I hope and say, Christ is solid
as can be. His faith, He says, when
He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found. Okay, go back to Matthew 12 with
me. Thank you, Sherry. Matthew 12. Throughout these verses, the
Lord is giving some dire warnings to us because these things are
written for our sake, for our learning. And he, as you noted, gives strict
condemnation of the Pharisees or mere religious professors,
mere professors of religion. He warns us, and the Scriptures
are full of warnings to us and instructions to us to give diligence
and make your calling and election sure. Let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed, lest he fall. On and on he goes. And look at
verses like this again. Verse 30, he said, He that is
not with me is against me. He that gathereth not with me
scattereth abroad. You remember looking at that? How one can be passively against
Christ. Indifference is to be not with
him. Verse 36, he says, Every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment. People do a lot of talking, so
this is especially concerning religion. So that should put
a watch over our lips. Verse thirty-nine, he says, An
evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. No sign
shall be given. And then to a Unrepentant people,
verse 41, he said, men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this
generation, for they repented. They repented at the preaching
of Jonah. So that's to an unrepentant people.
And then to those who make excuses, and there are many. We're going
to see that, I believe, later on in the Gospel of Matthew,
how many make various excuses for not following him, and none
of them more valid. And he used the Queen of Sheba
as an example to those who make these lame excuses for not following
Christ, not total commitment to the Lord. from the uttermost parts of the
earth to see a mere man. And behold, they are much greater
than Solomon here. And it is a fact. Our Lord said,
where two or three are gathered, I am there. So, that's just not
theoretical, that's actuality. And in verse forty-three, he
gives this illustration in context. along with what he's been saying.
You may not see how it ties in, but I think you will. Verse 43,
he says, When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh
through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. The unclean
spirit goes out. Now, he's been talking about
professors of religion. He's been talking about, he's
been dealing with people that claim to do the work of God,
but really, he said, they're blaspheming, sinning against
the Holy Spirit. Apostasy. We looked at that,
didn't we? Apostasy. And so he says, as illustration,
those people have an unclean spirit in them. And Satan is
that unclean spirit. We've seen very clearly, I think,
how that if, unless the Holy Spirit dwells in someone, then
another spirit doesn't. Right? And Satan is that one. He said, Paul wrote to Timothy,
he said, preach this gospel that perhaps They may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him
at his will. Captives of Satan, whether they
know it or not. And unless Christ leaves captivity
captive, that means unless he comes a stronger than he, and
redeemed rescued regenerate a person from the grips of Satan, that
unclean spirit, then he dwells there. But it says here he goes
out. It doesn't say he's cast out. You
see the difference? He goes out. He just comes and
goes. You remember when Satan reported
to the Lord there in Job chapter one? And the Lord was mocking
him, said, Where have you been? He said, I've walked him to and
fro throughout the earth, trying to do, as our Lord said, seeking
whom he may devour. So he goes to and fro. He has
that leave. He has a little season. The Revelation
talks about Satan's little season in the earth. And he's not cast out. Remember the
story in the same chapter of the deaf and of the dumb. Blind
and dumb, which was blind and dumb, and the Lord cast out the
demon. He said, if I, by the Spirit
of God, do cast out the devil, well, this devil goes out and
comes back. And what happens when he goes
out? He finds the room. Look at it, verse 44. I said,
I'll return to my house from which I came out. And when he's
come, he findeth it empty, swept, cleaned of, and even decorated. You clearly see what that means.
That's a person who merely gets religion. Satan resides in them. Christ doesn't. It's empty. If Christ is not there, that
person is empty. In Him dwelleth all the what?
Fullness. And of His fullness have we received. And Christ indwells a person
there full of Christ, full of His Spirit. And so this unclean
spirit comes back at his will and finds the place where he
was empty. And that's all religion is. Many
of you have been there. Christless religion is empty. But it's swept. Clean up, you
know. Get rid of this, get rid of that.
A lot of bad habits swept away. And garnished, decorated, looking
real fine. That was you wasn't it John?
