Good morning. I invite your attention
to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17. I'd like to go ahead and read
our text. It'll be Matthew 17 verses 1 through 8. Matthew 17
verse 1 says, And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high
mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did
shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold,
there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then
answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us
to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here
three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for
Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the
cloud which said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well
pleased, hear ye him. And when the disciples heard
it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And Jesus came
and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid. And when they
had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. This is a glorious account, one
of my favorite accounts in all the scriptures here. Our Lord
took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John. He took
them up into a high mountain, just the four of them. just the
four of them went up into this high mountain where our Lord
was transfigured before them." It means He was transformed.
His countenance, His appearance changed. It was altered into
a, I don't even know how this is possible, but into a more
glorious form, so to speak. He was transfigured before them.
He showed them His glory. Now consider this. He who had
no form, nor comeliness, no beauty that men should desire him. He
stood right in front of them, his face shining like the sun." The glory of God. We know the
glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. They saw it
with their eyes. We see it by faith, don't we?
They looked at it. They saw the glory of God in
his face physically. He who had no place to lay his
head stood on top of the world, if you will, on top of this mountain,
arrayed in clothing as white as the light. Rays of glory shined down on
him, him who is altogether lovely. Every time I read this account,
I can't help but get jealous. I mentioned it, we see, by God's
grace, we see these things by faith. They were there. They were there. They saw it
with their eyes. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. And in verse
3 here we read that Moses and Elijah appeared unto them. Peter, James, and John, they
saw their brethren who had gone long before them." You think
about this. Moses physically died. He physically died long
ago. Here he is. They physically saw
him. We read that he didn't physically
die, but that he was carried up into the heavens by a chariot
of fire. And here they are, the disciples
saw them. They saw the Lord, and they saw
their brethren with their physical eyes. And not only did they see
them, they saw them talking with their Lord. Luke tells us that
they appeared in glory. How were they with the Lord?
This just blows my mind, honestly. Moses and Elijah were in glory,
right? We're comfortable using that
terminology. They were in glory. Our Lord, at the moment, was
living on earth. They appeared with Him in glory.
I don't know how to explain it. I told you, it's glorious to
me. They saw them appearing with our Lord in glory, talking with
Him. And I love this. Peter, he was just amazed. I'm sure James and John were
too, but we normally read Peter as the one that had something
to say, don't we? Peter was amazed. He said, Lord, it's good for
us to be here. I can only imagine. To be physically
in the presence of His Lord. To be physically beholding His
face shining like never before. to be there in the presence with
your brethren, whom they had, Moses and the prophets. They
read about them. Now they're looking at them.
Isn't that amazing? And he said, Lord, it's good
for us to be here. How good it must have been. Now, we know
what comes next, don't we? He said, Lord, it's good for
us to be here. Then he made a suggestion, didn't he? Look at it with me,
verse four. He said, if thou wilt, middle of the verse, if
thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles. One for thee, one
for Moses, and one for Elijah. He wanted to make three tabernacles,
three tents, three places of habitation. Peter wanted to stay
there. Do you blame him? He just wanted
to stay right there. He had no interest in leaving.
Do you blame him? And not only that, I hadn't thought
about this before in looking at this, but the tabernacles
he wanted to build, You know, we naturally think he was trying
to give all three of them glory. I don't believe so. I believe
he wanted to stay right there and he wanted the Lord, he wanted
Moses, he wanted Elijah to have a place to lay their heads. Here's
something I find commendable. He didn't want to build a tabernacle
for himself. Did you ever think about that? He didn't. To me it seems admirable. But
make sure you understand this. Not to God. wasn't admirable
to God. I truly believe Peter meant well,
but there's just one problem with his suggestion. It didn't
give Christ all the glory. Again, I don't believe he did
it intentionally. I don't think he was trying to share his glory
with another. I don't think he did. But whether
he meant to or not, that's what he was doing. He was glorying
in Moses and Elijah. And again, can you really blame
him? Just try in your mind to put
yourself in his shoes. Would we not have done the same
thing or worse? Honestly, I've enjoyed studying
the life of Peter because naturally we're hard on him. We think,
come on, Peter, what's wrong with you? Oh, let's understand,
we're no different. Peter was an apostle. God called
him. He walked with the Lord physically. He stood on this mount looking
into his Savior. Here's the first thing we need
to understand. Whether we mean to or not, it's insulting to
God to not give Christ all the glory. insulting. God will have nothing to do with
it. Right after Peter said this, actually while he was saying
it, look verse 5, the father speaks, while he yet spake, behold
a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the
cloud which said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased, hear ye him. As the words were rolling off
Peter's lips, the Father, God the Father, rebuked him from
the clouds. I want us to understand the seriousness
here. Peter was a believer. He was
a child of God. He was an apostle of God. But
he was a sinful man. in His flesh. He often erred. We know that, don't we? He often
needed to be rebuked, corrected, just like you and me. He was
just like you and me. Now, I want to spend the majority
of this message focusing on what God the Father said right there.
