from that fourth chapter of Ephesians,
which Brother Cecil read for us. And I do like to hear Cecil Roach,
Tom Harding, and Jack Shanks read the Scriptures. Just a delight
to hear those gentlemen read God's Word. Ephesians 4, here
verse 13. It says, and what I'm talking
about tonight is spiritual growth. Spiritual growth. The title of
this message is Growing in Grace. But in verse 13, he tells about
giving prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the
work of the ministry till, verse 13, we all come in the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man. a mature person, a mature person,
unto the completeness found in Christ, the fullness found in
Christ. Verse 14, that we henceforth
be no more children. Nothing wrong with being a child
in attitude, but there's something wrong in being childish. And
that's what he's talking about, talking about childishness. Not
talking about children, but adults who are
childish, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every
wind of doctrine. But verse 15, speaking the truth
in love, we may grow up, grow up in the hymn and all things. Now, in 2 Peter 3.18, we'll turn
to 1 Peter 2, verse 2 first. As we go through, we'll just
stop there. 1 Peter chapter 2. Verse 2, I'm trying to create a little
interest on your part in the subject of growing in grace,
spiritual growth, by calling your attention to the fact that
the Lord deals with it in the Word several times. He says,
as newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the Word that
you may grow. Thereby that you may grow now
2nd Peter 3 2nd Peter 3 verse 18 2nd Peter 3 18 Let's read verse 17 to ye therefore
beloved seeing you know these things before Beware lest you
also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from
your own steadfastness, but grow in grace, grow in grace, and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now
I'm going to begin this message the same way that I began a message
on television entitled A Happy Marriage. And that is this, there
can be no spiritual growth where there's no spiritual life. Okay,
that understood. There can be no spiritual growth.
I'm not talking to anybody, either here or wherever this message
is heard, about spiritual growth if there's no spiritual life.
Forget it. It's an exercise in futility
for us to set forth rules and regulations and plans and programs
for people to grow spiritually if they don't have spiritual
life. You can't grow in grace if you don't know grace. You
can't grow in the knowledge of Christ if you don't have Christ.
Forget it. You stick a fence post in the
ground, in the richest soil, water it with abundant rain from
heaven, and bathe it in sunshine, it won't grow a lick. Neither
will a stone, dead. But a seed will, because a seed
got life. And a sapling will, and a plant
will, and a flower will, because it's got life. And the richer
the soil, and the more the rain, and sunshine, the more it'll
grow. In other words, there can be
no growth in grace where there's no grace. Spurgeon pointed out
three things about spiritual growth, growing in grace. He
said first, There must be a recognition of the need for growth. And he
mentioned Paul's statement in Philippians 3. If you want to,
you can turn there, if not, just listen to me read it. Where the
great apostle himself said, in verse 12, not as though I had
already attained. I haven't reached it, he said.
I'm not already perfect. But he said, I'm following after
if that I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended
of Christ. I want to lay hold of that for
which I've been laid hold of by Christ. I'm not there yet.
I'm not there. Now this is the man. And no use
going into all that Paul was and did. But we're babes in swaddling
clothes compared to this illustrious apostle. And here he is saying,
I haven't arrived. I'm not perfect. I'm just reaching
out. Brethren, verse 13, I count not
myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
the things which are behind, I'm reaching for. That's growth.
Secondly, there must be a desire for growth. Not only a recognition
of the need for growth, but a desire for growth. And Paul mentions
that in that same chapter, Philippians 3. Back in verse 8, the last
line, he said, O that I may win Christ, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. Verse 10, O that I may know Him
and the power of His resurrection. See that desire, that hunger?
