Open your Bible, if you would,
to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. The name
of the message is single-mindedness. Single-mindedness. Wonderful
topic as I went through it, and I was going to name the message
something else, and then Brother Henry brought up in his Bible
commentary how Christ or Paul was single-minded when it came
to Christ. Single-minded. And the verse
we are going to look at today is going to definitely bring
that forth. The verse we're going to look at is verse 21 where
he says, For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Let's read
the context of these verses. Let's read from verses 15 to
24 to see the context of our verses, our verse today, which
will be verse 21. Some indeed preach Christ even
of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preached
Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add afflictions
to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for
the defense of the gospel. So Paul is in prison, in house
arrest in Rome. He has a guard with him 24 hours
a day. Six different guards a day. They
come in four-hour shifts. And so he has a new audience
every four hours. And no doubt they heard him preach
the gospel. They found out why he was in
under house arrest as a Roman citizen, they would be shocked
that why is he under house arrest when he preached the gospel?
And so we know from the verses before this that the gospel spread
through the Praetorian Guard and through Caesar's household
and that the Senate and all those high leaders knew why Paul was
in prison. The word had got out. But the gospel spread. And Paul
hears rejoicing. There's some who are preaching,
seeking to add to Paul's bonds, add affliction, make it worse.
Well, he was chained to a guard. But the other of love, and that's
that agape love, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.
knowing that he's set for the defense of the gospel. Verse
17. Then in verse 18, he says, What
then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
I was listening to Brother Henry this morning on this portion. And again, he bought out that
these men, even though they were seeking to add affliction to
his bonds, they were preaching the gospel. Because otherwise,
Paul wouldn't have rejoiced. If they weren't preaching the
gospel, Paul wouldn't have rejoiced at all. But they're preaching
the gospel. They're preaching substitution through Christ and
the shed blood of Christ and Christ being risen from the grave. But they're just seeking to take
advantage of a position that all of a sudden opened up, a
vacuum that opened up when Paul now is under house arrest. They want some of the glory. They want some prestige. But
you know, gospel preachers, We're not after that. We're not after
that. Something Henry mentioned this
morning, too, that was marvelous. He said, if any man tells you
he never envies, he's a liar, because men envy, right? But we don't get jealous of one
another, of how the Lord's using us. We rejoice. We rejoice. You know, if God's given an increase
in one man's ministry, praise God. The gospel's being preached,
right? If this fellow over here, he
might not agree with us on eschatology, he might not agree with us on
some other things, but if he's preaching the gospel, praise
God. Right? Henry was saying, we get so caught
up in saying, it's my way or the highway. Right? But if the man's preaching the
gospel, let's rejoice. That's the key. And how do you
tell that, right? Just by listening. Who gets the
glory? Christ gets all the glory when
the gospel is preached. Amen, brother. Christ gets all the
glory. Right? He gets all the honor
and the praise. He gets it all. So Paul here
is saying, what then? Notwithstanding every way, whether
in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do
rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Remember, remember the disciples
came to Christ and said, that man over there, there's a fellow
over there, he's preaching in your name. And Christ said, Christ
said, well, if he's for us, then he's not against us. Let him
preach. Let him preach. Oh my. So here Paul's rejoicing that
the gospel's going forth. It's going forth. For I know
that this shall turn to my salvation. We know from our study last week,
a couple weeks ago, that's deliverance. He's praying for deliverance
from the chains that he's in. through your prayer in the supply
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. According to my earnest expectation
and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that
with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified
in my body, whether it be by life or by death. So he's praying
that Christ will be magnified, that he'd not be ashamed of the
gospel. that he not be ashamed of the bonds that he's in, right?
Because it's all due to the providence of God. And not just currently,
but he says even in my life or in my death, even in the future.
