I know that a false religion
talks a lot about power, you know, but that's, it's scriptural. It comes from Deuteronomy, I'm
sorry, Genesis 32, 28, where Jacob wrestled with, or the Lord
wrestled with Jacob and vice versa. And the Lord changed his
name, and he's called him Israel, for as a prince hast thou power
with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And we're going to
look at a prayer tonight, Colossians 1, Paul's prayer, in which he
prays that we might be strengthened with all might according to his
glorious power. That is, to lay hold, like Jacob,
lay hold of the promise. Jacob had peace after Christ
laid hold of him, and he laid hold of Christ. And the Lord
told him this covenant, and he was filled with peace for a while. This is a prayer, Colossians
1. This is a prayer in Paul's heart's desire and ours. A true prayer, like faith, is
from the heart. Remember when he said to the
Romans, he said, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. And so this is his heart's desire
and prayer for the saints. That's the title, subject, a
prayer for the saints, that we might, and he's going to pray,
that we might be filled with the knowledge of God's will,
that we might walk worthy of the Lord and so forth and be
strengthened with patience and long-suffering and all that.
We need this. Desperately, I need this. All right, he said, remember
he said, when we heard, verse 9, for this cause, when we heard
that you heard the gospel, someone came and preached the gospel
there. For how shall they hear without a preacher? To please
God by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. How
shall they hear without a preacher? Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the preached word. And these people heard someone
preach the gospel. It wasn't epiphras, although
he did preach there. Someone came and preached the
gospel there, and they heard, and they believed, and the Lord
raised up a church there in Colossae. That's fitting that we don't
know who brought the gospel there first, because that's not important.
The man is not important, but the message is. So someone came
and preached the gospel there, and they believed, they heard,
and Paul, Timothy, and well it was Onesimus Antiochus came,
and then Timothy, he's there with Paul, and said the Lord
has saved some people in Colossae, and there's a church there, and
they love this gospel, they love the Lord, and they're just meeting
together, And so he was so thrilled. Verse 9, for this cause, since
the day we heard, we do not cease to pray for you. We do not cease
to pray for you. We prayed that the Lord would
give, well, Tracy, Luke and Tracy, they were expecting a child.
And we prayed that the Lord would give them a healthy newborn child. Well, he did. And the mother
came through that. Well, that child is very, very
young and tender right now. So very vulnerable and weak and
frail and fragile, isn't it? Sheep. Very, very tender. That's as it is with a newborn
child of God. So, until that child grows and
becomes strong, we pray, Lord, Lord, watch over the babe. And
so it is with Paul. Timothy, we pray for you, this
young church, and desire, verse 9, he said, we desire that you
might be filled with the knowledge of God's will. Filled with the
knowledge of God's will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Verse 10, that you might walk
worthy of the Lord. He said, I pray that you might
know the will of God and be wise in that will, and understand
that will, and walk in that will for His glory, number one, for
the good of others, for the good of His body, like members of
the body, and for our own good and those around us. Alright,
what is God's will? He says, I want you to know,
I pray, that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will.
Now God has a revealed will. God has a mysterious will. We don't know what tomorrow holds,
don't do it. We do not know what God has willed
and purposed for tomorrow, for any of tonight. Do it. But God does have a revealed
will. And where is it found? Right
here. Right here. What is that will? The Scriptures talks a great
deal about it. Turn to Ephesians 1. And if you
read, if you've been reading Colossians, it sounds much like
Ephesians, doesn't it? That's because he wrote both
of these letters at the same time. He was in jail. And he
writes, they sound just alike, don't they? They are. Same gospel,
same Lord, one faith, one Lord, one hope, one calling, one Father,
one, you know, gospel. And so, and remember in Philippi,
Philippian, he was in jail also, and he said, to write the same
things to you. So he kept repeating it. To those who love the gospel,
you can't, it's not redundant. It's brand new. It's fresh every
time. You keep hearing it over and over again. Brother Kelly
read, and we're going to read some of chapter 3. The prayer
of Paul sounds just like this. Alright, here's God's will. God's
will. God's redemptive will. God's
purpose to save a people and His Son is His eternal purpose,
sovereign will, and covenant before the world began. This
is God's will. All right? Before the world.
