If you would like to follow along, our text tonight is found in 2 Samuel 23, 2 Samuel 23. And while you're turning there, first thing I want to tell you tonight is that a memorial service is not for the deceased, but it's for the living. Someone who has passed cannot look back in the corridors of time.

There's nothing in the scripture that even remotely suggests that. So this is for us to remember her, for us to honor that which she wanted to be honored. And it was not her that wanted to be honored. She wanted her Savior to be honored. I cannot think of a higher form of honor than to declare her salvation unto you. What she hoped would be everlasting life unto her. It's the gospel. That's my intent this evening, if the Lord would be our helper. Now, let's read this together. 2 Samuel 23, and I just want to read five verses.

Now, these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel said, the spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me.

He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be as light of the morning when the sun rises even a morning without clouds as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. And this next verse is the hope of the Lord's people. Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. These are the last words of a dying man, a man who is called a man after God's own heart.

And yet if you look at his life, you'll see that it hardly appeared to be so. He was a murderer. He was an adulterer. He was a thief. And yet he had hope. He had hope because of these words, yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant. This is, you know what everlasting means? Never had a beginning, it'll never have an end. So it has to exceed time. Our God is a spirit and he doesn't operate or is not constrained, I should say, to time as we are. He's eternal. He's seated in the heavens. This was David's hope is that he is sovereign and holy and just and good. This is who God is.

And he says here that although it be not so with my house. Now, what did he mean by that? Well, he had A lot of issues because of those sins that I just committed. It was told unto him that the sword would never leave his house and it never did. So he could have been talking about his physical house, but I'm also reminded the verse that says in second Corinthians five one, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heaven. So he's talking about this house, this tabernacle that everybody in this room has this flesh. It's made from dust, it'll go back to dust. Every one of us has an appointed time to die, and after this, the judgment.

David said, even though it be not so with my house, with me. What wasn't so with him? Well, David didn't do the things under the Lord that he wanted to do. He wanted to build the temple. The Lord said no, because he was a bloody man. But David's desire was to serve the Lord.

He wrote the Psalms. He wrote multiple books of the Bible. And yet we see the sin that was in David's life so predominantly, don't we? We see the sin that he committed multiple times. It wasn't just one time. He did it again, and he did it again, and he did it again. Why is that? because he was a sinner. Every single one of us in this room were born sinners. We're born with a defiled nature, a nature of sin. Sin is not just what we do. Sin is what we are. Weezy was made to know that. Weezy was made to believe that.

It's not that a dog barks to become a dog the first time it barks. It's barking because it's a dog. That makes sense, doesn't it? Same thing with a cat or anything else. Whatever our nature is, that's what's going to come forth. And David's nature was sinful, just as you and our nature is sinful. That being said, this flesh's nature never changes, no matter what, no matter how old we get, no matter what we do. Matter of fact, it gets worse and worse and worse. We need a new nature. We need a new nature. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ came. David is speaking of his flesh, speaking of his depraved heart. You know what the scripture says about our heart? Right now, our heart.

It is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. What does all things mean to you and I? If it's deceitful above all things, that means anything in this universe, it's more deceitful than that. You're saying my heart's more deceitful than Satan? He said deceitful above all things.

That never changes. The Lord has to give a new heart. Now the two things I've mentioned is a new nature and a new heart. This can only come by the covenant that David's hope was in. That's the only way that can come because you and I can't get a new heart. It's not that we need a quadruple bypass, not that we need open heart surgery. It's that we need a new heart, one that seeks him, one that looks to him, one that minds the things of God, one that's spiritually spiritual, not just physical.

Because if left in our state where we're born sinners, then we will die in our sin and we will go to hell for all eternity. This was the penalty that Adam put upon all mankind whenever he chose to take the fruit. Scripture says, death passed on all, on all. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sinned, every one of us.

