This opened to 1 John chapter
1 for a scripture reading. Obi's going to bring the evening's
message. I asked him the other day and
he can send it. Kim's going to sing here in a
minute. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
you have looked upon in our hands, have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested and
we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life, which was with the father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard,
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his
son, Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto
you that your joy may be full. This then is the message that
causes us to have the same fellowship. This then is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light And
in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and
the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive sins, forgive us sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his words not in us. My little children,
these things I write unto you that you sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Our father, we thank you so much
and bless you for allowing us to have this time together again. Time to read your word and pray
and sing the blessed songs of Zion. And Lord, it is indeed
a blessing to have the desire and the will together with the
saints of God. And Lord, you put it in our hearts
to do this. You, Lord Jesus, you yourself
put it in our heart to come and worship you and to hear of you
and Consider you in all your glory and power. And Lord, we
thank you for this scripture that we read tonight. Thank you
for the service we had this morning and ask for your presence. Oh, please, Lord, come among
us. Come among us in the gospel. Come among us in power. Come
among us in the Holy Ghost. And oh, Lord, stir up our hearts,
keep our minds centered on the things of Christ tonight. And
as so becomes Lord, God bless him quicken his mind, warm his
heart, fill his mouth with the things of the things of the Lord
and Lord use him mightily here this evening. And our father,
we pray for our loved ones. Oh God, have mercy on him. And
Lord, I'd ask you to have mercy on us as a congregation of believers. That you strengthen us, encourage
us and meet the needs of every home. Oh Lord, every home has
needs. Every father has needs. Every
mother has needs. Every young person has needs. Our homes have needs. Our hearts
have needs. And Lord, You know our hearts.
You know our homes. You know our needs. And Lord,
we bring them to You, knowing that You'll meet every need.
Oh Lord, You'll meet every need. And Lord, teach us, teach us,
teach us that your grace is indeed sufficient. In our Lord Jesus
Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, we are blessed to have
Obie come bring our message this evening. So Obie, you come bring
what the Lord's laid on your heart and the Lord bless you. Open with me tonight, if you've
got your Bibles, to Job chapter 1. Job chapter 1, I'm going to start
reading verse 13. Job 1, 13. And there was a day when Job's
sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house. And there came a messenger unto
Job and said, the oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside
them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away. Yea,
they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and
I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking,
there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen
from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants,
and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said,
The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels,
and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the
edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there
came also another, and said, thy sons and thy daughters were
eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold,
there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the
four corners of the house. And it fell upon the young men,
and they are dead. And I only am escaped alone to
tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle,
and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. And he said, naked came I out
of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly. I've often been told that some
of the best servants, best sermons preached have an element in them
that the speaker brings out that recently occurred to them. And
tonight's message fits that bill. But it gives me some fear, for
this is a story that's close to my heart and very fresh, And
I don't desire it to be a distraction as I try to speak. But my hope is that the Lord,
our God, will anoint us tonight, send forth his spirit, and cause
this word to bring glory to his son, Christ Jesus. Only by his
power will we be blessed. Now one of the elements of a
good storyteller is to keep the audience in suspense until the
ending. But there are times when if you
know the end of the story, you can relax and pay attention to
what's being said. With that in mind, the end of
the story so far is Abram is okay. Stacia and I are okay. There's more of the story to
come, but for the moment, we're okay. And one other thing before
I begin, Donnie sent me the note Friday asking me to preach, and
I responded immediately with yes. We were in the hospital
at the time. When I got the note, I thought
it was for next Sunday, knowing he would be gone. So I didn't
say anything about being in the hospital. Then when I figured
out it was for tonight, I was selfish. I knew that if I got
home and got into the Word and was studying, it would be better
for me than sitting around with a lot of what ifs. So don't blame Donnie for putting
me in a tight spot. It was my choice, so to speak. And also, there's no accident
that the Lord put it on his heart to ask me to preach tonight while
I was in the hospital. So with that said, I'll get to
the story. Some of you have probably heard
it. This is the man's version of
the story. So for some of you, there will
not be enough details. For others, there will be too
much. But if you want more details, Stacia is available after the
service. This past Thursday, at about
2.15 in the afternoon, Abram had a seizure. It's the first
seizure he's ever had, and it was a convulsive seizure. We've
learned that there are different types. We took him to the doctor's
office, and we found out at that office that about 50% of the
time, this would be a one-time event. Nothing greatly to be
concerned with. Of the other 50%, there's a 25%
chance that he'll have another seizure within the year. A CAT
scan and an EKG were ordered for that afternoon. So having
received them both, we finally arrived home at about 7 o'clock
Thursday evening. Somewhere after 8, between 8
and 8.30, we were getting everybody ready for bed. Abram had a second
seizure. This one was not convulsive.
