All right, go with me to Matthew. Chapter 23 now. Matthew 23. And I. I'm quite sure you remember
in Chapter 22 how. The Herodians and the Sadducees
and then the Pharisees and then a lawyer and others began to.
question the Lord, ask various hypothetical and foolish questions,
and how our Lord put them to silence with the question of
his own. And I'm sure you remember that. Well, after dealing with those
fellows, here in chapter 23, it says in
verse 1, And I believe perhaps most of
those fellows left like they did when the Lord stooped down,
you know, and wrote in the sand about that adulterous woman. Some stayed around. And it says,
Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples. His disciples were always with
him. That's why we have this account
they they wrote down. Everything well all the. But. There was always a mixed
multitude when the Lord's faith. Then and now. The Lord is still
speaking this is still his word is it not. And if the Holy Spirit
is present he's speaking. It never returns void, isn't
that what the Lord says? My word will never return void. So this is his word, the living
word, the word of life. And there's always a mixed multitude
when the Lord's word goes forth, then and now. Even our group
here tonight is a mixed multitude. Always has been, always will
be, wheat and tares. Sheep and goats faithful and
those who do not abide faithful but leave. And the fact of the
matter is he that is of God heareth God's word they will hear they
will receive they will believe and they will act upon it. Now the Lord first warns the
people and his disciples. of these religious hypocrites
called scribes and Pharisees. They were very necessary back
then because there were a lot of. There were a lot of scribes
and Pharisees were. Hypocrites. He he always every
time he mentions them he says hypocrites and. John called them
vipers. And bite you sneak up and bite
you. And I believe well I know for
fact that there are more now than there were then. So it's
doubly important to be warned, is it not? And our Lord warns
of these hypocrites, called scribes and Pharisees. He denounces their
evil practices, as the apostles did always, and the apostles
and their epistles. Then he instructs his disciples
which were his preachers, his apostles. But you're a disciple. And he instructs them what not
to call these people, these fellows. And he instructs them what titles
not to be called themselves, not to take his title. And then
the Lord focuses on what they are, really. That they're really
not something great and something special, but they're servants
like him. Like him. All right, let's look
at it. Verse two, he says the scribes.
Now, first he warns. He said the scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. They sit in the place of authority.
They sit in a place of leadership. There were priests. There was
a high priest then. It was still That was still God
ordained, was it not? A high priest. Though religion
had so corrupted, I don't think they were sacrificing lambs at
all at this time. I don't think so. But until our Lord made that
great sacrifice on Calvary, there was supposed to be a high priest,
right? And then when he did that, he took away the first and took
away all that. But anyway there were these men
who sat in the place of leadership and prominence and and and someone
has to don't. Someone have to leave. But most of the time the one
who's the most qualified well actually and what the Lord says
here the one most qualified is certainly the most humble. And most of the time he is the
one who's the most reluctant. Like Moses. And look Moses was
arguably the greatest man used of God in the Old Testament.
And I believe it was possible in the news. And that's fitting
because Moses did not want the job he did not fly for it he
didn't want it. And he was reluctant when it
called to do it he said please call anybody but me. He said
I can't speak never have been able to speak that I've been
watching sheep for years. That's a pretty good way to that's
pretty good training. To be a pastor in Africa. Anyway. These fellas sat in that position
and they coveted that they wanted it they thought they were worthy
of it and they let everybody know. You don't want something
whatever happens to me, folks, you don't want somebody that's
just real anxious to take this job. You understand me? And something may happen to me. It could tomorrow. And I wish
you would ask me who I can recommend right now for it before I'm gone.
I could give you some hard recommendation. Men after my own heart and men
who would have you in their heart. Ask me. Ask me. Anyway, because it could happen.
All right? Brother Jack Shanks just resigned
as pastor down there. Folks need a pastor. Well, anyway,
these fellas sat in Moses' seat, and they thought they belonged
there. And our Lord said in verse 3,
All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe
and do. They sat in Moses' seat. They
read the Law of Moses, didn't they? They practiced to some
degree, I guess, the laws and rituals and ceremonies and so
forth. They were handed down in God's Word to some degree.
