In Pursuit of Happiness: Psalm 128

This moment in time is historic.  We will remember the year 2020 as one of the most difficult for many.  A pandemic has impacted the entire world, almost bringing it to its knees.  The United States has experienced injustice, protests, riots, and looting, crippling several major cities around the country.  When you read the news or turn it on and watch it, you find suffering is everywhere.  

What astonishes me about the suffering is that it is so traumatic for Americans. When I talk to people on the streets, at my job, or in other places, they always say they could do better, if the circumstances were more agreeable. Why do Americans take suffering more traumatic than other cultures? Is it because we live in a secular society? Yes, in part.  But I find the genuine reason is the greatest purpose of being American: the pursuit of happiness and freedom.  This pursuit does not allow suffering to fit within it well.  

Since the highest purpose of being an American is the pursuit of freedom and happiness, and we live in a secular society, no longer reliant upon God, the burden of experiencing this chief purpose is the individual. Therefore, we vote for politicians that will make us happy and keep us free, and politicians make it their job to make us happy and comfortable.  

Maybe all the chaos and commotion we are witnessing around the country results from unhappy people trying to find happiness. The pursuit of happiness can be disastrous, or helpful.  Another way to put it is the pursuit of happiness can make you unhappy, or happy.  To avoid becoming unhappy in pursuit of happiness, we need to make sure we are pursuing true happiness.  True happiness is not dependent upon outward circumstances, but an inward disposition.  True happiness, when found, will impact the surrounding people, and, if possible, the surrounding circumstances.  

We can find the prescription for genuine happiness in Psalm 128, “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!” 

Every verse uses the words “blessed” or “bless” except for verses 3 and 6. What I find interesting is that it uses two different Hebrew words, instead of one. Verses 1-2 use the word “asher,” and verses 4-5 use the word “barak.” They use the latter word when God blesses a person or a people; the former word translates most often as “happy” and describes the good fortune that comes when people do what pleases God.  When things are going well, we often feel happy. However, the happiness of verse one does not depend upon the circumstances of life, but the priority of life.  The priority of life reveals that the pursuit of true happiness begins with the individual.  

The Pursuit of Happiness Begins with the Individual

Verse one, “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!” A better translation is “very happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways.” If you want to be “very happy,” in life, then you will need to be in a right relationship with the Lord.  

Relationship 

The Hebrew name for God in verse one is Yahweh. It is always used in a relationship between God and man, specifically a covenant relationship.  Israel was in a covenant relationship with God.  In the same manner, under the New Covenant, we must be in a covenant with the Lord, and this is only possible through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation. This is the starting point for a life of happiness. When we are in a right relationship with the Lord, our lives will reveal it with a proper reverence for the Lord.  

Reverence

The very happy man or women will fear the Lord. We don’t always associate happiness with fear, but not the case with true happiness. When you fear the Lord, you will take the Lord seriously. You understand that he is the sovereign Lord, holy and set apart, in control of all things. When you fear the Lord, you have an extreme reverence, deep respect, and awe for him.  What does that look like?

The Lord becomes the top priority of your life.  Every endeavor you embark on will have him at the center.  He becomes everything we are, or think, or aspire to do. The apostle Paul put it well when he said, “to live is Christ.” We put him first. If we have this reverence, then we will want to please and honor him in everything. The right relationship leads to the right reverence, which leads to the right responsibility. 

Responsibility

If we want to please and honor the Lord in everything, then we will walk in his ways.  Simply put, we will strive to obey him.  We find real freedom and happiness in God’s word. Many people look at the Bible as a book of rules that keep you from freedom and happiness. However, when we live our lives in God’s word and God’s will, we experience freedom and happiness.  Outside of God’s word and will you find guilt, shame, fear, sorrow, and death. 

Before Christ found me, I was wild. I loved to party and used all kinds of stimulates that I thought made me happy. I remember sitting with a friend, drinking beer and smoking marijuana, and the subject of Christianity came up. Not sure how, but it did. I shared with my friend that my brother had become a Christian and his life changed.  I then said to him, I could never become a Christian because I didn’t want to give up the drugs and alcohol that I thought made me happy.  

Not too long after that conversation, the Lord started working in my life.  The things I thought would make me happy, left me empty and unhappy.  I was miserable. Where I once believed becoming a Christian would make me unhappy, the Holy Spirit started impressing upon me the words, “You will never be happy until you become a Christian.” Eventually, I started reading the Bible. One night, while reading Matthew chapter five, I surrendered my life to Jesus with this simple prayer, “Lord, I want to be a Christian, but I can’t do it. I need your help.” The surrender of that night changed my life forever.  It was at the cross of Jesus that I received my sight, and now I’m happy all my days, not because my circumstances are good, but my relationship with the Lord is good.  When we experience true happiness with the Lord, as this first verse describes, it will have an immediate impact on our lives, and the lives of those around us.  

The Experience of True Happiness has an Immediate Impact

When a man or woman fears the Lord and walks in his ways, it will impact character.  

Character 

If you walk in the ways of the Lord, then you will walk in integrity.  A godly character will characterize your life. When our time on earth is over the only things we can take with us are relationships and our character.  Therefore, it is paramount, not only that we witness for God but also walk with him. I pray that when my life is over that my family and friends will remember me as a man who walked in the ways of the Lord. I know that they won't remember my sermons because I can’t remember my own sermons. I want them to remember that I loved Jesus. Another immediate impact will be contentment.  

Contentment

Verse two, “You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.” You shall be happy and well. How many of us want to be happy and well? Well, it begins with a right relationship with the Lord, which in turn impacts our character and our contentment. When you find true happiness in the Lord, he will take care of your needs. 

When we can declare “Our Father in heaven,” he will answer, “give us this day our daily bread.”  The apostle Paul put it this way, “My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  True happiness is a byproduct of a true trust in the Lord.  God will supply all our needs, not necessarily all our wants, although he throws in our wants at times, and then some. 

In the last five years, my wife and I have experienced some financial hardships. Our income is half of what it was five years ago, and to say that we have struggled, would be an understatement. Nonetheless, I can declare to you today, the Lord has provided our daily needs. 

I often see people on street corners asking for money. When I see them I just thank God that my situation has not come to begging on a street corner.  Now, I haven’t begged, but over the last five years, I have had some interesting jobs. I have delivered pizzas, became an Uber driver spending many Friday and Saturday nights making sure drunks made it home from a night out on the town. I have been a car salesman, by far the worse job yet. I worked the night shift for a powerwash company and drove a school bus. Currently, I’m a trash man at a small apartment complex in Little Rock and a chaplain for Arkansas Community Corrections. Through it all, my God has supplied all my needs, and I am content that he will continue to do so.  Why? Because I fear the Lord and walk in his ways, and I’m happy about it.  Another immediate impact is commitment.  

Commitment 

Verse three, “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.” The psalmist moves from work to the home, specifically the family. He addresses the husband and father in this verse because he is the leader. However, it implies the wife and children of the home as well because he speaks of “everyone” in verse one.  

A happily married man or woman will be committed to the marriage. For the husband, if you want a happy life, you will need a happy wife.  That means to treat her the same way that Christ treats the church. You love her, sacrificially. You provide for her; you keep her safe; you lead her spiritually. Likewise, a happy wife will do all she can to make Christ the center of home and family.  

You might think, “I don’t have a family. How does this apply to me?” If you are walking with the Lord, then you will be committed to honoring the Lord in all your relationships.  You will strive to love your neighbor as yourself.  You will treat others how you want to be treated.  You will put the interest of others before your own.  Then you have an immediate impact upon those around you.  Genuine happiness will make an immediate impact upon you, and the surrounding people. The immediate impact must have an extended influence.  

True Happiness must have an Extended Influence 

Verse four, “Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.” In verse four, we move from the Hebrew word “asher,” used in verses 1-2, to the word “barak,” which means “blessed by God.”  The Lord will bless the man or woman who seeks true happiness in the Lord. The blessings of God are never intended to stop with the individual or immediate family.  God’s blessings fall short if they don’t involve others.  God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others.  

God begins with the center, the individual, and moves out from there to the home and work, and as we will see a happy home and work extends to the church.  