Just kind of stared off and ended up vomiting. A call to the doctor,
and we were on our way to Children's Hospital for the emergency room.
We arrived there at about midnight Eastern time, Friday morning,
and started getting the doctor going through the possible causes
and the various tests that they would be performing while we
were there. Another EKG, an IV started for
taking blood to get blood samples and pushing some fluid to him,
and a spinal tap to test for spiral meningitis, which can
lead to seizures. The blood work came back first,
and we found out that he tested positive for mono. Though rare, mono can express
itself in the form of seizures. So it may just be a virus. The
spinal tap came back normal, and the EKG came back normal.
So we finally got a room at about 6 o'clock in the morning. Well,
it was about 5 o'clock in the morning we got a room. By the
time they were done with us, it was around 6, and I managed
to go to sleep for a couple hours. Early Friday morning, later for
us, I guess, they took him down for an EEG. An EEG measures the
brain electrical patterns. And these results came back abnormal. And they came back abnormally
abnormal so that it requires another test, an MRI. to see
why. He's firing, something's firing
on the right side milliseconds before it fires on the left side
and because of that, they need an MRI. Stacia's done a little
research and with the mono virus, the MRI may show up something
different and if it's caused by a virus, that's why the MRI
has been called, as I understand it. Stacia will correct me later. So, of course, all of this happening
brought the passage that we just read to mind. It seemed that
every step we took, every test, every scenario, Thursday and
Friday, we received bad news, one after another. Now, very few of you in here
that are listening to me don't have a story or stories similar
to this. It's a day of trouble that has
arrived at your door. When this day of trouble comes,
when the news flies, when bad news comes while he was yet speaking,
and more bad news comes, Where does the child of God find
confidence in a time of trials? As you can tell, this message
this evening is very personal. The wound is fresh, and every believer's outward
response is going to vary. For Stacia and I, we tend to
close ranks. We circle the wagons and we draw
in to ourselves. Others will announce it to the
world. Something's going on and we want
everybody to know about it. Our personalities, our past experiences
are all going to play a part in our outward expression. But I am convinced from the scriptures
that our inward man, that spirit of God within us, responds in
much the same way for all of us. Job 1 verse 20 says, then Job
arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down
upon the ground and worshipped, and said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job has received the great burden
of news. His financial wealth, his financial
empire, It's gone. His home, those that he loved
dear, are no longer in arm's reach. And Job's sorrows. He outwardly expressed his heart
breaking with the renting of his mantle and the shaving of
his head, both, as I understand it, were customary responses
to sorrowful news at this time and at this place. It was the
custom to show your grief in this way. Then we read that Job
fell to the ground. And often in reading this text,
I've considered Job's falling to the ground just another outward
expression, a custom of the day and age, but I'm not so sure now. Job has shown his grief not in
flying off the handle or losing his senses, but he expresses
his sorrow sensibly with heartbreak and with thought. And in the time that he took
to rend his mantle and shave his head, he has had time to
reflect upon all that has come upon him. And he fell to the
ground. His strength was gone. The heartache was so powerful
that it affected him physically. And he fell to the ground. The effect of Adam's sin has
hit home to Job's doorstep, and that sorrow and heartbreak
have brought him down. All of Adam's race, with some
exception of those who die young, are going to face the consequence
of sin in the heartbreak of watching others die. before they face
death themselves. And in that, up to this point,
all of Adam's children can relate to Job. But from this point forward,
only the child of God, one in whom the spirit of Christ dwells,
can enter by experience. Job, his strength gone and fallen
upon the ground, The word translated here, worshipped,
is also translated as bow, or bow down, obeisance, reverence,
and fall down. So, knowing that, and you read
it again, it seems like we're repeating ourselves. He fell
upon the ground, and he falls down. But the difference hit me. Job's
physical strength is gone, but he worshiped. His spirit fell down within him. There was nothing in Job that
rose up and said, God, I accept you as my personal savior. I've received you into my heart. How dare you deal thus with me? You can fall down upon your knees
outwardly and your inner man rise up in rebellion. Job fell
down and he worshiped. He submitted to his Lord and
his God. After submitting to the will
of God, falling to worship, Job gives his testimony, confession,
and reveals his confidence. Verse 21, And Job said, Naked
came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job confesses here his sin, God's
holiness, God's sovereignty, and the believer's response.