At least they read the Word. He said, whatever they bid you
observe, that observe and do. It's God's word and whatever
is written in God's word, no matter who reads it, it's God's
word. I believe the Lord makes all
men accountable everywhere for what they're hearing from God's
word. I don't believe the Lord. Well, I know he doesn't use false
prophets in any way, but the word sometimes goes out from
a false prophet, not to the salvation of the people that hear it, but
to their condemnation. So no matter who the what the
man is or who the man is it's God's word and people are accountable.
Paul said this one time he said we can do nothing against the
truth. No matter who what the man does or what he his error
will fall or whatever David fall whoever is still true and you
can't change the truth truth that change old man is a sinner
and battle right it's God's infallible work are you with So, you know, does the word of
God depend on me? No. Your faith? It better not,
or you'll be greatly disappointed. So, you know, we got that old
saying, I believe, do as they say, but don't do as they do. That's what the Lord said. We
got that from him right here. It says in verse three, he said,
do not ye after their works, do what they say. It's from God's
Word. But don't do what they do. So
they say, and do not. The Lord says this often about
hypocrites, and that pretty much sums up the hypocrite. He's all
talk and no walk. Big talk. Smooth talk. Smooth
words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Don't
let it deceive you. Words, words, words. Don't do
it. Don't be deceived by that. Our
Lord said, They say, and they don't do. Our Lord said it, and
He did it. He truly practiced what He preached. All right, verse 4. He said,
They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's
shoulders. Bind heavy burdens. Oh, how many people throughout
this world are under heavy burdens laid upon them by religious leaders? Huh? In our little community,
you look around you and you see people that are literally bound,
literally, physically bound by traditions handed down by these
false elders and these corrupt men who glory in their flesh. Paul said to the Galatians, who
just loved to hand down rules. Our Lord pitied the people. Our Lord pitied the people. But
He had, He blamed and denounced the leaders, didn't He? The religious
leaders. And so should we. With the mind of Christ, we should
pity the people, the blind followers. But not the blind leader. Not the blind leader. And we're to denounce their evil
ways and call their hand. Verse 5, well, verse 4, he says
that they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Verse 5, and all their works
they do for to be seen of men. Now, folks, Our Lord said, all
their work. That's a broad statement, isn't
it? That's what he said. Our Lord was never given to figure,
giving figures of speech. All their work. Behind it, a
hypocrite, everything he does behind it is to be seen. Go to
Matthew 6 with me. Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter
six, do you remember this? We studied this sometime back,
but it's well known to you. Our Lord tells his disciples,
and here's another instance when he preached to a vast multitude,
sermon on a mount, yet this was directed to his disciples. His disciples, because he kept
calling your father, which is in heaven, your father. Now that's
the people of God. Children of God. But all heard
it, so all were accountable. But who benefited from it? Who
learned it? Who heard it? Who believed it?
His disciples. The Lord knows. The Lord knows. Verse 1, he says, Take heed. When you take heed, that means
sit up, pay attention, be careful. It means be careful. That is,
do what you need to do. That you do not your own before
man to be seen. Now, why does our Lord say that?
Because pride is our. Our most besetting sin. It. Flesh. Pride of life. Lust of
the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Pride. Man is a proud creature. We still
got a lot of it in us. And this whole thing, this whole
thing of discipleship and salvation is about bringing us down, humbling
us, because he that is humbled will be exalted. And he said,
James said, Humble yourself before God. And our Lord says the same
thing. But pride is so rooted in us. And everything our Lord does
to us, everything in this life is to this end, Barbara, to humble
us. And it's not it doesn't always
feel good and always not the way we want it, but it's good.
Just all. But the proud will be amazed. Pride of man will be brought
down and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. That's
what that's what worship is all about. All flesh being brought
down into the dust and the Lord alone being glorified for a double
L all things. All things. He gets all the glory. So he
says, you take heed. If you do not, you'll all be
seen of men. Because that's what hypocrites
do. Go back to our text. That's what they do. To be seen.
