the sheep on the
right. And He's going to tell them, He said, I was in prison
and you came to me. You visited me. I was thirsty, you gave me
something to drink. I was hungry, you fed me. And the sheep, the
righteous said, Lord, when did we ever do that? I've never been in the ministry.
I've never served him. Never have. I've looked out for
number one. I don't think I've ever served him. And then he'll
look at the goats, and they said, Lord, when did we not come down
to them prisons? When did we not come down to
them soup kitchens? I was down there every weekend. least twice
a month, maybe once a week. And he said, apart from me, I
never knew you. I never loved you. What's the
difference in all that? The love of Christ. Who makes a theta different?
God does. His love's what makes the difference,
isn't it? This justification that he provides, it's not just
pretend, it's true. Those that are just, those that
have been justified, they are cleared. There is no record of
crime. There's no record of guilt, because
it never happened. I'll put this down, too. There's
no expunged records. Well, you had a bad record, but
it passed small fee to a judge, and that's gone. I ain't allowed
to open that. It's sealed or whatever. There never was one
recorded. How? How could that be? I know me. I live with me. I've seen what I've thought and
done and acted and everything else. The sinner is a sinner, and they
cannot, like Abraham, produce an Isaac. They cannot produce
life. They can't produce righteousness because of God's promise, because
of what He provided, His provision. He accepts that sinner completely
and forever in His Son. Why? Christ bore our sin. He bore our shame. He bore our
guilt in His body on a tree. The one that knew no sin. He
was perfect. Born of a virgin. Lived that
perfect life his whole life. He knew no sin. He was made sin. The feminine noun. Who gets offended
at that? People that think they don't
have any sin in them. He was made me. That we may be made
the righteousness God in him. He was our substitute. Can we
do that? We can't do that. If you committed
a murder, and I said, well, I love you. I want to go down, and I'm
going to serve that life sentence for you. And I want to take that
lethal injection for you. Even if they let me do it, the
guilt didn't. There was no transfer of guilt. Man can't do that. Well, what about salvation? With
man, it's impossible. But God, all things are possible.
He's the God of salvation. It wasn't enough that we were
bought. I want to say this carefully. It wasn't enough that we were
bought. It wasn't enough that we were squared up underneath
the law. It wasn't enough that our sin was removed. We were made His righteousness. We were bought, we were cleansed,
and we were made holy. Holy. We were made Him. We're
made one with Him. What are you going to add to
that? Make me a list. Put little boxes
next to it so you can check it off. What are you going to add
to Christ and Him crucified? Nothing. Nothing. What does that mean?
It was counted to us. Christ was counted to us. It
was reckoned to us, that's what the scripture says, and it was
imputed to us. What does all that mean? It's
already there. It's already present by a prior
act and it's confirmed by visual inspection. It's an accounting
term. It's reckoned. It was imputed. And the Lord
didn't say, well, he'd had faith. Now I'm going to deposit this
much in his account. People in these banks, you know
why they always refer to it as a bank? Because they like filthy
liquor. That's why they like to refer
to it as a bank. The Lord didn't deposit that after he saw something.
He came by and said, what's there? Righteousness is there. What's
the proof of that righteousness? What's the proof of that life
in him? Abraham believed. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Can you see life in somebody? No, but they're sure
there's evidence of it because they believe God. They believe
His Word. It's an accounting term. We do
this every month in our checking account. We confirm what's there. We match our records with the
record that the bank gives us, and it's called reconciling the
account. If you don't reconcile your account,
y'all do. Balance the checkbook. We're
teaching our children to. But the Lord reconciles accounts.
Righteousness, root word is equity. Equity. Not afraid of couldn't
say inequity. He always said inequity. He said,
well, I'm sorry about that. I said, no, that's right. We
ain't just seeing we're in the hole. We're in debt. There's a negative. We're in
the red. What's righteousness? That's
not just brought back up to zero. That's equity. Profitable to
God. They're profitable servants.
It says in verse five, Romans four, five, but unto him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. Do we deserve that? We're ungodly. You ever been ungodly? I'd like
to find some ungodly folks. I'd love to find some, not religious
folks, not Jews and Pentecostals and Presbyterians and I've been
a Southern Baptist since great-great-grandpa. I want to find somebody that's
ungodly, that war with God. How could you Put those three
words together. Justify the ungodly. You tell
the good news to sinners. Real ones. Real ones. One that
God's made a sinner. One that God made to know what
they are. And you say, God will show mercy
to you. God will justify you. Come to him. Kiss the son, lest
he be angry. Come to his son. Worship him.
