I want to begin reading here
in verse 11 and read down through verse 14, Ephesians chapter 1,
beginning in verse 11. You and I have been slowly, and
I mean slowly, working our way through this chapter. I've dealt
with this book a little bit different than I usually do, but I wanted
to go slow and reiterate some of these things, and maybe and
hopefully the Lord will take them home to our hearts and we'll
remember them. In whom also ye have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,
unto the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
His glory." Now, I want to look at this this morning for a few
minutes, and then when we come back a little bit later, we'll
look at it some more. And Paul has been heaping up
Blessing upon blessing. You and I have been looking at
it now for several weeks. He's been enumerating all these
many blessings that God has bestowed upon His people. You remember
He begins there in verse 5 and tells them that they have been
adopted as children. God has adopted them. In other
places, he tells us, not only has God adopted them, but He
sent His Spirit into their hearts, the spirit of adoption, crying,
Father, Father. And there in verse 7, he tells
them of this blessing, that in Christ they have redemption and
forgiveness of sins by His precious blood. And then there in verse
9, that God has sent His Spirit and opened their understanding
that they might know His will. What a blessing that is, to know
the will of God, that He has the will, and we know what that
will is in regard to redemption, how He redeems sinners. You and
I have been made known that in our hearts. And then there in
verse 10, he makes known what his purpose is, the consummation
of it. That in the end, he's going to
gather together all things in Christ, and there's going to
be this perfect harmony. The peace that once reigned before
sin entered is going to be restored. What a blessing that is. And
then he goes on here in verse 11, and he adds this blessing
also. And he lets us know that this
is another blessing, in whom ye also have obtained an inheritance. He doesn't tell us what that
inheritance is. He doesn't tell us the nature
of it. He just mentions it and makes sure that we know that
God has blessed us by giving us an inheritance. So he enumerates
all these blessings, and there's two things that you and I need
to be aware of and reminded of. as we think about this. And Paul
tells them that, and two things about these blessings. First
of all is this, he wants them to remember that these blessings
did not come to them by accident. It wasn't by chance. They were
not the cause of these blessings. And he goes back and tells them
there in verse 3 and verse 4 that they were chosen to these blessings. God had elected them or set them
aside, and he had blessed them on purpose, that God was the
cause of their blessings. And he reminds them there in
verse 4 and verse 5 that they were now children, but that wasn't
by accident. that God had predestinated them
to entomb the adoption of children. Now that's a wonderful thing
to think about. And brothers and sisters, I just
wonder if this truth has really sank down deep in our hearts
that all God's blessings that you and I enjoy as believers
have not come to us by accident. that they were planned and purpose
of God to give to us before time. Isn't that a wonderful thing
to think about? There was a time in our life
when you and I just began to think on the Lord. There was
a time when you and I came to Him and began to love Him. But
there's never a time when He did not think upon us, even back
in eternity. That's the first thing the apostle
wanted them to remember about these blessings. And the second
thing that he wants them to remember, and he keeps repeating this,
and I've called your attention to this over and over, and that
is this, that all of these blessings that he's talking about, they're
in Christ. Did you notice that? He keeps
saying this. In Christ, and by Christ, and
through Christ. And in the fourth chapter, in
verse 30, he says, we even have forgiveness for Christ's sake. God has forgiven us for Christ's
sake. You know what this is? This is
what makes Christianity different from all other religions. Christianity
is Christ. What does it mean to be a Christian?
It means we're in Christ. That's what Christianity is.
That's why it's different from all other religions. It's concerning what God has
purpose to do, and what He's doing, and what He's going to
do in His Son, and by His Son, and through His Son. That God
has this amazing plan. That He has this ultimate purpose. And He's working out this purpose. He's accomplishing this purpose.