We're born dead spiritually, unable to fix it. This is what the Lord did in giving us the law. He revealed that sin. He reveals what we are by nature. The law was not given for salvation. The law was given to say, you and I cannot fulfill the demands of the law. You and I cannot please God. Scripture is even clear on that. It says, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

So what is our hope? Our hope is in this covenant that David's talking about. Yet, though it be not so with my house, though it be not so in my flesh, though it be not so in this body, in this simple heart that I have, even though it, this nature, this corrupted nature that I have, yet, and that's the gospel, that's the start of the gospel, the interjection of God doing something.

Yet God hath made. He doesn't say God and I made. He doesn't say that God said if I do this, then he'll make it. No, this is the everlasting covenant. This was before time ever began. It far exceeds us even being alive. The everlasting covenant. You and I are unable to fix our dead state. And notice what he says as being sinners and not be able to fix our dead state.

Look at verse two and three, what he says, the spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God." Now he's talking about David specifically there, but God rules over all men. If David was to be just, how much more just? Well, it's not how much more. Our God is perfectly just. The God of this Bible is perfectly just.

Matter of fact, he says he will not acquit the guilty. That means if you're guilty of something, he's not going to let you go free because of it. Scripture tells us the wages of sin is death, that's the wages, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's where the covenant comes in, that's the everlasting covenant, the gift of God, his darling son.

Our people know that I get ahead of my notes a lot of times. I have to slow down a little bit, bounce around, whatever it takes. I'm trying to get the point across that we have a sin problem that we can't fix. Somebody said, well, that doesn't give me a lot of hope. Well, it shouldn't. It shouldn't, because the consequence for that is death. Not temporary, eternal. This is what Adam plunged us into, him being our head, figuratively speaking, being our head as we have his blood coursing through our veins. So what does that mean? Do I need to give my heart to Jesus? Would that fix it?

Jesus don't want your heart. It's deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Doesn't want my heart. No, whoever came up with that didn't get that from scripture. You won't find those words in scripture. That's a man-made phrase. He's not asking for your heart.

Matter of fact, he says, I will take out your heart of stone and I'll give you a heart of flesh. See, we have a stony heart. That's how bad our sin condition is. He must give a new heart. If not, we'll remain dead in sin. So David was a thief, he was a murderer, he was an adulterer. Yet he's called the man after God's own heart.

How can that be? Is that an oxymoron? It sounds like a conundrum, doesn't it? But it's not. It's not because our answer is in verse five, one little word. Although my house be not so with God, yet, there's the word, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Before time ever began, God chose, in mercy, in the covenant of grace, to elect a people, to redeem those people back to Him. Those people were given to Christ.

In the book of Revelation, we see John the Revelator standing, and they were saying, who is worthy to loose the book and open the seals thereof? That was the Lamb's book of life. And it says, none was found worthy. And I, John, wept because of it. But one of the elders touched me, said, weep not, John, for behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of Jesse, hath prevailed and is worthy to loose the seals and open the book thereof. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

That's our hope, that God would choose to have mercy on us. that God would choose to show grace unto us, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, hath he saved us. It doesn't say that God and I made a covenant or if I do something, God will make a covenant. It's an everlasting covenant, never had a beginning. never had an end.

That's because it's a direct reflection of the covenant maker. He made the covenant. It's a direct reflection of his person and his character. He does all things well from eternity. This covenant was done according to God's own will. He chose to elect some sinners and predestinate them to be conformed to the image of his son. In Ephesians chapter one, he tells us, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. According to the good pleasure of his will.

He chose to save some. Then, the most amazing thing is, is after that, He chose to create everything. He chose to make everything. In John chapter one, He tells us very clearly that without Him, there was not anything made that was made. Well, why did He make everything? To save His chosen people. That's why He created. That's why we're on this ball right now. That's why this earth exists, is for the salvation of the Lord's people. This is salvation.

