All right, let's go to Exodus chapter four. Now at this point in the chapter, Moses has had an incredible experience by now. The Lord back in chapter three, and this is continuing on here where our Lord is speaking to Moses out of the burning bush. He's having this incredible, miraculous experience here where God has revealed himself to Moses in a most extraordinary way. And he tells him that he's sending him down to Egypt and that he lays out everything that is going to pass. And he tells Moses, I'm going with you.

I'm going to be with you the whole way. And the people I'm sending you to, my people, they're going to hear you. They're going to hear your word. They're going to believe the word that you say. And he raises a question, well, what if they don't believe?

And so the Lord gives him signs, which we now know These are signs of the gospel. These are signs of the gospel. So I don't know if that's working. Oh, these are signs of the gospel. So a picture of these signs here. Sorry, a little technical difficulties there.

These signs of the gospel here. testify or bear witness of the gospel, that he had the rod which turned into a serpent and back to a rod in his hand. his hand was made leprous and then made whole again. And then he was given the sign of the pouring out of the water on the ground that would be turned to blood. And these were given to him to testify, to bear witness of the commission that he received from the Father.

And they declared plainly what we believe in the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And that third sign was, if they did not believe, It pictured the judgment of God for those who believe not on the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no salvation for their sins. If you believe not Christ, there is no salvation. And so all there is that remains is judgment.

And so Moses here is having this experience, and yet he's full of doubts. He is full of doubts, and really, I mean, he expresses it as doubts in himself, but really what he's saying is, I don't believe you. I've got problems. I've got two greater problems, Lord, for you to overcome. This surely can't happen. But God hears this, and now God gets angry with Moses. We'll see. God does get angry, but he doesn't turn from being gracious and merciful. to Moses in Moses' unbelief, rather he condescends to help Moses.

And the way he helps Moses, as we'll see here, is sending him his brother Aaron. And so what I want to do is, in this passage this morning here, verses 10 through 17, I want to go over this because I think as believers, full of weaknesses and full of infirmities in ourselves, we'll be able to identify with this passage here, with Moses here, and to find comfort in the comfort which God gives to Moses to help him in the way, in this commission which he's given to him, in giving him his brother.

Because it's a picture of how the Lord comforts us and how he provides for us who are weak and full of sicknesses and infirmities and unbelief and sin and doubt. But what does he do? He comforts us with the church and the giving of the church. That though we don't see God as we think we should see him, we do see and know his comfort that he gives to us in one another. believe.

And that's the picture that the Lord is giving us here. And how he dealt with Moses is how he deals with us today, even as we just sang yesterday, today, and forever. He also said, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. And he continues to be merciful. He continues to be gracious to us in the Lord Jesus Christ and minister these things to us to comfort his body.

And so the Lord sends Moses with the rod of God in hand, and this rod shall serve as a sign to the people so that the people know he's sent of God. And he's come with the word of God. And we know that these signs picture the gospel. And I'm just going to run through them just quickly, since you may not remember from last week. But the first sign was given to demonstrate that Moses was an ambassador of God, that he was given power and authority to go to the people and deliver them, saying to them the things which God told them to say.

It was a commission there. And so the way that this sign, well, what the sign was, was he took the rod and he cast it to the ground, and on the ground it became a serpent. And then he, with his hand, had the authority and power to pick that thing up by its tail, and it became a rod again in his hand. And we looked, I mean, there's a lot of pictures that you can draw out of that rod. becoming a serpent.

And we looked at them last week, but I think predominantly, more than anything, it pictures the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to this world to cast down the works of the devil, to destroy the works of the devil, and to deliver his people out from the authority of the devil and to bring us under the power and authority of our God in grace, in grace.

And he triumphed gloriously over the devil, destroying the works of the devil in us. That darkness and unbelief in us, he overcomes that. He delivers us from the dominion of sin. And when our Lord came into the world, we saw that. We saw those pictures.

He triumphed over the diseases and sicknesses of the people. He took them unto himself. He gave sight to the blind. He raised the dead to life again. He restored to widows their sons. He gave life to them again. He opened the ears of the deaf. He loosened the tongue of the dumb to praise God. So much so that Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, among that people, he came to our Lord by night saying, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God because no man could do the things that you're doing except God were with him.

And so that's what this rod and turning into the serpent, being cast down, picking it up with power and authority, that's what that sign pictures. It's a picture of Christ coming to the world to destroy the works of the devil. The second sign was of the hand being laid on Moses' heart.