And if they know something of their sin, that's because they
know something of the holiness of God. And you know what they'll
say? Because they know their sin. They know what they are.
They know who he is. They'll cry out just like Job. How can
a man be just with God? How could this be? How could
it be? We were made, born of his incorruptible
seed. There's a new man in us. And
there's a war with that old flesh. A war is going on. That new man
fully believes God, fully trusts God, fully casts all its cares
on him, but the enemy within us. we're housed in, it accuses
us. The biggest person says there's
no way you can be a child of God. I ain't never been. Somebody
come up to me and said, here, right here, I'm the one, that
man in the mirror. My greatest accuser. So is doubt,
so is discord in my own members, my own body. That war is raging. How do we know we have life?
How could this be? We believe. Faith is the proof
of life. We believe God. That's proof.
That's proof. There in John 3, 36, it says,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Well, half is eternal, isn't
it? How do they believe? Because they had life. They were
born. Can a baby that's never been
conceived and never been born, can it believe? Well, no. It
ain't there. There's no life. When there's life, there's belief.
They believe. The new spirit and the child
of God knows it was His doing. Lord, you did it. We know that
our birth is a legitimate one. It's done in righteousness. Because he's just and the justifier.
This was right. Sin wasn't pushed underneath
the rug. This isn't pretend like the Gnostics
said, well, Christ didn't really come in the flesh. It was as
if he was in the flesh because he's too holy to be in the flesh.
I always think it's weird. People think they're holier than
God is. And they think the way they perceive
it ought to be the way it is. The Lord said he's made flesh
and dwelt among us. Is that good enough for you? That's good enough
for me. He said so. We know this was
a legitimate birth that we have, and we love the one that first
loved us, and we look to him, and we look for him. Just as
Abraham did, just the way he cried out to God, and the Lord
said, come outside, Abraham, look at this. He said, I believe
you. I believe you. And he looked to him once more.
And guess what's going to happen again? Abraham's going to cry
out to God. He's going to look for him. Turn
over to Psalm 130. I'll let you go. Psalm 130. Just like Abraham, just like
David, just like Job, every believer is going to have doubt. Every
believer is going to have unbelief. But when they cry to the Lord,
to increase our faith. Oh, forgive our unbelief. Give
us a word, give us a sign. Give us Jehovah-nessi, Lord.
You're our banner. Give it to us. When his children
cry to see him, they'll always see the same thing, Christ. That's what Abraham was shown.
They're gonna see Christ. Look here in Psalm 30. He's the
word, he's our righteousness, and he's our hope. Psalm 130,
verse one. Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attended to the voice of my supplications. If thou,
Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? But
there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Lord,
you're holy. We honor you. I wait for the
Lord. My soul doth wait. And in His
Word do I hope. What are we waiting on? Guess what we looked at the first
era, and I hope that's what we look at every time. Where's the
land? You want to kick up dust and gold dust and glory on the
streets? Is that what you're looking for?
Oh, I'll be floating on a cloud, playing a harp 24-7. No. I wait for the Lord. I'm waiting
for Him. My soul does wait. My soul's
waiting. And in His Word do I hope. My
soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning. Let
Israel hope in the Lord. For the Lord, there is mercy.
And with him, plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. That's my hope. There's times
that take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Any
trial that comes about, Take it to the Lord. Call on Him and
ask Him to show you what His will is. Ask Him to be with you,
that He's there. Ask Him to bless you. Ask Him
to give you a pure mind stirred up to think on these things,
dwell on these things, be compassionate, have fruit to the Spirit, bound
to flee towards all mankind. Ask those things. But when we
come to the Lord and we petition Him, and when we doubt, when
we fear, when we have trouble, when we just don't see a way
out, What we're going to see if we're His is Christ. That's the gate. That's the door.
That's the way. We're troubled about all these
things. And the trial may not be over. Isaac didn't come out
the next morning. There's still some time left.
The trial may not be over for a long time. But if we beg for
Him, Lord, show us something. We're going to see Christ. If
you see something else, you missed the mark. something more. I pray
he would show himself to us and reveal himself to us. Amen. Father,
thank you for your word. Thank you for these promises
you've given us and your presence will be with us. We know you're
always with us, but allow us to see you, allow us to see your
son, what his word is, what he's accomplished, and allow us to
long for that day our soul and forgive us for what we are.
Be with our brethren everywhere, Lord. Those around this world
that you've loved before time, you've revealed yourself in.
Allow us to pray for our brethren and put that in our heart. Give us the ability to, Lord,
and accept it. We're thankful for Christ's intercession.
Lord, it's in his name that we ask these things. Amen.