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness,
they'll be filled. But there's got to be a hunger,
recognition of need. Secondly, a desire. And then,
now listen to this, and I kind of got it on all of us Wednesday
night a week ago about this, we just simply must employ the
means for spiritual growth if we hope to grow. And we've got
to use the means. You take around this part of
the country, and you know as well as I do, the soil as some
of you fellas farming and doing a little garden at home you fight
this every year need certain acted it needs a lot of it needs
nitrogen needs it needs that we keep stocking it to it and
uh... fertilize it and we just we keep
on using whatever means we lay hold up to grow from and i'll
tell you you're not just gonna grow in great and the knowledge
of christ uh... any nowhere The means of growth,
and that's the Word of God. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word that you may grow thereby. We're just going to have to use
the means. And the means for growth is the
Word of God. And I mean the Word of God, the
Word of God. And Spurgeon wound that message
up with this statement. He who truly knows Christ will
long to know Him better. and grow in his likeness. And
he who longs not to know more of Christ knows nothing of him
yet. He who longs not to be more like
Christ is not one whit like him now. I think that's just a tremendous
statement. He who truly knows Christ will
long to know him better. and grow in his likeness. And
he who longs not to know more of Christ knows nothing of him
yet. And he who longs not to be more
like Christ is not one whit like him now. Now what is it? Three statements. Number one,
what is it to grow in grace? What is it to mature spiritually? Well, the first thing, my friends,
our faith will grow. You know, the disciples spoke
to the Lord one day and they said, increase our faith. Another
scripture talks about your faith, grow it exceedingly. And then
our Lord Jesus Christ spoke about little faith, didn't he? Oh, ye of little faith. And then
he spoke about great faith. Woman, great is thy faith, didn't
he? So there's a difference. There's
little faith and there's great faith. There's a growth in faith.
There's a difference in the trembling faith of the centurion who said,
Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. And the
faith of Job, who sat there on the ground, scraping his boils
with a piece of glass, while his friends mocked, really. And
he said, though he slayed me, I'll trust him. There's a lot
of difference in those two people and their faith. And this is
what I want. I'm not ashamed to say, Lord,
I believe, help thou mine unbelief, but I want to grow in faith.
I want to be able to say, though he slayed me, I'll trust him.
And then there's a lot of difference in the woman, in the faith of
the woman with the issue of blood who reached out desperately,
desperately to touch Christ. There's a difference in her faith
and the faith of Abraham who took his only son to the top
of Mount Moriah with a knife in his hand to kill him because
God said do it. There's a lot of difference.
A lot of difference. I sure do want that faith of
Abraham. That's mature faith. And there's a lot of difference
in the faith of the blind man who said, when the Lord Jesus
said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He said, Who is he
that I may believe on him? A lot of difference in that and
this. I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that which I've committed to him against that day. What are some of the characteristics
of maturing faith? I'm not going to say mature faith.
I'm saying maturing faith and growing faith. Well, now listen
to me. I believe this. Growing faith
increases in simplicity. It doesn't get complicated as
it grows. And this will throw you if you're not careful. True
faith sees in the Lord Jesus Christ, the more it grows, all
the riches of God's grace and becomes more obsessed, not with
His, but with Him. I really believe this. I know there are a lot of people
today who are becoming obsessed with gifts and miracles And all
sorts of programs and efforts, but I don't think that's an evidence
of a growing faith. I think it's an evidence of an
absence of faith. I really believe the evidence
of growing faith and mature faith is more obsession with the person
Christ Jesus. I've watched men start radio
programs and I've watched them start churches and I've watched
them start television programs and other things of this nature.
And when they started off, they seemed to have, even in their
ignorance, some pretty good principles. We're going to do this. We're
going to do that. We're going to do the other. We're going
to stay with the old-time gospel and the old-time word and the
old-time this and the old-time that. And then they'd keep on
going for a while, and they'd keep adopting these new things
and getting these new horizons and new programs and new outreaches
and new efforts and new this, that, and the other. And after
a while, they're not even mentioning Christ. But they're bigger, and
they're better, and they're richer, and they're more prosperous,
and they're better known. But Christ is missing. And Paul
said something about this. He said, I fear lest Satan in
his subtlety deceive you from the what? The simplicity of Christ. And that's exactly what he does.