And He's doing it in His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and our
Savior. And what a blessing it is to
know that we're in Christ. That's what makes us Christians,
to be in Christ. And this is another thing that
I think makes the world's religion so jealous of Christianity because
it's in Christ. And to be a Christian simply
means that we're in Christ. That's what it means to be a
Christian. We can't be a Christian if we're not in Christ. That's
what it is to be a Christian, to be in Christ. Now, some person
may argue and say, but Bruce, I'm a moral person. I've done
so much good. to society, I've served my fellow
man, and that may all be true. There are some people living
in society, in all ages, there are certainly those who live
in our age, that makes this world a better place to live in. I
mean, the great moralists, they're examples to other people in their
morality. There are scientists, there are
politicians, there are heads of state, and you know I thank
God for them. I was reading an article yesterday
by Louis Pasteur, an article concerning the French chemist.
He was the guy all the way back in the 1800s that invented pasteurization. And they were talking about all
the lives that no doubt that man had saved. He was the one
that began to invent the penicillin. And I thank God for that man.
And I thank God for those today who have indeed did great things
and have made this world a better place to live. But you know something? Being that and doing that is
not what makes a man a Christian. Being a great moral person, doing
great deeds in regards to humanity is not what makes a man a Christian. You know, as a matter of fact,
sometimes it's morality that hinders a man from becoming a
Christian, because he trusts in those things. What is it to
be a Christian? It means we're in Christ. Everything is dependent upon
this, being in Christ. A believer, he has nothing, he
is nothing, and he hopes for nothing but what he has by virtue
of him being in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul reminds that here all the
way through this first chapter. He reminds us every blessing
that he mentions, he says it's in Christ, or it's by Christ. He tells us here in verse 5,
that God has adopted us as His sons, and He says it's by Christ. It's by His Spirit, the Spirit
of God's Son sent forth into our heart. He reminds us there
in verse 7 that we do indeed have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins, but He reminds us it's in His blood,
it's in Him that we have redemption. And every true believer has a
good hope in a world to come. He makes that clear there in
verse 11 and verse 12, in verse 10 and verse 11. And he's assured
of this inheritance. But then he goes on to tell us
why that we have this inheritance. He said it's in Christ, in whom
we have obtained that inheritance. You and I are Christians by virtue
of our being in Him and everything else springs from this. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. What makes a new creature? You
and I don't struggle to become new creatures. It's not our praying,
it's not our reading, it's not our doing good that makes us
new creatures. We're new creatures because we're
in Christ. Being in Christ makes us a new
creature. All the works that we do, all
our worship, all our meditations, if they're accepted of God at
all, it's because we're in Christ. We're in Christ. I can't stress
that enough. The Apostle Paul can't stress
it enough. He just goes on and on and on, stressing this, that
we're Christians because we're in Christ. That's what makes
Christianity different than all other religions. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
vine and you are the branches. Abide in me. See where it is? It's in me. The branch cannot
bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can
you except you abide in Me. If a man abide not in Me, he's
like a branch that's severed from the life-giving sap of that
vine. He's cast forth, and he withers,
and men gather him and cast him into the fire. Without Me, you
can do nothing. It's only as you and I are in
Christ that we can believe, that we can walk humbly with God,
that we can render service to Him and worship Him? It's only
as we're in Christ. Look over here in chapter 2 in
verse 10. The Apostle says this very thing. Look at this. He reminds us there in verse
8 and 9 that we're not saved by works of righteousness, which
we've done, but it's by God's grace through faith, not of works,
verse 9, lest any man should boast. And look at this. For
we are His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. Why does a man work? Why does
he worship? Why does he walk with God? Why
does he love? Why does he give? Why does he
serve his fellow man and love his brothers and sisters? Because
he's in Christ. It's all by virtue of being in
Him. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.
Even the works and the worship that we do, it's because we're
in Him. Spurgeon made this statement.
He said, every virtue we possess, and every victory won, and every
thought of holiness is His, and He is alone. We can't do a thing
except we're in Him. And we're Christians because
you and I are in Him. So Paul says here that God has
blessed us with all these spiritual blessings. And in turn, what
do we do? We just praise Him for it. We
worship Him and serve Him with gratitude. And all these blessings
that He's bestowed upon us, it's in Christ and through Christ
and because of Christ. And the blessings and the praises
that we return to God, it's through Christ. And because of Christ. Christ is this mediator. And
all God gives to us and all we render to Him goes through this
mediator. The Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, it's never going
to change. It's going to increase. He tells us in chapter 2, verse
7, after telling us there in verse 5 that He quickened us
together with Christ. See that? With Christ. raised
us up together, made us set together in heavenly places in Christ,
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace and His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." What
is Christianity? It's Christ. What does it mean
to be a Christian? It means you're in Christ. You
can't be a Christian if you're not in Christ. If you're in Christ,
you're a Christian. That's it, ain't it? That's it.