To be seen. And whatever you see religious
people doing publicly, that's what they do. That's why we will never, ever
take part in these things. We give to charity. Don't we,
Dan? We give to causes. And you can
look on our financial report and see some various causes that
we give to. I'm not going to say, because
it'll go out over the airway. But you know, we know. It's private
matter. But we don't publish it. But
you look in the paper and see. They do it all the time. In such
a place, gave so much money to whatever, to these saints, that's
why. Read on verse 5, it says, They make broad their phylactery,
and enlarge the borders of their garments. Phylactery were scripture
verses worn on their person. Our Lord never told them to do
this. Our Lord When he says, let these
things be the word of God, be as a front look to your eyes
and on your hands, what he meant was in your mind, let it be imprinted
on your mind and put it to action. in your work you never met them
to wear these things or by the sea that they believe God's word
that's what they literally did I literally did that they were
scripture verses rolled up in leather pouches and I strapped
them to their head and if you knew a lot of scripture you made
your platter even bigger. Honestly. If you'll see some
Jews, Orthodox Jews today, you'll see them with this funny looking
thing on their head, it's a phylactery. Right here, big box on their
ribs, it's a phylactery. According to how pious you are
and how big your phylactery is. Our Lord never did that. He's
the walking, He is the Word. And God's people have the Word
hidden in their heart, don't they? And our Lord said to these fellows
who had these big ol' phylacteries on the front of their heads,
he said, you do err in not knowing the scriptures. Where does it say that? You know
where the power of God. And it says they made broad the
borders of their garments. They kept lengthening these hems
on their garments. Religious clothing to distinguish
them from common folk. and the like today the like we
see today would be things like a clerical collar you know. Just
a common old priest. Man these dudes. Isaiah warned about dogs over
and As a fifty where six he said that right now. Yeah as a fifty
six ten he talks about he talks about these fellows are supposed
to be God's preacher prophet but they're dumbed down the day. And I hope this does go out over
the Internet. I hope it will be day. You see those initials. And Paul warned in Philippians
3, he said, you beware of dogs. If you see one coming with a
collar on him, the ones with a collar are the worst kind.
That's why they wear them. So you'll know they're a man
of God. And they put it on the back of their car so they can
have a free parking space at the hospital. Honestly, look
at me. Aren't I something? You're the
lowest of the low in God's sight. A stench in his nostrils. That's
what he said. Clerical collars. Religious robes. Hats. Fish hats. Or for that
matter, fish signs on your car. Right beside us, a picture of
Dale Earnhardt's name. Isn't that the height of hypocrisy?
Here's a fish. I love Jesus. And over here,
I love Dale Earnhardt. I love them both the same. Right. You see it all the time. These things deserve to be made
fun of. Our Lord did. Jewelry. You see rock stars with crosses
around their neck. So on and so forth. And it's
all to be seen. Right. Is there ever a time when this
is OK? No. No. Do we take the Lord's word
do we take him for what he said or not. Is it right. Peter said ought
we obey God or me. When he says make no graven images
what that means a statue or anything. Picture anything not make no
graven image who should we obey God or me. Our Lord said don't make anything
of anything in heaven. Who's that? Jesus Christ. Or
on earth. Fish, a cross or whatever. Don't
do it. The only reason people do that is to be seen. Who do we want to see us? And far from being a testimony,
some people use the lame excuse was a testimony. How old people
know you're a Christian? What are you talking about? How old people know you're a
Christian? Act like one. So the Lord is telling us, beware
of them. Don't you wear anything? Don't you do anything? Don't
you say, talk any way or whatever to make you appear to be religious.
That's important. What you say what about Sunday
dress well there's a difference is there not between respectful
clothing and clothing to be seen. Religious clothing to be seen.
In verse six he says they love the uppermost rooms at the feast
and chief seats in the synagogues they live that love the places
of prominence. Places of prominence. You'll notice here that I have
to ask me to come up here and sit with me if they're going
to read the script. They ought to know by now that they're going
to, but every time they run to their seat, I don't know what
to think. I guess they think I forgot about it or something.
No, I'm serious. I'm being serious. I'm telling
you, I'm showing you, I'm giving you an illustration here of truly
humble people. They don't want to, I don't want
to be up here. I don't want to stand up here all the time. And. You know, when you see my pastor,
when he comes here, he doesn't run up here. I have to ask him
to come up here or any business, right? Can you not tell the difference
between. The true and the false, these are ways that, you know,
our Lord is telling us to. Watch, watch. I love these states
of prominence verse seven and they love greetings in the market
and be called a man rabbi rabbi. Greetings in the market rabbi
run turn with me to Psalm one eleven real quick Psalm one eleven.
