With his defender at his will,
oh, surrender What he takes, oh, what he gives up There's
love so precious We have several verses of Scripture
to look at tonight, so this will serve as our Scripture reading. You can turn to the book of Romans,
chapter 1. All right, let's ask the Lord
to bless his Word. Our Heavenly Father, we come
to you tonight in repentance and faith. We come as unworthy sinners. We come as beggars at the feet of the king, as dogs
in search of crumbs from the master's table. We come to worship. We come to
give thanks. We come to remember the pit from
which we were digged, the place from which you found us and where
you've brought us to now. It's all by your grace. And so we come to honor, magnify,
exalt, praise and thank you for your sovereign, electing, saving,
keeping grace. We have every good and perfect gift, materially and especially spiritually. We have that unspeakable gift. The wages we've earned is debt,
but the gift Christ earned for us is life. gift of life. He said, I give unto them eternal
life. We know that and we are here
to praise you for that unspeakable gift. And so it is in the name of Christ
that we meet here tonight to honor Him, honor the and to hear from you, from your
Holy Spirit through the Word. And we do ask that you would
send him, the leader and guider, the guide into all truth. And so take the things of Christ
and show them unto us afresh. and thereby give us gladness,
joy and peace in Him, in believing. Lord, we believe, now help our
unbelief, and faith cometh by hearing the word of God. So bless
your word to your people tonight, here and everywhere they gather
together in that name above every other. And it is in Jesus Christ's
name we ask these things. Amen. Romans chapter 1 speaks very
clearly of the depravity of man. Look at the beginning of verse
21. I want to read several verses. Romans 1 says in verse 21, Because
when they knew God, he said in verse 20, that creation invisible things are clearly
seen. Everybody can look up and see
the stars, see the sky, the sun and the moon, and see that the
sovereign Creator made these things. And so he says in verse
21, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. Very
few acknowledge the Creator today. Neither were thankful. No Creator. Nobody gave thanks to them. So
they weren't thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and
their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise.
But they became fools. And it changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image, made like the corruptible man,
the birds, and so on. So, verse 24, here's the results. God gave them up, gave them over. professing themselves to be wise
and a higher life form, God turned them over and they became like
animals. Worse, animals don't do what humans do. It says, ìThrough
the uncleanness of their lust of their own hearts to dishonor
their bodies between themselves.î Verse 25, ìChange the truth of
God into a lie.î That describes religion that worshiped and served
the creature more than the Creator. Worshiped Mary rather than Mary's
son. Worshiped man rather than man's
Creator. Served the creature more than
the Creator, or who is blessed forever. Amen. Now to verse 28. They did not like to retain God
in their knowledge. So God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. Nobody likes to think about a
God, sovereign ruler and judge, so God gave them over to a mind
void of judgment. That means they just don't have
good sense to do those things which are not convenient. Now,
you remember reading 2 Timothy 3. Things in the perilous time,
this is exactly like that, read it, verse 29. Filled with all
unrighteousness, all unrighteousness. Fornication, all kinds, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate,
or arguing, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God
that they which commit such things are worthy of death. worthy of
death. So that describes the natural
man, all men, all flesh. That's what God says about it,
all right? By nature. All right, we'll look at chapter
2 now, it's talking about religious folks. The religious folks say,
well, we're better than they are. We're not like that. Well,
we're Jews or we're good Christians. Now look at chapter 2, verse
16. Romans 2, verse 16. God, in the
day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Not just the outward open immorality
and wickedness and lewdness and all that. God, His vision is
not limited to the outward, but He looks on the heart. He says,
he's going to judge the secrets of men. Verse 17, Paul says, you're a
Jew or you're a Christian or to whoever, rest in the law,
make your boast of God, knowing God, believing God, walking with
God, know His will, prove the things that are more excellent,
being instructed out of the law, or the confidence that you yourself
are a guide of the blind, or that is, you see some things,
you know some things, a light of them which are in darkness,
An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes. Verse 21,
Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should
not steal, do you steal? Thou that sayest a man should
not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Remember Christ said
to think about someone other than your
mate. Thou that abhorrest idols, what
about covetousness? That's idolatry. Verse 23, Thou
that makest thy boast of the law, he break the law. It sounds bad for religious folk,
too, doesn't it? All right, chapter 3. Chapter
3 of Romans. Paul concludes down in verse
9 and says, OK. He talked about the Greek. The irreligious. What then? Are
we better? Are we Jews better than they?