And as we look at this, I pray that the Holy Spirit might dwell
in our midst and cause us to truly hear what the Father had
to say. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. The Father, God the Father, is
well pleased in Him, in Him alone. To be well pleased means to think
well of, to approve of, to take pleasure in, to delight in. That's how the father feels about
his son. Now I'm going to turn to some
familiar text, but they go so well with this, and I want you
to turn with me. Turn to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42.
Verse 1. Isaiah 42 verse 1. This is God speaking. He says,
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he
not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged,
till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall
wait for his law." Who's that talking about? Is there any question
who that's talking about? You know, last time we looked
at whom do men say that I am? Whom do you say? Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. That's who it's talking
about. The Father delights in Him. He delights in His servant. He delights in His elect. He
delights in His Son. And I love that word. I love
the way it's worded. Delighteth. He's always delighted
in Him before He ever came. He only took upon Himself the
form of a servant, came in the likeness of men. He delighted in Him from eternity.
He delights in Him right now, and God the Father will delight
in Him forever, for all eternity. Now, here's what we need to know.
Make sure you hear this. I pray God would cause me to
hear this as I say it. The only way God the Father can
be or will be well-pleased with me or with you is if we are in
Christ. If we're in God's only begotten,
well-pleasing, beloved Son. It's the only way God's gonna
delight in us or be well-pleased in us. You know, it could be
easy to think when we read the verse that said that in Matthew
17 verse 5, that the father is well pleased with his son. And
that's true. He is. He most certainly is.
But it's worded the way it is for a reason. He's well pleased
in his son. He's not pleased with sinful
men and women like us. God hates all workers of iniquity.
You know what we are? Workers of iniquity. The foolish
aren't going to stand in His sight. You know that's what we
are? Fools. The fool has said, no God. Isn't
that you? Isn't that me? God won't have it. God will have
His Son. And God will have those in His
Son. Our brother just read it for us in John 17 where he said,
I've given eternal life unto those whom thou hast given me.
Who's that? those who were elected in his
son. I'm going to get ahead of myself. Turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. This matter of being in Christ,
it only makes sense for us to ask this question. If God only
saves those, if he's only well pleased with those in Christ,
how can a person be in Christ? Don't we need to ask that question?
If I need to be in Christ, well, how can I be in Christ? Right
here, Ephesians 1, verse 3. It says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us in Him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, now look at this, according to the
good pleasure of his will. The father chose to save a people. Now, as I say this, I want to
say this. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's none good, no not one. God looked down from heaven to
sea, he saw none. Every imagination of the thought
of your heart and mine is nothing but evil continuing. God hates
evil. He hates wickedness. His eyes are too pure to behold
it. God could have let us all perish. He'd have been right to. His
holiness would have said, right. His justice, His judgment, His
righteousness would have been satisfied. But God chose to save a people
in Christ. What part do we play in that?
Nothing. You think about Jacob and Esau. Read Romans chapter
9 at your own leisure. God loved Jacob, that worm, that
sinful man, that conniving trickster. God loved him. Why? That the purpose of God according
to election might stand. Jacob wasn't a good person, and
neither am I. God chose to save a people. And
He chose His people according to the good pleasure of His will. Had nothing to do with you or
me. In fact, here's the reason. Look at verse 6. To the praise
of the glory of His grace. That's why He chose a people,
that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein
He hath made us, we didn't make ourselves, He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. You know, I mentioned, I don't
think Peter meant to glory in Moses and Elijah. As a believer,
Peter's salvation, Moses' salvation, Elijah's salvation, James and
John's salvation, our salvation, is unto this end, to the praise
of the glory of His grace. How are we accepted? In the beloved. Who made us accepted? God. He
chose us. He made us accepted in Christ.
And it was all according to the good pleasure of His will. Aren't
you thankful? Praise His name. Turn back a
few pages to 1 Corinthians 1. Oh, I want to be in Christ, don't
you? All spiritual blessings in heavenly places. I'm interested
in that. 1 Corinthians 1. Look at the last two verses. I'm not going to read it, but
it had just talked about how God chose things which were despised,
things which we would have wanted nothing to do with. That's the
things God chose. And look at verse 30. It says,
"...of Him." It's of God. Are you in Christ Jesus? How
are we going to be in Christ? God must put us there. Our only
hope is that God chose us in Him, before the foundation world.