Nobody today is called rabbi except the Jewish. Hucksters. But a lot of fellowship and. Fellows and felines or whatever
women. call themselves by Reverend. Oh, how that's used and abused
and misused. When is it good to use that? Never. I'll show you why. Psalm 111, verse 9. He sent, who? God. Christ sent redemption unto his
people. Christ is the Redeemer that God
sent unto his people. He hath commanded his covenant
forever. Holy and reverend is his name. And I take that quite literally. There's but one reverend, and
his name is Jesus Christ. Whoever means to revere In the
sense of awe. We're not to fear any man in
that way. To be in awe of any man, huh?
No. Revere in awe. Respect, yes. Honor, yes. But not in the sense
of reverence. Holy and reverent is his name. His name. Go back to the text. You see, we do what we do and
say what we say. According to God's word, according
to God's word. I want to be just as narrow as
God is, don't you? I want to be right. Well, Gabe would tell me about
a man that came into his music store. He introduced himself as Reverend
So-and-so. And Gabe said, well, Mr. So-and-so
is nice to me. He said, no, no. Didn't he correct
you? He said, my name is Reverend So-and-so. And Gabe wouldn't
admit it. And he kept correcting him. My name is Reverend. He kept
insisting. It's not funny at all. It's like
for Gabe. And you know there's a man here
in town who runs a demonstration out of here on Main Street. I've
been doing business with him ever since I came here. Everybody
knows him. And he likes me. And I like him.
And he's called me Reverend from day... And I told him, I said,
Clint, well, I said, don't, don't, don't call me that. Don't call,
just call me Paul, OK? But he can't, he won't. I guess
you've been brought up that way and he means he doesn't mean
it. I've been called Reverend by a neighbor before. He really
didn't mean it nicely at all. He's in derogatory sense. But
he means it in respect. He's just going to keep calling
me that. So, but, you know, I'm ignorant
about that. But boy, what if I insisted upon
it? Verse eight, the Lord said, Be
not ye called rabbi, one is your master, even Christ. Oh, ye. Now, he's talking to
his disciples, isn't he? You're all brethren. You read that? Or Peter said,
Our beloved brother Paul wrote something. He didn't call him
Reverend Paul, did he? One is your master, the great
teacher. Above all. Overall, for all Christ
himself, and so what does this say? Look, we're going down and
call no man your father upon the earth. Does that mean I'm
not supposed to call my earthly father father? Take it in context
here, OK? The Lord calls men fathers throughout
the scriptures, doesn't it? They were buried with their fathers.
Abraham was the father and so forth. You know it's not saying
that. He's talking about religious leaders here, OK? Scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, religious leader. Don't call any religious fellow
father. Now, who would take such a title?
But an imposter. Father, so-and-so, padre, so-and-so,
friar, so-and-so. That man's a liar, a hypocrite,
a Pharisee, right? Doesn't know God's Word. He erred,
not knowing God's Word, the power of God, the wrath of God. Call
an old man a rabbi. Call an old man your father.
One is your father. We've got a holy father, all
right. He's not in Rome. He's in heaven. All men someday are going to
find out just how unholy that dude is in Rome. He's of the
spirit of antichrist. All of them have been. We have a holy father, all right. That's who we call father. Neither
be called masters. What man would take this degree
of master of divinity? What man could possibly? Stan,
would you tell me? And I wish somebody would hear
this who has one of these pieces of paper behind his name. What
man could possibly take that title to himself and call himself
a man of God? Huh, Stan? Who? In their right
mind. To another mind of Christ, he
hadn't read what Christ said here in Matthew 23. You mean to tell me, mister,
you're a master of divinity? Didn't our Lord say that to Nicodemus,
huh? Didn't he say that to Nicodemus
in John chapter 3? So you mean you're a master in Israel? He
don't need to know the first thing about salvation? He's got
to be born from above? You're a master of divinity and
you still think man has a free will? You need to learn all over
again. You need to sit as a pupil. You ain't no master. Masters ought to do it. Got God
mastered. This stuff deserves to be exposed,
doesn't it? That's what our Lord's doing,
and that's what I'm doing to you. You know these things. Some of you may not. Some of
you may not. I'm sure there's some that don't.
I've never seen this before. One is your master, Christ. What about Doctor of Divinity?