And I'm telling you, Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says, In him dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
him. And I just believe. And it's this thing of, I'm telling
you, this thing of the gospel and preaching and faith and believing
and a relationship with God. There's so many areas in which
Satan in his subtlety and craftiness can deceive men and men won't
know they're deceived. And this is one of the areas
to me of growth in faith is a growth in simplicity and a more singleness
of heart and purpose in Jesus Christ the Lord. I've seen men
get taken up with books, I've seen them get taken up with authors,
I've seen them get taken up with writings, I've seen them get
taken up with doctrine, I've seen them get taken up with theology,
I've seen them get taken up with all manner of rules and regulations
and Sabbath keepings and laws and this sort of thing as they
got a little older and as they had a little more experience
and got some years and it bothers me because to me a growth in
faith is a growth in simplicity and the singleness of Christ.
I really believe that. And secondly, growing faith increases
in confidence. Confidence in Christ. A man whose
faith is strong and growing is less alarmed. He's not alarmed.
He's less alarmed. He's less shaken. And he's less
influenced by the winds of error. And new revelations from men.
They don't bother him. He doesn't go around saying,
well, you know, I watched that fellow and he said something
good. Well, he said one thing that was good. But a man whose
faith is growing, recognized, he hears. He hears the man for
what he's saying. And he understands it, and he's
not shaken. And he's not disturbed, and he's
not influenced, and he's not alarmed. I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed.
And growing faith increases in strength. And what is the strength
of faith? He hath said, so that I may boldly
say. David said, I believe, therefore
I spoke. What do you believe, David? God
and His Word. Abraham believed that God was
able to do what he said and what he promised, that the Word of
God. And so there's where those are
characteristics of a growing faith, an obsession with Christ,
Christ more and more all the time. And everything directed
toward him and everything coming from him and every thought upon
him and a greater satisfaction with him. The singleness of Christ. I got a single heart, David said.
And it increases in confidence and strength. And I'll tell you
secondly, if we, this growing spiritual growth, love will grow. And as love grows, as love grows,
there's less and less room for malice and envy. Less and less
room for hard feelings and jealousy. That's infantile, that's childish. This thing of jealousy and envy
and hard feelings and falling out and disliking people and
not speaking and all that sort of thing, that's childish. That's
not maturity. And as love grows, those things
decrease. That love increases and those
things decrease. I know this love is not of us,
it's the love of God shed abroad in us. But this love takes three
directions. Spiritual growth, in love takes
three directions. Number one, it's a love for Christ. A love for Christ. I love him
more. Now we don't love him like we
ought to. We don't love him like we're going to. We don't love
him like we want to. But we can say with Peter, I
do love him. He knows I love him. And I love him more than I ever
did. I love him because he first loved
me. I love him for what he's done
for me. I love him for what he's doing for me. I love him for
what he shall do for me. And then we love the brethren
more. I think, I believe that a person
who's growing spiritually is growing in love. And you know,
let me tell you this, I found this somewhere and it's just
tremendous, I believe, You know, when we came to the Lord Jesus,
we asked Him to love us like we were, didn't we? Love me as
I am. Love me as I am. And He did.
He loved us like we are. But it takes us a while to love
others as they are, doesn't it? We want Him right now to love
me like I am. I want Him to love me just like
He finds me. Won't I love you just like I
found you? No, we want to change you. We want you to be like us. Well, now, if he waited to love
us till we got like him, he'd never love us. But that's growth, you see, and
that's why we begin. We begin, and this is an evidence
of spiritual, this is an evidence of grace. You can't love God
and hate somebody else. Put it down, write it down, make
it your epitaph, put it on your tombstone. If you want to. But he that saith he loveth God,
and hates his brother, is a liar. He's born a liar, and he lived
a liar, and he died a liar. Write it down. That's the truth. And you needn't ask God to forgive
you of your sins if you haven't forgiven other people of theirs.
Forget it. Put that down, too. You say, preaching salvation
by work. I'm preaching a salvation that works. I ain't preaching
salvation by work. I'm preaching a salvation that
works. It'll work. He said, I sure wish we could
get people to love one that they say they would. I've heard preachers
say, how do you get your folks to give? I can't get my people
to give. I said, if they say they'll give. That's just all
it is. He said, it's as simple as that.
It's as simple as that. It's a miracle of grace. A man
can't do what he's not motivated by the Spirit of God to do. And
then we'll learn to love all people. I'm telling you this,
and that's because of the traditions in which we were born and raised.
