Pretty obvious. 1 Peter 5. Let's go read about
and look into the God of all grace. Read verses 10 and 11 with me
again. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. The God of all grace. When I was considering this and
looking at it and reading it and studying it and preparing
for it, I thought, this is too big for me to preach on the God
and about all His grace. But then I remember when he told
Paul, my grace is sufficient. No one is sufficient, but his
grace is, and he will give us what we need tonight. The God
of all grace. Now remember verse 12 is why
Peter said he was writing this epistle sent by Silas, faithful
brother. He said, I've written briefly,
short letter, exhorting, urging, and testifying, declaring that
this is the truth. Grace of God, wherein you stand.
True grace. Grace that is real grace. Grace means unmerited favor. That's what grace meant. Grace
means God's favor. God giving you everything you
need, though you don't deserve it. Someone said that mercy is
us not getting what we deserve. Wrath, injustice, condemnation. And grace is getting what we
don't deserve. Unmerited favor. Free, unmerited,
unearned favors. Not of works. It's grace. Completely by grace. By grace
are you saved. By grace. And He's the God of
all grace. Everything we Have and are and
know is from God. Every good and perfect gift comes
down from our God. He's the God of all grace. By
the grace of God, Paul said, I am what I am. By the grace
of God, I have what I have. Everything is a gift from God. Grace is not an offer from God.
Grace is an act of God. Grace is the operation of God.
Grace is God's Word. Grace is God's act for us. Grace is God's act in us. Grace is God's power for us through
Christ on the cross, through His Holy Spirit for us. Grace
is God's power, His regenerating power in us, in us by His Holy
Spirit, by His Word. He's the God of all grace. By grace, you say. Let's look
at it again, over in Ephesians 1. You know, where would you
turn if you wanted to read about grace? Anywhere. Seriously, people, if you just
put your finger down, it's going to land on grace. Especially
the epistles. I went through the epistles again
today, all of them. And every epistle by Paul and
the epistles of Peter began and end with grace, every single
epistle. Paul begins, grace be unto you,
and he ends it by saying, grace be unto you, which reminded me
of Zerubbabel. You know that verse in Zechariah
4, 7? It says, Zerubbabel, who's a
picture of Christ who built the temple, says he's going to lay
the top stone on this temple. You see, the temple, the church,
you are saved by grace. That's the foundation of our
faith. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace. We're built on this foundation,
which is Christ, the grace of God, the gift of God, the salvation
of God. We're built on that. All right? We're built on that,
the grace of God. And it says the rebel wills are
going to lay the topstone with cries of grace. So it begins
and ends with grace. And Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. If you want to find out, if you
want to read where the grace of God is clearly seen, well,
no place better than this. Verse 2. Grace be to you, as in every
epistle. Grace be to you. Oh, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed of all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places. We've been caused to sit together
in heavenly places, he said in chapter 2. Oh, he's chosen us,
verse 4, here's the grace of God, electing great. He's chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy, without blame, before him in love, having predestinated
us. That's predestinating great. I've got an article going in
the Bulletin Sunday about A.W. Pink, and he said, The child
of God, upon hearing about the predestination of God, ought
to praise God to high heaven. Some people hate it. They hate
the sound of the word. But God's people ought to praise
Him to high heaven, because everything concerning you has been predetermined
and is in the hands of the all-sovereign and powerful Lord. And He cannot
fail. predestined, you have been predestined
by God, elected, chosen by Him to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And that's what's going to happen.
That's what is happening. And it's all, verse 6, you see,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Wherein He hath made
us. In this grace He's made us accepted
in the blood. That's accepting grace. Accepting
grace. We're not accepted for anything
we do. We're not rejected for anything.
We're accepted in love. If you're in Him, as He is, so
are we. Accepted. Loved. Freely received. Loved. Predestined. Accepting
grace. Verse 7, redeeming grace. In
whom we have redemption through His blood. Our great kinsman,
Redeemer, has paid the price, a ransom. for His people. He's
bought us with a price. You're not your own. We belong
to Him. Redeeming grace. He's like our Hosea, isn't He?