That's worse. I ran into one of those creatures the other day at the Sheetz. Doctor it was I came real close
to. You should have said what's up
doc. Doctor of Divinity. Now I have known I have books
by men that I respect in my library who have that designation. But
they were still wrong. Though we are an angel from heaven. Say it. He's wrong. Right? No matter who it was. No matter who we respect. He
has that designation behind his name. He's wrong. He's taken
some glory. so that men will know he has
some credentials. Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
He said, do we need letters of commendation as some men need?
Remember that? He said, do we need credentials?
He said, you're our epistle written on the heart. Oh, but it'll open doors. It
will open doors. You don't want a door open that
it opens. You want doors open that God
opens. None of the apostles had any
of these predictions. Zero. His treasure is in earthen, very
common earthen vessel, that the excellency of the power may be
of God and not of man. You see, we've got one great
physician, one who can heal souls. No man is a doctor of souls.
Jesus Christ is. He's the great physician. You
know, here's all the truth. Paul wrote to to the best moment, he said what
preachers really are are practical nurses. Not registered, mind
you. Practical nurses. Practical nurses
are the ones that empty their pants and stuff, right? Clean
up and stuff. Servants. Practical nurses. That's what
Paul said. He said, as a nurse's general, We were gentlemen, not a doctor. Every letter Paul wrote, he signed
it, Paul. Not Father, Reverend, Doctor. God's true preachers are just
practical nurses. Verse 9, it says, Call no man
your father. One is your father, neither be
called master. One is your master. But now,
here it is. He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. He that is greatest among you
shall be your servant. And I'm going to close with this. Go with me quickly to Philippians
2, and I'll quit with this. Well we'll go back to the last
verse and I'll quit, but Philippians 2. Our Lord says. Our Lord says do not call men
rabbi, reverend, teacher, doctor, father and so forth. Because
there's but one person who deserves all titles and all recognition
and that's him. That's him he's our father he's
our rabbi master teacher Lord Reverend what about pastor. Well. He in the scriptures it says
gave some apostles some are some prophets some apostles some evangelists
some pastors and teachers he didn't expressly forbid that
here although. Any man insists on being called.
On. And I never will go. I never will be comfortable I hear
people talk about their pastor and every time they say that
I. Cringe I really do. Our Lord really is the great
bishop. Bishop means a shepherd under shepherd and it's a biblical
term but our Lord really is the great. Shepherd. He doesn't expressly permit it,
and some do it out of respect, but I don't know. I might rather
prefer you just call me Brother Paul. We're his servants. He's the
one who gets all the preeminence. That's why. Oh, Elihu said, don't
give me flattering titles. Remember that? Over in Job 32.
Don't give me flattering titles. I take away from my Lord's glory.
Oh, no. Philippians 2, here's the one
who deserves the names and titles and recognition above every other,
because why? Look at this. Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians. I hadn't found it yet. OK. Philippians
2. He says, verse 3, Let nothing
be done through strife or vain glory. That is for your own vain
glory. It's for yourself, your glory.
It's vain. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better
than himself. Look not every man on his own
thing, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who Christ Jesus,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a serpent. That time, you know, when the
Lord took out that basin of water and that towel and started washing
their feet. And he didn't do that for show. Those fellows wore sandals walking
through the hot they needed their feet washed and he did it but
and he could do what he did as an illustration without it being. You know. Bangalore we can. But he did but the disciple Peter
Especially said, Lord, don't watch my feet. Remember that? Oh, Peter thought the Lord had
so degraded himself. Peter, you haven't seen anything
yet. Scripture says in Hebrews twelve
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross
and despised the shame. He went lower than washing feet.