Now we come here to verses 12 and 13. And we're told here, Paul begins
to tell us here, how you and I begin to experience these blessings
of God. He's been telling us about them,
and you and I have been studying about all these blessings. And
now he comes and he tells us, when you and I begin to experience
these blessings, And he mentions these two things, hearing and
trusting. Notice what he said in verse
12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first
trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard
the word of truth. the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise." You and I don't become a Christian by what we
do. You and I become a Christian
by hearing and trusting. Till to Jesus' work you cling,
by simple faith, doing is a deadly thing. doing ends in death. How often have you and I talked
to somebody and they're ready to profess being a Christian, but here's what they base being
a Christian upon. My life used to be filled with
trouble. I used to have all kinds of trouble in this world, but
I'm doing better now. I'm getting along a lot better
now. Things aren't as bad as they used to be. I feel better
about myself now. I've quit doing a lot of bad
things and I've begun to do some good things. And I'm coming to
the worship services now. Dear soul, listen to me. All
of that may be well and good in itself, but let me be honest
with you. Let me be truthful with you.
That is not how we become Christians. No man is a Christian except
he becomes a Christian in a scriptural sense. And how is that? He hears
the word of the truth of the gospel and is brought to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Brought to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what Paul tells us here.
He tells us that we were dead in trespasses and sins, and He
said there come a time when you heard the truth of the gospel
in your heart. You were so convinced of this
truth that this gospel became the gospel of your salvation. You were lost, He says. You were
perishing. That was the trouble that you
were in. It had nothing to do with temporal things. It had
nothing to do with family problems. No, you were lost. You were perishing. And then you heard the gospel
of the truth. And you heard it in such a way.
And you were so convinced of it that it became the gospel
of your salvation. And Paul said you were so convinced
of it that you come to finally trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, is that your experience?
I worked with a friend of mine years ago. I just got acquainted
with him. And he professed to be a Christian. And I asked him, I said, Jerry,
how did you come to be a Christian? And he said, well, I just woke
up one Sunday morning and I thought, I'm going to start going to church.
And he said, I've been going to church ever since. And I said,
Jerry, how did you become a Christian? And he just looked at me. He
never answered my question. Or if that was his answer, it
was a bad one. How do we become a Christian?
Here we are going along dead in trespasses and sins. Then
God breaks in upon us. He awakens us to our perishing
state. And somewhere we come under the
sound of the gospel, either on our workplace or in the worship.
And we hear it and we're so convinced that that gospel can save us
that it brings us finally to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we're Christians. I'm
amazed. I told my wife this morning on
the way to church. I said, you know, I'm absolutely
amazed how the natural man is so adverse to hearing the gospel. He can't be saved apart from
hearing it. Isn't that what this verse tells us? How shall they
believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And yet the natural
man is so adverse to hearing the gospel. I have seen men and
women plot and connive and make all kinds of excuses, plan for
hours and days so they won't have to come and hear the gospel.
It amazes me. I am absolutely astounded. If
it wasn't so serious, it would be amusing, of the excuses people
make not to hear the gospel. And yet you can't be saved apart
from hearing the word of the truth of this gospel. How often
does the Scripture tell us, Hear, O earth! Hear! Hear the word of the Lord! Hear,
and your soul shall live. The Master said, Take heed how
you hear. Why? Because this is the very
way that we become Christian. That's what Paul is telling us
here. In whom you trusted after that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation. Never are we saved. Never will
any of us be saved. until the gospel of Jesus Christ
becomes the gospel of our salvation. When we'll stop being concerned
about who else is saved by it, or who else the gospel is for,
and it becomes my salvation, and my hope, and my life. In
whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation. and trusting. That's the way
we become. It's simple means, isn't it?