And we're Gomer. We sold ourselves, but He came
and paid the price. He gave Himself. Paid that price
on Calvary's tree. He's abounded toward us, verse
8, superabounding grace and giving us wisdom and prudence, making
known, verse 9, the mystery of His will. This is revealing grace. He's revealed unto us the mystery
of His will. that he would gather together in one, that Christ
is all. Christ is all. So by grace, you say, look at
chapter 2. This is the grace that we're speaking of. Verse
1, you have He quickened. Quickening grace. Quickening
grace. Because we were dead, verse 5,
even when we were dead in sin, He has quickened us together
with Christ. By grace are you saved. He raised
us up together, made us sit together in heavenly places. Right where
you sit right now is a heavenly place. To be hearing this right
now is a great blessing. Great honor has been conferred
upon us. Great favor has been shown to us that we're hearing
the gospel of God's saving grace. That's a good place to be. That
pew is a very heavenly place. This is an amiable tabernacle. And in the ages to come, verse
7, he's going to show the exceeding, exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus our Lord, in his
kindness. What is grace? What is grace? Grace, as I said, is an act of
God for us, to save us. You see, grace is the great shepherd
going after the lost sheep. They're lost. They're lost. The
grace of God goes after that lost sheep and finds it, finds
every single one that were given unto him by the father. And then
what does he do? He lays them on his shoulder,
carrying grace. Then what does he do? Take them
part of the way and then set them down and say, no, no, no,
no. He says, carry them all the way to your hoary head. He said, I will carry you all
the way home. And then what? He says, they
receive an abundant pardon when they get into glory. An abundant
pardon. He says, all of heaven has a
celebration because the great shepherd has brought home his
lost sheep. Now, what does sheep do? Nothing. That's because by grace, are
you saying? Grace finds the lost sheep. Grace
brings back the prodigal. Grace woos the prodigal. Brings back the prodigal. Receives
the prodigal. And not just that. Here's grace.
Here's the God of all grace. God, whose great love were with
thee, hath loved us. Even when we were dead in sin.
Here's the grace of God the Father for His prodigal son. He ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him. An abundant part. Abundant part. Before he could
get the words of repentance out. Before the prodigal could say,
but, but, but, but. God said, bring the best robe. Kill the
fatted calf. Put the ring on his finger. This
is my son. He's home. He's back again. Grace forgives. This is the grace of God. Forgives
all manner of sin, shall be forgiven. I mean forgiven. Forgiven to
the point that they're forgotten. Here's the grace of God. He says
their sins and their iniquities, whatever they may be, I will
remember no more. I'll never bring them up again.
We can't forget them, can we? God has. They're ever before
us. They're not before us. They're
covered. They're under the blood. They're
put away. Christ is put away. Grace forgives. Grace is our
faithful husband forgiving his forlorn bride. That's what grace
is, the grace of God, and that's what grace does. It does within
us. Grace cancels all debts. Grace
gives all that's needed. Grace brings back the lost. Grace,
right, the God of all grace. Look at our text now. Go back
there. Grace answers all that call. Grace gives everything. Grace never quits giving. He's the God of all grace and
He giveth and giveth. The God of all grace. Now I remind
you that He said, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give
us all things? What do you need? I need everything.
I need the grace to I need the grace of wisdom. I need the grace
of patience. I need the grace of faith. I need the grace of repentance.
I need grace to endure troubles. I need the grace to resist temptation. I need that grace and I can't
do it. He's the God of all grace and he gives grace. That's just
there for the asking. Grace. God of all grace who hath
called us. Calling grace. You see your calling,
brethren? Look at 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. This is, throughout the Scriptures,
how our God had called us. He called us. And because He
calls us, we call on Him. He had called us to be His children,
to be saints. Called us out of darkness into
His marvelous light. Called us from death unto life.
Called us. Look at I Corinthians 1 verse
2. Under the church of God at Corinth,
to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. With all that is in every place,
called upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Look down at
verse 26. You see your calling, brethren.
