tongue from evil and his lips,
that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue
it. For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is
he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is
good? But if you suffer for righteousness'
sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither
be troubled. Now last week we looked at verses
1 to 7. in this chapter, and we saw Peter
exhorting wives and then finally husbands in their conduct of
life. And Peter had brought up the topic of submission of the
wife to her husband, and we looked at that. And then we also looked
at, though, how the husband was to treat his wife. And he used
to lift her up and treat her well. And again let us remember
that Peter is writing, again let's set the context of the
letter, Peter's writing to suffering saints. These are saints who
are suffering for their faith, suffering for their profession.
Now for us to consider the suffering aspect of this too, let us remember
that during the Roman Empire, There were both legal and illegal
religions within the Roman Empire. And in order for a religion to
be considered legal, a religion had to be moral and loyal to
the emperor. moral and loyal to the emperor.
Early Christians had no problems with the authorities in the area
of morality. They usually met or exceeded
the Roman requirements in this regard, serving the Lord in whatever
vocation they were in and giving him all the glory and doing their
work and living their lives unto him. So they had no problem in
that aspect. The loyalty aspect of Roman law
concerning religion. that got them in trouble with
the Romans was the Roman empires referred to themselves as gods.
They referred to themselves as gods and no one, not even the
staunchest supporters of the Roman empire seemed to have believed
that they had supernatural powers, but these emperors demanded to
be worshipped. They demanded to be worshipped.
And there were also Roman and Greek gods and local deities
also of varying importance within the communities which the Christians
lived. And those around the believers would go down to the market and
buy a small stick of incense that the merchants would sell
them. And they put it in the coals at the local shrine, or
they put it on the coals of their own home shrine. But for the
blood-bought saints of God, For those who being purchased by
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom Peter is
writing here to, this was utter blasphemy in their eyes. Utter
blasphemy in their eyes. So therefore God's saints would
not acknowledge Caesar as God. They knew he was just a man like
them. He had power, but he wasn't no God. He wasn't no God. So they were therefore considered
disloyal, disloyal. And they had no God shelf for
idols in their homes, which people during that time had. The pagans
then considered the Christians, even though they worshiped the
one true God, they considered them to be godless because they
didn't worship their gods. And then they considered them
to be dangerous, to be dangerous. So Christianity, had become an
illegal religion, and it was not uncommon for emperors to
turn the people against the Christians. Now, when Rome was faced with
difficulties, oftentimes the emperors would turn the people
against the Christians. In AD 64, part of Rome was burned
down, and the emperor Nero blamed the Christians, and the people
turned on them. and arrests and executions fall. It was a bloody time. And a number
of the Christians were convicted and were put to death, all because
they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and all because they
would not submit to emperor worship, and they would not submit to
the gods of the time. Little g, little g. Some were
covered with skins of wild beasts, and then left to be eaten by
dogs. They would put skins of wild
beasts on them and toss them out to the wild dogs and the
wild dogs would just devour them. But many, especially during Nero's
time, were burned alive and set on fire to serve as torches at
night for Nero. It's sickening what these people
did. But this really occurred, beloved.
This really occurred. And these saints contended unto
the death. Contended unto the death. So
they were suffering. They were suffering during this
time. Our brothers and sisters in Christ were suffering. So
with that in mind, let us consider the text where Peter is now exhorting
believers to be of one mind. And he reminds them that they
will suffer for righteousness. We see that in verse 14. But
what comfort they could draw, what comfort the believers could
draw from our Lord's own words, and what comfort we can draw
as we go through life, or if we go through persecution, or
trial, or temptation, Fear not them which kill the body. That's
the emperor, right? That's those who were persecuting
our brothers and sisters, but are not able to kill the
soul. They can kill the body, but they can't kill the soul.
