Here in John 1, we're going to
look at three verses, verses 40 through 42. And Lord willing,
we'll see Christ saving Peter and giving him a new name. And
it's a very brief statement. It's a very short few words He
speaks after He does a work in providence to bring Peter to
Him He says just a few words. We remember last week at John
the Baptist, He said, Behold the Lamb of God. And there were
two disciples of His with Him. And they followed Christ. They
followed the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw Him and they followed
Him. And He turned and He asked them,
He said, What seek ye? What seek ye? And they answered
and they said, Master, wherever you abide, where you dwell, that's
what we seek. We want to be with you. This
Almighty God right in front of them, the One that dwellest in
the secret places, He dwells in the heavens. He dwells in
the hearts of His people. And these two disciples of John,
apostles of Christ, they were asking a question, but they were
making a statement as well. What do you seek where you dwell?
That means on this earth, while we're here, we want to be with
you. We want to be with your people.
If it's under a tree, if it's under a roof, if it's under a
bridge, if it's under a house, it doesn't make a difference.
Under the stars. Out cowboy camping. We want to be with you, wherever
you are. And not just now. We want to be that in this world.
But not just here, in eternity to come. Forever. We want to
be with you. Imagine your most hated color. The color you dislike
the most. I can't stand things that color.
I don't like cars that color. Nothing that color. Shirts that
color. Don't want nothing to do with it. What if at home, if the Lord
prepared for us in heaven, was that color? Would you just cross
your arms and say, well I ain't going. I'll wait until they paint
it. No, of course not. That doesn't matter. The location
doesn't matter. The circumstances don't matter.
Who we're with is what matters. That's what they're seeing. Now
let's see Christ deal with Peter. Here in verse 40 it begins. John
1 verse 40. One of the two which had heard
John speak and followed him was Andrew. Two men were underneath
John. One of them that followed him
was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Of these two men that left John,
the Baptist, and followed Christ, we know for a fact one of them
is Andrew. The other one is unnamed. Most likely it was John the Apostle,
not John the Baptist. John the Baptist didn't write
the Gospel of John. The Apostle John did. But more
likely it was John the Baptist. He was opposed fully of using
his name. He'd always say, what? There
was the one there that the Lord loved. The disciple the Lord
loved. He was there. He wouldn't use
his name. John the Baptist was the same way. He said he was
just a voice. He had a pedigree, didn't he? He had a great list
of family and everything else, and his birth, and the angels
coming to declare it, the whole hillside knew it, and he said,
I'm a voice. You can't even see a voice. I'm
just a voice crying in the wilderness. The Apostle John didn't like
the recognition either, same as Paul. Paul has said, Paul,
comma, an apostle. Every pastor I know just about,
their bulletins, they may not look at them, but their bulletins
have Kevin Thacker comma pastor, not Pastor Kevin Thacker. We're
not fond of those things. They weren't either. God's watchmen
aren't. Others may be. They may like
titles reverend and doctor and apostle. In our day it's nonsense,
but they like those things. But these two that followed Christ. They had heard John the Baptist. They sat under John the Baptist
preaching. They heard him. They sat under
him. They walked after John. They did what John did. They
did it the way John did it. The Lord had taught him. But
they followed the Lord. They heard John. They sat under
John. They walked after John. But they followed the Lord. John
was the one teaching them. But he only pointed to Christ.
He didn't point to himself. He didn't point to doing something.
He didn't point to them. He pointed to the Lord. That
was it. No one except the Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of following. The greatest man born of Adam,
the Lord said of John the Baptist. This was their preacher, Andrew
and John. The greatest man born of Adam
And they walked away from him. They just turned. They didn't
say bye. They may have, it's not recorded. They didn't say
anything to him. They weren't following a man.
They were following who he was preaching. They were following
Christ. That's a good picture for us. We ought to learn from
that. The Lord's used a lot of men, but people like learning
of men. And we glean a lot from them. Gil, wonderful. Gil had a lot
of things wrong. He had some things wrong. Brother
Pink, Arthur Pink, some things he has, I love it. There's some
things he was just in straight air on. Spurgeon, love brother
Spurgeon. There's some things Spurgeon
had wrong. They're just men. But they point to the same one.