No. Verse 9. No, and they know why.
For they before proved both Jew and Gentile. They all understand. As it is written, there is none
righteous. No, not one. There is none that understands.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Who is that talking about? Talking about us. Not talking
about the Greeks. Not talking about these dead
Jews. Talking about us Romans. Us Romans, all right? That's
us. But God, who is rich, that is, full of mercy, sends the
gospel to some of these guilty people, persons. And in verse
23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's
us, a preacher, starting with a preacher, but we're justified
freely. That means declared totally innocent,
guiltless. How? By His grace. It's a gift. Didn't earn it. It's a gift,
a sovereign gift. They're all guilty. So who gets
justified? Whoever he says is justified.
They're justified freely by his grace. How? He can't just let
them off scot-free. No, he lets them off Christ-free
through the redemption That is in Jesus Christ. That is Christ
paid it all. Look at the next verse there. It says, Whom God set forth,
that is, hung on a cross to be a bloody piece of meat, sacrifice,
covering. And it's through faith in his
blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance long-suffering, grace, mercy
of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and a justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
There's a word for boasting. It's excluded. How? By grace
through faith. Well, that's the good news. That's
the goodness, the goodness of God. Do you remember when Moses
said, Lord, show me your glory? You remember that over in Exodus
33? Moses said, I've seen, oh, I've seen you do so many things
for the children of Israel. Provide for them everything,
bring them out of Egypt and so on, and provide everything for
them all the way through the desert. I want to see your glory. I want to see your essential
glory. I want to see your greatest glory. And God said, all right.
You remember what the first thing he said was? I'm going to make my goodness
pass before you. And then right after this, I'm
going to claim the name of the Lord. The goodness. Good news. I'll make my goodness pass before
you, all my goodness. What's the goodness of God? Then
he went on to say, I'm going to be merciful and I'm going
to be gracious. The goodness of God. It's God's mercy, God's
grace, God's love, God's long-suffering, His character, His gentleness,
His kindness, His compassion, His forgiveness, His forbearance,
His faithfulness. That's the goodness of God. He
said, you sin, come shortly, I'm going to make my goodness
pass before you. And where all that's seen is in Christ at Calvary. All the character of God, every
attribute of God is seen in God killing his son on Calvary Street. The mercy of God. That was me.
He spared me and spared not his son. The grace of God. He gave me what Christ did. He gave Christ what I did. And on and on. But love, longsuffering,
and so on. And over in chapter 2 of Romans,
so verse 4, and here's the title of the message in Romans 2 verse
4. Oh, do you despise the riches
of His goodness? Despise means to not think much
of and not think enough of. It means to not think on it enough. Do you remember in Hebrews 12
where it says Christ despised the shame? It means he thought
nothing of it. He didn't even give it a thought.
And that's what it means here. Do you not give it a thought,
the goodness of God? Forbearance. How long he bears
with us. And longsuffering. How long he
puts up with us. Longer than the children of Israel.