Lord, Lord, keep me keeping on. Keep me looking to you. Keep
me, keep me preaching Christ. Because that's what's most important,
right? That's what's most important. Oh my. It really brings it down
to right, to the main point. Remember, Paul said, we don't
preach ourselves. We preach Christ. Right? We preach Christ. Now, he used
his life as an example in some places. He said, I knew a man
that received, or that was caught up into the third heaven. And,
well, that was him, wasn't it? But he gave all the glory to
the Lord. He gave him all the honor and praise. Then look at
this, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor. Yet what shall I choose? I want not. Paul's saying here
in that verse, verse 22, he's saying, whether I live or die,
I don't have any control over that. I don't have any control. We
don't have any control over our life and our death in the sense
of the day we die. We have no control over that.
Isn't that amazing? Oh my, God's in control, isn't
he? He's sovereign. So Paul desires, he desires to
live, to live, he says to live is Christ. He desires to live
for Christ. He desires to honor Christ. He
desires to preach Christ and him crucified. And then he says,
but to die is gain. We're going to look at that later.
There's a lot of gain. Oh my. And then he says this though,
I am in the straight betwixt two, having the desire to depart
and to be with Christ, which is far better. But look what
he says. Nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. So he's saying, I'm desiring
to go home with the Lord. That's my desire. But if the
Lord keeps me here, it's because it's more needful for you. Isn't
that wonderful? So talk about give the preacher
confidence when he's put somewhere to preach the gospel. And we
know we're going to be there until the Lord's finished with
us. And it's needful for me to be
here with you, and it's needful for you to be here with me. Isn't
that wonderful? But when the day comes that the
Lord has appointed for us to die, we're gone. We're gone. We're going home. My, oh my. Now every believer desires to
see Christ, don't we? That's what we desire. We can't
wait to see our king. We desire to see our king. Oh my. And Paul here, he was saying
that, well, if I finished my course, I'm going to be with
Christ. But if not, it'll be better for you. It'll be better
for you. And He knew that he would not
go to glory a second before God had ordained. A second before
God ordained. And it's true for us. We will
not go to glory a second before God's ordained or a second later. At that exact time that God's
ordained, we'll stop breathing. Just like that. And there won't
be no bringing us back. Not at all. See, sister, when
that happened to you on the operating table, it wasn't your time. Isn't
that amazing? But there's going to come a time
for all of us. There's going to come a day in time when we
won't, the doctors will do whatever they can and they won't be able
to bring us back. And then we, oh, you talk about gain. Oh my. You talk about gain. So Paul
was confident. What Paul's bringing forth here,
he's confident in the work that Christ has done in him. He said, all my works are like
dung. But he's confident in what Christ has done for him. He's
a new creature in Christ, right? God did that, didn't he? He's
got faith now in the one he once hated. God did that, didn't he? He now preaches the one he sought
to destroy, the sect. He called it a sect. The people
of the way he sought to destroy, the church and wasteland. Now,
now he loves God's people. And he preaches to him Christ,
and Christ alone, and salvation through him alone, by his shed
blood alone. And this isn't self-confidence
or pride, not at all. Not at all. Look at verse 6. Look at verse 6. Verse 6 brings
forth where his confidence is. Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. Brother Charlie, he started a
work in us, and he's going to finish it. And when he finishes
it, we'll be conformed, all of us who are believers, we'll be
conformed to the image of Christ. That's glorious. That's glorious. My oh my. And Paul's still addressing the
Philippians concerning that which is singularly important to the
child of God, which is preaching Christ. Preaching Christ. That's what's
most important to Paul. Christ is his life. Remember
in our Colossians study, he said, Christ is all. He's all, he's
everything to us. Sister, what do we have without
Christ? We have nothing, do we? But with Christ, we have everything.
That's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. My,
all spiritual blessings are wrapped up in him. And Paul knows, he knows the
trouble that the church faces. He knows the troubles that we're
going to go through, because he went through them too. And
the Holy Spirit has had this preserved for us. Isn't that
amazing? And Paul, just as he's preaching
to the Philippians, this truth is for us today. It's for us today, beloved. And the church faces persecution. And Paul's facing his own bondage. He's in chains. He's chained
to a Roman guard. A praetorian. Every six or four
hours, like I said, there's a new guard coming in. He'd get to
know them fellas pretty good, wouldn't he? Hey, Demetrius,
how you doing today? You're going to hear about Christ. And maybe Demetrius goes, praise
God, I couldn't wait to get here, Paul. Oh my, we don't know, right?