To save a people out of Adam's fallen race by Christ, in Christ,
and gather them together in his kingdom. forever. That's His
will. I read Ephesians 1, and I started
to read, starting verse 1, but for the sake of time, look at
verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places or things in Christ according
as He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. God did this in love and to put
His love in us. having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, sons, according
to the good pleasure of his will. See that? To the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein in Christ he made us accepted in
the Beloved. In whom? We have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches
of His grace. Read on. He's abounded toward
us in our wisdom, prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of His will, according to His good pleasure. You know He said
that twice, His good pleasure. His good pleasure. I just read
in Psalm 149, please the Lord to make you His people. Whatever
the Lord pleases, that's what He does. Well, His good pleasure
is to give us the kingdom. And He chose a people that He
purposed, verse 9, in Himself. In Himself. That in the dispensation
of the fullness of time. Here it is. Here's God's will.
He's going to gather together in one all things in Christ,
both in heaven, which are on earth, even in Him, in whom,
in Christ, we have obtained and inherited, being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. You see that? That's His will. That's God's predeterminate will. Remember? Peter preached at Pentecost,
you with wicked hands have taken and crucified the Lord of glory,
but you did what God determined before to be done. He's the lamb
slain before the foundation of the world for his people. All
right, look at verse, well, let's go on, go back to our text. And
remember James said, of his own will begat he us. through the word of truth, that
we might be a kind of first fruits of his creation. Bless the Lord,
Paul said, O my soul, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has chosen us in his will and purpose and
love chose a people. That's the good and perfect will
of God, his sovereign will and purpose to save. That's His immutable
counsel and covenant and purpose in Christ before the world began. He said things like this about
that. He said, listen to this, as I have thought it, it will
come to pass. As I have purposed it, so shall
it stand. The Lord said, the Lord purposed it, who shall
disannul it? Who shall disannul it? Listen
to this, Psalm Isaiah 46. This is His will and nobody can
change it. This is the will and testament
of God. Nobody can change it. No slick lawyer can find any
loophole. Isaiah 46, listen to this. He
said, Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob. You're born by me from
the belly. You're carried from the womb
to your old age. I am he. To your hoary hairs
will I carry you. I've made you. I'll bear you.
Even I will carry and will deliver you. Yes, I will. He said, I
declare then from the beginning things that are not yet done,
say my counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure. I will. My pleasure, my will
is to make you my people, God said. Isn't that wonderful? Now,
if you were filled with the knowledge of that, what have you got to
worry about? Everything else is so. John 6. Now, you can have free
will. I'll take this sovereign will.
How's that? How about you? John chapter 6. I don't know
how anybody could possibly... Well, they don't get any peace.
They're glorying in their own decision and all that. Proud
of themselves. Oh, I boast in God's will, don't you? I boast
in Christ's work. John chapter 6. Here's the will
of God. Here's... Christ declares it
very plain to them. John 6. You got it? He said in
verse 37, "...all that the Father giveth me shall come to me."
Have you come to Christ? By faith? Huh? As a sinner? Have you? Called on Him? Called on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Lord, save me. Have you? I have. Yes, you have. Huh? He said,
the Father gave you to me. That's His will. Father gave...
No man can come unto me except the Father which has sent me
draw him. Have you come to Him? Do you keep coming to Him? God
chose you. Read on, verse 38. I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that
sent me. This is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And
this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone would
see of the Son. Have you? Have you heard his
voice? Have you heard his truth? Have you seen the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ? Have you?
Yes, you have. Well, everyone seen that, seen
him, and believeth on him, has everlasting life. And I will
raise him up at the last day. I will. You remember that message
where Jacob said, don't bury me in Egypt. Remember that? Don't bury me in Egypt. Joseph
said the same thing. Don't leave my bones here. Take
them with God's people. Not one hoof will be left behind. Not one bone of God's people
is going to be left behind. It will come from all. Gather
them to Himself. That's God's will. It's not His
will that any of His people should perish. What people? Sinners. Shall I quote it again? 1 Timothy 1.15? Should I? I will. It's a faithful saying,
worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to
save who? Sinners. Is that you? That's
who He came for. That's who the Father chose.