This glorious salvation is not by my will, not by your will, because our will is bound to our nature and our nature is sinful. So we have a sinful nature that will not come to God. Christ said that clearly. He told the Pharisees, you're not of my sheep, as I said, but if you go back a little bit before that, he said, you will not come to me that you may have everlasting life because you're of your father, the devil. See, if the Lord, all He has to do for someone to go to hell is just leave them to themselves. I'm being as clear as I can be. He just leaves them to themselves, does not come to them, does not show grace to them, does not show mercy to them, leave them to themselves, and they will find themselves in the pit of hell for eternity.

But I have good news. If the Lord has revealed unto you that you are a sinner, I'm not talking about that you've committed a sin, but you're a sinner from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, There is a remnant, a remedy. There is a remedy. There is a, there is one that stood on your, on his, on the behalf of his people before God and redeemed every single one that he died for back to God.

2 Timothy 1.9 tells us this, that God saved us and called us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose in grace, which were given to us before time ever began.

God saved us and called us. What came first? The saving or the calling? The saving did. God saved us and then he called us. That's the hope we have. Salvation is a choice. I want to be as clear as I can be on this. Salvation is a choice. It's just not my choice or your choice. It was God's choice before time ever began. Weezy was made to know this. Do you know why? Because God chose to make an everlasting covenant of grace and by his providence reveal himself to her. Her hope was not in what she did or she did not do. Her hope wasn't what she used to do. I used to do this. I'm getting so much better. Nobody's getting better. They're not getting morally better, but they're not getting spiritually better.

No, Weezy's hope was not in what she did or did not do. Weezy's hope was in a savior. One that could please God because she and Terry both knew they could not please God in and of themselves. And neither can anybody in this room, including myself, a hundred percent. There isn't a human alive that can please God in and of themselves. The scripture is clear. They that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Why would God make this everlasting covenant? Well, tells us in Jeremiah 31 3, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn thee because he loves his people. That's why he loves his people. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." We preach a whosoever gospel here.

But the Lord said, you will not come to me that you might have life. Why? Because you're of your father, the devil. There's goats and there's sheep. It's that simple. And the Lord's the doer of it. We didn't have anything to do with it. A goat can't become a sheep and a sheep can't become a goat. All of us are born dead and trespasses and sin. We need the Lord to have mercy upon us. If we expect to have eternal life salvations, not of man, not by man, not by the will of man. That's what he tells us in the book of John verse chapter one. He said that they were all born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of blood, nor of men, but of God. He's the doer of it. He's the doer of it.

John 3.16 that I just quoted is one of the most overly used verses probably in most religious organizations, churches. And they say that that opens the door for anybody to be saved. Well what he's telling Nicodemus is that it's not just the Jew Nicodemus, for God so loved the world, Gentile. Because in Revelation he tells us every nation, every tribe, every tongue, and every kindred will be represented.

In that day, the Lord's not a respecter of person is the point. He doesn't look at you and he doesn't look at me and say, OK, I see something good in you. I'm going to save you. No, he says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and whom I will. I will harden. That's what he that's who God is. God is absolutely sovereign. He doesn't ask permission. He doesn't ask forgiveness. No, he's absolutely sovereign.

He does all things well in eternity and for all time. He's going to do all things well. Why? Because he's the one doing it. That's what makes it well. He's the one doing it. David knew something about this on his deathbed. He said, the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant. And then what's the next thing he calls it? Notice, ordered in all things. Ordered in all things.

In today's society, God has been, he's a false god that's being preached. He's not God. Because men will talk about him as needing us to do something. Let God, nobody can let God do anything. He's God. Somehow along the line, men begin to believe the lie more and more that they had power, that they had control, because we're in the flesh. Remember our nature? That's what we want. We want to be in control. We want to be able, what's the first thing that happens when trouble arises? You try to fix it, don't you? You try to make it better. Why? You want to be in control of your life.