Job said, I am naked. David put it this way. Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. In Hebrews, we read, all things
are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have
to do. And confessing he is naked, Job says, I am a sinner from my birth. And because of this sin, I am
headed to the grave, and I'll be a sinner when I die. But in the same breath, he calls
to mind the sovereignty and the glory of his Lord. The Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away. Job sees and knows that all that
has occurred the Lord has controlled and has sovereignly brought it
to pass. Job didn't starts saying how
unfair it was. I've built up this great financial
empire and now it's gone. He didn't say how he and his
wife had raised a good family, but he acknowledges that all
that he had was given to him of the Lord. He acknowledged that it was of
the Lord, and he did not foolishly find fault with the Lord. He didn't blame the Sabeans,
the fire from heaven, the Chaldeans, the wind, or Satan for taking
his property and his family. He said, the Lord hath taken. He bowed to his God. For those who are the children
of God, we know that blessings and trials come from the hand
of God. We know that we are but stewards
of that which the Lord gives us. Hold your place here and
turn with me to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Verse 12, Luke
19, 12. Our Lord said, therefore, a certain
nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return. And he called his ten servants,
and delivered to them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till
I come. But his citizens hated him, and
sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to
reign over us. And it came to pass, that when
he was returned, having received the kingdom, Then he commanded
these servants to be called unto him to whom he had given the
money, that he might know how much every man had gained by
trading. Then came the first, saying,
Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him,
Well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in a
very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second
came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And
he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another
came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept
laid up in a napkin. For I feared thee, because thou
art an austere man. Thou takest up, that thou layest
not down, and thou reapest, that thou didst not sow. And he saith
unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked
servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere
man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did
not sow. Wherefore then gavest not thou
my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required
mine own with usury? And he said unto them that stood
by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath
ten pounds. And they said unto him, Lord,
he hath ten pounds. And the nobleman answered, For
I say unto you, that unto every one which hath shall be given,
and from him that hath not, even that he hath, shall be taken
away from him. But those mine enemies, which
would not that I should reign over them, bring hither. enslave
him before me." This parable, with the use of money, shows
forth the giving of what was the nobleman's to begin with
to his servants. And it was no surprise to the
servants when the nobleman returned and demanded of them that which
he had given them. Though the parable references
money, we as Job recognize that all we have, be it our finances,
our homes, jobs, cars, friends, family, it's all given to us
by our Lord. All is His and we are but stewards
caring for those things as best we can until He returns and takes
them from our care. James 1.17 says, Every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights. Just in this building, I see
so many gifts God has given to me and to you. This place where
we gather is a gift of God. To have the freedom to come together
and worship is a gift of our Lord. To come together and support
one another. To have the desire to be here
and hear the word of God. To have love for one another. What a gift. And an uncommon
gift in this world. Our families here sitting together and the variety of gifts that
have been bestowed just upon me. That tonight, I'm able to
stand up here before you. That Christ has given me a love,
a desire to proclaim his name. That when the call came from
my friend and my pastor, said I could use some help, Christ constrained me to say
yes. So many gifts that have been
given to our care, and what is our desire of these gifts? But that we might use them to
bring forth a good return to our Lord. He that gave it to us. And knowing that all things come
from Him and that everything I have from my breath to my family,
all of it is given to me of the Lord at His good pleasure. Does it fill me with anxious
thought that He might return and demand what is His? It actually gives me comfort. God, my Heavenly Father, gave
me all things. He'll provide for the needs of
what He's given me. And at His pleasure, He'll remove
what he's given for his glory and for my good. On our drive to Children's late
Thursday night, Stacia and I had much time to ourselves. She was
in the back with Abram, and we didn't travel alone. along
with the three of us in the car were grief and uncertainty as
we traveled. I wasn't at home during Abram's
first seizure, but his second seizure, I was holding him. And I had seen, and I hope I
never see it again, I hope you never have to see it, I'd seen my boy leave. His body
was there. Excuse me. His body was there, but the boy. the person he had left. And I wasn't sure he'd come back. My world was rocked. The billows of sorrow, grief,
and anguish were swelling up on all sides. The assuring words of the first
doctor's appointment, 50% of the time, this is a one-time
thing. The promising results of the
CT scan that showed nothing amiss. These gave no basis of hope for
a good outcome at this point. Where is a safe dwelling? I said we weren't traveling alone.
There were the three of us. Grief and anguish. But during that drive, I learned
some things. from Christ dwelling in me. And the first thing I learned
again, God is holy. He is separate from sinners.
His ways are past finding out. God is not like me. He's not like us. And what a comforting thought. Our God is holy. Secondly, God is good. Now, when this thought came to
me, another phrase I've often heard, God is too good to do
wrong came along with it. And I'm not being offensive here,
but at that moment, when that thought came across my mind,
I wanted to spew it out. It tasted bad in my mouth. And
the reason is, God is good. To is a comparative word. There is nothing to compare.
God is good and he alone is good. He is good. He does right. Now somewhere after or perhaps
accompanying these two thoughts, God is holy. and God is good,
there came another. Why? Isn't that an inevitable question
when trials come our way? Why? Why me? Why my family? Why now? It's a question, I think, that
comes before all of us, saved and lost. during times of trial. I've had it before, and I've
always tried to hide that this thought came to my mind. But why hide it, or why hide
from it? Now, I think I know why I tried
to hide that this thought came to my mind before, because I
am still self-righteous. As much as I'd like to not be,
I am. And by having this thought of
why, my self-righteousness said, it's a sign of a lack of faith. You're questioning God's providence. And it's a showing of unbelief. Yes. I am certain that it is
all of those things. But the question is still there.
And the question still rears its head in a believer as well
as an unbeliever. Donnie read this morning how
God said, let there be light. And he separated the light from
the darkness. The darkness wasn't removed.
It's there, but it's separate. Now, the unbeliever, this thought
comes to their mind, and he has a conversation with himself,
for he doesn't have Christ dwelling in him. And the question comes
to him, why? Why me? Why now? And he answers
himself back with all that he knows. God is harsh. God is cruel. God is unfair. before the believer. This question comes forth and
I picture it as being a conversation between my two natures. Why? Yes, it's a question of God's
providence. I still have the old man within
me and he is loud. Why? And then, amidst that trial,
my new man raises up, and he has an answer. And it's an assuring
answer. And he says, back because sin. That's an assuring answer? Well,
it is. It silences that old man. Why
me? Sin. Why now? You rebelled against God. Sin. The new man says, you ask why,
old man? I ask you, why not? Do you not
deserve much greater sorrows because of your rebellion? And then, oh, sin doesn't sound like an assuring
question, does it? Or an assuring answer. But when sin is revealed, what
can you do? But, White Joe, turn to your
God, our God, His sovereignty, His almighty absolute control
over all things. Here's my rock. Here's an anchor,
my anchor, for the soul that is caught in great storms. Our God reigns over every atom
and whatever makes up an atom in this world and in the world
to come. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Nothing is really in my control. Is this a thought that should
bring fear or comfort? I know many that the very thought
of being out of control of the minor, minutest thing in their
life will leave them quaking? What is it that knowing that
my God is altogether sovereign over all things, and all things
are in His control, that brings me such comfort and security? I have three points. The first,
the Lord is my great King. Now all men will say, with any
amount of reading scripture, and in my religion, before I
was saved, before the Lord saw fit to have mercy upon me, I
as much said, God is King. It was a lowercase king. It was a kingship that I elected
my God to. You can have control for now. But our God is king, not a king
in the way that this world has kings that they raise to power
and bring them down. but he is absolute king. He rules over his kingdom and
he has a people that he calls his own. He is my king, not because I
chose him to be my king, but because he conquered me and made
me a willing subject. I was a rebel, and I set up my
warfare against God Almighty. I started in my father Adam,
and I continued until I was subdued. My weapons of war were, as far
as I could tell, gold-encrusted, jewel-bound, swords, axes, arrows. And they had things like, I'm
not so bad. I'm better than the guy beside
me. I don't lie too much. I don't steal, except for that
little bar of candy over there. I don't, I don't, I don't. I go to church. My mom and dad
go to church. They're saved. And then, one day, God showed
me that my weapons of warfare that I saw as being gold encrusted
with jewels, mighty in power, He revealed to me what He revealed
to Paul. and I saw his glory and he laid me down in the dust
and I submitted to my great king and as I am a citizen of his
kingdom I am under his protection and I rest assured he controls
all things, and all that comes to pass will be for his glory
and for my good. Number two, he is my king at
great personal cost to himself. I was born a rebel to a rebellious
father, and I continued in my rebellion against the rightful
king until he conquered me. As the raging ocean, he allowed
me to rebel against him thus far and no further. Then he arrested me and he bought
me with his precious blood. In Adam, my father, I rebelled