We have some problems, and we're going to have to get rid of them. It's shocking to hear believers
speak with malice or ill-feeling toward other people who are not
of their race. We talk about black people and
Jewish people and Italian people sometimes with a little bit of
razor-sharp edge, don't we? ill-feeling. That's not of Christ. That's not of grace. No, sir.
That's not of grace. We look down on people who are
not of our station in life. Maybe they're, you say, he's
just an ignorant person. We're an educated ignorant person
is what we are. We're ignorant too. But we just
went to school longer. That's all. We look down on people
who don't have as much money as we have. Maybe they live in
a shack by the railroad track. But it's not of God. Now, we
began as those kind of infants, but I tell you, we can't continue
that way. Not in no Christ. Just can't
do it. Just cannot do it. If anybody hated the Apostle
Paul, it was Israel. the people of Israel, and he
prayed for their conversion. He said, I have a constant heaviness
of heart for those Israelites that hated him, scourged him,
stoned him, put him in jail, called for his death, and finally
killed him. But he said, I love them. I love them. I love them. I'm telling you
this. I just know it so, and that's growth, spiritual growth. And then I believe we'll grow
in peace and contentment. Peace and contentment. Look at
Philippians 4. Listen to this. Philippians 4, verse 11. This is the Apostle Paul. He
talked about, he said in verse 12 of Philippians 4, I know how
to be abased. I know how to be humbled. I know
how to do without. I know how to be hungry. And
I know how to abound. I know how to behave in both
situations. When I'm, when I'm ragged and
poor, or one of them dressed up and got power. Are we the
same people in both situations? That's something to think about
it. I know how to be a base and I know how to abound. But he said in verse 11, and
here's the reason, not that I speak in respect of want, I have learned
in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I'm just content,
content with beholding his face. My awe to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear. And prisons would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. Just that peace. He is my peace and my contentment. And I'm getting nearer and nearer
to the end of the journey. And I don't want to come to the
end of my way like I began. I don't want to come to the end
of my life full of doubt and fear and bitterness and anxiety
and harshness. I want the peace of Christ, don't
you? I want to grow in peace and contentment. I want to grow
old gracefully. I want to grow in trust and praise
for His good providence. Let me read you that little prayer
that I had in the bulletin. Some of you heard it and like
it, and this is anonymous. I don't know who wrote it, but
it's one of my favorite And you say you ought to read it every
day. Well, listen, I know it. But listen to it. Lord, thou
knowest better than I know myself that I'm growing older and will
one day be old. Keep me from that fatal habit
of thinking that I must say something on every subject and on every
occasion. Release me from craving to try
to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but
not moody, Helpful but not bossy With my vast store of wisdom
it seems a pity not to use it all But thou Lord knowest that
I want a few friends at the end Keep my mind free from the recital
of endless detail. Give me wings to get to the point
Seal my lips on my aches and pains their increasing and love
of telling about them is getting sweeter as the years go by I
do not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others, but
help me to endure them with patience. I dare not ask for improved memory,
but a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems
to clash with the memory of somebody else. Teach me the glorious lesson
that occasionally I could be mistaken. I like that. Keep me reasonably sweet. Give
me the ability to see good things in unexpected people, or places,
and talent in unexpected people, and give me the grace to tell
them so. Amen. Isn't that good? But peace and
contentment will grow. And then this humility will grow.
Now there's been a lot of jokes about humility. But pride is
no laughing matter. The scripture said pride goeth
before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall. Proverbs
6 says seven things God hates and the first one is a proud
look. Turn if you will to James 4 verse
10. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and he'll lift you up. Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he'll lift you up. Another
scripture says that God gave it grace to the humble and he
resisted the pride. So much of our difficulty, you
know there's so much of our difficulty with other people. Now think
about this, think about it carefully. So much of our difficulty with
other people is not And I'm talking about in the church and in what
we call a Christian fellowship. So much of our difficulty with
other people is not the cause of God in truth at all. It's
ourselves. That's really so. We're not defending
the faith. We're not contending for the
faith once for all delivered to the saints. That's not what
causes the division. It's self and pride. That's what causes it. And I
believe as we grow spiritually, we'll grow in humility. All right, here's the second
thing briefly. Spiritual growth in Psalm 1 is
compared with a tree. Now turn to that, let me show
you that. And I preached on this some time ago. Psalm chapter
1, the blessed man. But don't you look at one verse.