Until Christ came and so many of them. So in verse 45 it says,
Then go with he, still talking about Satan and this Christless
person, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked
than himself. And they enter in and they take
up residence for good. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. That's dire warning of it, dire
warning. Peter, this verse is just so, what would
you turn with in 2 Peter chapter 2, 2 Peter 2, this is,
needs to be. looked at over and over again,
all of us. Verse 19 and following says,
talking about these false prophets, promise people liberty. See,
they are ministers of Satan, aren't they? They're ministers
of Satan. That's what he said there in the same chapter. But they promise liberty, freedom
from these things, and they themselves are the servants of this corruption. Of whom a man is overcome of
the same as he brought in bondage. If after they have escaped the
pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, verse
twenty, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the
beginning. But that is someone who seems
to have made a real change through hearing the gospel and yet they
turn out to be apostate. Verse twenty-one he says, It'd
been better for them not to have known the way of life, better
not to have ever heard the gospel, than after they'd known it to
turn from it. And it's happened unto them,
according to the true proverb, the dog has turned his own vomit. I don't know. Lord, impress that
upon them, all of them. That's for us, because we're
here tonight. And back in our text, the Lord
says, even so, verse forty-five, shall it be also. unto this wicked
generation. That's the way it is, he says,
with this wicked generation. There's so many religious professors,
but that's all they are. Christ sure knew, didn't he?
He knew who he was, whose were his own. The foundation of God
is saying that sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that
are his, and that every one that professes or confesses Christ
depart from him. That's the rest of that. So we
need to hear that. Seven other spirits. What are
these seven other spirits? Well, some of the works of the
flesh may be swept away. People can quit bad habits. Yeah,
they can. I did. I did quit some bad habits. I knew if I wanted to get a good
job and all that, I was just going to have to straighten up
a little bit. Good sense will tell you that.
So some of these things may be swept away, but when a person
gets religion only, then he brings in Christ's seven other spirits. And I'm not sure what all those
represent, but I know these things do self-righteousness. Self-righteousness comes in.
God's people are not self-righteous. But that describes religious
people. Self-righteous. That's the reason they hate the
gospel. Because the gospel is not for righteous people. It's
for sinners. Pride. Pride of whatever. Especially their religion, their
confession, their profession. Self-deceit. self-deceit. The demon of self-deceit. Can
a person deceive themselves? Oh, yes. The heart is deceitful
above all things. That's for the wicked. Who can
know it? Self-deceit. People actually believe that
they're, you know, God's people and so forth. They really do.
I hate the gospel, Teresa. It's actually illegal. Legalism. Hypocrisy. Hardness of heart. On and on.
Blasphemy. of the Spirit. But now, he says, the last day
is worse than the first. So let's go on. He says, And so shall it be with this
wicked generation. That's the way it is, the way
it always has been, the way it always will be. And I bring again
to your attention what our Lord said about when He comes. Will
He find faith in you? That's how serious it is. There
shall be Satan shall not come, except there be a falling away
first. Now, that's not talking about
the world in general. That's talking about apostate
church. Can it happen to us? Absolutely
not. What's our hope? Hold the beginning of your confidence
steadfast in Him. To be held and to hold on, both. Be preserved and persevere. Like
Mother Bruce Crabtree coined it, perseverance. Perseverance
of the saints. It's our hope. That He holds
us and we hang on and hold on to Him. That's how we know He
holds us. We're laying hold and won't let
go. If we go out, person goes out,
they were never up. If they had been up, no doubt
would have stayed with them, no doubt. But that it might be
made manifest. And the latter end is what? Well,
all right, now what is the connection here? Verse 46, while he yet
talked, while he was talking, while he was speaking, his mother
and his brother interrupted it or sent somebody to say something
to him. While he had talked to the people,
behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak
with him, and one came in to him. I have to astound to me
that somebody, well, it astounds me that she did that and they
did that and that someone would disturb the Lord as he was speaking.
But I do, I think I know why. But they came in, this person,
messenger, and said, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand
without, desiring to speak with thee. Now, why did this happen? They, as I said, they actually
disturbed the Lord as He was speaking. Why did this happen?