And these are words of our own master. Now let these words ring,
but rather fear him being God, who is able to destroy both soul
and body, That's who we should fear. God. God. So what comfort we can draw
from these words of our Savior when we're going through different
times and trials or being persecuted for our faith. So again, with
that in mind, let's look at verse 8. We'll look at our text verse
by verse here. Finally, be ye all of one mind,
having compassion one of another. Love as brethren, be pitiful,
be courteous. Note the word finally here in
our text. It does not indicate the conclusion of the letter,
because we know there's two more chapters. But having finished
the subject, remember, respecting citizens and magistrates and
servants and masters and husbands and wives, Peter now sums up
the whole matter with the following words right here. Finally, be
ye all of one mind. So all those he was talking to,
be of one mind. And remember, he's writing to
blood-bought saints. He's not writing to the world.
He's writing to God's blood-bought saints. Finally, be ye all of
one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren,
be pitiful, be courteous. This is but the conclusion of
the exhortations to the various classes to whom Peter has been
writing to. Now he'll turn his attention
to the corporate body of Christ. Now he's going to turn his attention
to the corporate body, all the believers. And he exhorts the
whole body of believers as the exhortation here, be ye all of
one mind. That's an exhortation even to
us today. Even to us today, the corporate body. Literally, it
means be ye all like-minded. Be ye all like-minded. It's brought
forth to bring unity on major important points of Christian
doctrine and practice that should be maintained among the body
of Christ. That's why we have such sweet
fellowship here, right? Because we're united in what
we believe. We're united, we have unity,
and it's wonderful. And it only comes from God. And
it's absolutely wonderful when you have that unity together,
when you're of one mind. That's why, what are we here
for? Even though we're different personalities, different people,
from different walks of life. But what do we have in common?
Christ. Christ and him alone. And we
want to see the gospel go forward. That's our hope. The gospel go
forward from this place. And that's our hope. We're united
in that. In the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace. So he exhorts the whole body
of believers, be like-minded. the body of Christ, whatever
difference in sex, station, position, or age, be of the same mind toward
God. Seek his will. Seek his glory. Be of the same mind, one toward
another. All of God's blood-bought people
were all his family, were all his children, all the people
that he's redeemed, all of us. So be of the same mind toward
the good and growth of the church. What did the Lord say? He that
is not with me is against me. We're to be of one mind going
forward. Look, it says have compassion
on one another. Sympathize with one another.
Don't criticize. It's easy for us to criticize,
isn't it? It's so easy for us to criticize. It's so natural
for us to criticize. I admit it. It is. It's so easy. Donny Bell and I were talking
about that one time. Donny said, I can sit in my chair and get mad and
get worked up about someone so quickly. That's what he said.
And it's true of all of us, isn't it? It's so quick. We're so quick
to criticize. We are. Oh, this flesh. Oh, my. This old flesh loves
that. Loves to find things in your
brethren to criticize about it. Loves to find things in people
to criticize. But here's an exhortation for us. Find something in your
brethren and in people around you to praise God for. When you
go to criticize somebody or something, find out something that's a real
blessing. And praise God for them. Praise
God. Give God the glory. Thank you,
Lord. Thank you for my brother's faithfulness
in the gospel. Thank you for my sister's sweetness
in being kind to the brethren. Have compassion one another.
Sympathize with one another. We all have strengths and weaknesses,
don't we? Every one of us. Where you're strong, I might
be weak. Where I'm strong, you might be weak. But that's why
we're all together. We're all one in Christ. So we'll
have compassion on one another. That's to weep with those who
weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice. It takes as much
grace, one commentator said, to rejoice with another saint
in the same way that God has blessed him as it does to sympathize
with someone who's in sadness. And what a miserable thing petty
jealousy is among the saints. That ought never to be. Never
to be. No, we ought to lift up our brethren. Lift them up. Thank God for them.
Thank God for their strengths. Thank God for their weaknesses.
Look for the good. Look for the good. Weist brings
forth the idea that be loving brethren. Note the next exhortation. Love as brethren. Finally, be ye all of one mind,
having compassion one of another. Love as brethren. This is a strong
exhortation, Weist. He's a Greek specialist, and
he said this is a strong exhortation. Be loving brethren. Be loving,
brethren, he says. Be brethren who are loving. We're
to love all the brethren, whether we get along with them or not.