Psalm chapter 1, verse 3. Now watch this. Listen, this
is going to be a blessing to you right here. I know what I
like, you like, and what blesses me, blesses you. In Psalm 1,
verse 3, and he, this is a man that knows the Lord, he shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Now, tree planted by
the river of water. Every time I think of this verse,
Charlie, I think of a trip I took to Texas out in, near Waco. I spoke one time for A. Riley
Copeland out there in Waco, Texas, and I went on out to Comanche,
Texas and preached, and they were in the middle of a drought,
but there was a river, a stream flowing through that valley,
and everything was dead. and brown everywhere but along
that river. The trees were as green as they
are here in Kentucky in the summer. And here he talks about the believer
being like a tree planted by the water of life, Christ Jesus.
But now a tree grows. How does it grow? A tree grows
upward. It grows upward first. And a
believer grows toward God. That's right. And then a tree
grows outward on either side. Why? To give shade to others,
to the weary. A tree seems to be saying, a
big tree out there in the hot sun, it seems to be saying to
the weary traveler, come, find rest and shade near me. A tree that doesn't give shade
or fruit ought to be cut down. And then thirdly, a tree grows
which way? I've heard that some of those
pine trees, wherever I was in North Carolina, somewhere, that
that root is one-third of the height of that tree in the ground. Some of them look like they're
80 feet tall. That means 25 or 30 feet straight down. Planting its roots deeper and
deeper and deeper. Try to move an old oak tree.
Try to push it over. And older it is, the harder it'll
be to push it over. Why? Boy, it's buried. It's buried. And that's the way
a believer grows. Turn to Galatians 5. I'll show
you this. And then wind her down. Galatians
chapter 5. Galatians 5.22. And somebody divided this into
three parts. Galatians 5.22. It says, But the fruit of the
Spirit And this is fruit of the Spirit, singular. Fruit of the
Spirit is three things. Love, joy, and peace. Secondly,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. Thirdly, faith, meekness, and
temperance. Now, how does a believer grow? He grows like a tree planted
by the rivers of the water. He grows upward. Look at those
first three. Love. Love toward God. faith or joy in the Holy Ghost
and the peace that passeth understanding through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
Love, joy, and peace. Love for the Father, joy in the
Holy Ghost, and peace through Christ Jesus. A tree grows outward,
outward helping others, giving shade. Patience, the next three. Patience with whom? with one
another. Gentleness? Toward whom? Toward
one another. Goodness? Toward one another.
Reaching out. And then a tree grows downward.
What's the next three? Faith? My faith is strengthened
in Christ Jesus. Humility? Temperance. Steady and calm. That root gives
that tree that steadiness and calmness. and strength. And it's not coming down. Now,
here are five questions. I'll give these briefly, and
I'll quit. Here are five questions that
test Christian maturity. We talk about it, and I like
this sort of thing. This helps me, and I think it
helps you. I love to test myself and examine myself. I don't find
much, you know, but at least there's some encouragement. But
here are five questions that will test Christian maturity
or spiritual growth. The first question is, how do
I behave under severe trial? Anybody can manifest certain
traits in the sunshine and in pleasant circumstances, but how
do I behave under severe trial? Our Lord said, in this world
you shall have tribulation, but in me you have peace. Secondly,
do I have the capacity to change? Now the mature person is a person
who can change. He can be taught. He can be corrected. He can be corrected. The mature
person knows how to say I'm sorry. He knows how to say I was wrong.