They walked 40 years in the wilderness. Some of us live 70 or more. Longer
than that. Well, look at this. Here's the
title. You know that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. The goodness of God leads us
to repentance. Repentance is really the best,
shortest, clearest definition of repentance. is sorrow over
sin. That's what repentance is, sorrow
over sin. And repentance is not a one-time
thing. Repentance is a lifelong thing. It's a state of being. It's an
attitude of the heart, repentance is. It's knowing your sin and
your guilt and continually mourning over your sin and your guilt
and confessing it to God daily. It's sad to say we go through
unrepentant times, don't we? If we're not mourning at this
very moment over our own sinfulness, we ought to mourn over the fact
we're not mourning. If we did not see ourselves in
those scriptures we just read, we're dull of hearing, aren't
If it did not bring a note of thanksgiving in our heart when
we read of that free redemption that's in Christ by Him being
made a bloody slaughterhouse on our behalf, we're in bad shape,
aren't we? When is the last time the
gospel has touched you? Well, that's the reason we preach
this gospel. God in mercy brings us back to
hear the gospel in order that the goodness of God will lead
us to repentance. Now, I want you to look over
2 Samuel with me. 2 Samuel chapter 7. We're going
to find the goodness of God here that ought to lead us to repentance.
And when I talk about the goodness, talking about the gospel, good
news, goodness, good news, and also the general mercies
of God, the general kindnesses of God, the general goodness
of God, what all God has done for us,
ought to lead us to repentance. Reflecting on how good God has
been to us in every way, where he found us and where he brought
us to. It ought to humble us and fill us with repentance and
praise. It did, David. Here in 2 Samuel
chapter 7, read these verses with me. The first three verses.
It came to pass when the king sat in his house, and here we sit in his house. King's house, and the Lord had
given him rests round about from all his enemies. That the king said unto Nathan
the prophet, David said to Nathan, See now, I dwell in a house of
cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. David is implying
there that You've got to do something for God. Are you with me? I hope you're going to get a
blessing out of this. David said, he sat there rested,
you know, in his house, and no enemies, no troubles, and everything
was at peace and all that, and he got to thinking, you've got
to do something for God. And Nathan said, look at verse
3, evidently Nathan was in the same shape as David about this
time. Nathan said that he can't go. Yeah, that's a good thing.
Do all that's in your heart. The Lord's with you. Yeah, we'll
build God a house. Now David had good intentions.
This is just like some things that the disciples said they were going to do, you
know. call down fire and just all sorts of things, you know,
they decided to do at times without consulting the Lord. They had
good intentions, but, and Nathan, Nathan too, he had good intentions,
but God didn't need anything from Nathan. God never asked
Nathan to do anything, never told Nathan to tell him to do
anything. supposed to be the prophet seeking
a word from the Lord. You see, both David and Nathan
here were out of fellowship, I reckon,
weren't they? Nathan should have sought a word from God before
advising David of anything. He didn't even hesitate. Let's
see what the Lord says about it. No. Yeah, that's a good thing. Let's do it. And then God rebukes
them both and proceeds to ask David. Look at verses 4 through
7. It came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came
unto Nathan, saying, saying, Go and tell my servant David,
Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any
house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out
of Egypt, even to this day, but I've walked in a tent and in
a tabernacle. And all the places wherein I've
walked with all the children of Israel, did I say a word with
any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people,
as you're saying, why don't you build me a house of seer? Did I ask anybody to do anything? Turn over to Psalm 50. Psalm
50. Keep your place there. 2 Samuel
is our text. Psalm 50. As I said, this kind
of reminded me of the apostles that had good intentions at times. Do you remember when Peter, on
the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter wanted to build something? He wanted to build three tabernacles.
He had big plans. There would be three. He wanted
Moses, Elijah, and just one for you, Christ the Lord, to build
you a tabernacle. And then another time, Peter
tried to defend God. In the garden, remember, he took
his sword out, went out of the mouth of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It was a two-edged sword. Peter
was going to defend God, going to protect God. Going to build
God a house and going to take care of God. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? And, you know, man, modern
man, likes to talk about what all they do for God, don't they? Well, God, the Scripture says,
does not worship the man's hands as though he needeth anything.
God doesn't dwell in buildings made with hands, Scripture says.