How that not many wise men after the pledge, not many mighty,
not many noble are called, but God hath chosen, elected the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world." Is that you? We'll see
how, in a moment, how the grace of God strengthens us. The weak
things he had chosen to confound the things that are mighty, base
things, lowly, of the world, despised, things that are despised
have God chosen, yea, things that are not, nobody's, nothing's,
to bring to naught, things that are, that no flesh should glory
in His presence, because it's to the praise of the glory of
His grace. Read on, we can't, we cannot quote, we cannot not
read the, you see, this is the God of all grace because of God.
Here it is, saving grace. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God, the God of all grace, has made him, given him unto
you to be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. God, the God of all grace, who
called us, go back to the text, called us unto his eternal glory. We already looked at this down
in verse 1 of this chapter, and in chapter 17 of John, remember? Our Lord said in His prayer to
the Father, He said, Father, He said, All mine are thine,
and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now it doesn't say by them. Although
we do somehow, someway, in a small way give Him glory, endeavor
to, but it says, I am glorified in them. Meaning, Christ in you
is the hope of glory and Christ has been glorified in you, in
your mind, in your heart. He's been glorified. You see
Him as all the fullness of the Godhead, don't you? You see Him
as all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You see Him, all
fullness in Him, in Christ. You see Christ as all and in
all. You see Christ as your prophet, your priest, your king. You see
Christ as God manifest in the faith. You see Christ as all,
don't you? Your Lamb, your Redeemer, your Kindred. He's been glorified
in you. Most people still call Him by
His name of humiliation, Jesus. That's because No man can call
Him Lord but by the Holy Spirit. And if He's glorified in you,
you'll call Him Lord. You'll call Him Lord. He says,
Father, I will that they be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. There's a future glory to be
had. Peter writes of it. He's called us unto eternal glory.
Someday we will behold His glory with the naked eye. We will see
Him as He is. And the hymn writer says, that
will be glory. Be glory for me. So, the God
of all grace, you have called us unto His eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. After,
after that you have suffered a while. Peter's been writing
to us about suffering. And manifold trials he began
talking about. If need be, you're in heaviness
through manifold temptation. And the Lord is the one who purposes
everything and has determined what needs be in your life. Everything concerning you. He's
the one that determined that it need be. You see, so if it
be, it need be, or it wouldn't be. You hear me? It need be. You're in heaviness, so we do.
We need to go through trials. But the trial of our faith, faith
that's more precious than gold. Gold perishes. But this faith
will never fail. Though it's tried with fire,
fiery trials, it's going to be found under praise and honor
and glory. the honor and the glory of His
grace, of His keeping ground, of His giving us this faith at
the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we do believe
in Him. We really do. And we go through
these trials set by our Lord, suffering manifold, many different
tribulations. Our Lord said you must, through
much tribulation, enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Trials and troubles
and tribulation and persecutions and afflictions and all these
things sent by our Heavenly Father to accomplish in us several things. Number one, to strengthen our
faith. They don't give faith, they prove
it. See, faith is God-given, but trials prove it. And he gives
these trials, and faith is looking to him. Faith is trusting him.
Faith is like Job said, though he slayed me, I trust him. Though
he slayed my family, I trust him. He's God. And he does all
things well. The judge of the earth shall
do right, and I trust him. Well, do you really? So when
these things happen, and you really do trust him, you really do trust him. And
you don't leave. You don't quit. You don't go away. get mad and
say, I don't want that now. But rather you submit. You've got this grace, this faith,
you see. And that trial proved it. Because
many, our Lord said, when the sun comes out, the heat of persecution
for the Word's sake, or trials and affliction, why did God do
that? And they leave. And they never
had that faith. And this grace of trials and
troubles and afflictions and sorrows and these things wean
us from this world. They wean us from this world.
We have here no continuing city. And He takes these things from
us to show us we can't keep them. That this is not our portion.