We don't like things that we can't be in control of. God, On the other hand, he is in absolute control because he's absolutely sovereign. You and I fool ourself a lot thinking that we're in control of a lot of things when we're really not. Driving, for example, we think we're in control of the vehicle going down the road. We don't know it. You know how many deer jump out in front of me whenever I'm driving? I'm not in control of anything.

God is in so much that he purposed everything, including the salvation of his people before time. Everything that's happening is coming to pass by his design, according to his will, according to his purpose. And you know what he said? None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? No, he reigns supreme and sovereign.

That's why this covenant is ordered in all things, in all things, every I dotted, every T crossed perfectly. accomplished salvation on the cross of Calvary. Christ didn't try to save anybody. Christ saved his people from their sin. God wasn't trying, God's not trying to get you to let him have his way. He's having his way right now whether we want him to or not. He's God. He's God.

Somebody said, well, I don't believe that. Well, that's the deceitful heart we've been talking about. Our heart will deceive us into believing the lie just as Eve believed the lie. You remember the story of Adam and Eve? Most would know it. Eve was beguiled by the snake. The serpent said, The serpent said unto Eve, and he added one word. Now think about this. This is how the gospel can be perverted by adding one word to the truth. The truth was this.

God said, in the day that you eat thereof, the fruit of that tree, ye shall surely die. What did Satan say to her, the serpent? He said, the Lord knows that in the day you eat thereof, ye shall not surely die, but will be as God. That was her desire, wasn't it? To be as God. Did you know that's your desire and my desire in the flesh? Everybody wants to be recognized. Everybody wants to have, we have this pride in our body. Somebody says, I do not. That's pride. That's why you just did that.

No, Eve took the fruit because she wanted to be God and she gave to Adam. And because of it, we've been plunged into sin. And the only hope that we have is that God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem them that were under the law, to save his people. That's what he said in even the announcement of his birth in Matthew chapter one, call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin.

And he did just that. Now in this covenant, God says, I will save you and you will be saved. I will save you and you will be saved. You know, the scripture says salvation is of the Lord. What does that mean to us? Salvation is of the Lord. Well, that means it's of him. It's not of me. It's of his will. It's of his purpose. It's of his grace. It's not of my will or my purpose. It's not by me at all.

Salvation is of the Lord. The covenant of grace meant that a lamb had to die. In order for you and I to be redeemed, in order for anybody to be saved, because the scripture is clear, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. None of the Old Testament sacrifices put away any sin from anybody ever. They were sacrificed in order to worship under the Lord for a year.

So, God had prepared a lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, before time ever began, in the fullness of time, God became, the sovereign God that I've been describing became a man. Now that's unfathomable to me, when it can only be believed by faith, but God really became a man. He's not baby Jesus meek and mild in a manger. He was just as much God laying in that manger as he was sitting on the throne, as he is right now. He's God, absolutely sovereign. He lived the perfect life that his people could not live. Is anybody living a perfect life in here? Surely not. Can't. Why? Because we're in the flesh.

If you ever committed one sin, God's got us guilty of breaking all the law, every bit of it. So Christ came to this earth and he lived a perfect life that I could not. He took the place of his people upon the cross of Calvary. He took their sin and He owned them. He was made a curse for them. He shed His blood to put away the sin of His people.

Scripture says, He that knew no sin was made to be sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If the Lord has put away the sin, that's the only way our God that knows everything all the time, How could he forget something? Yet he said, your sin and your iniquity will I remember no more. Why?

They're gone. They're gone. Christ really put away the sin of every single person that he was dying for on that cross. He wasn't trying to make a way. He is the way. He is the way. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man come to the father, but by me. It's not that we meet him on the corner and he'd take the rest of the way. No, it's all by his power, by his will, by his purpose. He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

And he is salvation entirely. How do we know it's finished? Well, first of all, Jesus Christ is God and He said it is finished. He said salvation accomplished. Secondly, He was resurrected because of our justification. The Lord was pleased with His sacrifice and resurrected His Son and His people in Him. So we have been made the very righteousness of God in Him. You say, are you telling me that you don't sin anymore? I sin every day. But as far as God is concerned, that sin is gone. And the way God sees it, that's how it really is. That was Weezy's hope. That was Weezy's hope. That God doesn't see her, he sees his son. Father, Scripture says that it's Christ in you, the hope of glory.