But it's essential means. It's essential means. Hearing
and trusting. Hearing and trusting. Let me say this about these two
things. Sometimes in the scriptures you'll
see this hearing and trusting and it all comes at one time.
Somebody heard, and they immediately trusted. You remember when the
Apostle Paul was preaching to that group of women there in
Acts chapter 16? They'd come out there by the
riverside, and the Apostle Paul preached to them. And the Scripture
said there was a woman there by the name of Lydia, whose heart
the Lord opened, and she attained to the things that were spoken
by Paul. She heard this Gospel, and she trusted Christ. And it
was that quick. It was just that quick. And that
same chapter, the jailer, that the Lord sent the earthquake
and scared him, and he ran out and was ready to kill himself?
And Paul said, Do yourself no harm, we've not escaped, we're
all here. And he says, What must I do to be saved? And Paul took
him in the house and preached this gospel unto him, and it
became the gospel of his salvation, and he was saved immediately.
He trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and he was saved. The woman at
the well, the Samaritan woman, she heard and she trusted. And
it all came at the same time. But you know, it doesn't always
happen that way. And I'm saying this because this may not be
so in your case. You may not be able to put your
family on a time when you heard the Gospel and you brought yourself
immediately to trust Christ. Sometimes, here's the way it
happens. Sometimes you hear of the Gospel, and it begins to
get in your heart, and you struggle with it. And sometimes you'll
even fight against it. You're like Nicodemus. When the
Lord first preached the Gospel to him, the prince of preachers
preached the Gospel to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you must be born again.
How can these things be? And these things got in his heart,
and he struggled with them. And the Lord told him, said,
Nicodemus, the new birth is something like this. He said, here's how
we experience the new birth. And then he gave him this example
of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. Remember that?
And Nicodemus could relate to that. Here's the gospel, he says,
Nicodemus, that you must believe. The children of Israel had sinned,
and God sent these poisonous serpents among them, and it bit
the people and they died. And they cried unto the Lord,
and the Lord told Moses to put that brazen serpent upon a pole.
And Moses did that and he went around preaching to the people.
Look to that serpent and you shall live. That's the gospel
that the Lord Jesus preached to Nicodemus. But as far as we
know, he left Pharaoh and didn't trust Christ. The next time you
see him, he's still struggling with this. And finally, at last,
He comes and begs the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That may
be your experience. Or you may be like those Bereans
in Acts chapter 17. Remember Paul preached to them?
And they didn't believe. They went home and got their
Bibles out. And they said, we don't know if this is so or not,
but we're going to search the Scriptures. And they searched
the Scriptures, and then it says, therefore, many of them believed. That may be your case. I don't
know how long an individual may be brought to struggle before
he comes and is able to hear the gospel and to place the trust
of his heart in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is one of the
things he must do. Where he struggles with it or
where he comes to terms with it immediately, when he hears
the Word of Truth, he's going to have to come to this understanding.
That is the truth. There is no other way of salvation
but in this gospel. And he then must bring his heart
to wholly rely upon the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Where
it takes him a long time, where he does it immediately, that's
where we must come to. And listen, brothers and sisters,
we're not saved until we come to that place. It's only then that you and I
begin to experience the blessings of God. I don't know how long
this process may take with you or how difficult the difficult
time you may have experiencing, sharing, and trusting. I just know this, you must share
and you must trust Christ. I've talked to some people and
they say, well, I'm just not for sure when. Well, have you? Have you? Have you heard this
gospel? Are you convinced by it? Have
you been brought to the knowledge of it? This is the only way of
salvation. And you bring your heart, all
of your heart, and you cast yourself upon the Lord Jesus Christ. As far as I know, this is unique
to Christianity. What other religions have such
good news? as the gospel. I don't know of
any that has such good news as the gospel for miserable sinners,
and they become partakers of this gospel by this simple means,
hearing and trusting. I don't know. I think that's
why Christianity makes these other religions so jealous sometimes.