I don't know if Demetrius is real. Marcus, that's why we use
Marcus's name, because they used to say Marcus, and a lot of fellows
would call Marcus in Rome. But no, either way, right? We
don't know. And Demetrius might have went
to Marcus and said, I've been chained to this fellow Paul.
And he's talking about Christ. I hope you get chained to him.
You can hear about him too. Let me tell you about him. Let
me tell you, Paul says he saved sinners. He went to a cross. We crucified him. But he rose
from the dead. And that's why Paul was in prison
for preaching the resurrection. That's what the Jews hated. Because
it proved Christ's deity. It proved who He was. Oh my. So Paul knew, again, he knew
the troubles the church was facing. He had his own bondage. And even
his own bondage was troubling the Philippians as well, right?
Oh yeah. But he knows that all these circumstances
are arising according to God's providence. And for the salvation of the
elect. Look at verse 12. I know we keep going back to that, but
that's so important. That's the theme of this book,
really. The circumstances in our lives
occur according and for the furtherance of the gospel. According to God's
will and for the furtherance of the gospel. Then verse 19
is a declaration of Paul's understanding of divine providence of God.
Let's read verses 19 and 20 together. For I know that this shall turn
to my salvation deliverance through your prayer in the supply of
the spirit of Jesus Christ. according to my earnest expectation
and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all
boldness as always, so now also shall be magnified in my body,
whether it be by life or by death. So we see here Paul's expectation
and hope, which again are grounded in God-given faith, right? And
faith has one object, doesn't it? And that's the Lord Jesus
Christ, right, sister? It's Christ. So his faith is
grounded in Christ. And it's God-given faith. He
didn't muster it up. My, oh, my. And his expectation and hope is that
the gospel of salvation in and through Christ would be magnified. That it would go forth in power
of the Holy Spirit of God. See, only God can make the gospel
effectual, right? Only God can make it powerful. My words, I preach what the Lord
puts on my heart, but somewhere between me and you, God the Holy
Spirit gets a hold of those words and He uses them to bless you.
Just as He blesses me when I'm putting a study together. That's
amazing. So Paul's praying that the gospel
would be magnified, that Christ would be magnified. And again,
it's his earnest expectation and hope. And we see that he
declares that his hope and expectation is first, that in nothing he
shall be ashamed. My, or rather never bring shame
or dishonor to his Lord. Or to his gospel that he so faithfully,
faithfully declared. I think if we consider it even
in our own lives and and we've seen it in others if they if
we ever consider our actions And and the last thing we want
to do as believers is to dishonor god Is to dishonor christ, isn't
it? Now even some who profess to
to honor christ have dishonored christ We've all done it in our
lives at one point or another And so Paul's saying, it's my
prayer to the Lord that he'd keep me. Honoring his name, praising
his name, giving him all the glory. And again, this is the
concern of every believer. As the believer in Christ, we
know ourselves, don't we? We know our frailty. We know
how prone we are to wander, as the hymn writer wrote. You know,
only grace folks will admit that. And grace folks being people
who are truly born again. When I was in religion, boy,
you never mentioned any weakness at all. You'd get shredded. I'm telling you, it was awful. My oh my. But Paul's desire now is that
Both now and always, he would magnify Christ. He would honor
Christ. That Christ would be magnified
in his body. And this means that he desires
that he would always yield his members as instruments of righteousness. His life's not his own. Our life's
not our own. We're bought with a price, beloved.