He went to Calvary and stripped stark naked. Before the eyes
of a jeering, taunting multitude of people and thought nothing
of it. Why? He's our servant. serving
our salvation, serving God's will and purpose, serving his
people. If he didn't become the lowest
of the low, we can't be brought high. If he didn't come down
upon this stone hill, we can't be raised to sit among princes. If he doesn't wash our feet,
We have no part in it. He's a servant, a suffering servant. It says, by your Lord and Master. What is he doing? So he says
in our text, he said, he that is greatest among you should
be your servant. Think back to the men who truly
have been the greatest, in our estimation anyway, and certainly
in God's. They're the ones who were the
greatest servants of all, like Moses. Like Apostle Paul, right? Apostle Paul. And our Lord says in verse 12,
Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. He that shall
humble himself shall be exalted. This thing of service, our Lord
taught this over and over again. True happiness, listen very carefully,
and then close on this. True happiness is in serving
others. Our Lord says for the joy, said
the Lord. It was a joy for him to do that. To serve God in whatever capacity,
the lowest, most horrible death, and to save his people. Please
the Lord to make you his people. To go through that, it was nothing. And true happiness is in serving
others. If you live for yourself, That
makes you selfish, doesn't it? And self is impossible to make
happy. If you live for yourself, you
will try to make yourself happy, and you're not going to do it. God's not going to let you. You're
going to be a miserable person. If you live for yourself, you
probably will die by yourself. And you'll be miserable. Our Lord said he is more blessed,
that means happy, to give than to receive. Isn't it? That's
the great blessing he said, to give than to receive. Let this
mind be in you. And there are some in here, several,
who have, I believe, learned this blessed truth. Not that
we, not that you don't need to learn more. But there's some
who've learned this. You know who they are. I'm going
to call names. I'm going to call some names. God has blessed these
people, I believe spiritually and materially, that he said
he would. And Paul in Romans 16 called
a lot of names, didn't he? Read it for yourself. He said,
Salute Phoebus, Salute so-and-so, Salute, Salute, Salute. The pops. Nobody in here wants me to mention
their names. The talks have just been reached
out so much, so hospitable, so charitable, astonishing. Anderson, Bannon, Davidson, fed many a saint, Irene fed many
a saint. The Barrys are always willing
to house any guest that comes in and fight over them. I don't. And there are others and. I mean
the slide anybody but those are some particular examples of folks
who. Like the house of stiffness addicted
themselves to serving giving. And I wish all were like that
because they're the blessed one. And the greatest and the king. And what we have what we own
we have received The Lord gave it to her. He said, freely you
have received, freely give. What has been given to us is
not for us, it's to you. That's why he gave it to her.
That's what our homes are for. That's what we're for. Do you
think Lydia, Lydia kept Paul and Timothy and Silas every time
they came around? Let me ask you who was most,
I'm just quite sure Lydia cooked like Irene did. I'm just quite sure of it. And
Paul and Timothy and Titus and Silas, they just really looked
forward to going to Lydia's house. John and Irene, you asked, can
you come over for Sunday? Can I come over? I'll be there
early. I know where it's spread. Another place. But Paul and Silas,
they were blessed, weren't they, being in that house by that blessed
woman, Lydia. Who do you reckon was most blessed? Sitting there
listening to Apostle Paul and Silas and Timothy? Or what about
Peter's wife? Keeping the Lord himself. Who's
blessed? And you're not going to out give
the Lord. You're not going to be without. Not going to be without. No sir. No sir. Really giving you houses and
lands and this and that food and all of that now distributed. You know that I'll give you more.
I'll fill your sack up. Overflowing. Count on it. It's
more blessed to give. Servant. Servant. That's what
this is all about. That's what it's all about. I
would tell, and soon, Lord willing, soon I'm bound and determined
for what that's worth to do a study on child raising for the sake
of our young parents and parents to be. And I've been talking about this,
thinking about it, praying about it. One of the first lessons
I believe we're going to have to look at is that children don't,
that our homes in this world don't exist to serve children,
to make them happy. The whole world doesn't revolve
around me. My dad and mom don't live for
me. There's a lot of other people
involved. And God's created us for his glory and the service
of his kingdom. That's why he saved us. That's
why we're in it. Members of the body all these
members. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word. It is truly Your Word, and we see the wisdom of it and
feel the power of it. We are convicted by it or convinced
of it. Lord, we are blessed by it. We were proved, rebuked, instructed,
corrected, all these things that you said your word would do.
We feel it, not as we would like, no. Lord, so again we ask that
you would not let the boughs of the air take it away and thorns
choke it out. Lord, let it take root. Make
us your servants, we pray. And how we serve you is to serve
your body. Thou art in heaven. We can do nothing for thee. You
need nothing from us. We serve thy body. So Lord, make
us servants as you did us. Let us learn from thee, our great,
not only our great substitute, but our great example. We want
to be Christ-like in every way. The mind of Christ in us. Make
us servants, we pray. It's in Christ's name we are
met here tonight. Amen. You're dismissed.