against God and was separated from him by my sins. But my king
sent forth his own precious son. He was made in the likeness of
sinful man, yet without sin. He identifies with me so completely
that he was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. He knows the feelings of our
infirmities. He left his place in glory and
veiled his glorious person in a body prepared for himself from
the foundation of the world. But it wasn't enough that he
should come and dwell among sinful men, the king of glory walking
about this sinful earth. He had to take and bear the sins
of those that He came to conquer in His own body. Of those that
He came to save, their sins, every last infraction of God's
law, whether in thought or deed, was placed upon the Son of God. He suffered the wrath that I
and all the other rebels that he came to save deserve. God the Father forsook God the
Son while his blood flowed from his body. The penalty, the wrath that I
deserve, the death that should have been mine, God the son suffered
and died for my sin. God is my king because he purchased
me by his blood. God is my king, number three,
because I am his son. Once the blood of the lamb was
shed, He was laid in a tomb, and on the third day He came
forth, never to die again. God's justice and holiness were
pleased with the sacrifice made, as my sin had been taken from
me and made Christ, so His righteousness was made mine. John wrote, as he is, right now,
as he is, so are we in this world. Is Christ the Son of God? Oh
yes, he is the only begotten Son of God. Those who he died
to redeem are sons of God through adoption. We are the sons of
God, the sons of the King. Job's testimony in verse 21 concludes
with, blessed be the name of the Lord. After my thoughts had turned
from the trial to the character of my great God, King, and Savior. Our prayers turn to thanksgiving. In the midst of the trial, I
found myself blessing the name of the Lord. Paul admonishes
us, in everything, give thanks. Everything, trials or blessings,
give thanks. How did I go from giving thanks?
Or how did I get to giving thanks? Did my prayer start with, thank
you, Lord, for placing seizures upon Abram? No. No, but I did give thanks because
of this trial. Not particularly that I'm in
the midst of it. But because of this trial, I saw once again
fresh, fresher than I guess I've seen
them in a while, the characteristics of my Lord. I felt the frailty
and uselessness of this flesh. And I wondered again at that
great mercy that God shows towards me because of the love of Christ
and His great sacrifice. Because of this trial, I was
laid prostrate again at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, bowing
to His will and finding again the Rock of Ages, my sure It's
a great trial, but it's a trial that my Lord, my God, and my
Savior has absolute control over. Bless His holy name. Child of Adam, we know man that
is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. But as these
troubles abound, the child of God sorrows not as others which
have no hope. For those in whom the Spirit
of Christ dwells have the peace of God which passeth, understands. The natural man cannot enter
into the peace of worshiping the living God during a trial. The natural man will look for
all kinds of help for a sure ground, A doctor's encouraging
word, a past experience, their good deeds performed at some
point. It's a hopeless endeavor to search for a sure foundation and a perfect
peace apart from the union with God's only son. Oh, that you and I might know
Him and the power of His resurrection. Then, if we have Christ, come trials and tribulations
or blessings. Come what may, the Lord Himself
is our peace. The Lord Himself is our strength. He is our life. Come to Christ
now. Come today. Don't delay. Today
is the day of salvation. Bow before Him. Seek His face,
His mercy, His forgiveness. He is rich in mercy. Now, I've
taken a good amount of time in trying to say what David said
so eloquently in Psalm 113. Let's turn there. Psalm 113. Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O
ye servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun until
the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations
and his glory above the heavens. who is like unto the Lord our
God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the
things that are in heaven and in the earth. He raiseth up the
poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill,
that he may set him with princes, even the princes of his people. He maketh the barren woman to
keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye
the Lord. Let's bow together in prayer
and then Donnie can come up and dismiss us. Our gracious, holy, merciful
Heavenly Father, O Lord our God, Thank you, Lord, for your sure
and tender mercies toward us. Lord, in this world of turmoil, uncertainty, unstableness, what a blessing it is to know
that thou art God and there is no other. Father, thank you for the strength
given tonight. Lord, I pray that you'll take
the words and bless them to our hearts. Lord, cause us to reflect upon your word, upon
your promises, and to see through your scriptures, your son, high
and lifted up, gloriously arrayed. Oh, that we might bow down to
him. Father, keep us by your grace. Oh, I thank you for all
the gifts, for all the love that we have in this congregation. You're so good to us. Lord, forgive us of our sins. Grow us in the knowledge of Christ,
Him alone. For it is in His name we pray,
amen.