What is it? Amen, brother, the precious,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it costs
to ransom our souls. My, you see how now the love
of Christ constrains us from sin now? And we're still sinners
to our shame, right? But, but you see how now we don't
desire? Henry said this, this was a,
this was beautiful. I thought he said, he said, open
up a believer's thoughts and we have thoughts of Christ. Open
up a believer's heart, and his heart is filled with
love for Christ, or her heart is filled with love for Christ.
Isn't that amazing? See a believer's intent in their
life, their life is to glorify and honor Christ. See in our hearts that we don't
desire to go and sin like crazy, but we desire to honor Christ.
What a change. That's a miracle. That's a miracle
of God's grace, isn't it? Because did we desire anything
of Christ before he saved us? We didn't, did we, sister? Nope. But now look, look now, this
is amazing. And we can only give him the
glory, can't we? Praise his mighty, mighty, mighty name. Praise the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ for his work in us. Oh my, it's
amazing. Oh, it's amazing. So Paul, he
desires that he wouldn't be ashamed in anything. And again, this
is the concern of every believer. We know our frailty, we know
our depravity, we know how prone we are to wander. And Paul's
desire is again that he both now and always would magnify
Christ. This means that he desires that
he would yield his members again as instruments of righteousness
for the cause of Christ. For the cause of Christ. And
he adds that he has a clear understanding that his desires fall outside
the scope of his ability to accomplish as he knows that life or death
or the the outcome of life and death is all in the hands of
our blessed sovereign majestic God. Right? Listen to this in Romans 14,
8. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's. Notice how that's possessive?
We are his. It's not we might be, and then
we fall out. By something we do, no, we are
the Lord's. We are the Lord's. Now let's read verse 21, which
will be, again, our text. That was a long introduction,
our text. And we'll see the single-mindedness of Christ towards the cause of,
or the single-mindedness of Paul towards the cause of Christ.
He says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. This is Paul's
personal testimony. This is his personal testimony
because he says the words for to me for me This is his personal testimony
he he does not with these words speak from pride No Or to discount
any other believers desire. He's not he's not measuring himself
up to any other believer Please don't ever do that. Don't measure
yourself up to another believer Oh my. But if we do that, we're
going to see them up here and us down here. That's truly how
we feel, right? But don't ever do that. We're
all the same in Christ. We're all the same. Where I might
be strong, you might be weak. But where I'm weak, you might
be really strong. See? We're just sinners saved
by grace, aren't we? That's all we are. That's all
we are. So he's not trying to discount
any other believer's desire, but he simply states that he's
saying, my life belongs to Christ. My life belongs to Christ. And
while he lives in this body, Paul's saying, while I live in
this body, the reason and source of life is Christ and Christ
alone. Turn if you would to Galatians
2.20. Galatians 2 20 we see it so clearly he brings it forth
To the Galatians when he writes this in Galatians 2 20, it's
so clear You can actually tie this verse
in with this one here to live I'll read our verse again to
live is Christ but to die is gain For me for to me that's
personal to live is Christ to die is gain now look at this
in Galatians 2 20 and I am crucified with Christ. When Christ died
on the cross, we died with him. We died in him. Nevertheless,
I live. We're alive right now. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Very similar words, summed up
in a few more words for me to live as Christ. See, Paul sums
it up. He takes that statement that
he wrote to the Galatians and he sums it up. For me to live
is Christ. But to die is gain. So he just
seeks to live a life for Christ. Again, he's not comparing himself
to anyone else, you know. It's so different in grace. It's
so different in grace. In religion, I remember, you
know, shamefully comparing myself to other people and thinking
I was better than them. And before the Lord called me
to preach, and I don't think I was a believer. I even, oh,
to my shame sometimes. And I wasn't even called to preach
and think, well, I could do a better job than that fellow. I'm so thankful for the blood
of Christ. I'm so thankful for the blood of Christ. Now, see,
that's where I remember my shame, and that's where I remember,
but the Lord delivered me from all that. You know, when I hear,
I heard Ethan Patel was baptized. Praise God. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Let's rejoice