What did Paul say? The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God that loved me and gave himself for me. We don't, we don't, nothing on this outside changed. We're still sinful by nature on the outside, but inwardly, Lord's given us a new nature. He's given us a new heart that looks to him by faith. And in the fullness of time, when the fullness of time, when he does that, he does exactly what he did at Ezekiel. When he went to Ezekiel, he said, Ezekiel, can these bones live?

They were at a desert place and it was a valley of dry bones. And it says they were very dry. Well, that's me and you by nature. We're very dry bones. We're dead, dead, not it. Whoever had the idea that salvation is a choice that they can make, they missed the part where the scripture says, we're born dead in trespasses and in sin. There's no choice to be made for someone that's passed on.

But he says, can these bones live? And what did Ezekiel say? Lord God, thou knowest. He said, if they're going to live, you're going to have to do it. I can't make them live. I can't make them live. And that's exactly what the Lord did. He blew upon them and they became alive.

This is a picture of the regeneration that God does in the fullness of time. He sends his spirit and power by the preaching of his gospel to what Paul was talking about in Romans chapter one, verse 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God and the salvation to all that believe the Jew first and also to the Greek. Whenever that gospel is preached and the Lord sends his spirit and power, he calls someone out of darkness into light, giving them faith and repentance, faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as everything in their salvation and repentance, realizing what they are, not what they do.

Paul said, Oh, wretched man, that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death. Not that I was not that I used to be that, but I'm progressively getting better. No, because Christ has made unto his people, all of our wisdom, all of our righteousness, all of our sanctification and all of our, all of our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. put out any deceitful thought about who God is and about his salvation. Men have perverted it. They have tried to change it. This is not a popular message, I can tell you that. Because it renders you and I completely incapable of doing anything as part or evidence of our salvation. Completely impossible. We don't. And man wants something to do. They always have.

In the book of Genesis, Cain and Abel brought forth the sacrifice unto the Lord. And Abel brought forth a lamb. Now it reminds you after Adam and Eve had sinned, they decided they would go and get fig leaves. and tie fig leaves up and hide from the Lord. And the Lord called out to them and said, Adam, where art thou? And he said, here I am. And he said, uh, why were you hiding? And he told him because we were naked. And he said, well, who told you you were naked? And he said, well, uh, the woman you gave me gave me the fruit to eat.

And, uh, The point I'm making is, is they tried to fix it themselves with the fig leaves. They tried to fix it themselves with the fig leaves. It's a picture of works. It's all, that's the picture of all works religion. If you hear a preacher tell you, do this and you'll be saved, do this and you'll be saved. He's lying to you. He's lying to you. There is nothing that you can do in yourself. Now that's important. In yourself, whereby God is obligated to save you. If you find yourself believing the gospel, God is the doer of it. He has given you repentance and he's given you faith. He did just that.

After Adam and Eve were stripped of the fig leaves, the Lord killed a lamb and covered him. Adam would have told his sons, God demands blood. God demands perfection. We don't have the ability of bringing perfection to God. And so he brought a lamb and he killed it, covered him. And then Abel brings forth a lamb for sacrifice. And what does the scripture say? That God had respect unto Abel and Abel's sacrifice. But what did Cain bring? Cain brought the fruit of his hands, the fruit of the field that he had worked on, that he had provided.