He knows how to speak in complimentary terms of others. He's just capable
of change. You see, growth is change. Growth
is change. It's a change in various areas
where there's growth. There's change. I don't want
to be like I've always been. I want change for the better,
for the glory of God. Thirdly, Christian maturity. Now we're talking about spiritual
maturity. Do I keep long friendships? Do I keep long friendships? Somebody
said failure in human relationship is evidence of immaturity. A
failure in human relationships. If I cannot get along with people,
there's something wrong with me. Spiritually, there's something
wrong with my maturity if I can't get along with folks. I can't. You see, mature believers keep
long friendships. They cement those relationships
and build those relationships They don't put walls between
them and other people that people can't pass through. And that's
the question. Do I have the ability to keep
long friendships? And fourthly, this is a test
of maturity. I really believe it is. Do I
find greater satisfaction in receiving or giving? Now, it's
normal to find satisfaction in receiving. We'd be lying if we
didn't say we rejoiced over things that people give us and things
that people send our way, you know, just we're thankful. But
do you find greater satisfaction in receiving or giving? That's
the question. Greater satisfaction. We start
out as infants on the... now, a childish child It just
doesn't get any joy in sharing. We start out that way, and your
children did, mine did too, and I did. It's like I, me, and mine,
you know. But as we grow up, and especially
in grace, see, grace gives. The grace of God gives. Grace
is unmerited favor. Grace is God giving me what I
don't deserve. Grace gives, gives, gives. And
the more a person grows in grace, the more joy he's going to get
out of sharing and giving. A person who is greedy is not
gracious. No way. A person that is not
generous is not gracious. He doesn't have grace. Grace
is generous. Generous. And then the fifth
question is, and nobody can answer these but ourselves, how much
do I really love? How much do I really love? Do I have the capacity to love? And as I said so many times,
that's God-given, that's not produced by human nature. But
this is a question only you can answer for yourself. But listen
to what our Lord said. You have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you, that you may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven. For he maketh the sun to rise
on the evil and the good, and he sendeth rain on the just and
the unjust. Now if you love people that love
you, what reward do you have? Do not even the publicans love
those that love them? If you salute or greet your brethren
only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans salute
their brethren? You say that's hard to attain. That's what I'm saying. We're
talking about growth in grace, though. That's what we're talking
about. Growing in grace. And an evidence of my growth
is my ability, capacity to really care. To really love people. Capacity
to love. And this is the capacity not
only to love those that love me, but to have a genuine care,
concern, and compassion for those that don't love me. Well, that's
what we're talking about. Spiritual growth. Growing grace
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God give us
spiritual growth. Recognition of the need of it,
a desire for it, and the means for it. Let's bow for prayer. Our Father, we praise Thee and
thank Thee for Your Word. We have no foundation for our
feet except the Word. We have no foundation for our
faith except the Word. We have no reason to believe
anything except as it's given to us through your word. And
we're so grateful for this book. And when we read it and study
it and try to preach it, we realize how ignorant we are of its mysteries
and its glories and its promises and its comforts and its strength.
Lord, increase our faith. We want to believe, to believe. Increase our love for thee and
our love for the brethren and our love for all men. Take out
of us spite and hate and bitterness. Those things that dry the bones
and destroy, destroy us. Take out the bitterness, the
jealousy and envy and These are things born in hell. They're
not the things of God. They're not the wisdom of God.
These are not the things that are of grace. This is not the
wisdom that's from above. And we want that wisdom. The love of Christ. And we want
a genuine humility. Like Brother Cecil was talking
about. Not just reading the Scriptures
that tell the truth about us. The fact that we are our worms.
But Lord, to experience it, to realize it, to lay hold of the
truth of it in such a way that it's demonstrated in our thinking,
in our conversation, conduct. Lord, we want to have a peace. That peace that passeth understanding. Rest in Christ, stretching out
fully upon him, even when the storm clouds gather, even when
darkness is all about, even when we're deprived of some of the
things we think we ought to have, just to stretch out on him and
lay our heads upon him and rest without fear. and find sleep,
which he gives to his beloved, and rest of soul and heart, which
Christ has promised, and that peace of God. And we know that this is drawn
only from him who is the fountain of every blessing. But you said,
ask, and you shall receive, seek, and you shall find, knock, and
it shall be opened to you. And above all things, above material
things, physical well-being, or any of these things in the
world upon which men put so much value, we want these spiritual
gifts, this fruit of the Holy Ghost manifested to us and in
us and through us. We ask it for Christ's sake.
Amen.