We're to love all the brethren. We who are the redeemed of the
Lord, we're to love the brethren as Christ loves us, which means
without hypocrisy. And we love in deed and we love
in action. We love not in word only, do
we? No, we love continually. For true love never dies. So
we're to love the brethren. And again, this is a strong exhortation
here. Verse eight finishes off with,
be pitiful, be courteous. The Greek word for pitiful here
means well-compassioned, sympathetic. Well-compassioned, sympathetic.
Paul exhorts us in a similar way in Ephesians when he tells
us to be tender-hearted and forgiving one another, even as Christ has
forgiven us. You see, the Holy Spirit has
two different men offer the same exhortation to the body of Christ.
Be courteous, it says. The word courteous here is a
translation of the Greek word which means humble-minded. Humble-minded. Having a modest opinion of oneself. having a modest opinion of oneself. Be friendly, seeking those things
which are agreeable and beneficial to others. Avoid promoting oneself. Let Christ have the preeminence.
Let Christ have it. Brother Matt, we've talked about
that many times. Let Christ have the preeminence. And as preachers
and teachers of the gospel, you have to keep that at the forefront.
Let Christ have the preeminence. We promote Christ and Him crucified. We promote what He's done. He
gets all the glory. He gets all the honor. And He
gets all the praise. Look at verse 9 here. Peter brings
forth that we are not to render evil for evil. not rendering
evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrarized blessing,
knowing that you are thereunto called, that ye should inherit
a blessing." Now rendering is literally giving back. So we
don't give back evil for evil. Peter tells the believers in
Christ that the blood-bought people of God, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God here too, not render or not give back
evil, but he tells them to do the opposite, to forgive. Don't return harsh words with
harsh words. It's funny when you study a portion
of scripture how quickly something occurred to me yesterday and
how quickly, not with Vicki, but with someone else, how quickly
I was put in check with the scripture that I just set this whole message
together, not to lash out at that person, not to give back
what they were given to me. I got it right between the eyes,
beloved. But it's good. It's good for
us, isn't it? It's good for us. It's good for us. We don't render
evil for evil. We don't give it back. We don't
give it, even if we're attacked without a cause. Don't return
harsh words with harsh words. Pray for them. Pray for them.
It's a terrible temptation to answer back in the way that we've
been addressed. And it's so natural for us, isn't
it? It is. Now, I must say, at first, I
answered back. And then I got convicted. And
then the rest of the conversation, I didn't do that. You see? It's natural for us to lash out
right back. And that's the flesh, beloved.
That's the war. That's the war between the spirit
and the flesh. So we are not to answer back
in the way that we've been addressed. And think of our Lord. Think
of how our Lord was revealed. Think of what they did to him.
Think of what they said about him. He answered them not back
in a harsh manner, did he? No. Luke said this, Then said
Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
They're crucifying him. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. And they parted his remnant and
cast lots. They're doing that right before
him while he's on the cross. And he says, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. And remember, our Lord
could have said a word and they'd been snuffed out. They'd breathe
their last breath and drop dead. But he didn't. He didn't. And this is how we're called
to be. It goes against the flesh, because again, we always want
to strike back. We do. But note the text. Knowing that you are thereon
called, that you should inherit a blessing. You're called to
love, not to hate. To bless, not to curse. To forgive,
not to seek revenge. to give mercy, not judgment,
to demonstrate the spirit of Christ and not the spirit of
evil. And you're called to inherit
in Christ Jesus, our Lord, a blessing. And that's where our blessing
is, is in Christ, isn't it? Outside of Christ, we have no
blessings. Not at all, but we have great blessings in Christ
and in Christ alone. And we're called to be a blessing
to others. Let's look at our text again.
Look at verses 10 to 12 now. For he that will love life and
see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his
lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good.
Let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord
are over the righteous. and his ears are open unto their
prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do
evil." Turn, if you would, to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. This is taken from the Old Testament.
This is taken from the Old Testament. In this portion back in 1 Peter
is referring to the man or the woman who desires to live a spiritual
life, who desires communion with God, and wants the blessing of
Christ on them, and wishes to be like Christ. Remember, we're
being conformed to the image of Christ. We're being conformed,
beloved. And it's God's work, though.
It's His work in us. Look at Psalm 34, verses 12 to
16. What man is he that desireth
life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue
from evil, thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, verse
14, and do good, seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the
Lord are where? Upon the righteous, and His ears
are open unto their cry. He sees everything we go through,
and He hears our cry when we cry out to Him. He hears His
blood-bought people. The face of the Lord is against
them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from
the earth. Let's go back to 1 Peter chapter
3. Now the exhortation here before
us, and remember Peter's addressing the body of Christ, the church
corporately. This is something we as believers
should desire. Look at verse 10. For he that
will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from
evil. and his lips, that they speak no guile. So let the blood-washed
saint of God, the born-again believer, refrain his tongue
from lies, slander, gossip, harsh words, criticism, and boasting." Let us pray that God would help
us and enable us to do so. Look at verse 11, the word eschew
in our text originally comes from a Norman word which means
to shun or avoid. To shun or avoid. With that in
mind, let us read that. Let him eschew evil. Shun or
avoid evil. We're to shun or avoid evil and
do good. Let him seek peace and ensue
it. The Greek word literally means there to lean out from.
To lean out from, when you eschew evil to, you lean out from it.
You avoid it, you lean away from it. You lean away from it. Oh my, and how do we pursue peace?
We look to Christ in all situations. We look to our beloved Savior,
don't we? In all situations. He who is the Prince of Peace.
To shun evil, we avoid it. Too many sit back and talk of
their willingness to love, forgive, and show kindness if someone
would like to have it. But don't just be a friend of
peace and goodwill, be a promoter of it, right? Be a promoter of
it. We are to love the brethren.
We're to love and not render evil for evil. We're not to give
back what we receive. So we're to turn away from evil.
Righteousness is only found in Christ. It's only found in Christ,
and we're to seek the company of believers. Brother Matt, we
were talking about that this week, and how when we get around
believers, we're thrilled. We get away from, and sometimes
we get so carried away, so carried away that we forget those around
us too. But it's a blessing for us to be able to talk about Christ. and to be able to talk about
the things of Christ, to be able to talk about who He is and what
He's done for us. And as you speak to other believers,
iron sharpens iron, and you get excited about the things of Christ.
And it takes you away from the cares and worries of this world,
doesn't it? And this is why we love fellowship. This is why we love to get together.
Because we're encouraging to one another. And it builds us
up. The Holy Spirit uses us to build
up our faith in Christ. as we see and we hear what the
Lord is doing in others' lives, too. So we're to avoid the appearance
of evil and we're to do good. Now look at verse 12. It's a
very sobering verse here. For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. The eyes of
the Lord are upon His blood bought people, beloved. We saw that
in Psalms, didn't we? The eye of the Lord are upon
the righteous. How are we righteous? Only by
Christ. Only by His righteousness. It's
the only way we're righteous. Left in our natural state, we're
unrighteous. But it says here, the eyes of
the Lord are over the righteous. And we know His eyes are over
all, too, isn't it? Nothing escapes His view. Nothing. Nothing at
all. The eyes of the Lord are over
the righteous and his eyes, his ears are open unto their prayers,
but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. So all how
he watches over his people like a great shepherd watches over
the sheep. He knows our thoughts. He knows
our motives. He knows our attitudes and our,
and his ears are open to hear. those who seek peace and righteousness
through Christ and Christ alone. Brother Henry Mahan comments
this, we may deceive others and even ourselves, but not the Lord.
Not the Lord will never be deceived, never, never. And let we who
are the redeemed of the Lord Jesus Christ, seek Christ with
a humble spirit, beloved, sincere spirit, a contrite spirit, for
his face is against those who have a bitter spirit and a self-righteous
spirit. a proud spirit, and an unforgiving
spirit. His face is against them that
do evil, the scripture here declares. In 1st Samuel, turn there if
you would, in 1st Samuel, chapter 16, verse 7, note the words of
the Lord. Note the words of the Lord here,
and this is so true. This is so true. 1 Samuel 16,
verse 7. But the Lord said unto Samuel,
verse 7. 1 Samuel 16, 7. But the Lord
said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height
of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth
not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Nothing escapes
the Lord. Again, He knows our motives,
He knows our attitude, He knows everything about us. Everything. Perhaps one of the greatest errors
of today's religion is the place of greatest danger for the true
Bible-believing blood-washed saints is forgetting
that God sees and knows and measures the hearts of men. He does this. He does this. Let's go back to
our text in 1st Peter chapter 3. Look at verse 13. Then put your finger in Romans
chapter 8. 1st Peter 3.13. But keep your finger in 1st Peter
because we'll be going right back. 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 13. And remember, Peter's writing
to suffering saints, right? Saints who are being persecuted
for their faith. Saints who have probably had
family members desert them or exile them or whatever, or say
you're not part of the family anymore, especially with Jewish
When a Jewish person converted to Christianity, they would be
ostracized from their whole family. Cut right off, beloved. Cut right
off. So Peter's writing to saints
that are going through these various things, plus the things
that we saw with Nero, too. And look what this verse says.
And who is he that will harm you? Now remember, Peter's writing
to blood-washed saints. And who is he that will harm
you, if you be followers of that which is good? Well, we know
that the only one who's good is Christ. We're followers of
Him. We're followers of Him. Now turn,
if you would, to Romans chapter 8 and see the tie-in with what
Paul writes by inspiration of the Holy Spirit also, just as
Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write that. And I love
this portion. I must confess that I absolutely
love this little portion of Scripture here. Because I know who I am. I know what I am. And I read
this Scripture and it just makes my heart sing, beloved. It just
makes my heart sing. Look at Romans 8.31. What shall
we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God be for us, can His law
be against us, if we're in Christ? No. If God be for us, can His
wrath be against us? No. If God be for us, can other
men be against us? Well, they can in the flesh,
but if God's for us, there ain't no one against us, because He
can devastate anybody who's against His people, anybody. Anybody. Again, fear not he who can destroy
the body, but fear he who can destroy both body and soul in
hell. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. And that's for all his people,
his elect. How shall he not with the With Him also freely give
us all things. And beloved, when you count the
spiritual blessings that we have in Christ, we have been given
all things, beloved. It's amazing. We are richer.
Each blood-washed saint of God is richer than the richest man
in this world. Far richer in Christ, in Christ
alone. Look at this, now here we go.
Now we know our own sin, don't we? And sometimes our own hearts
condemn us, right? They do, it does, doesn't it?
But look at this, this verse just makes me just, oh, I love
this verse. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who will come up to the blood-washed
saint of God, right? Now, you can see my faults and
you can say, well, Wayne, you know, and we all see each other's
faults, right? Who can lay any charge to God's
love? Anything. Anything. The law has no claim
on the believer. The justice of God has no claim
on the believer. The wrath of God has no claim
on the believer. Our own hearts condemn us, but
yet we're forgiven in Christ. Who shall lay any charge? Any.