And when he took it out from his heart, it was leprous. It was filthy, it was defiled, it was ruined and then he put it back in and it came out clean and whole and supple and flesh like the other flesh there and that pictured the sin being made clean. It must be made whole and clean by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pictures that sin-cleansing power of the righteous blood of our Lord who died on the cross to redeem his people, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.

Those two things testify of the gospel. And that third sign was the river water being turned to blood when it was poured on the ground if they did not hear and believe and receive those first two signs, the gospel. right, declaring of the gospel there. And so it pictures the pouring out of God's judgment upon those who do not believe Christ, who will not bow to him, who will not receive his word, who don't believe that this word testifies of him and of him alone, that this is his word revealing Christ unto us. And so those first two signs are what? The preaching of the gospel. It's the testimony of what we do today. We come with these two signs, preaching to you who Christ is, why he came, and what he accomplished. And you that believe, wonderful. That's what God has done for you.

And you that don't believe, there's only judgment for you. There is no salvation. There's no other Savior. There's no other God. There's no other way to be saved and delivered from your judgment but by Jesus Christ alone. Believe him. That's who the father loves and receives because he chose them and gave them to Christ. And therefore, they come and believe. And there's no judgment for them because Christ bore it.

Now, in the face of this glorious revelation of our God speaking to Moses from the burning bush here, having seen all these things, these wonderful things, verse 10 in Exodus 4, Moses said unto the Lord, oh my Lord, I'm not eloquent. neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant."

As I came up to the bush, I'm still that weak man who can't speak good. I'm slow of speech and of a slow tongue. I might think of it later, after the fact, but I don't think of these things now. I don't know what to say to you. I don't know what to say to your people. I'm weak and slow. I'm not eloquent.

Now, all of God's ministers And you that serve the Lord can all attest that we all have numerous and various weaknesses and infirmities in our flesh. God shows us our faults. He shows us our offenses. He shows us our sins. He shows us our weaknesses and our sicknesses and our various offenses. And so we're made to feel them.

And we're made to feel ourselves unfit for the work. Who am I to confess that I'm the Lord's? Who am I to stand here and to preach these things to you? Paul said, who's sufficient for these things? And every one of us is made to feel our weaknesses, our inabilities, our unfitness to come and stand and minister to the people of God. But it's this recognition of weakness in ourselves that our Lord is pleased to reveal to us so that we know the power is not of us.

It's not because I'm charismatic. It's not because I'm eloquent. It's not because I have any abilities or strength in myself to affect anything in you. No man can. Nothing I do can raise the dead to life. I can't make the word of God effectual in your heart.

And we've seen examples where it's just so. There's many examples throughout history and there's examples in ourselves that it's where you least expect it that you hear the word of God and believe. Because the Lord purposes it to be that way. It's not gonna be carnal weapons. It's not gonna be the strength of the flesh. It's not gonna be the beauty of the flesh. It's not gonna be the beauty of the tongue. That's not how the Lord saves. You might be impressed with it in the flesh, but it doesn't do anything for your soul. It does nothing for you.

And that's because the glory for a sinner to be raised from the dead is going to be the Lord's. He's going to receive all the glory, all the praise, all the honor, all power is His, revealed in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us by Zechariah 4, 6, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. And so in demonstration of this truth, we can look at Paul. Paul had a lot of afflictions that were detailed in the scriptures.

He said to the Corinthians, I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not in excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God." I was off that day, right? I wasn't that able that day, and I was kind of down, and I was just off, and I just telling you these things, and I'm frustrated and tired and weak. But God revealed himself in your hearts that the power would be his and not mine. That you would know it was in demonstration of the spirit and of power.

He even confessed to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11 6, I'm known for being rude in speech, meaning I'm ignorant. I'm like a hick, a hillbilly, and I'm just a common guy. There's nothing good about me. But the Lord used his preaching to bless the people of God. The Lord did it, and compared to other men, they would have said, I'd rather hear Apollos, bring Cephas up here, let's hear him, because Paul is short and he's bald, and nobody wants to hear him, he's kind of boring to listen to. Well, that's who the Lord brought the majority of the Gentile church up through his labors, and most of the New Testament's written by him. That's who the Lord used, a man rude in speech.

And, you know, he had trouble with his eyesight. And then the other thing on top of it with Paul, the man was always in chains. Everywhere he went, this guy's getting locked up, thrown into prison. And he was constantly in shackles. And we know the church had problems with it. Like, this man's always getting locked up, getting himself in trouble. He's just causing trouble. That's why he's in chains and shackled.