That our eternal portion is Him. We have an inheritance reserved
in heaven for us that fadeth not away. How many of you have
been waiting on an inheritance, an earthly inheritance, and when
it came time, you didn't get it? Who did that? Your corrupt family? Well, God
made me that. Why? To wean us from this world. This is not our portion. We've
got food and rain, but don't we? Huh? And these things can
be detrimental to us. They're positively harmful to
us. Too much of them. And grace,
these trials and afflictions make us look to the Lord, not
lean on the arm of the flesh when we have nowhere to turn.
We are at our wits' end on the one place we can look, on the
one place we can turn. And that's to Him. And He's a
very present help. That's when He's most real. That's
when He's most true to you. That's when He's most near to
you, is He not? So He makes us, He sends us suffering. You know, our children, look
at the next line, it says, after you've suffered a while, make
you perfect. The word perfect means to be
mature. Look at Ephesians 4. Ephesians
4. God is perfecting or maturing
His children, causing them to grow up, grow in grace in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the last thing Peter said
in his second epistle. And He's causing His people to
be conform to the image of Christ, to have the mind of Christ, the
heart of Christ. And he's causing us to grow up
into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Look
at verse 11. He gave some apostles, Ephesians
4, 11. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying, the building up of the body of Christ, till
we all come into or in the unity of the faith, one Lord, one faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, God our Savior, God our
Lord, unto a perfect or mature man or woman, unto the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now, we are complete
in Him, aren't we? We are complete in Him. When
a new creature is formed in us, Christ in you, born of God, this
new creature is complete. Christ in you. The image of Christ
is formed in you. But like our children, they need
to grow. They need to grow. God's given
us the means of grace to cause us to grow. The desire and the
sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby. Trials cause
us to grow. Fellowship and hearing the Word
cause us to grow. So we grow in grace. This is
what this means. Perfecting. Not sinless perfection,
but rather maturity. That we'd be no more children,
Paul wrote. Tossed to and fro with every
wind of government. Tossed around. But look at the
next thing. Established. Established. Mature. Establish. The word establish
is like an establishment. A building. A building. You think
of something unstable, you think of a tent. Or a boat. Well, we need to be established
on it. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with what? Grace. Right. Established on
the Word of God. Built on the foundation. of the
apostles and the prophets, which is Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ
our Lord. It's a good thing that the heart
is stable rather than be unstable. Some people are looking here,
looking there, going here, going running to and fro, looking,
looking, looking, looking for something. If you have, if grace
has found you, and put you in Christ and caused you to sit
in a heavenly place where the gospel of God's grace is, then
stay put. Be established, established upon
this foundation. Establish has the idea of permanence. Perfecting. Perfecting. Establish. Establish. Not looking for so
many things. Look at the next thing. It says,
the God of all grace, after you've suffered a while, strengthen
you. Strengthen you. Oh, man. Look at Ephesians chapter 3 with
me. Strengthen you. Here's what Paul
writes to us. And the apostles All say the
same things, don't they? They all sound so similar. In
Ephesians 3, in verse 14, he prays a prayer. He says, I pray
for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
his family, that he 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, may be able to comprehend
with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth
and height, to know the love of God which passes knowledge,
that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. That's
Christ, isn't it? That's how He was, wasn't it? So he says, God of all grace,
after you've suffered a while, He's perfecting you, causing
you to mature, grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ,
and establishing you upon this foundation which is Christ. There's
no other foundation that any man can lay than is laid. All
our salvation depends on Christ. We look to Him alone. And strengthen
you. Strengthen you. like an allegory in Ephesians
6, he says, ìBrethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power
of His might.î He said, ìPut on the whole armor of God.î Peter
said, ìResist the devil?î He said, ìWell, put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. Weíre not wrestling with flesh
and blood.î So he says, ìBe strong in the Lord.î Remember Martin
Luther's hymn? He said, Did we in our own strength
confide? Our striving would be losing.
We're not the right men on our side. He's the God of all grace.
Christ said, Without me, you can do nothing. Nothing. Nothing. What's the other part that I
always quote with John? We can do all things through
Christ. He's the God of all grace. What
do you need? What are you facing? What are you going through? Ask,
and it will be given. He's the God of all grace. Strengthen
you. Look at the next time. And settle
you. Settle you. Be settled. Grounded and settled. Look at
1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Oh, this says it all. Paul writes
it all here in this one chapter. Peter, in his next epistle, which
he wrote years later, and Paul wrote many epistles during that
time, he said, Paul writes about all these things in his epistle.