together. Right? Let's rejoice when we
hear that new believers are added to the flock. They're lost sheep
who Christ has now made himself manifest to. Isn't it wonderful? Oh my. Paul is saying here too, when
he says, for me to live as Christ and to die as Gain, he's saying,
if my course is finished and I leave this world, nothing will
change, as Christ will still be all. Do you know in heaven,
he's still all to us? But in a greater way, that we
have no sin now. Right now we see what? Through
a glass darkly, right? But then face to face, Brother
Travis, we're going to see our Redeemer face to face. Oh my
goodness. That's going to be amazing. This
is going to be incredible to see him like we see one another. My. And what he's saying here,
too, when he says for me to live as Christ. Remember this, Christ
is the giver of both physical and spiritual life. Right? Christ is the sum and substance
of life. We have no life without Christ
giving us life. Physical life and spiritual life. Isn't that amazing? He gives
breath to the very ones who curse him. You talk about, you talk
about benevolence. Oh my. And we desire, he's the sum and
substance of life. He's the hope of eternal life
for the believer. For the born again, blood washed
child of God, we desire to be with him and we desire to be
like him. And look at what he says in the
next phrase, and to die is gain. Paul is looking forward, beloved. He's looking forward. He's seeing
that his death, at his death, he will gain release. You know
that? He'll gain release. What's he
going to gain release from? Well, all the pain and suffering
he's going through currently, right? He's in bonds. He suffered for
the gospel. He says, if I die, I'm going
to be released from all this. And think of our loved ones who went
home to be with the Lord. If they were suffering at the
end, they're released from all that. They've been released. They've
been released from this sinful world. It's amazing. I'll tell you why. So he's going to gain release
from pain. And what's he going to receive?
A perfect body. My back won't hurt anymore. Does
your back hurt the older we get? Wake up and you're like, oh,
oh. And then you hear a pop and you're
like, oh, that's better. Won't have to worry about that
anymore. Oh my, it'll be wonderful. And you know what too, this is
incredible. Here be released from a limited mind to a perfect
mind. And so will we. That's pretty
incredible. That's pretty amazing. And at
Paul's death, he'll gain a release from his sinful nature that's
plagued him. When he is born again, now he's
got that civil war, right, like we have. Now he's got that battle. He's released from that now. And so is every believer when
we die. And he's been released from a sinful nature to a sinless
perfection. Whoo! My! That's amazing, isn't
it, Brother Brian? My! And here again to release
from all his trials to glory. Glorifying Christ in joy. And Paul, when he dies, he'll
be released from mortality to immortality. And so will every
believer in Christ. Think of that. Our brothers and
sisters who went home to be with the Lord, they've been released
from mortality and they are now experiencing immortality. That's amazing. That's amazing. Brother Henry in his Bible studies
comments this way on the verse, If it is the will of Christ for
me to live longer in the flesh, I will continue to labor in the
Lord's vineyard. I trust to have a fruitful labor.
I cannot say nothing as to my own preference, for it is not
mine to choose. The decision is the Lord's. So we can't choose when we're
going to die or how we're going to die. That's all in the Lord's
hands. That's all of them. Because if
we could choose, we'd probably choose to just die in our sleep,
right? Vicki's grandma baked the pie,
went to bed, and died. She goes, I'd love to die that
way. But see, the Lord has all different ways for us. But death has no sting now. It has no sting now. Oh my. Every believer can say the same
as Paul, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And oh, what
a gain for the believer. I'll tell you what, what a gain
for the believer. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
We're closed with a section here in 1 Corinthians. I got a little
more time here. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We'll look at verses 50 to 58. And this is talking about dying. Look what he says here in verse
50. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption. So flesh and blood, this signifies
our body currently, right? We're flesh and blood. And in
our present state, we cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We
cannot be in heaven in our present state. In this flesh and blood,
because the flesh is corrupt. It's corrupt. It's subject to
disease. It's subject to corruption by
things. It will eventually die. So God is stating here we must
be changed. Paul's stating through the Holy
Spirit of God, being the true author, that we must be changed.