Anything. Anything. That means anything,
beloved. any charge to God's elect. Look at this, marvelous. These
words right here, it is God that justifies. We as believers can
stand and say, it's God who justifies me. It's God. Christ is God. I'm justified by faith through
Him. God justifies me. Isn't that
wonderful? So when someone says something
to you or about you, and it may be true, right? Who can lay any
charge to God? That does not give us a license
to go crazy, though, does it? No. But the believer can say
in confidence, only in Christ is God the justice. I'm justified
by God. And it's not a boast of pride,
because when we think about it, and we think of the cost, oh
my. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us, for my sin. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall I anything to the charge
of God select? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth then? Remember Romans 8, 1? There is
therefore now no condemnation, no judgment. You see the vein
that Paul's writing in? Who then? Who is he that condemns? Our hearts condemneth, but we're
not even condemned. Oh my, what wonderful salvation
we have in Christ, beloved. Who is he that condemns? It is
Christ that died. Christ died in my place as my
substitute. and all my sins, all the condemnation,
the wrath that my sins deserve, fell upon Christ. The great sinless
sacrifice. So now you know, now we can see
why it's, who can condemn us? Who can bring a charge against
us? What did Christ cry? It is finished. payment made in full. And we had nothing to do with
it. We're receivers of this mercy and grace. That is the free grace
of God in action, manifested to God's people. And then, look,
it says, it is Christ that died, so he died. And then he's risen
again. And the scripture tells us, right,
he's risen for our justification, isn't it? It tells us that. And
look what it says here. It is God that justifieth. In
verse 33. Okay? And then look at this though.
Right now he's at the right hand of God. And what's he doing,
beloved? He's interceding for us. Oh my. We could just sit there and just
soak up that portion of the scripture. And there's a vast mine there,
beloved. There's a vast mind right here. So Peter is in verse
13 of chapter 3 is bringing forth the same thought when he says,
and who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that
which is good? We're fulfilling God's will and
the commandments of God and seeking to imitate the spirit and mind
of Christ by walking in His way. And remember, we're not the fear
man, but we're the fear of God, who can destroy both body and
soul in hell. Now this question in verse 13,
and who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that
which is good? The question is asked in view
of the persecution and suffering which these saints are going
through. And Peter tells them as a result
of their faith in Christ they will suffer, but God will care
for them and here watch over them and here protect them. And
that their suffering will one day be turned into joy when they
behold the Savior in glory. Look at verse 14. But, and if
ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye. No one likes to
suffer, eh? But if you suffer for righteousness
sake, if you suffer for your faith, happy are ye. And be not afraid of the terror,
neither be troubled. Now he writes this because we
do get afraid. And we do get troubled, beloved.
But he says here, but and if ye suffer for righteousness sake,
happy are ye. And be not afraid of the terror,
neither be troubled. And if you suffer for the truth,
you believe, have a humble spirit. and just trust Christ. Turn,
if you would, to Matthew 5, verses 10 to 12. Do not be afraid, beloved,
of the opponents of truth, and do not be troubled by their hatred
of you or of Christ, whom you worship. Rest in the faith. Rest in Christ, who is the object
of our faith. Rest in the fact that you are
in the everlasting hands of God, and that no man can pluck you
from his hands. No man. No man. We're in His
hands and in the Father's hand. And what peace we often forfeit
when we go through troubles and trials of not resting in our
Savior. I'm guilty of that. I think all
of us are. We often forfeit peace by not
just resting and trusting in Him. But what usually happens
with us, and I gotta wrap it up soon, but what usually happens
with us is our first instinct is to freak out, right? Cuz that's
the flesh, isn't it? And in the spirit, we get convicted.
And then we just look to Christ and we rest. We rest in the situation,
don't we? See, we're all the same, eh?
We're all the same. Look at Matthew 5, verses 10 to 12. Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. So if you're persecuted for righteousness'
sake, you're blessed. Blessed are ye when men shall
reveal you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they, the prophets,
which went before you. Rejoice, you who are beloved
of God, if you suffer for righteousness' sake, for so persecuted they,
the prophets, which went before you. And it says there, for great
is your reward in heaven. Who's our reward? Christ. Christ. Christ. Christ. Christ
alone. What great reward we have. Heavenly
Father, we thank thee. We thank thee for your goodness
and your mercy and grace. Thank you for this portion of
scripture and how Peter exhorts us to be of one mind and to look
to thee. Oh Lord, give us grace and strength
as we go through this week. Whatever comes our way, may you
give us strength and may you manifest your presence to us
knowing that you are ever with us. We who are your blood bought
people and your eyes are always upon us and you hear our cry.
We love you. because you first loved us, in
Jesus' name, amen.