Remember that? Remember he was saying that?
He said, Paul writes about all these things in his epistle.
You need to read his. That's how humble Peter was.
But look at this. It's all right here in 1 Thessalonians
3. Everything Peter's been telling us. He said, I sent Timothy,
verse 2, your brother and minister of God and fellow laborer in
the gospel, to establish you, build you up, comfort you concerning
your faith that no man should be moved by this affliction. For yourselves know that we are
appointed thereunto. Remember Peter said, don't think
it a strange thing that has happened. Read on. Apparently, when we
were with you, He told you before we would suffer tribulation,
and it's come to pass, as you know. This church at Thessalonica,
they suffered greatly for the cause of Christ. They were hated
by all the Jews all around them, which all of God's people, every
little church, every little sovereign grace church in every city goes
through the same thing. And the Lord told us that. Take heart. Take comfort in that.
So he said in verse 7, Brethren, we were comforted over
you when Timothy came. We comforted over you in all
your affliction and distress by your faith. And now we live,
he said, if you stand fast in the Lord. What thanks can we
render to God again for you? For all the joy wherewith we
joy for your sakes before our God, night and day, praying exceedingly,
We might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking
in your faith. Now, God Himself, the God of
all grace, our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our
way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase
and abound in love one toward another. Didn't Peter keep saying
that? Love is brethren, the fervent love. And toward all men, even
as we do toward you to the end, that he may establish your hearts,
unblamable in holiness, Christ-likeness before God, even our Father,
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints."
Same thing. It's exactly what Peter's telling
them. Oh, the God of all grace, after you've suffered a while.
One who's called us under His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After you've suffered a while,
make it perfect. Establish, strengthen, settle
you. Verse 11, because it's all to His glory in our text. It's all to the praise of the
glory of His grace and dominion. All dominion belongs to Him. How long? Well, of His government
there's no end. Forever and ever, he said. He's
always had dominion, and he has dominion over you. And I love
how he said in Romans 6, sin shall not have dominion over
you. Why? You're not under the law, but
what? Under grace. The God of all grace. The world
won't have dominion over you? Won't overcome you? Why? You're
under the God of all grace. He has dominion over you. The
world, Satan, shall not have dominion over you. Why? Because
you belong, you've been delivered. He's led captivity captive. You're
now his mom's lair. He will not have dominion over
you. Sin shall not have dominion over you. You're not under the
law. You're under grace. Oh, what do you say to that? Amen. Amen. I like that. Now, let me read
on. When we close, he gives a wonderful parting exhortation and salutation
by Silas, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose. I've
written briefly. Silas... Simon Peter's writing to strangers.
He's writing to people that he doesn't know. to the churches
everywhere. It seems to me that Peter stayed
put, stayed pretty much there around Jerusalem, and while Paul
and Silas and Barnabas traveled everywhere. Remember? Silas was
with them everywhere. Well, Peter sent this letter
by Silas. It was the first letter. And, oh my, how do you think
Silas felt about carrying that letter to the brethren everywhere? Oh my. Same way I feel right
now reading it to you. Wonderful. Can't wait. He's a
faithful brethren unto you, as are all of God's faithful men. As I've written briefly, exhorting,
urging, testifying, declaring that brethren, this is the true
grace of God, saving grace, the grace of God, who's the God of
all grace wherein you stand. the God who's able to keep us
from falling. And you will stand someday before
Him, if you trust Christ, if you look to Christ and Christ
alone. If you say like Luther, I stand, here I stand,
I can do nothing. If you stand on the rock of Christ
Jesus, you will someday stand before Him. presented by Him
to God, unblameable, holy, unblameable, unreproachable in God's sight.
This is the true grace of God. It's not an attempt. It's not
a down payment. It's not an effort. It's not
an offer. It's salvation. And if you're
not hearing this, you're still going to stand. It's the grace
of God that will forgive you for that. Oh, everything. We're saved by grace. And read
this, verse 13, a church at Babylon. I thought, a church at Babylon?