And neither will God receive anything from us, as though He
needed anything. Look here. God doesn't need anything,
especially from us. Look at Psalm 50, verse 10. Every
beast of the forest is mine, the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountain,
and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I
would not tell thee. The world is mine, the fullness
thereof. Well, I eat the flesh of bulls,
and drink the blood of goats. Offer unto God, here is what
you bring. Thanksgiving. Just say thanks. Don't bring anything, I don't
need anything. Don't build anything, I'll make
all that. Now back to 2 Samuel 7. And besides,
everything we bring, God gave that to us. Right? And any fool that talks about
doing something for God or bringing something to God, my, my. Whatever we have, we've received.
We've received it from Him. God doesn't need anything from
us. And besides, Christ said it's
more blessed to give than to receive, didn't He? And we read there in Romans where
it says He's blessed forever. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. So God's going to receive all the blessings, so
what's He going to do? He's going to do all the giving. It's coming up Christmas time,
all right? Are you parents? Jenny, I'll ask you this. I bet you just can't wait to
see what your children are going to bring you. Are you really looking forward?
This is what's making Christmas special. What are you going to
get from your kids? Is that it? Huh? What about you, Mary? You just
can't wait. You're counting the days until
you get those presents from your children. What do you look forward to?
Giving. You could care less if they bring
you a thing. You delight to give, to give,
to give. All you want from them, too,
is, thank you. I love you, Mom. Huh? Our God
delights to give. And all he expects in return
is praise and thanks. And he gives it, and he gives
it. This too, he does expect us to share it with the rest
of his children. So God proceeds to tell David, here, you're going
to build me, what are you going to do for me? What did you and
Nathan decide? I can hear him laughing. You're going to build me a house
of cedar? How big is it going to be? What's the dimensions
if I'm going to dwell in it? How big is this house going to
be? The heavens cannot contain him. But God proceeds to tell David
not what he expects of him, but what he's going to do for David.
David, now you just, you and Nathan, you just shut up. You
just hush. And you just sit back and you
just listen to what I'm going to do for you. That's what the rest of this
story is about. God telling David what he's going to do for him.
But first he reminds him where he found him. That's where you
start, and that's what will lead us to repent. It's remembering where God found
us. Look here at verse 8. Now therefore, now this is God
talking to David through Nathan. God wasn't talking to David.
David heard this from a man. And God told Nathan, he said
in verse 8, Therefore shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheep coat," in
other words, that is cow pasture. I found you in the cow pasture. Okay, from following sheep. In
other words, looking at a sheep's behind. And look at you now, king of
Israel. What you going to do for me?
I found you on the backside of nowhere, a nothing and a nobody,
a little pinhead, wet behind the ears shrimp, and made you
king over Israel. What you going to do for me?
Huh? What you going to bring me? Everybody
here, and you stop just a minute, and after this message tonight,
you go home and you think where the Lord found you and where you are now. How about
it, Gomer? Got a Gomer out there? Got a Mephibosheth out there?
Where'd he find you? Mary Magdalene? Got a Mary Magdalene
out there anywhere? Simon? Huh? From the gutter? Where'd they
find us? And where'd they bring us? From the gutter? Some literally
in the gutter to glory. From a garbage dump? That's where
you went to church. garbage dump to a grace church,
from the dung heap to sit among princes. I love Isaiah 46. I love this
passage. And look at verse 9 there in
2 Samuel 7. Verse 9, he says, And I was with
thee. He said, I was with thee. Now,
I took you out of the cow pasture. I'm looking at sheep to be king
over Israel, and all the way, I led you. I was with you. I was with you wherever you went. I was with you. There never has
been two sets of footprints in the same. Listen to Isaiah chapter 46.
There never has been but one set of footprints. Listen to
Isaiah 46. He said, Harken unto me, O house
of Jacob, and all you sons of Jacob, the remnant of the house
of Israel. Harken unto me, you which are
born, or that is, carried by me from the belly, which are
carried from the womb. In other words, I picked you
out of the womb. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. and pick you up and bore with
you from then on. How long will you bear with us,
Lord, even to your old age? To hoary hairs will I carry you. I've made, I'll bear you. I'll carry you. I'll deliver
you. against you, contrary to it.