That's who He gave to Christ. And Christ came and He said,
I will. I will, and you shall. That's the gospel we believe.
Not, if you will, God will. No. God says, I will, therefore,
you shall. That's the will I want to be
filled with, don't you? Now back to our text. Filled with that, filled with
that knowledge, oh my, we'll fill you full of peace and joy,
unspeakable, full of glory. Full of glory. Filled. I was
talking about being filled. Do you know how much it says
that in this Colossians? Filled. Huh? And in Ephesians,
look at verse 19. It says, "...it pleased the Father
that in Him should all fullness dwell." Chapter 2, verse 3, "...in
Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." You
want to be filled with a knowledge of His will? Know Christ. He's wisdom. He's wisdom. Look at verse 9. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead body, and you are complete in Him. He's the head of all principality
and power. And Paul said, oh, he said, we're
going to look at that in a minute. Right now. We're going to look
at it right now. Ephesians 3. Look at Ephesians 3. Same prayer. Because all of God's people have
the same need. Ephesians 3, look at verse 14.
For this cause I bow my knees. Ephesians 3, 14. I bow my knees
unto the Father. My heart's desire and prayer
is that the whole family in heaven and earth, that God would grant
you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith. that you being rooted and grounded
in love, His love, read on, and love to one another, that you
may be able to comprehend with all the same what is the breadth,
length, depth, and height to know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness
of God. Now, God's able to do that exceedingly
abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power
that worketh in Him. God's going to do that. But you
know something, He told us to ask, didn't He? He told us to
ask. Look at our text, look at verse
10. He said, I pray and my heart's
desire is that you might know His will in all wisdom, wise
to walk in it and understand it, Understanding His will, like
Paul said in Romans 12, His good and perfect will. And that you
might walk worthy of the Lord. That's my prayer. To walk worthy. Verse 11, strengthened with might,
strong, strong in faith, patient, long-suffering, joyful. Verse 12, giving thanks. But
he said, I pray in my heart's desire that you might walk worthy
of the law. You remember, and the believer's
walk is spoken of many times, we're exhorted how to walk, or
told how to walk. By grace are you saved, through
faith. And that's not of yourself, it's
the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. We are His workmanship, right? Created in Christ Jesus, unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them." Okay? Now, don't hang your head in
shame. Just don't do it. None of us
do perfectly. None of us walk like we ought
to walk. None of us, starting with this preacher. Don't hang
your head in shame. That's what this prayer is all
about. That's what we're praying about. That's what Paul is telling
us. If we didn't need this, he wouldn't mention it. Alright? That we might walk worthy of
the Lord. What does it mean to walk worthy
of the Lord? What does that mean? Well, number
one is to walk in faith, not by sight. It's to believe God,
not man. Bless our brothers' and sisters'
hearts, our hearts, bless all our hearts, O Lord, with strength
and power, because so many brethren right now are scared to death. We're not believing God, and
it brings reproach on our God. It's not walking worthy. He's told us, don't fear. How many times does He tell us
that? Well, He keeps telling us, don't. To walk worthy of
the Lord is to walk in faith. Read Hebrews 11. Read it, and
read it, and read it, and read it. There's a great cloud of
witnesses. We're encompassed with them. People who walk by
faith. To walk worthy of the Lord is
to believe God, not man. To trust God, not man. To listen
to God, not man. I started reading through the
Proverbs and he said, my son, my son, my son, my son, my son. He's talking to his sons. He said, listen to me now, listen
to me, listen to me. Don't listen to them, listen
to me. To be a worthy son, an obedient,
I want to be an obedient son, don't you? Speak, father. Teach
me. Teach me to walk aright, more
by faith, less by sight. Right? To walk worthy of the
Lord is to walk with God. Enoch walked with God. Noah walked
with God. You can't walk with God and walk
with the world. You can't do it. You can't do it. To walk
worthy of the Lord is to walk humbly before thy God. That's Nahum, chapter 6, verse
8. What doth the Lord require of
thee but to do justice and walk humbly before thy God? He that walketh in pride, God
is able to abase, and He will. And if God's people get lifted
up in pride, ooh, He'll deal hard with us, won't He? And we
do. But this world, and we've been seeing very clearly
why this is happening, because God is literally shutting people's
mouths and covering their faces. It's hard to be proud at this
time, but people still are. But you let people, you know,
everything that man has and knows and does, his strength, his beauty,
whatever he does, his ability, God gave it to him. All right? For that man or woman, and this
happened, you take an athlete or some brilliant person, educator
or whatever, and you let them get, have some successes, some
victories, you know, some power, some strength, some riches and
all that, and they'll start strutting their stuff, won't they? And talk loud and proud, won't
they? And walk proudly. Let that never be named among
God's people. The growth in grace is a growth
in humility. Growth in grace, you don't get
loud and proud, you get quieter. And your walk is humble, meek
and humble. Our Lord said, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart.