They don't have anything for sinners. And by such simple means, hearing
and trusting. Hearing and trusting. Ain't that
a glorious thing? Not by doing, but by hearing
and trusting. I was watching a documentary
not long ago, just the other night. It was on some of these
strange cults. And you may have seen some of
these. They had these people. And they would take these sharp
sticks. I can't imagine how awful this would be and how it must
feel. And they would take these sharp sticks and they'd put them
all through their skin, underneath their skin. And they'd sharpen
the stick and put it in this side of the jaw and come out
this side. And this big stick sticking here. And they'd put
them through their nose. And it was horrible. Put it through
their stomach, the skin in their stomach. And this one guy did
all of that. And he was bleeding. And he had
this weight, like a hundred pound weight on his back. And he had
to walk so far and hold that weight for so many hours. And
after he did all of this, then he could have some hope. Hear it and trust it. Ain't it
wonderful? That's why we say there's no
gospel. Only Christianity has this gospel that says, no, no,
it's not what you suffered. Somebody else has already suffered
in your place. Somebody else had already been
under the load and shed His blood. Now, you just come and trust
Him. Hear of Him and trust Him. Ain't that a wonderful thing?
You may not be too clear about all these lessons about predestination
and neglection. You say, Bruce, I just can't
hardly get into that. Well, here's where it begins anyway. You can't
know anything until you start right here anyway, hearing of
the Savior, what He's done for miserable, perishing sinners,
and bringing your heart to trust Him. I thought as I was studying
about this last night, I thought this is the most wonderful news,
just hearing and trusting. And I think sometimes if I had
a thousand souls, I could trust Christ with all of them. Don't
you feel that way sometimes? He is so trustworthy. And to
give us such simple meanings of being partakers of these blessings. Lord, what do I have to do? How
far do I have to crawl? How many piercings do I have
to suffer? None. I've suffered it all. They pierced my hands and my
feet. There is no sense piercing your nose or your jaws. I bore
the weight of sin. You don't have to bear anything.
Hear me and trust me. Ain't that wonderful? Oh, it's
such good news. And here in verse 12, he tells
us this, and this is wonderful in itself because this is the
very way, this is one of the cheap ways that we glorify the
Lord. Look at this, that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. There's no better way to glorify
God and honor Him than just to trust His Son, just to believe
what He tells us in His Word. It hurts my feelings when people
don't believe me and when people don't trust me. Don't it you?
The greatest honor that you could bestow upon me is believing what
I say, is to trust me. It's the same way with the Lord.
that we should be to the praise of His glory simply by trusting
Him. Let me quote some scripture to
you, because as I read the book of Psalms on this word trust, there's something about trusting
the Lord that obligates Him. And He loves to be obligated. to defend his people. He loves
to deliver those, he delights to deliver those who trust in
him. Listen to what David said in
some of the Psalms. Let all those who put their trust
in you rejoice and let them ever shout for joy. Why? Because you
will defend them. Who does he defend? Those who
put their trust in him. Listen to this one. Oh, Lord
my God, in Thee do I put my trust. For what, David? Why are you
trusting the Lord? Well, he answers that. To save
me from all those who persecute me and deliver me lest my enemy
tear my soul like a lion, rendering it in pieces when there is none
to deliver me. See what trust does. When we
put our trust in the Lord, we're saying, Lord, You do for me what
I can't do for myself. You deliver me. You save me. And then it obligates Him. He
loves to be obligated. And how do we obligate Him? By
trusting Him. By trusting Him. And listen to
this Psalm, chapter 9, verse 10. They that know Your name
will put their trust in You. What is His name? Jesus. O they that know your name shall
put their trust in you. For you, O Lord, have not forsaken
those who seek thee." And let's do another one. Preserve me,
O God, for in you do I put my trust. Will He preserve those
who trust in Him? He delights to do it. And listen
to this one. Show yourself, show your marvelous
loving kindness, O thou that saveth by your right hand." Who? Those who put their trust in
you. And let's do another one. The
Lord is my rock. He's my deliverer. He's my strength. Whom shall I be afraid? I will
trust in the Lord. He is my buckler. He is the horn
of my salvation. He is my high tower. I will call
upon the name of the Lord, and He shall deliver me and save
me from my iniquity." See that trust? Trust. One more. Psalms
chapter 18. As for God, His way is perfect. The Word of the Lord is tried.