Took it out of the way. Nailed it to my cross. Look at
the next thing. Caught all your enemies out of
thy sight. Spoiled principalities in power. Made a show of them
openly. Triumphing over them in my sight. And it made thee
a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in
the earth. Sons of God. Sons of God. Think about where
he found you. A nobody from nowhere, knowing
nothing, having nothing. A beggar on a dung heap. And
brought you in glorified. You sit among princes, sitting
in God's house like one of the king's sons. But there's more. Read on. Verse 10, he said, I
will appoint a place that is a permanent place for my people
of Israel, and I'll plant them." It sounds just like what our
Lord said then when he said, I go to prepare a place for you,
a permanent dwelling place, a new heaven and a new earth. Look
at verse 10. He says, that they may dwell
in a place of their own and move no more. They're not going to
move anymore. No more moving. No more packing
up. They'll stay right there. You'll dwell right there forever.
Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more
as before time. A place wherein dwelleth righteousness
and your sins and iniquities, I not only remember no more,
but they won't bother you any more. A new heaven, a new earth, a
permanent dwelling place. Look at verse 11. And as since
the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel,
Or that is, I've given prophets and apostles and pastors and
teachers. I've caused you to rest all the
time. Since the time I called you, I've caused you to rest
from all your enemies. Huh? I'll tell you what now.
The Lord's telling you, He's going to make you a house. You're
going to make me a house? I don't need a house. You need
a house. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm
going to make you a house. going to make you happy. I'll
do the building, God says, you just do the resting. I'll do
the choosing, you just do the thinking. I'll do the saving,
you just do the believing. I'll do the keeping, I'll do
the giving, you just do the receiving. See, by grace you say, and everything
else in between, all the way to the end will be like old rubble. Lay the top stone crying grace
unto it. Grace that chose us and saved
us and brought us and keeps us and brings us all to life. And then God tells old David his promises concerning David's
son. David's son? Son of David? Yes, that's who he's talking
about here. That's who he's talking about. A clear picture of Christ. Look at verse 12. He says, When
thy days be fulfilled, or that is, in the fullness of time,
Now shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up." You know, I went
all the way through here and kind of slightly highlighted
everywhere where God says, I took thee, I was with thee, I cut
off, I made thee, I appoint, I plant, I commanded, I caused,
I'll make thee have, I'll set up, I'll establish, I'll do,
you going to do what? You ain't going to do nothing.
I'm going to do it all. And he says in verse 12, I'll
set up thy seed after day, the seed of David, which shall proceed
out of thou, but I will establish his kingdom. Yes, the seed, his
kingdom will be established. He shall build a house for my
name." Now he, David's son, now he's going to build a house. Now unless he builds a house,
you're going to labor in vain to try to build it. I've given
directions to your son. I will give directions. I have
to build me a house. Son of David. Who's this talking
about? Solomon? Oh, greater than Solomon. Read
on. He'll build me a house. I will
establish the throne of his kingdom. I will be his father, and he
shall be my son." The Son of God? David's son? That's right. Read on. Now this puzzles you a little
bit, verse 14. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod
of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. Well,
in him was no sin. But he was made sin for us who
knew no sin. And we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And so God hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. And by his stripes, the stripes
of a man were healed. The stripes of the children of
men. Verse 15, But my mercy shall
not depart away from him. in his kingdom, mercy is upon
him. It will not depart. How long? Forever. His mercy endured forever
in David's son. As I took it from Saul, man's
king, no, this is God's king, whom I put away before thee.