Well, we know who caused this to happen. The Lord reigned it. This is
all according to his purpose, wasn't it? This happened according
to his purpose. I believe it's for the purpose of illustration,
and certainly for our learning. And he said there in verse forty-eight,
he answered his messenger and said unto him that told him,
Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? All right, go back with me to chapter
ten. It amazes me the, what's the word, the cohesiveness
of how all of God's Word is so perfectly joined together. If
we had the understanding, if we could see, we would see how
that He, it all goes together. And everything He said before
that, He illustrates Himself. He truly practiced what He preached. He walked what he taught. Look at chapter ten, he says
here in chapter ten, verse thirty-seven, he that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. Do you remember him saying
that? Now, Rob, here comes his mother. What's he going to do? Now, in this crowd, he was speaking
to the people, it said, back in the day. He said, while he
had talked to the people. It was a mixed crowd. There weren't
just Pharisees there. As every crowd has Pharisees
and scribes and the common people, and nearly every crowd has wheat
and tares, believers, non-believers. So there were some of his people
there. And here comes his mother. Our
Lord proves what he said before. Look, go back there again. I
didn't mean to turn. Verse 35, he said, I have come
to set a man at variance against his father and a daughter against
her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother, and mother-daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. A man's foes shall be those of
his own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of marriage. Our Lord did not prefer
flesh and blood. over God's family, over the house
of God, over worship, and so forth. He granted no special
privileges to his supposed earthly family. He granted no exemptions. Why weren't they in there listening
to him? Why didn't they just come sit and listen, sit and
speak? Well, this happened for a reason,
to illustrate what he said. Our Lord preferred God's people
over his flesh and blood family. Didn't he? I've pointed out to you before
how that no one could have loved an earthly mother more than him.
Nobody. No son was more dutiful than
him. No way. He loved that woman more
than any son had ever loved a mother. Although she, Irene, she really
wasn't his mother. But he loved her. And his brother,
James. But yet, when it came to this
issue of being a respecter of persons,
God is no respecter of persons. Christ proved that. He proved
that. And this is a real test for us
in the context of a profession of religion. You see this? Are
you with me? In the context of those who make
a profession that are empty, Christy. This is a test. Here comes your family. And Satan uses family. Oh, yes, he does. He used Sarah
against Abraham. Oh, what a horrible, horrible
thing she got Abraham into. He's just as good. Michael, David's
first wife, she was an unbeliever. She mocked him. Job's wife, remember? She said, why don't you just
curse God? He said, you talk like a foolish
woman. She was. And on and on it goes, even Peter,
the Lord even used Peter, remember? Satan entered Peter according
to the Lord's purpose. And Peter tried to rebuke the
Lord, tried to get him from going to the cross. That's Satan's
grand design, trying to keep us from going to the cross, looking
to cry. But in the context of this thing
of apostasy, There's nothing stronger than blood relations,
except the Spirit of God. And this is the thing. There
is nothing stronger than blood, blood relations. You know that's
up. Except the Spirit of God. and it's real. Someone who truly,
can truly forsake all others, even family, for Christ, that
person loves Jesus Christ. Is that right? Absolutely. It's marriage is what it is.
Paul said that, and he said, it's a mystery, this thing of
marriage. A man shall leave his father and mother and leave to
his wife. He said, but I speak of mystery. I speak of Christ
in the church. It's a marriage. When I married this woman over
here, she wasn't a woman then. She was a young girl. Man, I'm
blind. I'm blind. Oh, we were young babies, weren't we?
But when I married her, I forgot about my family. I really did. And there were times when I took
up for her against my family. Right or wrong? That was wrong. But that's the way it is. That's commitment. That's love,
isn't it? Someone who can truly forsake all others, especially
blood relations, for Christ, they really love Christ. They
really do. And one who truly esteems the
saints, God's people, as his or her family, that's the Son
of God. As he is, so are we. Now, I was thinking about my
earthly brother just the other day. I rarely think about him. I have no dealings with him.
He's all I got left, all of the earthly siblings that I've got
left. That's it. I absolutely have nothing for
him, nor he me. Not that I don't love him. I'm
concerned about him. But we're daylight and dark.