We must put on incorruption and immortality to be raised and
be raised a spiritual body. Now we can't do that. We can't
do that. Look at this. Behold, I show
you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. This is talking about when Christ
comes back again. It's not talking about a secret
rapture. It's talking about the second coming of Christ, just
as 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is talking about the second coming
of Christ. Some say, well, but there will
be many saints alive in earth and natural bodies when Christ
returns, who shall not be buried in the common way. This is true,
but they must also be changed. So if we're alive when Christ
comes back, we have to be changed as well. You see? Our natural bodies must be turned
into spiritual bodies. It's not talking about the soul,
it's talking about the body. In a moment, look at this, I
love this. In the twinkling of the eye, of an eye, and here's
how we know it's the end. What? At what? The last trump. That tells us a lot, doesn't
it? And do you see any secret thing going on in between here?
Nope. For the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. This change will take place in
a twinkling of an eye. You can't even measure that.
Sudden moment. Note the words again, the last
trumpet, this is Christ's second coming. And when that trumpet
sounds, when Christ returns, the dead are raised, incorruptible,
immortal, made like Christ. And those who are alive shall
be changed, just like that. Look at this, verse 53. For the
corruptible must put on incorruption, and the mortal must put on immortality.
God has decreed, and heaven requires, that our bodies be changed for
their present state of mortality and corruption to immortality
and incorruption before we can enter into glory. We must be
changed. We must be. We see it here in the text. And
this is the work of God. Verse 54, so when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall we be brought to pass the saying
that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. This is a quotation
from Isaiah 25, verse 8. Christ, by his obedience, death,
and resurrection, has obtained a full victory, beloved, a full
victory for all his elect over sin, over the curse, over the
condemnation of the law, over death, over the grave, over judgment,
and over hell. He's done it all for us, beloved.
My, oh, my. So when this glorious change
takes place at His coming, this promise shall become a reality,
and He will swallow up death in victory. Look at this, verse
55. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? This reference may be to a bee
or a wasp, which, having lost its sting, can do no more harm.
No more harm. And is no longer feared. You
ever think of that? A bee will sting you, it can't
sting you again. Somebody say yes they can, eh? But they've lost their sting,
they've lost the threat, it's gone. So death has a sting. And it is a sting which is the
cause of death. If it were not for sin, death
would have no power over us. Because look at verse 56, the
sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. The
grave gets its victories over all men, doesn't it? For we shall
all lie in the grave one day. But in that resurrection morning,
when death is squalled up in victory, we may reasonably ask,
now grave, where is your boasted victory? It has to release us
at the command of the king, at the command of the sovereign
God. And then verse 56, the sting of death is sin, and the strength
of sin is the law. Death again has a sting, and
it is sin, which is the cause of death, right? If there wasn't
sin, there'd be no death. Oh my. Death would have no power over
us. Sin gives death power over us. And the strength of the sin
is the law of God, which there would be no more sin is the transgression
of the law. Or without which there would
be no more sin. Because the strength of sin is
the law of God. It says, you've transgressed.
I've transgressed. It says, Wayne Boyd is guilty.
But praise God, the blood of Christ says, no, he's not. He's
pardoned. He's pardoned. And that's true
for all of us, isn't it? Isn't that wonderful? Look at
verse 57. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us a victory over our, over, or through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh my. And this means victory over the
law by answering it in perfect obedience. That's what Christ
has done. He's answered the law in perfect obedience, beloved,
as our substitute. In all the demands of the law,
in death, in the grave. He's showing us he's been victorious
by rising from the grave, and he lives forevermore. Because
we are one in him, and with him by God's sovereign mercy and
grace, we shall never die. And then look at verse 58. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your
labor is not in vain in the Lord. Let us never think that our labor
in the Lord is in vain. It's not. It's not at all. we we have a do you see here
we have a blessed in certain hope no wonder Paul said to live
as Christ and to die as gain my praise the mighty name of
Jesus praise his mighty mighty name brother Brian can you close
us in prayer