Verse 16, And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established
forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established
forever." And so according to all these words and according
to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. God never asked
David to do anything. He just told him where he had
found him, what all he had done for him, and made some more promises
concerning him, what all he was going to do for him. And how's
it going to save you? Well, what reaction did this
bring to David? What did this do to David? Repentance. Look at verse 18. The goodness of God led him to
repentance. Verse 18. Then went King David
in. He heard this from a man. And after he heard it, he went
in and fell down before the Lord himself, and sat before the Lord,
and he said, Who am I? Who am I, O Lord? God, and what is my house that
you brought me here? I still ought to be on the back
side of the desert looking at the back side of the Who am I? Why did you choose
me? Why did you bring me here? Why did you do all that? Who
am I? Huh? And verse 19, he says, But if
that wasn't enough, if that wasn't enough, where you found me and
what you saved me from and how you led me all the way and provided
for me and took care of me and put away all my enemies And if
that wasn't enough, and set me on the throne, if that's not
enough. You've made promises, verse 19,
Thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while
to come. You've made promises concerning me forever. Now I love this line. This is
one of my favorite, literally one of my favorite lines in all
of God's Word. Is this the manner of man? Oh, this is God. This is God. Oh, Lord God. And what can I
say? He said, what can I say? Verse
20. What can David say more unto
thee? You know my thoughts. He wrote, he might have wrote
Psalm 139 right after this. I know it's my thoughts. The
words of my tongue before they're formed on my tongue, you know
them all, everything about me. My down city, my uprising. What
can I say? Verse 21, And thy word sayeth,
According to thine own heart hast thou done all these great
things. It doesn't call you who you are, you've done that. To
make thy servant know who you are. What can I say? Verse 22,
You're great! You're great! That's all I can
say. Thou art great. Oh Lord God, nothing like that.
Neither is there any God beside thee. Oh my rock, nothing like
that rock. Man's a God today. He needs things,
he wants things, he demands things. He just can't do it without men.
He keeps begging and asking and
taking and taking and taking, doesn't he? Our God never takes
anything. He just gives and gives and gives. Ah boy, give it some more. Read on. We will not read the
whole thing, but you can read it later for yourself. He says,
Oh my, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all,
any God we have ever heard. There is no God like you. You
are great. Verse 23, What one nation in
the earth is like your people, even like Israel, whom God went
to redeem? Whom God went to redeem? God
came down. He went there just to redeem
a people for himself, to make him a name. That's why he did
it, to do great things and terrible for thy land, for thy people.
Redeem us thee from Egypt, from the nations there. God now has
confirmed to thyself, thy people Israel, to be a people unto thee
forever. And thou, O Lord, art become their God. And now, O
Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant,
concerning his house." Well, we can read it all, can't we? Establish it forever. Do as you've
said. Let thy name be magnified forever,
saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel. Let the
house of thy servant David be established before thee, O Lord
of hosts, God of Israel, thou hast revealed thy servant. Open
my ear, saying, I will build thee a house. I heard you, I
heard you, and it is good news to me. Therefore hath thy servant
found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. Now, O Lord
God, thou art that God. And thy words be true. And thou
hast promised this goodness unto thy servant. Now, therefore,
let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it
may continue forever before thee. For thou, O Lord God, you have
spoken it. And with thy blessing, let the
house of thy servant be blessed forever." What can I say? You are great. Thou art great. The goodness of God. leadeth
thee to repent? Do you despise the riches of
his goodness and forbearance?" No, we know him not. Do we remember
him not? Do we forget the pit from which
we were digged? If we stop and ponder just briefly, where the Lord found us, and
where we are now, and what He has done for us all along the
way, and all the promises of God that are in Christ, are yea
and amen, are sure to every believer who will in no wise cast doubt.
He ought to lead us to repent, to say, Who am I? Who am I? Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word, and
we beg Your forgiveness for our forgetfulness, ingratitude, lukewarmness. But this is not the manner of
man, the way You are. You are long-suffering. Bear with us forever, your people. Bear long with us. And what more
can we say than what David has already said? He said, Thou art
great, O Lord our God. God is great. God is good. We thank you for your goodness.
Remind us, O Lord, remind us where you found us and what all
you've done for us in Christ. Keep us mindful. Gird up the
loins of our mind with these things. In Christ's name, amen.