He hates my gospel. And my gospel hates him. Now, I don't want to be around
him. Is that too hard? Honestly, I could care less if
I ever see him. I mean, And I'd like to think that that's
God's doing, you know. Because there's nothing stronger
than God, except the Spirit of God. Only one thing will make
that daughter go against her mother and choose God's people
over her mother, and that's the Spirit of God. And can you ask yourself this question? And what we are faced with that
our Lord was faced with it wasn't a very it wasn't a in all situation,
but it was just one seemingly little situation. She came to disturb him from
being with God's people worshipping. And that's when he had to make
a choice didn't he? Now Barnard, oh Barnard. One time he was talking to a
lady, he was holding a meeting somewhere, and a lady missed
service on Sunday and was there, I don't know when it was, that
night or the next day, and said to him, came up, apologized and
said, Brother Barnard, I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday. And she said, but my aunt so-and-so
came to visit. And Barnard looked around and
there was a bunch of people standing there. And he said, doesn't anybody
around here have relatives that go to church? Doesn't anybody have relatives
that love the Lord? Why do they always come on the
Lord's day? Is that coincidence? And we have very few opportunities
in this life to actually illustrate I mean, do what we say. We talk a lot to our relatives,
say a lot, but actions, as far as we're concerned, speak louder
than words. And there are very few opportunities
for us to show our absolute commitment to Christ and His people before
our earthly family, except when they come for a visit. And there's a choice. Or visit Auntie June? Lots of people have no choice. All relations are going to end
someday. Every single blood relation will end. Isn't that right, son? Except this right here. That man is going to be my brother
for eternity. My earthly brother, if the Lord
doesn't save him, I won't say amen to his. That's hard to believe in. Your
mother and your father, you won't think of them then as your mother
and father. You'll think of them as somebody
that hated your God and whom God just let down. That's what
you really think about. But now these brethren are going
to be standing right beside you forever. doing what we're doing
right now." He said, perfectly, perfectly. So that's why this happened.
Our Lord illustrated it. And then He says this. I like
this. He said, Who is my family in
our text? Who is my family? And then He
waved His hand, stretched forth His hand toward His disciple.
And He said, Behold, so see, there were believers there once. And at least the apostles were
there. He said, Behold, my family. For whosoever shall do the will
of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister,
and mother. Now, I turn to Luke 8, and this
is the same meaning. Luke gives the same meaning,
just different words. Luke chapter 8. I think this a little more clearly
says what I want us to see. Luke 8, verse 21. He answered and said unto them,
My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of
God and do it. Let's hear the Word of God. Whoever's great desire is to
the sincere milk of the Word, that's one of God's babies. He said, whoever gathers at every
opportunity is a hungry and thirsty baby. To have that thirst met,
that hunger met. Whoever esteems God's word is
their necessary bread. Whoever gathers like Cornelius
and the others. You remember that story in Acts? And they were all sitting waiting.
And Cornelius spoke up for all of them. He said, We're all here
present before God. We're here before God. It's not
pretense. To hear all things at a commandment
of God. He said, We're here to hear.
And that describes God's people. Those that hear the word of God
and do it. Now, that's when Peter said of
the truth, God is no respecter of persons. And neither are his people. All
right, what is it to do God's will? What does this mean? I'm
going to look at a few family traits, too. What does it mean
to be a member of the family? What are they like? What are
God's children like? Family. What is it to do God's
will? Well, this is the will of the Father. Scripture says,
if you honor the Son, She worshiped the Son, served the Son. That's
why we're here. That's why He saved us. And the
will of God is our sanctification, set apart. Doers of the Word,
not hearers only. Peter said, as obedient children,
not fashioning ourselves after the former level. Our Lord said,
Be ye therefore, in Matthew 5, be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father in heaven is also perfect. And so, God's will is that we
hear His Word and do His Word. Now, we do what we want to do.
Everybody does what they want to do. Yes, they do. Most of the time. There are times
when the Spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh against
the Spirit, and so we cannot do that which we would or want
to. Or as Paul said, the things I want, I do not. He's speaking
of the struggle that believers have with sin and the old man. Yet, we do what we want. We go where we will. You came
here tonight, I believe, because you wanted to, didn't you? You didn't have to come here,
but you did. And we know it was God's goodness
to draw us here. But we came because we wanted
to. Didn't you? I couldn't wait to get here tonight.