I can't do anything to make God choose me. God's choosing is according to
His will. That means if we're going to
be saved, it's not my will, it's His will. Now look here. Now,
God has made us to be that. What's going to happen after
that? Are we going to glory in ourselves? Are we going to boast
of how great Christian people we are? work in the works of God, living
for God. No, look at verse 31. That according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. If we're gonna stand before God,
accept Him. If we're going to be saved, if we're going to wind
up in heaven, everyone knows the word heaven. Somebody dies,
everyone just assumes they're in heaven. They're just doing
there what they were doing here, living their sinful life. That's
the way people talk. Drinking a beer in heaven, driving
a tractor in heaven, fishing in heaven. No. Heaven's being
with Christ. When Peter said, Lord, it's good
for us to be here, that's heaven. Being here with Him. Being here
gathered with the saints around the Savior. That's what heaven
is. And the only glorying that's
going to take place in heaven is glorying in the Lord who saved
us, who is our wisdom, who is all our righteousness, who is
our sanctification and our redemption. Believers glory in Him. We're
going to glory in Him. Now, how's a person in Christ? God put them there. God chose
them for His glory, for the glory of His Son, His only begotten
Son. Now how can I know if I'm there? How can I know if I'm
in Christ? I need to be in Christ. Turn to John chapter 3. John
chapter 3. Again, look at the last two verses. John 3 verse 35 says, The Father loveth the Son,
and hath given all things into His hand. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. How can I know if I'm in Christ? Here's the only way God tells
us we can know, by faith. In Hebrews chapter 11 we read,
Faith is the evidence that God has given of the things not hoped
for, the substance of things not seen. Faith, that's it. Belief of the Son. I knew I'd
trip myself up, so you can hold a finger and turn if you want,
but I want to make sure I say this right. Back to John 17 where our brother
read, I thought about this when he read it. In verse 2, he said, "...as thou
hast given Him," that's Christ, power over all flesh, that He
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him."
Now think how that ties in with what we just read about believing
on the Son of God. If you believe on the Son of
God, you have life. If you don't believe on the Son
of God, you don't have life. Well, who believes on the Son
of God? You know, think of John 3.16, just a few verses up. God
so loved the world. He ain't talking about the whole
world. that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." All
these verses go together. Those whom God chose in Christ
the same ones that are going to believe on Christ. They are
the whosoever's that are going to believe on Christ. And what
we just read in John 17, as many as thou hast given Him, that's
who He gives eternal life to, is those whom the Father gave
to Him, chosen Him, and those very people, John 3 36, believe
on Him. Do you see that? I hope I haven't
confused anybody. To me, it makes all the sense
in the world. God chose us. He gave us to His Son, and in
His time, at the appointed time of love, the Spirit comes to
each of His people whom He chose, and He gives them faith in the
heart to believe on the Son. And that's the evidence that
He's given us life. What does this faith believe?
I wrote a few things down here, I'll read it to you. Believes that God would be just
and right to send me to hell for all that I am, all that I've
done, and all that I'll ever do. That's what faith in Christ
believes. It believes that God the Father
loves the Son, as verse 35 tells us, and only the Son. He doesn't
love sinful man, He loves those in His Son. We're righteous in
the Son. He made us to be. Made us to
be the very righteousness of His Son. 2 Corinthians 5.21. What we read in Isaiah 42, where
it said, He shall not fail. God, given faith in Christ, believes
that He came into this world to save sinners. Call His name
Jesus. He shall save His people from their sins. Faith in Christ
believes He didn't fail. He accomplished what He set out
to do. Saved all whom He came to save. It's finished. True faith believes salvation
from start to finish, first step, last step, every step in between,
is of the Lord. But our only acceptance truly
is in the Beloved. My hope of standing before Him
in glory is that God will look at me and He'll see His Son. Well, you reckon Moses and Elijah
look like when they appeared in glory? Well, I suppose they
look like the Son. It says we awaken His likeness,
we're conformed to His image. We're going to see Him, we're
going to be like Him, we're going to see Him as He is. Us to be just like
Him. That's what we must be if God's
going to have anything to do with us. And that's what Christ
did by His life and death and resurrection. He made us to be
just like Him. And because of that, God the
Father is well pleased in us. Amazing. Do we believe on Him? I pray
we do. Believe on the Son of God. We
just read it. He that believeth not Doesn't have life? Shall
not see life. If we don't believe on Christ,
if we don't have faith in Christ, God said His wrath abides on
us, abideth forever. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God, he hath not life. Now
this faith, I think we looked at this last time in Peter, but
God's given His people like precious faith to believe on Christ, trust
in Christ. And I'll just quote these verses
to back this up. But we know that this faith is
something God must give. We can't produce it. We have
to have it. Pray God will give it to us.