They point to the Lord Jesus Christ. When a person's following
Christ, that is the same one they point others to as well.
Nothing changes. When we hear Christ preach and
we follow Him, we're still pointing everybody else to Him. Look here
in verse 41. John 1, 41. He first findeth
his own brother, speaking of Andrew. He first findeth his
own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah,
which is being interpreted the Christ. He went to his brother
Peter, his loved brother, his family member. One he cared for,
loved, and he said, we found the Christ. 4,000 years they've been waiting
for this Christ to come. Everybody's been looking for
it. The Messiah to come. And he goes to his beloved brother
and he said, Peter, We're going to quit playing church. We found
Him. We're going to quit putting on
airs and making our voices funny and acting and waving our arms
or whatever, chanting things. We're going to follow Him. This
is Him. Andrew had heard John the Baptist
point to Christ, heard Him say, Behold, there He is, there's
the Lamb. Then Andrew saw Christ. He heard Christ and he followed
Christ. And then he ran to tell Peter.
Isn't that just loving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? He
caused one of His own, just an earthen vessel, a sinful vessel,
caused one of His own to see Him, to hear Him, to know Him,
and then He uses that same vessel of grace to go tell another one. How did Peter come in the presence
of the Lord? His brother came and got him
and said, come and see, come and see. Just as the Lord told
them, come and see. How did you come to hear this?
How did I? Every one of us might be different
ways. It was by the Lord's mercy and grace and the power of His
providence to draw us to Him. He saw us first. He knew us first
and He pulled us to Him. That might be a flat tire in
a parking lot. You say, well, I'm here anyway.
I'm going to walk in and go to church. You may have other friends or
family members just as Peter did. Have a brother or sister
bring you in and say, come and see. Come listen to the Lord. Some are born to believe in parents.
Lord, put them on this earth underneath believing parents.
Others, in times past, come to criticize. We're going to go
listen to this man preach. We're going to take notes and
we're going to heckle him. We're going to call out, tell him he's
lying, and then we're going to write articles in the newspaper,
and we're going to ruin his career and his family and his ministry,
and we're going to get him run out of town. But the Lord works
all these things after the counsel of His own will. Whatever means
of providence He chooses to use to bring men and women to hear
Him is how He chooses to do it, and it's after His will. And
it's a rare thing. He brings them under the sound
of the gospel. It's a rare, precious thing to find a local assembly
of the Lord's people. It ain't common. It's called
a remnant. It's rare. There's not much of
it. There are very few, and they
are very far between oftentimes. But you know when you find one.
You might think you've found one, but you know when you find
one, because Christ is pointed to. Nothing's changed. He's exalted. He's lifted up in all of His
majesty, in all of His power, His glory, His sovereignty in
all things, everything. He, the person, is declared and
praised. And that's not sometimes. Well,
every six or eight months they'll have a message on Christ and
we'll learn something about Him. Or maybe once a month. We might
talk a little bit about it in 15 minutes and then we're going
to get into discipleship and how to be a good husband and
how to raise your kids and all those things. No. All the time.
All the time. If He's preached, you'll know
how to be a good husband. You'll see Christ our husband.
If He's preached, you'll know how to be a good father, see
our Heavenly Father, how He deals with us. The Lord teaches them
things. The Lord used men and means to bring Peter to Himself.
Andrew went to Him. In verse 41 it says, "...He first
findeth His own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found
the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ." Now we know Andrew
didn't find Him. He came to Andrew. He came to
where Andrew was. Any true child of God will tell
you, not a false child, not one that ain't a real child, but
a true child of God will tell you, I found the Lord because
He first found me. I loved Him because He first
loved me. I sought Him. I searched Him
out diligently because He came to seek and to save me. That's why. He has always looked
upon His people. He didn't just start looking
on Andrew. He'd always looked upon Andrew and every one of
his people throughout eternity. And he looks on them in compassion.
He looks on them in mercy. Isn't that comforting? Even when
we don't think so, when we're being chastened and wit and we're
given illnesses and sicknesses and sore throats and car wrecks
and bankruptcy, whatever it is, The Lord's looking on us in compassion.
He's looking on us in mercy. And God must reveal Himself. Hopefully next week, Lord willing,
we'll be looking at how He called Nathanael. He sent Philip. Philip had went and talked to
Nathanael. He said, come and see. Come and see. Come to hear
Christ preached. Come. Come, come, come. Come
to Him. And Nathanael didn't have very
nice things to say. It wasn't someone just saying you ought
to go to church. It didn't happen in a home. He said, you come. Come to where
Christ is preached. That's where you're going to
hear it. And Nathanael still didn't have nothing good to say.
There's nothing good come out of Nazareth. Are you kidding
me? I guess I'll go down there. I'll see what they have to say.
And then when he got down there, it wasn't until he heard Christ. that Christ revealed Himself
in person to Nathanael. It was personal. It's in person. He must give a new heart to love
Him. He must give the new ears to
hear Him. And He must give the new eyes to see Him first. Once
He does that, then we see Him. Then we hear Him. Then we love
Him and our brethren. That's when we love. He said,
My sheep hear My voice. I know them and they follow Me. Those He knows, those that hear
His voice, those that have been given ears, they follow Him.
Who else hears the Lord? No one. No, well, they're pretty
close. They don't hear. They don't know
the Lord. Only His sheep hear His voice,
and His sheep follow Him. He used Andrew to bring Peter
to Himself. Isn't that a marvelous thing?
Use them brothers to watch the Lord draw His people to Himself. We look back, those that believe
now, and we see how the Lord drew us. Things that we thought
were bad at the time, a broke leg, broke down car. And the Lord used every bit of
that, going to a place you didn't want to go to, a part of the
country you didn't want to go to, going to a war you didn't
want to go to. And the Lord used every bit of that to bring us
right to Him. That's beautiful to watch. to
bring us under the preaching of the gospel. Either by friend,
family member, a phone book. People have found gospel churches
on the maps app on sermon audio. I don't know how you use that.
They said, what's close? And then went to the first one
they found and the Lord saved them. Sometimes he sends emotional
trouble, trials, heartache, illness. physical, emotional. Whatever
his providence is for that hour, for that sheep, that's what he
chooses to do. And then, when he brings you
into preaching of the gospel, and he starts giving you ears,
you start hearing something. Then he teaches his children.
You sit underneath the Gospel being preached and all questions
are answered. It takes time. It's not overnight. It's not right then. It might
be a week before you hear something in a message that's what you
wondered about. It might be six months before you hear what you're
worried about, what you have questions about. It might be
six years. But in the Lord's time, He comes to His children
through the preaching of the Word, And He addresses it. He addresses it. I don't. I don't
have cameras in your all's house. I see everything that goes on
in my house. I don't have cameras in your house. I'm not talented
enough to know everybody's life and all the intricacies of every
day of what was said, what wasn't said. I ain't there. The Lord
is. He's everywhere, isn't He? We
can't hide from Him. And He will reveal Himself to His child as
He sees fit. What's the result of Peter's
brother bringing him to Christ? If someone comes here to hear
the gospel, what's the Lord going to do? If it's one of his children,
what's he going to do to save them? Look here in verse 42.
John 1, 42. And he brought him to Jesus.
And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, son of
Jonah. Peter didn't say nothing. Thou
art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which by interpretation, a stone. If you have a marginal reference,
it says Peter. Peter, the rock, a stone. We all know Peter, don't
we? We've read about Peter. A lot
of people have studied Peter. I'd imagine he had an attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder. He had ADHD. He was always bouncing. He was always moving. He was
always saying something. Couldn't get him to hush. He
was unsettled. He was bouncy. Eager to do everything. Ooh,
let's do it. Short-minded, just run after
things. He's impatient. He's ready to cut off an ear.
After the Lord was crucified, he was eager to go fishing. We've
got to do something now. Let's do something now." He wasn't
waiting. Real bouncy, wasn't he? Here
he comes. The Lord sees him. The Lord speaks
to him. And Peter was speechless. Speechless. He didn't say nothing. Why was
he speechless? How did the Lord make him speechless? By saying,
Thou art Simon the son of Jonah. That's all He said to him. He
saw him coming. He said, You're Simon. You're
the son of Jonah. And Peter didn't speak. What
was he saying to him? What does that mean? He's saying,
Peter, I know you. I know your name. I know your
family. I know everything about you. The Lord spoke aloud when he
said this. Other people heard him, but he spoke in power to
Peter. He spoke in power to Peter. Not
to everyone. That wasn't that secret manna
we just read about. To everyone. That hidden manna. That was to Peter. For Peter. And in power, he says to him,
I fully know you. I know you fully. Well, wasn't
that a waste for Andrew and John and whoever else was standing
around? Uh, no. That Lord chose to do it. He
wasn't speaking to Andrew. He wasn't speaking to John. He
was speaking to Peter. Showing us he comes to his children
individually and speaks to them. Empowered. And he knows us fully. He never met Peter's dad, John,
I don't think. But he knew him. He knew all
things. That's the omniscient God in
front of you. And in power, Peter knew it. Whatever that triggered
inside of his head, it was effectual. I was thinking, we've got this
screen behind us, we've got an overhead projector. If you put
all of my actions on that screen, I'd go hide. I don't want people
to see that, every little thing I do. How I blow my nose, or
whatever. Anything, good, bad, or ugly,
I don't want people seeing it. What about my thoughts? The things
that go through my mind on a daily basis. Do you want it put up
on a big screen? Nobody knows those things. People
can see the outside, but what about the inside? Your thoughts,
what about your dreams? You don't even control your dreams.
You just have them. It's a manifestation of who you
are that day or whatever, but that's us and we're accountable
for them. I wouldn't want that on the big screen. And if it
was, if I had to stay in the room, all my thoughts, all my
dreams, everything put out there for everybody to see, I ain't
saying a word. I've got a very broad enough
approach on myself. I ain't saying nothing else.
I ain't speaking. Shut up. Shut up to sin. That's what I'll
be. Christ comes to His own. And in just a couple words, just
calling our name, He convicts us of what we are. Kevin. If He chooses to do so, He's
got you right there. Then He reveals. He says what we are. Simon, thou son of Jonah, and
then he reveals his compassion. Immediately he reveals his mercy
and he reveals his love for his people. Turn over to Ezekiel
16. Ezekiel 16 verse 1. Ezekiel 16 says, Again the word
of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to
know her abominations, and say, Thus saith the Lord God unto
Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan,
thy father Spoke to them, spoke to their father. Thy father was
an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. He said, I know you, I know your
family, I know everything about you. Go speak that to Jerusalem.
Verse four. And as for thy nativity, your
birth, your earliest times on earth from conception. How could
he know that? He formed us in our mother's
womb, didn't he? And as for thy nativity, in the day that thou
was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed, and
water to supple thee. Thou was not salted at all, nor
swaddled at all. None eye pettied thee." Ain't
no different than anybody else. They didn't care. "...to do any
of these things to thee, to walk past you, to have compassion
on you. But thou was cast into an open field, this earth, to
the loathing of that person in the day that thou was born. You
were born, they didn't even cut your umbilical cord, they threw
you out in a field and everybody walked right past you. From your
conception, you were utterly helpless. You were utterly, utterly
unable to do anything to save yourself. But God, He saves His
people to the uttermost. He shows that to us, our inability,
and then He reveals His mercies to us. Look here in verse 6.
And when I passed by thee, I saw thee polluted in thy own blood.
And I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood. You didn't
get cleaned up. You didn't clean yourself up.
Baby don't know what clean is. When thou wast in thy blood,
live. Day I said unto thee, when thou hast in thy blood, live.
That's the miracle of regeneration. People talk a lot about regeneration.
They study it, write books on it. That's it. The Lord looks
upon His child and He sees us. He looks on us in mercy. And
He says, live. And sinners live. He commands
it. Live. And they live. Life is
Christ. That's what it is to live. It's
not winning the lottery. It's not getting a new job and
getting better from an illness that you got. It's Christ. That's
what life is. He's the way, the truth, and
be life. Now back in our text in John
1. John 1.42. It says, And he brought him to Jesus.
When Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.
Thou shalt be called Cephas. Simon and Jonah, two of the most
common names in the land of Israel at the time. No different than
anybody else. Apart from the work of the Lord,
we're all alike. Every one of us. We're that baby
cast into the field. There's no difference made except
He makes a difference. I sat and thought about that
this week, and the Lord speaks in power personally, and He says,
I know you. I know everything about you.
I know I've seen you in your blood, in your sin. And then
He gives a new name. He gives a new name. He gives
the name of life. He gives His name, Christ the
life. But imagine being a grown, mature
man, if this wasn't in power, or a grown, mature woman, and
you're independent, and you're successful, you feed yourself,
you've got a job, you've got a house you live in, food to
eat, you're strong, and some unappealing person, an uncomely
person, someone you have no desire to be around, comes up to you
and says, I'm going to give you a new name. What would I do? If I was walking down the street
and a person, a man, came up to me and said, I'm going to
give you a new name. I'd probably just say, I don't
have any change. And I'd keep walking. I ain't got no money
on me. Leave me alone. Beat it. Give
me a new name? I've had this name my whole life.
You ain't giving me a new name. That's insulting, isn't it? I'd
just keep on walking. But when the Lord God Almighty
comes to a sinner, Not some man, a God-man. When He comes to a
sinner, He exposes their nakedness before a holy God, and they see
His majesty, and His glory, and direct opposition to what we
are. Then we welcome a new name. Then
we take that new name, don't we? There's people that have
only grown up that ever got a new name in the Scriptures. Abraham. He was Abram, wasn't he? The
Lord said, you ain't Abram no more, you're Abraham. Sarai. Well, it said, your name is Sarah
now, Abraham's wife. Jacob, praise the Lord for Jacob,
don't we? Supplanter, deceiver. The Lord
wrestled with him. And he said, I ain't letting
you go until you bless me. And he said, your name is Israel.
Your name is Israel now. Turn over to Romans chapter 9.
This closes the mouth. Many a mighty people, strong-willed,
intellectuals, and proud people, proud natural man. They have
a choice and they have strength in themselves, understanding
in themselves. The Lord has the right to do
with His own as He sees fit. He's the potter, we're the clay. That's as plain as He made it.
Pretty plain, isn't it? Look here in Romans 9 verse 21. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel into honor and
another into dishonor? What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?" Did the Lord do
that? It's happening right now, isn't
it? We ain't nothing but vessels of wrath in this nation and in
this world ain't a man or woman on on earth outside of Christ
It's not a vessel of wrath. They're not he hasn't destroyed
him yet Verse 23 and that he might make known the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy Which he afford prepared him
to glory those he loved before time those he knew before time
that he knows all about He was going to reveal Himself to them.
He was going to make them vessels of honor. Vessels of mercy. That's
why He's suffering this world. Verse 24, Even us, whom He hath
called, it's His work, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles.
As He said in Hosea, He also saith in Hosea, I will call them
My people, which were not My people. And her beloved, I'll
call her beloved, which was not beloved. We were not His. We were not beloved in our flesh. When we came in this world in
Adam, we were called by His grace. He calls us beloved. He calls
us His people. We need to be like Peter. And
a believer will be. A child of God will be if the
Lord's worked in them. If the Lord reveals Himself to
us, we will be shut up to sin. He'll make it happen. He'll chase
us in whatever way means necessary to teach us to keep our mouths
shut. Like that overhead projector with all my thoughts, dreams,
and actions on it. I wouldn't speak a word. I'm
not bringing up anything. That's how He brings us. As we
want to get older, you say less. You want to grow in grace, you
want to grow in meekness. growing understanding, like sheep.
Physically, our tails are going to hang down. I had a landlord
one time that had hair sheep. They looked just like goats.
They don't have wool. They're still a sheep by DNA. But I thought,
how in the world could you tell them apart? They had goats too.
You just tell by the tail. A goat's tail sticks up. Look
at me. I know some stuff. Let me tell you what I think.
You ever have people that don't listen to what you have to say,
they're listening for you to stop talking so they can tell you what they
think? That's a goat. It's tail's up in the air. The
Lord tucks our tails, just like a sheep. Now back in our text. But what a name we're given when
He does that. That's painful. It hurts, but
we're given a precious name. It says in verse 42, And he brought
him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, the Lord looked on
him. He said, Thou art Simon the son
of Jonah. Nothing. No different than anybody
else. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation a stone. Your name now is Cephas. Your
name now is Peter. A rock. A stone. Not the rock. He's not Christ
the rock, but he's a rock. Same as his master. Naturally
bouncy. Wavering all the time. Tossing
to and fro all over the place. Passionate about many things.