Now, I say this jokingly a lot to our congregations, but there's a fairground over here, some of y'all, most of y'all may know, Ole Fairground. And they have a pumpkin contest in the fall. And whoever has the biggest pumpkin wins. Cain didn't just bring cheap rotten fruit. He brought the biggest pumpkin possible because he wanted to please God. He gave it his very best effort. Do we see what I'm saying here? His very best effort. It wasn't that he halfway did it. No, he brought the prize pumpkin. Very best.

But God said, no, you're taking the place of the lamb. You're taking the place of the blood. And that is what men ignorantly do all the time. They take the place by doing something as part or evidence of their salvation. When the Lord says, believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. And believing is passive. That means God gives you faith to believe. That's not something that we earn. We're not all born with faith. That's the gift of God by grace.

This covenant is ordered in all things and it's sure, certain, can't change, won't be changed. Why? Because God cannot change. It says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. His covenant is everlasting and you and I can't change it. You and I can't, the good news is, is if you believe it, if the Lord's called you to believe it, you can't mess it up either. You can't add to or take away from it. I love that about my God. Can't constrain Him, meaning make Him do something. I can't restrain Him, prevent Him from doing anything.

No, He's God. And He saved His people from their sin by His own will, His own purpose, His own power. And with that same power, He keeps His people that He has saved. So He is supreme in election. He's supreme in salvation. He's supreme in regeneration. And He's supreme in keeping us all the way to the end. And you know who gets all the glory for that? He does.

And did you know our flesh hates that? The flesh hates that right now. Even if there's a, if we're a believer, your flesh still hates God. The flesh is enmity against God. The scripture says that means hostile. That's why the Lord said, you will not come to me that you might have life. You can't. We're physically incapable. We have to be saved. By definition, he has to do all the saving.

He don't throw out a raft and say, okay, remember whenever Peter was about to drown, the winds were blowing, the storm was raging, and they see the Lord coming, and he said, they were afraid, thought he was a spirit, and he said, fear not, it is I, be not afraid.

And Peter said, if it be you, Lord, bid me come. And he says, come. And Peter gets out of the, Peter walked on water. I mean, I don't know if that blows anybody else's mind, but Peter really walked on water. for a second or however long, and he began to sink.

And he said, Lord, save me. Now, did the Lord throw him a life jacket and say, do the best you can? Or did he save him? I don't need the Lord to give me a hand. I need the Lord to save me. I'm dead. Lord, if you don't do all the saving, all the calling and all the keeping, surely hell will be my eternal home. But if he does all the saving, there is none that can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? He is loved with an everlasting love.

God's gospel is simple and his covenant is sure for by grace. Are you saved through faith in that not of yourself? What does that mean? That it's by grace that you're saved, not of yourself, not of your doing. It's the gift of God, not of works, not what we have done, but what he did. Otherwise we would boast. You see people all the time saying how good they are and how good they've been and how long they've been going to church and how much money they've given to church.

I don't account for a hill of beans when it comes to salvation. It doesn't amount to anything. There's only one thing that accomplished salvation. That's the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Anything less than that. Anything less than that is short of salvation. I've got to have the blood, and he is the applicator of it. He's the only one that can apply it, and it's all by his will. Scripture's clear, it's not by works of righteousness we have done, but according to his mercy. Now in closing, I want us to read this verse five again. Although my house, the sinful flesh, be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting Ordered in all things ensure for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

You that desire forgiveness of sin, come to Christ, but don't move a muscle. Don't move a muscle. If the Lord has given you faith to believe him, come to Christ by that faith alone. Look to him as all of your wisdom, all of your righteousness, all of your sanctification, and all of your redemption. Because if you look to anything else, If you look to anything else outside of him as any part of your salvation, hell will be your home.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for this everlasting covenant ordered in all things insure. Because of the finished work of Christ, we have hope. Otherwise, we would be miserable. We would be lost. Lord, I ask that you would take these words and you would bless them. Lord, you would call your sheep. You would cause us to see Christ and cause us to worship you. We ask all this in Christ's name. Amen.