I was looking forward to it. That's not me. That is not me. Oh, I remember a time when it
was the last place I'd want to go. But not now. It's the only place I want to
go. Not all the time. But you know
what I'm saying. For the most part. A general
desire. And when Christ is formed in
a person, they want to do God's will. He changes His will. We
want to be with His people. Not until, but when He actually
unites us with His people, there's nobody we'd rather be with. Can't
stand to be with anybody else. We're made willing. God that
works within us, both the will and do of His good pleasure.
Not perfectly. We're not perfect, no. But it is the heart's desire of God's
people. Now, let me give you some family
traits. Christ said, Who is my family? They that do the will
of God. They are my brother, sister, and mother. Some family
traits, and I'll quit. I told you the first message
I preached, I remember distinctly. March 12th, 1989, I think it
was, the first time I came here, and I preached on March 19th. A week later, he called me a
pastor. That's not the way you do it
normally, but that's the way God did it. But that just seemed
like yesterday to him. Yeah, it seems like a long time
ago. I remember we were over to Anderson's house, eating dinner,
and I didn't know him. He was short for the man in the
moon, whoever the man in the moon is. But I just remember
thinking, he's a very likable old fella. Seemed old to me then. He's a likable old fella. And
his dear wife, young wife. I like those people. I feel like I've known them all
my life. But anyway, the first message I brought was from 2
Corinthians 4, seeing we have this ministry. And that night
was from Ephesians 3 on God's family. I don't know if anybody
remembers that or not. God's family, where Paul prayed
to the Heavenly Father, of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named. The family in heaven and earth. God's family, they look alike. They all look alike. Who do they
look like? That's exactly right. They look
like Jesus Christ. That's what God saved them. That's
what He did. He predestined them to be conformed
to the image of Christ, Romans 8.29. That's the whole purpose
of salvation. Barnard said God admired His
sons so much He was determined to have a whole bunch of sons
just like Him. And so he predestinated the people
to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And don't you
think these people are Christ-like, John? Stan, tell it to her now. You kid him and all that. And
he kid you. But isn't he amazing? There's
very few people him, doesn't he? Like, he's the salt of the
place, isn't he, and Patrick, and old Dan, and old... Just
like, they're like Christ. Now, you don't think that about
yourself. You better not. You look in the mirror of God's
Word, and you don't see Christ. Do you? You look in a mirror, and if
He magnifies it, like Christ does, magnifies the law, you
see all the blemishes. You see the old man and all that.
But other people, they see you like Christ. You think you look
like your dad, Davis? He went. Y'all, does he look like his
dad? He's a clone. You don't see it? See what I'm saying? I'm glad
you said that. I've illustrated that perfectly.
Look just like Lauren Parks. You think you look like your
mother? No! See what I mean? Stand. You're her. You're her. And that's the way it is, for
God's people. They look like Christ, predestinated to be conformed
to His image. That's what this whole life is
all about, God conforming us to the image of Christ. That old illustration. My dad
gave that old illustration about the hound dog whipping. I've heard that so many times
and I've told it so many times. But I heard it like it was the
first time. And it just broke my heart. And
I'm going to tell it again. Somebody hadn't heard it. Hadn't
you heard this one? This man went in this old country
store. And they sold hound dogs, little wooden hound dogs. And
he picked that up, and he admired it so much, he said, that's beautiful.
He said, who did that? And the proprietor said, well,
there's a man back there, sitting back there by the old wood potbelly
stove. He's whittling right now. He
said, well, I'm going to go talk to him. So he went back there. That old sitting there whittling,
old country fellow. And the man said, did you whittle
these hound dogs? The fellow said, yeah, I reckon
I did. And the fellow said, these are just beautiful. He said,
how do you do that? And the old fellow stopped his
whittling and scratched his head. You know,
nobody ever asked him that before. He never thought about it. And he said, well, he said, I
reckon I just cuts off everything that don't look like a hound
dog. And that's exactly what the Lord
is doing to her. And Kelly, I thought to myself,
Lord, cut it off, please. Cut off everything that doesn't
look like Jesus Christ. That's what I want. Is that what you
want? Is that what you want? That's a good sign. And it's
happening. If you don't see it, let others
see it. Growing to be like Him, predestinated
to His image. That's the thing about earthly
family. They just look alike, don't they? And they think alike. Family
thinks alike, don't they? That's because you're taught
by the same Father. That's what the Lord said, didn't He? They
shall all be taught of God. All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. And every one of them heard and learned of the
Father. Well, they did. They come to Christ. They go to Christ. These are all. They think alike.
They have the mind of Christ. And they think like God. They
think like God. They didn't used to. But now
they're walking with God like a weenie. And two can't walk
together, except that they agree. And they agree with God on everything. There was a time when I was a
teenager, I didn't agree with my father on anything. But now,
I am him. Aren't we, Steve? We're him.
We're fathers. We've turned into our fathers.
Do you agree with your dad on everything? Can you think of
anything now that you're You just do everything. He had a
good father. Well, we got a good father. And
I agree with him on everything. Everything. Family sounds alike. They have the same speech, don't they? They all
sound alike. You can tell people from Kentucky,
can't you? People from Virginia, whatever.
And people in the same family, especially, you can, they sound
alike. I have called my house before
and the answering machine answered, that's my father. He had done
the same. That's what God's people, they
start sounding alike, have the same accents, same expressions
of speech. God's people, the I and the me
and the my, starts leaving their vocabulary. Oh, sure, words like
luck and chance, that goes, that really goes quickly, that luck
and chance and accident and, you know, lucky stars and, you
know, looking at horoscopes. I'm a Libra. All that quickly
goes, but then they start talking about God willing. The Lord willing. God is good, sovereign, provident.
Oh, isn't the Lord good? Look what the Lord's done. Him.
Him. He. He. Him. Him. Unto Him is
glory. They talk a lot. You can tell
them. You can tell them when you meet
them. Who saved them? God saved them. Not I got saved. God saved them. God saved them. They have the same walk. Family
walks alike. They walk alike. I didn't know
about Stan's dad very well, but did he walk, did Stan walk like
his dad did? Stan's got a very, he walked like Stan. I bet he
walked like Stan. I did. And our Lord walked by faith. And
we walk like old Jacob after the Lord wrestled with it. How's
that? With a limp. Changed. Never walked the same. Same interest.
Family has the same interest. Same interest. What are we interested
in? We have here no continuing city.
We look for a city that is to come. Another play. We got the
same home. Got the same home. That's what
we're looking forward to. Our home. And right now, while
we're away from home, this is our home. We're, we're, we're
tent people. We're not going together in a
tent. We're waiting for our permanent home. Go with that. Camping is
not what we're just camping out. Same inheritance. The whole family
gets the same inheritance. Joint heirs. My brother and I
get the same thing from my parents. Nothing. But all of God's people got they
get back they got a pepper grinder that he and I are arguing over
and I don't know who gets it. I've wanted that thing for years.
It's going to be broke by the time it's mine. Anyway, but we
all, all God's people get what Christ, he's the heir of all
things and we're joint heirs with him and we get everything
that he did. There's not enough time to go
into that. Same end, we all have the same goal, same destination,
same end, here at the same place. End for all of us, mark the perfect
man. End of that man. Peace. Perfect peace. Eternal life. Eternal life. connection with that. He says,
Nobody that hath left father, mother, houses, brother, husband,
wife, brother, sister, children, son or daughter, houses or land,
for my sake in the gospel, that he will not receive a hundredfold
now in this time an eternal life. All right. An empty house and
God's truth. All right, stand with me. Our Lord, thank you for your
word. Without it, we would be lost. It is your quickening power,
and we'd be dead and trespassing in sin. Children of wrath, children
of disobedience, and yet we believe. Help our own blood. We believe,
though, that we are thy people, sheep of your pasture and the
work of our hands. And Lord, we ask that you perfect
that which concerns us. You said you would. And Lord,
conform us to the image of Christ as our desire. Unite our hearts
to one another and let us never be divided, separated is our
prayer. Keep us ever clinging to Thee
and to one another in Christ. In his name we've met here. Amen.