Ephesians 2, verse 8 through 10. For by grace are you saved
through faith. Gotta have faith, and it's by
God's grace. And that not of yourselves, it's not of works,
lest any man should boast. And he summed it up in verse
10. He said, for we are his workmanship. Who made us? He did. How did
He do it? Created in Christ Jesus. Unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. God saved us freely by His grace. He gave us faith
to believe on Christ. We're new creatures in Christ
Jesus. These good works He's ordained
us to, you know what they are? You can sum it up by just saying,
look into Christ. By faith in Christ, we're not walking according
to the prince of the power of this air anymore. We're not walking
according to the lust of our flesh anymore. Now don't let
that confuse you. Yeah, we still do sinful things.
We still do things we want to do. But we're living by faith. We're actually hoping in Christ. And we're not going to be disappointed.
We're not going to be confounded having believed on Him. You know why? Because Christ
is precious to the Father, and we're precious in Him. Alright,
look back at our text, Matthew 17, look at verse 5 with me. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud which said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye him. Hear ye him. You know, so many
people, preachers especially, think they need to be heard.
Oh, would we ever understand? You don't need to hear any sinful
man. Now, don't mistake what I'm saying.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe." Yes, we must hear a man. But it's not the man we must
hear, it's Christ. Do we hear what the Father said?
He said concerning His Son, hear Him. Yeah, God's pleased to use
a man to speak, but we must hear Him. Don't do any good just to
hear me or to hear Donnie. We got to hear Him. He speaks
through men. through his word. Moses and Elijah. You know Moses and Elijah, they
spoke of him. I was going to have us turn to
some verses but I don't want to go too long here. You know
Moses represents the law. God gave his law to his people
through Moses. And to this very day men and
women are trying to keep the law and that's their hope of
being saved is what they do and what they don't do. Paul tells
us Tell me you that desire to be under the law, you who are
trying to be saved by yourself and what you're doing, do you
not hear the law? Do we not know why the law was
given? Again, I'm afraid I'll misquote.
I'm going to turn to Romans chapter 3. You can turn if you want to.
I'm going to read verse 19 and 20. He said, we know that what thing
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
Here's why God gave the law, okay? Romans 3.19, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God, means subject to the judgment of God. Verse 20, therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. God didn't
give the law that we might be saved thereby. He gave the law
to convince His people we're guilty, we've sinned against
God and we're gonna die, lest He send His Son to die for us,
to be perfectly obedient to God's holy law, to fulfill the law,
to give us faith in Him by which we establish the law in Him.
He came to redeem us from the curse of the law. The law won't
save us, Christ must. And if we're in Him, He has.
Elijah, he was a prophet. He declared, thus saith the Lord. He declared, Christ the Messiah
is coming. Moses and Elijah had the same
exact hope you and I have. Christ hadn't physically come
yet. But the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before
there was ever a sinner, God had a Savior. He prepared a Savior.
God provided Himself the Lamb. One sacrifice for sin, it's Christ. He perfected us forever. Law
ain't gonna save us. These sacrifices men stand daily
making, offering to God to put away their sin, the blood of
bulls and goats, they ain't gonna do it. Ain't gonna cut it. We
need Christ and Christ alone. And I love this. Luke tells us
in his account, Luke 9, this account of the Mount of Transfiguration,
he tells us what Moses and Elijah and the Lord were talking about.
You know what they were talking about? His decease, which he
should accomplish at Jerusalem. Does that confirm what you're
hearing? Oh Lord, how glorious it is for
us to be up on this mountain and we died and we're back and
oh, there's Peter and James and John, your disciples, this is
so amazing. Nope. Your hour's coming. You're about
to pray in that garden, your disciples are gonna fall asleep
again, they were sleeping right there, Luke tells us that too.
Your disciples, poor pitiful, they're just going to fall asleep
again while you're doing the work. While you're saving them and
us from our sin. The reason you came into this
world is drawing nigh where you're going to die for
the sins of your people. Where you're going to be made
like unto your people. You're going to be made sin for
them. and you're gonna put that sin away by the sacrifice of
yourself forever. You're gonna redeem us. You're
gonna purchase us with your own precious blood. That's what they
were talking about. Verse six. When the disciples
heard, when they heard the Father speak, They fell on their face
and were sore afraid. Can you imagine? Honestly. We're rebuked by one another.