But did that stop the Word of God from going forth? Nope. Even the people in Caesar's house, yeah, they heard and they believed. Whether he was in prison, on house arrest, being led away in chains, the Word was going forth and people were hearing it. Or he was out to sea getting shipwrecked on an island, the Word was going forth and people were hearing. and believing because God cannot be stopped.

And so that's who the Lord is pleased to use, the foolish, the weak, the base, the ignorant, the ignoble. That's who he's pleased to use because that shines forth the glory of God more boldly in the hearts of men. And so the Lord often does. He takes that which men despise and that which is nothing in the sight of men to reveal himself to his people so that we know the wisdom of this world foolishness with God, and that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." He does that on purpose, and so it's no problem for the Lord to take that which you hate in your flesh and to use that most prominently in your ministering of the Spirit, and hearing Christ, and rejoicing in Christ, and believing the Lord Jesus Christ, because it pleased God by something that men hate, preaching, by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. It pleases Him to do that, which is most unlikely to be good for you. That's exactly what the Lord uses so that you know it's of God. And then here's an amazing and comforting thought. When we can get hold of it, the Lord said unto him, Moses, who hath made the mouth? Who made the mouth? Who made man's mouth? Who maketh the dumb or the deaf or the seeing or the blind?

Have not I the Lord, and so that's a comfort for us. Your infirmities, when you examine yourself and you think about your weaknesses and your shortcomings and what you think is most wrong with you, your diseases, your sicknesses, and things holding you back, God gave it to you.

I know that we're ashamed of our weaknesses and we feel terrible about them, especially those things that are most amplified to us. We feel horrible about our shortcomings and weaknesses, but we have the comfort of knowing that it's God who gave them to me. And it's God who gave me that weakness for purpose. So that impediment that you have, that offense that you have, that if you're missing something or you're sick, or diseased or troubled, you're mentally challenged, whatever it is, like all things that afflict us in various ways, you know, you can't sit still, you can't get up, you know, whatever it is that you look at and say, this is what's holding me back, God says, I'm the one who gave it.

I'm the one who made you that way on purpose. to please me, to glorify me. So whatever our infirmity or our disability, don't be ashamed of it because the Lord's the one who gave it to us. And he tells us this, that you may thank him for it and be thankful for it.

This is why he said in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God concerning, in Christ Jesus, concerning you. Now think about that for a moment, because when we first read that, we see rightly, I think, that it's saying that In general, we should always be thankful unto the Lord in all things. But even more deeply, what he's saying is, whatever trial is given to you, whatever difficulty, whatever hardship, whatever setback, whatever infirmity you have, whatever challenge you have, give God thanks, because this is the will of God for you.

He gave this to you to make you weak in yourselves, that you might lean upon Him for your strength. He uses those infirmities. I'm thankful for the things, all my failures, because those are the very things that drove me to the feet of Christ. And so when you reflect on them and see them, those are the things that strip us of pride and strip us of arrogance and strip us of of vain fleshly confidences, so that we would find our all and all in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so that's why we're thankful, because we see, Lord, you did this. You did this. And it was the very thing that sunk me low in myself. But that's where you revealed yourself to me, in the depths, in the darkness. And so only a believer can see the hand of God in that, because it's God who reveals it to them, right? So only once you experience how God has been gracious and merciful and met you there in the bottom, there in darkness, that you know, wow, Lord, this is how you do it.

I'm thankful, thankful for. your grace, and so whatever the infirmity, your God shines through it in such a manner that he's glorified, because that pleases him and you can thank him for it. And you will thank him for it if you're his. You're going to be very thankful for it. Verse 12, now therefore, God says to Moses, go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say.

I think what our Lord is saying there is that it's not how a man says it, but what a man is saying, the content of that message. If it's faithful to Christ, and if it glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ and exalts him, the people of God are going to hear it, and they're going to receive it, and they're going to be glad they're going to be glad in it. And so we're to faithfully bear witness of our Lord Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel.

It's pictured in that first sign of what Christ came and accomplished, who he is and why he came to destroy the works of the devil. And he did it. He accomplished all these things on the cross. He's able, right? So we preach that finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ that satisfied our God fully and wholly in all things, in all things.

And so our Lord says, you just go and preach Christ. You just go and preach what I sent you to preach, and I'll make it effectual for the purpose that I've sent it. That's what he said by Isaiah, Isaiah 55, 11, and 12. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. all of nature, that is crying out, Lord, have mercy on me, save me, Lord, deliver me. He brings that word and makes it effectual in your hearts.