He is a shield. He's a protector. He's a buckler
for all of those who put their trust in Him. And on and on and on David goes,
saying, I'll trust the Lord because He'll save me. I'll trust the
Lord because He'll deliver me, because He will defend me. He'll
glorify Himself in doing so. Dear soul, if you want to please
God, trust His Son. If you want to obligate Him to
be your Savior and your Deliverer and your Defense, trust His Son. Do you remember those three Hebrew
children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? This great king Nebuchadnezzar
had made a decree that everybody was going to fall down and worship
his golden image. And these three Hebrew children
wouldn't do it. And he called them up and he
said, I'm going to give you one more chance. If you'll fall down
and worship this golden image, then you can go free. And they said, we don't need
another chance. We're not careful to answer you in this, okay?
Our God that we serve is able to deliver us. And He will deliver
us out of your hands. If He's pleased, He'll deliver
us from that fiery furnace. But if He don't, we will not
serve your gods and bow down to your graven image. He threw
all three in the fire. The Son of God was in there with
them. They weren't burnt. The smell of smoke wasn't even
on them. The King took them back out of the fire. And you know
what He said? You know what He said? He'd come
to this conclusion. He said, God has sent His angel
and delivered you because you trusted Him. Ain't that wonderful? Trust. Share and trust. You and I, we're facing more
than a fiery furnace. Do you know that? You and I are
facing the king of terrors. We're facing death. We're facing
eternity. We are facing the judgment of
God. We are facing the wrath of God. And we have these precious
souls. What are we going to do? Well,
God gives us the answer, doesn't He? God gives us the answer of
what we must do. I have sent my Son, and He has
faced these things in His own person. He has faced death Himself. He has faced the wrath of God.
He's bore the load of sin. Trust Him! Trust Him! And when we bring our soul and
put all the weight of the eternal salvation of our souls upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, and we trust Him with all of it, there's when
God is glorified. Because when we do that, we're
saying, we can't save ourselves. And if you don't save us, we
perish. And we cast our souls upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
when He's glorified. That's when He's honored. That
we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in
Christ. I think old Watts says it very
well. Here's what he said in one of his great hymns. And here's
what it means to trust Christ. No more, my God, I boast no more
of all the duties I have done. I quit the hopes I held before
to trust the merits of Your Son. Now for the love I bear His name. What was my gain, I kept my loss. My former pride I call my shame
and nail my glory to his cross. Yes, and I must and will esteem
all things but loss for Jesus' sake. Oh, may my soul be found
in him and of his righteousness partake. The best obedience of
my hands dare not appear before your throne, but faith can answer
your demands. by pleading what my Lord has
done. Have you heard the gospel? Have
you heard the word of the truth of the gospel? Has it become
your salvation? Have you been enabled, dear soul,
to bring all the trust of your heart and to put it in one person
in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you? If not, you're not yet a Christian.
You don't know the Lord. You're not safe. You're not saved. If you have, you're beginning
to enjoy God's blessings. Lord bless this world. Oh, Father
in Heaven, wise and good and kind, thank you for allowing
us to open your Bible and look into that precious Word and see
these blessings. Thank you for such a glorious
plan. Thank you for Him in whom this
plan is. Forgive us of our sins of not
understanding these things, how weak we are in relating them
to others. But Lord, at our best state,
who can explain these things? And we can't affect anything
in anyone's heart. You must be your own interpreter.
Bless these dear people. The greatest blessing, our Lord,
that you could bestow upon us is to open our hearts, to give
us grace to trust you and to know you. Thank you for this
day. Thank you for your grace. Thank
you for pitying us. Thank you for your faithfulness.
We pray that you'll bless the food that's been prepared. Bless
us in a few minutes of fellowship. And be with us as we return to
look at these verses again. In our Savior's name, Amen. The ladies have brought some
food. I'm not too sure what they've got. I hope you can stay. If you can stay, if you've got
time to stay and eat about with us, you've got to leave. That's
fine. You don't have to stay for the second service to qualify
you to eat. Just stay and eat with us if
you can.