We're rebuked when we come here and we hear a verse read and
we hear something said according to the Scriptures that just convicts
us. You imagine being rebuked by
the voice of God? Luke tells us that they were
in the cloud, that the cloud overshadowed them. They were
in the cloud and God spoke from the cloud. Can you imagine how
terrified they must have been? Seriously, Psalm 29 verse 4 says,
the voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. You just imagine the fear that
overcame Peter, James, and John. I thought of when the Lord called
Peter. When they were fishing, they couldn't catch anything,
then the Lord said, throw your net over here, and the boat couldn't
even hold all the fish the Lord gave them. You know what Peter
said? He said, depart from me, I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. When
God speaks to us, that's the reaction. Oh Lord, you wouldn't
want anything to do with me. They fell down on their face,
terrified, sore afraid. And I'm glad the Lord didn't
leave them there. Again, he could have. He could
have wrapped it up right then and there. Moses and Elijah went
back. The Lord went back. The disciples, he just could
have let them perish right then and there, but he didn't because
he came to save them. Look at verse 7. And Jesus came
and touched them and said, Arise and be not afraid. He didn't cast them out. He didn't
depart from them. He came and touched them. They fell down. He said, arise. They were sore afraid. He said,
be not afraid. It is I. I'm right here. I'm
your savior. I ain't leaving you. I'm your
mediator. I'm right here with you. I'm
with you always. Oh, but we're so sinful. Yep. I'll never leave you. Oh, but
I'm so vile. I know I'm going to do it again.
What I shouldn't, I know I'm going to do it again. I'll never
forsake you. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. I'm about to die for you. It's
like what he told Peter. I prayed for you, Peter. Bet
your faith fell not. I'm not going to let you go. If it weren't for Christ, we'd
have every reason to fear perishing. Because we would perish. Praise
God for Christ. Praise God for the substitute
for sinners. It doesn't give us a license
to sin. When you're healthy, you don't
want to go get sick again, do you? But rejoice to know this,
Christ put all our sin away. The sins we haven't even committed
yet. It doesn't make me want to sin,
it makes me loathe myself. It makes me want to do what Job
did, repent and dust and ashes, knowing the sin I'm going to
commit. Knowing the sinful thoughts running through my mind and my
heart at this very moment. But praise God, He put them away
as far as the east is from the west. So far, half. He removed our transgressions
from us. Praise His holy name. All right, we'll close here,
verse 8. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man
save Jesus only. I love this. You know, when he
first took them up on that mount, they saw him. Well, then Moses
and Elijah came, and it was for a reason. It was according to
God's purpose. And then they get a little carried away. And
then before they came off that mountain, He was gonna make sure
there was only one they saw, and that was Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ in Him only. They beheld their Savior. They
beheld the Father's only begotten beloved Son in whom He's well
pleased. Oh, for eyes to see Him. Oh, for eyes to see Him. In Isaiah
45, 22, This was speaking of Christ,
and He was speaking. He said, Look unto Me, and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there
is none else. Look unto Me. Oh, may God cause
us to. John the Baptist, you know what his message was, don't
you? Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world, the sin of His people. Our brother read, I pray not
for the world, but those whom Thou hast given Me, took away the
sin of all His people out of this world. Even Pilate, I don't
know if Pilate was a believer or not. Sometimes I wonder. I
hope he is. But even Pilate said these words,
Behold your King. I want to. Pray God might give
us eyes to behold our Savior. Behold our King. This is my beloved
Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him. May God cause us
to. Let's pray. Our dear Heavenly
Father, we thank you so much for this blessed portion of Scripture.
We thank you for every account where we can see our hope, where
we can see so clearly who You are and what You've done for
us. Lord, I thank You for Peter, I thank You for James and John,
Moses and Elijah, but oh, infinitely more, I thank You for Christ
our Savior. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for giving us
the opportunity to open it, to read it, to look into it, to
rejoicing in it. I pray that we might be found
in Christ, the only hope we have as guilty, vile, helpless, needy
sinners, to be robed in that perfect righteousness of Christ,
your only beloved, only begotten Son, in whom you are forever
well pleased. Lord, please forgive us for his
sake. Please find us in him. Save us
in him, if it be your will. And Lord, we have children, we
have loved ones. Lord, would you manifest yourself
to us? If you would be pleased, Lord,
please do this for us. Please condescend and look upon
us in mercy. For Christ's sake, bless our
time together. Bless your word as it goes forth,
as it went forth, and bring us back if you would be willing.
May Christ be glorified in all things. Amen.