Now, get this, with all these assurances, with everything that the Lord is revealing here to Moses here, giving him this beautiful sight and experience of the Lord, Moses says, anyone but me, Lord, anyone but me. Verse 13, Moses said, oh my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. Now some say he means there, just send anyone but me, Lord, anyone but me, and that'll be great. But others also recognize, and I think it's a beautiful picture here, that Moses is recognizing, he's speaking of the Messiah.

He's speaking of the Messiah. Send the hand of him whom thou wilt send. He's saying, Lord, I know the promise that you made to us in the garden. Send the Messiah. Send the promised seed that you've been talking about. Send him to deliver your people. They need a strong deliverer. They need a Savior who can save them to the uttermost. Send him, Lord.

And what he's saying there is Moses is saying, I need that salvation, too. And Moses is. He's humbled now. He's low. He's confessing. I'm looking for the same salvation. I'm looking for the same Savior. And that's what the Lord shows us. Every child of God throughout history has looked to Christ. Here, they were looking to the coming of Christ. When Christ was here, they were looking at him. And after his coming, we're looking back to him who came. and fulfilled the promises of God.

Now, what the Lord is saying to Moses here, though, is, I've not ordained. This is not the time. This is not the fullness of time that he should come and be born of a woman, born under the law, because the law wasn't even given yet. This is not the time yet. for the Messiah to come. It's not the time here I'm sending you, because you're a type in a picture of the promisee. You're the deliverer that I'm raising up as a picture of how I save and deliver my people.

Now therefore, it says in verse 14, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, but understand there's a purpose in that. There is a purpose The anger of the Lord testifies to us that we need a savior. I mean, we need a mediator. We need a mediator because if Moses, who our Lord said is the meekest man that ever lived, if he is angering the Lord, how much more do I anger the Lord? and need his grace and mercy. We need a mediator, we need someone to appease the anger of God, because the scripture hath concluded, all under sin, including this great man Moses, this deliverer, a picture of Christ, he needed a mediator, and the scripture hath concluded, all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

And so we see our sin and our weakness And the blessing that I want us to see here in this is that God does make provision for Moses. And again, that's extending from the Lord Jesus Christ. The hope that he had is in Christ. And the Lord makes provision.

And so what's amazing as we're looking at this, and we're reading this thing, and we're looking at Moses, and God tells him, go and I'll be with thy mouth. I'll teach thee what thou shalt say. And he's doing this from the burning bush that doesn't get consumed. He's telling him, laying it out exactly how it's going to go, assuring him of success, and assuring him, giving him the gospel, pictured in the signs there. All these things are given to him. And Moses says, anyone but me, Lord. I know you can do this, Lord, but don't send me. I know you can do it. I believe you, but it ain't going to be by me. I'm not going to be the one to go. And we read this and we might think, well, that's terrible, Moses.

You have such a brilliant view of God. He's come to you in the bush, and he's revealing himself to you, and he's telling you all these things, assuring you of success with all these promises, and he's given all this to you. How is it that you can't believe God? How is it that you're standing there, bold-faced, just denying God and not believing Him at this time?

Well, think of it in our own, for ourselves. He's given us all those same things that Moses had. We have the fullness of the Word. We have the complete Word here. the Old Testament that spoke of Christ's coming, and then the New Testament that testifies that he has come. I mean, we have all these promises where God is assuring us of his power, of his success, of what he accomplishes in his people, and says, go forth, preach my word. Trust me, I'm able to do it. I'm telling you, it's going to be successful for my people. They're going to hear, they're going to believe you, they're going to come and hear these things and be ministered to and helped.

And this is what the Lord is showing us here is how we have all those same things. The Lord has appeared. Moses was still believing the promise of Christ to come. We know he has come and accomplished salvation. And we have the fullness of these things. He's given us his Holy Spirit, who ministers grace in our hearts, who dwells with us and doesn't leave us nor forsake us.

And Christ who dwells in our hearts, and he's given us these fruits of the Spirit, And we see the testimony of God in us in these things, but like Moses and like the disciples, our Lord says to us, oh, fools, and so hard to believe all that the prophets have written, all that they've said and spoken. We think, well, I need more.

Lord, show yourself to me. If you would just appear to me, then I would believe. Well, Moses, the Lord appeared to him and he didn't believe. He's still doubted. What more do you need to see? Ought not Christ to have come and suffered and to return again unto his glory, where he's now seated at the right hand of the throne of God and you want him to come again?