You'll find rest in your soul. Because he that walketh proudly,
the Lord is going to abase him. The lofty looks of man are going
to be brought down. The Lord alone will be exalted
in that day. Oh, so the believer, we need to grow more quiet, don't
we? And more humble, wouldn't we?
And how does God do that? Number one, by His Word. Number
two, by trials. Trials. And that's a good thing. We need humbling on. To walk
worthy of the Lord is to walk as a child of God, a son of the
Father, like Christ. It's to walk like Jesus Christ.
My name is Mahan. You know who my father is, don't
you? I wear that name. And I'm ashamed to say I brought
shame upon that name when I was a prodigal son. I was not worthy of that name.
But now by God's grace. But there's a higher name. There's
a much higher calling. A much higher name is to be called
a son of God. Christian. We don't use that
much. The Bible doesn't use it much.
We don't use it much because modern religion It's such a farce,
it's such hypocrisy, it brings such reproach on the name of
Christ. If that's what it is to be a Christian, I don't want
to be one. But now, if a Christian is one who believes and trusts
and loves the Lord Jesus Christ and follows Him implicitly and
has all their hope and all their salvation in Christ and they
worship Him from the heart, worship God in spirit and in truth as
it is in Christ, and they rejoice in Jesus Christ, rejoice in His
redemption, rejoice in His person, His work. And they follow Him, and they
trust Him, and they look to Him, and they hope for His coming,
and they wait on His coming. That's a Christian. A disciple,
a student, a learner. One who hangs on His every word,
who depends on Him for everything. That's a Christian. Well, that's
what I want to be. I believe that's what I am. But if we hold that name, let's
walk worthy of it. And I was going to have you,
yes, Ephesians 4. Let's turn there because it deals
a great deal with this walk. Ephesians 4. You know, some people
don't want to hear about that. My soul. That's shocking, isn't
it? That a child of God would not... Ephesians 4, verse 1, "...I,
the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love." That's
Christ, isn't it? Like Him, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
and the bond of peace. Because there's one body, one
spirit, that's your called in that. One hope, one Lord, one
faith, one Father. He taught us all, verse 17, I
say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk
not as other Gentiles walk. The vanity of their mind, vanity
of vanity. We just heard that from our Lord,
didn't we? That's all they think about, eating and drinking and
what they wear and this and that and the other. He said, don't.
No. Have your affection. a heavenly conversation. Look
at verse, going down to verse 24. He said, put on a new man,
which is after God's created in righteousness of true holiness.
Holiness of truth. What the truth produces, like
Titus said, teaches us. Down to verse, chapter 5, verse
1. Be followers of God as dear children
and walk in love as Christ also loved us, giving himself for
us an offering, a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Verse 16, redeeming the time
because the days are evil, be not unwise but understanding
what the will of the Lord is. Now let me read it to you in
Romans 12. Be not unwise but wise, understanding
what the will of the Lord is. Here it is. Be not conformed
to the world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. And it goes on and on then. Teach
me to walk aright, O Lord. Teach me. Alright? Now look at
our text. It said, in every good work,
fruitful and all pleasing. Can we please God? Someone says,
we can't please God. Hang on. Hang on now. Let me read you what His Word
says. All right? Now listen to what men say. This
is what God said. I beseech you, brethren, exhort
you by the Lord Jesus Christ as you've received of us how
you ought to walk and to please God so you would abound more
and more. Did your children ever please
you? Do your children please you? Do they displease you? Yes. Peter said, as obedient children,
as obedient children, please God. That's what a child who
loves his parent wants to do. We're not trying to earn heaven.
We want to please our Father. We
want to walk like Christ. We admire Christ. We want to
be like Him. All right? In our text it says, Fruitful? Oh, did not our Lord bear fruit
under the glory of God? That's why God saved us. Bear fruit in every good work.
Increasing in the knowledge of God. Now, here it is, verse 11.
This will give you some hope because you're not, you're not
amening to me right now. You're looking at me like, did
you get past this? No. No. We're praying that the Lord makes
us like Christ, all right? Strengthened with all might. Without Him, we can do nothing.
This is a prayer, right? Lord, I'm weak. I can't walk right. Put my feet in paths of righteousness
for Thy namesake. Let me not turn to the right
or to the left. Let me look straight on, looking unto you. Strengthened
with all might. What might? His might. We don't
have any might. With all might, according to
His glorious power. Isn't that what Paul wrote in
Ephesians 6? With the power of the Lord. Be
strong in the Lord and the power of His might. According to His
glorious power. Without Him, we can do nothing.
But with Him, What does it say, John? You loved it. All things. If it's God that worketh in us,
both the will and do of His good pleasure, He will perfect that
which concern. He'll do it. How? Ask Him. Ask Him. Simon Peter said, Lord,
if it's You, bid me come to You on the water. He's asking, wasn't
He? Lord, I want to come to You.
You can't come to Christ. You can't overcome unbelief. You can't walk above the trials
and troubles of this world. You can't do it. He asked. You know what he did? He did
the impossible. He came to the Lord. Ask, he
would say. Old Jacob said, I won't let you
go until you bless me. I'm not letting go. What did
the Lord do? Bless you. Changed his name. Was he still a sinner? Yes. He's
blessed. He's forever blessed. And he
called on the Lord the rest of his day. That's when the Lord
really revealed himself to old Jacob. And he's calling on the
Lord all his day. He's weak. He's heplah. He's
sinful. He's just old Jacob, isn't he?
But no, the Lord says, you're Isaac. Israel. You're Israel. And God heard him every time
he prayed. They helped him. However, strengthened
with His glorious power. Look at this, verse 11. I've
got to hurry. Unto all patience, brothers and sisters, do you
have any patience? We need to be patient in suffering. You know, it's the will of God
that we suffer. It's given unto us not only to believe, but to
suffer. All of God's people, children,
suffer. God had one Son without sin.
He has no sons without suffering. It is God's will. All of His
people suffer. We suffer persecution in Christ
as a Christian. That's what Peter wrote about
all through that first epistle. We suffer for believing the truth,
for telling people the truth. We suffer trials and afflictions. It's a goodness of God. to reveal,
to show us Himself, to show us the truth of His Word, His nearness,
His grace is sufficient for the glory of God, that we might witness
a testimony to God, to bring us out of this world, to make
us tired of this place and want out. Trials are good. We're going to suffer trials.
Without His strength, we can't make it. An old believer was
going through a terrible trial with his son. His son was in
prison. And he said, I don't think I
can take anymore. He did. He did. There were worse things that
happened after that. God's grace is sufficient. We
suffer trials. We suffer for God's glory as
a testimony. And we need to be patient in
trials, don't we? We need to wait on the Lord.
Wait on the Lord. We need to wait. Wait. You'll
see. David said, I would have fainted.
I thought I was going to faint in this trial. He said, wait.
If I hadn't waited to see the goodness of the Lord, I'd have
fainted. I'd have quit. We need to be patient. Patiently waiting
on the Lord. Trusting, believing, not fretting,
not fretful. Just Psalm 73, David was fretting
and fretful. He said, I've cleansed my hands
in vain. God's people got nothing but
trouble. Look at the world. I went in the sanctuary. And
I found out He's ever with me. That I'm His. He's my portion. This is not
my portion. that God is eternity, new heaven,
new earth is my portion. I've got to just be more patient.
Wait. Wait. He said, wait, you'll see.
You'll see the wicked turn into hell. Patient with others. Oh, I've come so far short of
that. We're told to be patient with others, all men. To be patient with others is
to consider the Lord's patience with us and consider ourselves. Long-suffering. I need more strength to be long-suffering,
don't you? How long, O Lord? How long? How long must I endure this persecution,
affliction, and suffering as long as He wills? And you're
going to have to wait. with joyfulness. You know the
joy of the Lord is your strength? How can you be joyful though,
going through troubles? When did Paul write this? He's in prison. How many times
does he say this? Rejoice. Again I say rejoice.
You know what? He had stripes all over his hard to rejoice. He and Silas started singing,
I want that faith, don't you? The Lord gave it to him, it's not
of ourselves, it's a gift of God. Boy, that honors the Lord,
doesn't it? Patience, long-suffering, with
joyfulness, with joyfulness rejoicing the Lord. Remember these verses?
Pray without ceasing, rejoice evermore, And in everything give
thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you." Those are three difficult things, aren't they? Three impossible
things. Pray without ceasing. Rejoice evermore in everything.
And in everything give thanks. In everything! Everything! Yes. That's what he said. Why? It's
God's will. And God does not do anything
wrong. And His will, now let's go all
the way back where we started. What's His will for us? To gather
us together in Christ. And everything is working together
according to that purpose and that will. Everything, or it
wouldn't be. If need be, you're in heaviness
through manifold temptation. You see, if it be, it need be,
or it would not be. It's the will of God. Give thanks. Give thanks. You might have tears
running down your face, some doubts and fears, but go ahead
and give thanks, okay? Go ahead and give thanks. Just
start singing. That's what Paul and Silas did.
That's what they did. Let's start singing, Silas. Let's
quit full self-pitying that God did this, and we don't know why
he did it. Let's just start singing. So
what happened? The chains fell off. The light
came on. The door flew open, and came
a jailer. Says, I'm going to wash your
wounds. God had a people. God had a church there. It was
all His will. Suffering. Give thanks. Oh my,
I've run out of time. Look at what we don't have time
for. Made us partakers of inheritance. Delivered us from the power of
darkness. So we're going to save that. for later, okay, next Sunday. Because it just gets better and
better and better and gets higher and higher and higher and talks
about the preeminent one, the fullness of Christ. I hope we'll say like Jacob's brother said, it's enough,
it's enough, I have enough. I'm full. For now. Okay, stand with me. Oh Father in heaven, thank you
for your word, thank you for your will, thank you for your
eternal purpose, covenant in Christ Jesus, ordered in all
things, and sure, this is all our salvation. And although it
may not be whatever it may be, it may not be just so with our
house. But God, rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, quickened us together in
Christ. And this is His will that we
might be found in Him in that day. Oh, we will be found, it
will all be found under praise, honor, and glory at His appearing.
Then we'll know, even as we have been known, And then we'll sing,
and then we'll shout, and be so thankful, and never doubt
again. But until then, Lord, we're asking
for strength. And your Word is your power. And this is how you strengthen
us, cause us to grow in grace, desire the sincere milk of the
word that we might grow thereby, grow in grace and the knowledge
of Christ, grow in faith and love and joy and peace, longsuffering
and faith. Oh Lord. Take away the things
of this world that drag us down and build us up on it. May the Word of Christ dwell
in us richly that will build us up on this most holy faith. Thank you for your Word. This
is our heart's prayer and desire to thee, O God, in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Amen. You're dismissed.