He wrote in Revelation, what an irony this is. It's not the church
of Babylon. The church of Babylon is the
false church. But they dwelled in Babylon. They were located
over there somewhere in Iraq where Babylon is. They were right
in the middle of it. But they were the true church of God,
right where Satan's seat was. And that's what he wrote in Revelation
2, that church. I know where you dwell. You dwell
where Satan's seat is. And he said, you have honored
my name, you've kept my faith, right in the middle of all that
false religion. Right there you sit, right in
the middle of all that false religion, at Babylon. Like Daniel. Daniel was in Babylon. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were in Babylon. All those people, everybody,
the harp and the psaltery and the sackbut and all those, when
they all started sounding, everybody got in on it. Everybody! It might
be three men. We ain't going to do it. Why?
Because we believe in the God, the sovereign God of Scripture. We bow to Him and Him alone.
You don't have the same God we have. We don't worship the same
God. And we're not bowing. That really struck me, the church
at Madeline. Elected. That's the language
of scripture. That's our salvation, our reign,
that's our salvation. Elect. The elect love it. Elected together, we say. With
you, they salute you. I salute you. They do. Can't tell you people how Many
people, wherever I go and whoever I talk to, tell the brethren
hello. Tell old John Davis. How's old John Davis? The old
John Davis is fine. I can't tell you how often that
happens. Tell them. Say hello. Salute
you. And so does Marcus, my son. Marcus,
my son. You know, replace the name Marcus
there with Gabe. Okay, or somebody like that.
Salute you. Greet one another. It closes
with this exhortation. Greet one another with a kiss
of charity, true love. Oh, wow. It might be the last
time you see your brother. Old Brother Scott wrote an article
one time on some things not worth it. Some things are not worth
it. And one of the things he said
was that some arguments are not worth arguing. And some fights
are not worth fighting. And some quarrels are not worth
keeping. Some grudges are not worth having. A great one, though, with a kiss
of charity. A true kiss. Not guile. Not like
Judas. But in real sincerity. A great one. And you do. You
do. A kiss of charity. Peace. Grace and peace be with you. It starts with grace and peace. Peace made by the blood of Jesus
Christ. Grace and peace be with you all. And this is from the God of all
grace, who of God has put you in Christ Jesus. What do you
say to that? What do you say to that? Our Father in Heaven, thank You,
thank You, thank You. Our God, Thou art God. We're thankful that Thou art
God and sadly there's none else. A God of heaven and earth. A God over angels, men, and devils. A God over everything. Thou art
God over all. A God of all peace. A God of
all comfort. A God of all hope. A God of all
grace. All things are in your hand.
All things are by you, of you, through you, to you, because
of you. God of all grace. How we honor
and want to honor and glorify the grace. Oh, it's by grace
that we're saved. Every good and perfect gift,
all grace that you have done for us and sent to us and provided
us in Christ Jesus who is the grace of God personified. Thank
you, Lord. Thank you. Oh, great. And Lord,
our prayer is that you would truly perfect that which concerneth
us. David said you would. The Psalms
said you would. Your promises say you will. That
you will perform, you will finish that which you've begun in us.
Oh, Lord, cause us to grow up in Christ in all things and be
like Him. To glorify Thee as He did, to
love our brother as He did, to lay down our lives as He did.
Oh Lord, to give ourselves for Thy cause and for Thy people
as He did. Oh, cause us to grow up and be
not little children, immature, but rather like Christ, a perfect
man, a perfect woman. Establish us, Lord. Plant us
firmly on Christ the solid rock. Strengthen us, O Lord. Give us
grace to strengthen that. Give us Thy Word. Give us Thy
Spirit to hold us up. Settle us, Lord. Let us not be
unsettled, troubled, and full of doubts and fear, but settle.
Settle. Settle our hearts. Fix our hearts,
we pray. O God of all grace, we give You
all the glory because all the Glory and dominion is thine forever
and ever. In Christ's name, amen.