Worried just like Martha over many things. Concerned. Now he's
a stone. Now he's steady. He's steady
in the Gospel. That's what he's steady in. He's
steady in the Lord. And he's steady forever in Him.
Not steady outwardly necessarily. Not in his flesh. He may not
be steady. He wasn't steady. But in that
new man. That new man the Lord just put
in him, he's steady. He's a rock. That old man didn't
go away in Peter. As we read over the next three
years as he walked with the Lord, everything he did, that old man
didn't go nowhere. There was a new man now, now
he's of two natures, but that old man was still there. A man
told me one time, I never met him, and he said when I was going
through Romans, he said, you need to hurry up and get out
of Romans 7 and get to Romans 8. My pastor told me that years
ago and they thought he was just making a joke. Romans 8 comes
after Romans 7, doesn't it? This ain't a math problem. You
go through Romans 7. You experience that before you
experience Romans 8. And when you get to Romans 8,
oh, the grace, the mercy, the pleasure, the rejoicing. 7 is still there. It wouldn't
disappear in ink. It didn't go away. It's still
there with us, isn't it? As it is with each child of God,
Every one of his children, whether they're apostles, Peter was an
apostle, or they're prophets, or preachers, or teachers, or
servers at the cook house. Don't make a difference. They
cut grass, they just show up, pray, and leave. However, they serve,
doesn't matter. How the Lord deals with them
is the same. The Lord chose Peter before the foundation of the
world, as he does with all his children. And in the appointed
time, in the appointed place, by the appointed means of the
preacher of the gospel, by how the Lord determines to use that,
the man and the means that he chooses, the Lord come to Peter. He revealed himself to Peter
and he showed him what he was. And he declared Christ's righteousness
in him. The Lord our righteousness. And
it was given His name, which is above every name, the Lord
our righteousness. That's whereby she shall be called. That's what the bride gets, her
husband's name. This is how we're all born. In
Adam, like all his fallen race, we're just common. We're a Simon. We're a Jonah. Running the mill. But in Christ, we're made alive.
A difference was made. Who makes thee to differ? The
Lord does. That's what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 15. For
as in Adam, after that manner that in Adam all die, even so,
in the same way, in Christ shall all be made alive. Everyone in
Him shall live. It will happen. He'll come to
them. When we're made alive in Christ, He comes to us and He
gives us life and we're given a new name. We don't have that
old name no more. It might still be with us. People
still call Paul Saul. Snarky, too, I bet. Hey, Saul,
just to pick at him. Or they'd say it real high and
lofty. They'd say Paul, but make it real flowery and sarcasm just
to eat at him. Turn over to Isaiah 62, and we'll
wrap it up. Isaiah 62. Here's where we're given that
new name. Isaiah 62 verse 4. Thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken. Neither shall thy land any more
be termed desolate. That means devastation. But thou
shalt be called Hefzaiba. That means my delight. and thy
land, Belula, married, covenant land. For the Lord delighteth
in thee, and thy land shall be married." When Kimberly and I
were married, she received my name, and she received my land,
and she received my everything. She can use my toothbrush if
she wants to. Whatever has my name on it, that's hers. We are
one. So it is with Christ when He
comes to us. We see Him as He is and we see
us as we are at the same time. We see Him as He is and we're
made one with Him. We're married to Him. Made one
with Him. And He gives us His name. He
gives us Him. And He is our inheritance. Isn't
that something? I look forward to my new name.
Lord, not having his name no more, it'll be a nice one. Let's
pray here. Father, as it pleases you, be
with us. Lord, we're a needy people. Lord, we're so unsteady
and easily moved. Lord, we're so frail, weak in
ourselves. Give us life in your Son. Give us Christ our rock. Christ our apostle. Our High
Priest, Lord, allow us to see Him. Allow us to see His strength
in our weakness. What a blessing that is. Lord,
You've given Him a name above every name. What a thought. Christ, our inheritance.
Lord, bless Your people. Comfort them as they need comfort. Instruct them. Chasten us as
we need chastened. Lord, but be with us. You promised
you'll never leave us and never forsake us. The Lord allows us
to dwell on that in all things. It's in Christ's name that we
ask. Amen.