He's finished the work. He's done everything that he said that he was going to do. And what he's revealing to us now is He's glorified not because we see him by sight with these carnal eyes, but he's glorified because we believe him. We've not seen these things, and yet we believe the word which has been testified to us, and we're walking by faith. It pleases God to be glorified through faith in the hearts of his people believing him. And so now in mercy, the promise of God should be sufficient for us, but because of the infirmity of our flesh, getting back to the infirmity of which Moses spoke of that he had, in which we all know that we had these shortcomings and infirmities and weaknesses and we're not an army of one.

What has God done? He's put together, he's assembled a body, a body of believers. A picture of the mystical body of Christ. This little local assembly here is a body of believers that where we're all together, each one of us is weak, each one of us in ourselves has infirmities and challenges and trials and difficulties and we just can't get anything right. but he's put us all together and assembled us as a body with different gifts and different thoughts and different abilities and different talents and he's done that to comfort us. to comfort and to bring his people through the wilderness. He's made a body in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so each one's given a measure of faith. Each one is given something that they do that blesses the people, that ministers the grace of God to the people. And so what does our Lord say here in verse 14 again? The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?

I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And that's such a beautiful picture there of how The Lord assembles the body, and aren't you glad in your heart? When each one of you walks through that door, I'm glad in my heart. It blesses me just to see your faces.

That's what he's saying. Moses, when Aaron comes and he sees you, he's going to be glad in his heart. Not because you're self-sufficient and perfect in yourselves. He's not perfect either, but he's going to be glad to see you. And that's what the Lord does in assembling the body. He makes us glad to see one another as a body.

Verse 15 and 16, and thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall be even as he even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And so what he's showing us here is that we have need of one another. We have weaknesses and blindness and soft spots and failures and infirmities so that we need and depend upon one another and come together as a body, as a flock of believers having different gifts. to minister and serve in the body one another.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 12, and we'll start in verse 4. And he says there, verse 4, there are diversities. Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one in the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit.

For the body is not one member, but many." And we see that right back there with Moses. He was not one member, but many. Him and Aaron were going there to serve here. And so the Father has given our Lord a body prepared. He was given a body by which he came and fulfilled the word of God in sacrificing himself on the tree, laying down his life as an offering unto the Father to make satisfaction for us who are weak and infirm and unable to keep the law of God, knowing this, that our old man, Paul said, is crucified with him. that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. So that in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, we are taken out of that body of sin, the body of this world, going the course of this world under the power and sway of the prince of the power of the air, and are placed into the body of Christ, made members one with one another here. and local assemblies, which all speak to the whole body of Christ, the mystical body of Christ, so that by the will of God in sending his son to die in our stead, we are sanctified by the one offering of his body once for all. And he offered his body once for all to sanctify us, to bless us, to provide everything that we need.

And now we dwell in his body together partakers as new creatures living by his life, his grace, his spirit. And we dwell with one another. serving one another, and are made members of one another, of the same body, whereby we see the will of God, and we minister the things of God, and we minister to one another in the various gifts and abilities which he's given to us, as he's enabled us to do it.

And when we come together, we're glad to see one another. We're thankful, because we can't do it alone. We're not sufficient for the task, and it's on purpose. God has made us that way so that we can't do it alone, that we need one another, we're helped by one another, we're comforted by one another, and we're comforted together in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's good. It's good, and we're glad for it.

And so, even though Moses' unbelief angered God, we relate to him in this. We understand, because we see our infirmities, we see our unbelief and our shortcomings. And we see how the Lord has made provision for us in the body of Christ, by Christ Jesus, and in that body of Christ, he's made provision for us to have one another as we minister these things which God has given to us to minister.

So take comfort in that, brethren, rejoice in these things, and I'll just I would encourage you later to read 2 Corinthians chapter 1. It speaks of these things, but I'll just read 3 through 7 here. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us. and all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation." We suffer because of the weakness and infirmity of this flesh. And it's to help us to understand what our Lord suffered for us and what he did for us. But he's given us one another to comfort one another in this body. And making us helpers of your joy.

For by faith you stand. I pray the Lord bless that word. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we do thank you for your kind and gracious provision for us. In Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who is the head of his people, and Lord, we thank you for his body. For you have made us as you have purposed to make us, and that we have these weaknesses and infirmities that we would come together as a body, that we would need one another and rejoice in the company of one another. and that we would be glad to see one another. Lord, you orchestrate and do things in such a manner that this is made real and true in our hearts and in our lives. We thank you for our brethren. We thank you for our own weaknesses and infirmities that show us these things, that show us Christ and the provision you've made for us in him. And we ask that you bless this word and these very truths to our hearts. in service to one another, and in glory and honor and praise to your name. It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen.