Alright, Hebrews chapter 4. Let's
start and just read, let's just read
all of chapter 4 together, Hebrews 4. Therefore, while the promise
of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should
seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us
just as it did to them, but the message they heard did not benefit
them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
For we who have believed enter that rest, as he said, I swore
on my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Although his works were
finished from the foundation of the world, he has somewhere
spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the
seventh day from all his works. And again in this passage he
said, they shall not enter my rest. Since, verse 6, therefore
it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received
the good news fail to enter it because of disobedience. Again
he appoints a certain day, and that is today, saying through
David, so long afterward, in the words already quoted, today
if you hear his voice, Do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua
had given them rest, God would have not spoken of another day
later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people
of God. For whoever has entered God's rest is also rested from
his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive, and
this is where we'll be tonight, let us therefore strive to enter
that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and
of spirit and joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from
his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him
to whom we must give account. Since then, we have a great high
priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God. Let us hold fast our confession,
for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with
our weakness, but one who is in every respect, has been tempted
as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw
near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. And then Paul continues
to talk about that high priest. So let's review a little bit
into chapter 4 what's being said here. And I know I did this a
little bit last week, but we're going to try to keep it all fluid. Jesus Christ is God, is man,
in the flesh. He is the incarnate God, the
Son, and He is greater than all things, greater than all creation,
as the Creator God who created it all for His purpose and for
His glory. And in His coming to this earth and taking on humanity,
He substituted for His people, and because of that, He is doing
the work of God. And because He is the Son, He
is greater than the slave Moses. Because He is the Son who created
the angels, He is greater than the angels. Because He is the
Son, because He is God, He has done all that is necessary to
do to help his people, to sanctify them in himself, to set them
apart for righteousness by giving himself for them and then giving
us, his people, his righteousness. The picture of this in the Exodus
is where Paul is now talking and then he will talk about this
picture then through the temple and the tabernacle through the
priesthood. But as Moses led them out of
captivity. Such does Jesus, in His fullness,
lead His people out of the captivity of sin and death. As Moses, in
the proximity of the large majority of Israel, saw that a majority
of them did not believe and their disobedience was their lack of
faith, So will be the same of many who claim to be, quote,
in Christ. That their disobedience will
be a lack of faith in the true finished work of Jesus. Which,
by example, is the temptation that Paul is continuing to talk
about here. Throughout the entire letter,
this is the temptation that he's talking about. The temptation
to fall back into works, to fall back into history, to fall back
into genealogy, to fall back into certain things where we
or they by examination of their own lives or their own bloodline
could have confidence to enter into the rest of God. Not only
could they not believe the gospel, but they rejected what was clearly
given before them, what was clearly shown to them through the power
of God's hand where he provided for them, where he gave them
a means of escape, and he continued to preach the good news, which
was his promise to give them rest. Those who in unbelief could
not see that continued to look for the promised land. Yet God
refused to allow them to enter into the promised land. And then
those who remain, though they enter into the physical land
of promise, that land in itself and the promise that came with
it was just a shadow of the true promise of the true rest who
is Jesus Christ our Sabbath. So, As the promise then still
stands, people would say, well, we can't go to the promised land
anymore, we've already received it. Well, yes you can, because
the promised land is Jesus. So don't go back looking for
Joshua to take you in, as we've already seen. God promised, how
does he say that? Look there in chapter 4, look
at verse 6. Since therefore it remains for
some to enter it. Let's see, we know we're not
looking for the Jews to go into a particular place to have a
land or to have a temple. This is Jesus Christ. So that
it remains for some to enter it. And those who formerly received
the good news failed to enter because of disobedience. Again,
he appoints a certain day and he quotes, today, saying through
David, where is that written? Psalm 95. So long afterward,
and the words already quoted, today if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest,
God would have not spoken of another day. So then there remains
a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered
God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. And we talked about that last
week. We discussed that reality and that we are no longer striving
in our works to find righteousness. We're no longer looking at the
precepts of Moses and the law to find righteousness because
it pointed to Jesus, the true and eternal hope, the peace,
the love of God. So then, it seems that what Paul
is saying now in verses 10 into verse 11, which is where we are
tonight, what does it say there? It says, For whoever has entered
God's rest has also rested from his work as God did from his.
God has created and finished the work of redemption, so trusting
in the promise of God through Jesus Christ by faith, which
is granted by God the Holy Spirit through the hearing of the Word
of God, who is Jesus Christ, We are no longer striving to
earn or striving to secure, but we are resting. We are resting. In verse 11, let us, therefore,
strive to enter that rest. Now, when we hear that, doesn't
it automatically seem like a contradiction? We don't work anymore. We're
not doing anything. And now, therefore, because we're
not working anymore, let us strive. But what is the striving? Let
us strive so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. So let's take this as it sits
right here in the English and say, what is this saying? Here's what it's saying. We must
strive to not disobey as those in the wilderness disobeyed,
because if we do, we will not enter that rest. Now doesn't
that contradict everything we've just heard about the grace of
God? No, because Paul has done a very
good job of showing over in chapter 3 when he says, and he asks all
these questions starting in verse 16. Look at 3.16 here. For who
were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those
who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked
for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned,
whose bodies fell dead in the wilderness? And to whom did he
swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were
disobedient? So we see that they were unable
to enter because of unbelief. So right there it's very clear.
Their disobedience was that they did not believe God. Just like
we see in Abraham's case, as Paul, as we saw in Galatians,
and as we've seen in Romans, that Abraham's faith was accredited
to him as righteousness. He believed God, therefore he
was righteous. Because God's promise of righteousness
was to Abraham. And Abraham was counted righteous
by God. Therefore, we know that Abraham
believed that. So if we are to strive to enter
into the rest that we do not miss out on the rest, we must
make sure that we do not fall by the same sort of disobedience
that the Jews in the wilderness did. They fell. How did they fall? For the wages
of sin is what? Death. They fell. Their bodies
fell dead in the wilderness. Why? Because they failed to believe
God. So God would not give them the temporary picture of rest
because they would not believe in the temporary promise of God. How much more would they not
be able to believe in the eternal promises of God? So when we see
Paul saying, then today when he quotes over and over, And
as he says in chapter 3, we have a high priest that we should
consider the calling that we have from Jesus and that our
confession is in Him who is faithful, who was appointed by God and
He is the Son over the house of God to bring the house of
God to its place. And so we hold fast our confidence
and our boasting and our hope, who is Jesus Christ the High
Priest, which is where he's going now. So this is not teaching
different things. Paul has yet to teach anything
new. He's always, from the very beginning of this letter thus
far, taught one thing, and that is faith alone in Jesus Christ
alone is our only hope to stand before God alone as righteous.
And that if we add anything to it, we are falling dead in the
wilderness because we are grumbling against the promise of God because
we want to see more tangible reality when it comes to saving
faith. So when we strive to enter that
rest, that no one falls by the same sort of disobedience, He
is saying, you must strive to believe the gospel. And I know that it's obvious
for me because I have this whole letter in my mind right now.
It's hard not to go over to chapter 13 and just... But when we see
the very next phrase, for, there's an explanation here. So Paul
says, so let us strive to enter the rest so that no one may fall
by the same sort of unbelief. For the Word of God is living. The Word of God is active. The
Word of God cuts because it's sharper than any sword that is
known to man. And what it does in its sharpness,
in its active life, is it pierces the division of soul and spirit.
It pierces so sharply into the internal aspects of our life,
the imagery here would say that the joints and the marrow It
goes to the thoughts, it goes to the core of the soul, of the
bowels, of the heart, of the mind, whichever generation you
might live in. And it goes and cuts to the discerning,
the thoughts and the intentions of the heart and no creature
is hidden. I'm going to stop there, I don't
want to finish that sentence. So now we see that we strive
by not falling into unbelief. And we don't fall into unbelief
because we believe what Christ has done concerning our redemption. And we believe the witness of
the Father, and the witness of the Spirit, and the witness of
the Son concerning this redemption. That God has built His house
through His Son and we are His house. And our confession is
that Christ has set us free and brought us into the presence
of God. So if we do not listen, to the words of the prophets.
If we do not listen to the law of Moses and are condemned, how
much worse is it not to listen to the Son of God? Now, with
that in mind, look at verse 12 again. For the Word of God Jesus Christ, His testimony,
His witness, His proclamation is living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit
and joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions
of the heart and no creature is hidden, now you see where
I've gone, from His sight, the Word's sight. No creature is
hidden from the sight of Him who is the Word of God. Now, this proclamation, many
times, many ways, God has spoken to our fathers through the prophets. But in these last days, He has
spoken to us through His Word, who is His Son, who is living
and breathing and active and sharper than any two-edged sword,
who looks into the heart and knows the intentions of all things,
and through whom He created the world. And He, the Word of God,
is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint
of His nature. And He, the Word of God, upholds
the universe by the Word of His power. And He, after He made
purification for sin, the Word, the living Word of God, sat down. The living Word of God sat at
the right hand of majesty on high and is as superior to the
angels. much more superior to the angels,
as the name He has inherited is much more excellent than theirs. Therefore, we must pay closer
attention to what we have heard from the living Word of God,
who is Jesus Christ the Son, lest we drift away from it, who
says, I am your righteousness. It is finished. Because if we
are not able to hear that, Then how under heaven and earth are
we ever going to escape the wrath of God? And when we fall into the confidence
of our flesh, even when we give God credit, we are not looking
at Jesus. Jesus and His gospel as the Word
of God does not say, I will create you to be perfect. He says, you are my righteousness
because I am your righteousness. It is an exchange. He who knew
no sin became sin that we might be the righteousness of God. That is where we are in verse
13. And for the elect who have been
granted repentance, therefore they believe this, and their
mind is not focused, their confidence is changed, their disposition
is changed, their attitude is changed concerning the gospel.
No longer are we religious fanatics looking to appease God's wrath
through any form or function of our own flesh, but we are
righteous children who rest in the finished work
of Jesus Christ. And it's sandwiched here. It's
sandwiched here. Because it already says over
in chapter 2, He was made like His brothers, so that He might
become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of
God to make propitiation for the sins of them. And then it
says, Consider Jesus the Apostle and the High Priest of our confession,
who was faithful to Him who appointed Him. Christ is faithful over
God's house. He also says, He tasted death
for all of His. He, who, for whom, and by whom
all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make
the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For
he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source,
and it is the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Since, therefore,
children, we share in the flesh and blood, likewise, particular
the same things that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death that is the devil and deliver all
those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery
the work of Jesus Christ is the only thing being talked about
here so We strive to enter into Christ,
which is striving to enter into the rest, which is done by faith
alone in the message and the witness of Jesus. His Word, everything
that He's taught, everything that the apostles have written. Because He is the High Priest.
And we cannot hide from Him. Naked and exposed. Sounds like a TV series I've
heard of before, Naked and Fearful or something like Naked and Afraid.
You know, never seen it, but I've heard of it. No creatures
hidden from sight, but we're naked and exposed. Now the nakedness
is shameful. Nobody, I mean, everybody's probably
had dreams of not being able to have their pants on or something
when they're at work or at school or somewhere like that. Or you're
there and then all of a sudden, poof, your clothes vanish. It's
a nightmare. It's a nightmare because it drives
the very idea of public shame correlates perfectly with public
nakedness. The very point when sin entered
the heart of Adam and Eve, they were ashamed that they were naked.
But yet like a child runs around without clothes, doesn't know
they're naked. They're just running around. But shame comes. But more importantly, we need
to understand the relationship that Paul gives here in verse
13. We are creatures. We are part
of the creation. And we were created in this place
as we're born naked and exposed. There is no way that we can hide
from Jesus. are true intentions. There's
no way we can fake being born again. There's no way we can
give lip service to the gospel of grace while continuing to
keep a toehold in the gospel, or the not gospel, of works. We can't do it. And beloved, if you don't realize
it yet, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is proclaiming judgment
on those who don't believe in the gospel of free and sovereign
grace. He's proclaiming judgment because He says He is the way
and when many people come to find another way but they add
Him to it, this is no way at all. This is the way to destruction
and broad is the path. Narrow is the gate that leads
to righteousness and few will find it. But most people on that
broad path think they're on the righteous way. And they can use
the Scripture, and they can use good things, and they can use
moral transformation, and they can use good works, and they
can use love, and they can use benevolence. And there are many
things that they can use, but they cannot use those things
in the court of righteousness. They cannot use that in the economy
of grace when the only tender, the only legal tender in the
throne room of God is His mercy and the blood of His Son. What
shall we stand before the Lord with, except the blood of Christ
alone? And if there's anything else
that we can add to it, we best tremble, because God will not
accept a tainted payment. No creature is hidden from the
sight of Christ, and we will give an account to Him. And beloved,
when we give an account to the Lord, it'll either be all by
His mercy, or it will be everything we've tried. And when everything
we've tried is done, we will still be found wanting. And look
at verse 14. I'm proving everything that I've
just said to you. Since then, we have a great high priest who
has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast our confession. So you see there? I know that interpretation of
Scripture has become this incredible, intellectual, scientific adventure. But it's not. It's simply reading
what's there, looking past these ridiculous numbers and these
stupid headings, and looking to the letter that Paul wrote
to the saints these thousands of years ago. and seen by the
Spirit of God very plainly that it is about the grace of God
through Jesus Christ. and that I don't need to sit
here and spend months dealing with all of the shadows and types
and pumping you up with all the knowledge of Moses and all the
things that are found inside the temple in every step of the
way and understanding all those shadows. What needs to be on
our hearts and minds today is to see what He is showing us
in the Word that Jesus Christ and His proclamation of His High
Priestly Word is sufficient. for you. It is sufficient for
you. And that there is nothing we
can do except to believe in Jesus as our High Priest. He is our
High Priest. And because He is the Living
Word and sees all the intentions of our heart, when we can trust
in Him, we know He has corrected that. He has gifted faith to
us. He has caused repentance. No longer do we look at the shadows
and look at the way in which we could stand right before the
Lord. We know He is our mercy seat. So let us hold fast to our confession. Now what's on the table though?
What is the occasion here that's on the table? It's the fourth
time, or the third time that Paul has said this already. You're
not alone. We know you're struggling. I
know that you're struggling. I know that you've got some things
going on. I know that you're dealing with the flesh. I know
that you're hurting through the persecution of great proportions,
through social pressure, through economic pressure, through family
pressure and all these other things, I know that you're having
a hard time, because it is not easy to be counted in the number
of Christ, and as they hated Christ, they're going to hate
us. But He suffered, and when He tempted, He was able to help
those who are tempted. He's able to help you. When you struggle, He's able
to help you. He took on shame. And when you're
taking on shame, He's been there. He's the High Priest. He's the
King of Kings. He's greater than the angels.
He's the Creator God of the universe. He is the Living Word. And yet,
He lowered Himself to die for us. He's been there. He knows
what it feels like to be hated. He knows what it feels like to
be destroyed. He knows what it feels like to lose everything.
He knows what it feels like for the people that supposedly love
Him the most to abandon Him and reject Him and to deny Him. He
knows. He knows that it's very difficult
for you to not go back into Judaism for the simplicity of it. He
knows that it'd be easy for you just to fall back in line, to
have a secret belief in Him. But if you do that, you're not
believing in Him, see. But you're not alone. And He's
not gone. He's been raised to life and
He's passed through the heavens. He's seated at the right hand
of majesty after dying for our sins, being the perfect sacrifice
and the priest who gives it. Since when, as you'll see soon,
has a high priest ever shed his own blood for the people? No,
in contrast, he must kill a perfect lamb in order to atone for his
own sins before he can even go back into the room to symbolically
pour the blood for the others. For, verse 15, we do not have
a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness. Beloved, I want to just emphasize
that. If I don't get anything else out tonight, I want to emphasize
this. Anyone in Christ who says they
don't have weakness is blind. Yet that weakness is not a license
to just give up. That weakness is not a license
to say, well, the Lord understands my sin, my doubt, my frailty.
He does. But He is our strength. And it
is the intimacy of the body of Christ together as we grow, as
you and I grow together in the Word and in the knowledge of
grace, We're reminded, that's almost all of the New Testament
is a way of reminder anyway. We're reminded that He is sympathetic
with our weakness. So that when we feel frail, what's
the first thing that happens in our flesh? We feel what? Guilty.
We feel guilty, we feel condemned, we feel confused, we feel unworthy,
we feel like, oh, I'm probably lost. But the Word of God by the Spirit,
who is Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ,
by God the Spirit, allows us to see, and in this reminder,
we know that He also was tempted as we are tempted, yet without
sin. without sin. So when our hope
fades because we're judging our faith based on our flesh in any
way, whether it's works or obedience or strength or passion or zeal
or affections, God help us not to judge our faith and our hope
on our affections. Because if we stand confident
in the mirror of our soul that our affections are aligned with
the Lord, we are deceived. I want them to be, until I don't. And that's a temptation. And the guilt is not of the Lord. For there is, as Paul would say,
no condemnation for those who are in Christ. So what should
we do? We remember Christ, we remember
his perfection, we remember his sacrifice, we remember what we're
being taught this very moment from this simple little letter
that is not mysterious at all. That he sympathizes with us. And verse 16 is a rich, rich,
rich exhortation. Let us then. You see? Let me show you how this looks.
Let us then. What does that mean? We, when we see struggle, we
can't lie to God. the Son, for He is the Word,
and He knows who we are. He knows what's up. He discerns
the thoughts and the intentions of the heart, and we're not hidden
from it. We're naked and exposed. But
He is our High Priest. He is our Lamb. He is our righteousness. He is our Brother. And He's died
for us, and He's lived for us, and He's living for us to stay.
And He sympathizes with our weakness, yet He never sinned in His temptation. So we aren't to compare ourselves
to Him, we are to place our trust in Him. Let us then, with confidence,
draw near. When we doubt, let us then with
confidence draw near. When we fail, let us then with
confidence draw near. Friends, John does the same thing
in his first epistle. I write these things that you
may not sin, but if you do sin, you have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, who is our propitiation. Let us then with confidence draw
near to the throne of what? To the throne of judgment? To
the throne of justice? To the throne of damnation? No,
to the throne of grace! How often do we use that phrase
in our conversations and in our mind's eye? How often do we use
that phrase? We go bold before the throne
of grace, but we cower like criminals with the thought of standing
before God's throne of grace. Beloved, we stand bold and clean
before the King of Kings because He shed His blood for us. And if we aren't going in there
completely and only covered by the blood of Christ, if we have
one thing, if we have a pen with us, if we have one ounce of disease,
if we have one little toehold of work. It's insufficient. It's kicked out. It's refused. We then are refused if it is
not all of Christ. And when we struggle in that
fight, that is the point of this whole letter. When we struggle
in the fight to believe only in the grace of God and nothing
else. Christ is sufficient to help
us. We come boldly, with confidence, we draw near. Do you know that's
the opposite of what the flesh does? What does the flesh do? Hides from God. The flesh sows
fig leaves to cover our nakedness. The flesh does everything that
it can do to try to appease God or to try to look the part. Listen,
very important here. Try to look the part so that
we can come before the Lord and say, I'm clean. The Word of God
is living and breathing and sharper than any two-edged sword and
He sees right through it. You cannot, we cannot, we will
not deceive the Lord. So let us come before the throne
of grace. The throne of grace, the throne
of mercy, where there is no father there with a disgruntled look,
where there is no king there with an axman, there is no charge,
there is no jury, there is no trial. The trial has been done,
and the verdict has been given, and restitution has been made,
and Jesus did it all, and He said, it is finished. It is finished. What does coming
near to the throne of grace do? Why? We don't prepare ourselves
for that. We don't wait till the need is
over. We don't get things together and go in the presence of God
so we can say, look at there, James got it all together, good
boy. We go when we need. His help. We go when we're weak. We go before the grace of God
in times of trials, in times of suffering, in times of doubt,
in times of faithlessness. It is the grace of God through
Jesus Christ. This is our life. He is our life. And we find this throne only
at the cross. only at the testimony of Jesus,
who is greater than Moses, who is greater than the angels, who
is greater than all creations, who is greater than all high
priests, because they were all just shadows of Him. And when
we go to Christ, the throne of grace, we receive mercy. We receive mercy and we find
grace to help us in this need. Beloved, this is the greatest
need of every Christian, is to hold fast to our confident hope
in Jesus Christ. And that looks so different for
most of us, but the essence is exactly the same. Sometimes we
feel like we've got to do more. Sometimes we feel like we want
to do less. Sometimes we don't know where
to do or even how we feel or how we're supposed to feel, but
chances are we're probably wrong. And the same thing would be true
outside of feelings to actions, and then from actions to desires,
and from desires to purposes, and purposes to, and you just
put a list down. What are we going to do? What
are we going to do? We're going to stand in the presence
of God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Because
Jesus has done the work for us. Let's read into chapter 5 just
a little bit further. For every high priest, Chosen
from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation
to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He, Jesus, can deal gently with
the ignorant. he can deal gently with the wayward,
since he himself is beset with weakness." I mean, excuse me,
the high priest, the earthly high priest can deal gently with
ignorant and the wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
So here's this earthly priest, just like earthly pastors, just
like earthly brothers and sisters. We can't look at each other with
disdain and say, well, why is your life not the way it should
be? Because mine's not either. and we are to help each other,
and we are to encourage each other, we are to help teach each
other, that's already been talked about. But ultimately, the reason
these things come out is because our faith is waning. Jesus Christ
did not have to, what? He did not have to sacrifice
anything for Himself, because He, He is sinless. He is sinless. And it says, because of this,
he was obligated to offer, the earthly high priest was obligated
to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those
of the people. And no one takes this honor for
himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. Let's continue to read, and then
we'll close. So also Christ did not exalt
himself to be made a high priest. He was appointed by him who said
to him, You are my son and today I have begotten you." As he also
says someplace else, you are a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. In the days of his flesh, Jesus
offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to
him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard
because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned
obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became
the source of eternal life and salvation to all who obey him,
being designated by God as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek."
So in this, as we get into that next week and unpack it a lot,
We need to see that some of that language seems contradictory.
What is this obedience? It's the obedience of believing
in his witness to be our high priest. And he's not just another
high priest. He is the true high priest. So,
beloved, even though Jesus was not sinful, he did subject himself
to weakness. Not that he was not sufficient
for his blood to atone for our sins, but he subjected himself
to humanity so that he could die and suffer in our place. Whose place? His people, the
elect children of God. Of whom you are. and whose throne
is open to you to walk in to say to God, hey daddy, I need
your help. Let's pray. We thank you Father
for your word and Lord how it just keeps going. I often wonder
what it would be if I just kept reading and we just talked and
unpacked until we got finished. How full it would be to do all
of this in one sitting. Father, I pray for us. I pray
for all of us. And I pray that you would cause
us to pray for one another. That as we feel our own weakness,
help us to pray for the weaknesses of one another. So that we might
be mindful that we are not alone. Not just that you are with us,
but that we are not alone in this journey. Our brothers and
sisters are struggling together. And you've purposed us to be
mindful of them, to pray for them. And that when we are together
again, Lord, to encourage one another to believe in the finished
work of Jesus Christ, who is our eternal hope. And it's in
his name we pray. Amen.