Church

Verse five, “The Lord bless you from Zion!” Zion represents the house of God, the mountain of God, the place where God dwells amongst his people. This is a glorious reminder that our fruitfulness is from God. One way that God blesses us is through the church, and the way the church becomes a blessing is when you have the people of God walking with God, which becomes a blessing to the home, resulting in a blessing to the church. When the church becomes a source of blessing, it will move outward to the community.  

Community

In the last part of verse five, “May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!” As the church goes, the city goes.  Can I give you something to think about? What if all the chaos that we are experiencing locally and nationally is the result of the pitiful condition that the church is in today, which is a direct result of the pitiful condition of the home and family, which is a result of people in pursuit of happiness in all the wrong places? 

When the individual finds true happiness in the Lord, God will bless, and then God will bless the home and family.  When the home and family are blessed by God, God will bless the church.  When the church is blessed by God, God will bless the community. When the community is blessed by God, God will bless the country.  

Country 

Verse six, “May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!” The Hebrew word for peace can also translate “wholeness.”  Wholeness upon the nation.  

Our nation needs peace to be upon it! It needs wholeness! Peace and wholeness will not come from Washington. It won’t come from the voting booth. It won’t come from Hollywood.  It will only come from the Lord.  The reason our nation is falling apart is the fact that people are looking for freedom and happiness in the wrong place. It starts with the individual, with me and you. It starts with a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, resulting in a life pursuing happiness in the Lord.  Do you want to see peace in America? You want our nation whole again? It will begin with the individual and a changed heart.  That is our only hope.  

Testing and Teaching: Judges 2:20-3:6

Four years ago, my wife began her career as a high school English teacher. As a result, we see education from a unique perspective. We have had many discussions on teaching, testing, grading, and classroom management. Several times standardized testing has been a discussion.  

A standardized test comprises a set of common questions for students to answer with the purpose of assessment.  For example, the reading part of the test will help teachers understand what the reading level of a certain grade is at the time of the test.  The results enable them to adjust what they are teaching so that the students can improve on a particular subject. When I was in school, standardized tests didn’t bother as much as tests that determined my grade. 

During my college and seminary days, I had professors that tested every class. I will confess, I spent most of my time cramming for a test about fifteen minutes before class. I didn’t really enjoy tests, but I understood their purpose. If a professor or teacher didn’t test, I don’t believe I would pay attention unless the subject captivated my attention. Tests also reminded me that the class has purpose and meaning.  

If you think about it, we can’t limit teaching and testing to the realm of education only. Teaching and testing characterize every aspect of life. This is especially true of the Christian life.  Open your Bible, Old and New Testaments, and you will find God causes and allows teaching and testing in the journey of faith. In the believer's life teaching and testing that takes place daily.  

The daily teaching and testing experienced by believers are not purposeless or meaningless. If they were, God would come across as a cruel God. We find a highly explicit text concerning the purpose and meaning of such experiences in chapters two and three of the book of Judges. Unfortunately, the text takes place in a period of Israel’s history that reveals the apostasy of God’s people repeatedly.    

The book of Judges comprises two introductions. The first introduction starts at verse one of chapter one and ends at verse five of chapter five. The second introduction begins at verse six of chapter two and ends with verse six of chapter three. Why two introductions? The writer introduces the book from two perspectives. The first is from the perspective of Israel, and the second from the perspective of God.  

From God’s perspective, we are able to see the outline of the book of Judges. It’s a downward spiral that begins with God’s people turning from God, followed by God’s judgment upon his people, resulting in God’s people crying out, and God answering the cries with mercy by providing a judge to deliver them. This pattern runs to the end of the book.  Interestingly, this pattern of God’s judgment of mercy is best understood when we look at the cross of Jesus Christ, for it shows the judgment and mercy of God in the death of Jesus Christ.  

In setting the context of our text, we will need to understand God’s people have entered the Promise Land through the leadership of Joshua.  Unfortunately, they did not remove all the inhabitants of the land, as God commanded, resulting in God allowing the inhabitants to live among the Israelites. Leaving the inhabitants was the consequence of their sin. You could say that their sin became their reward.  God would not waste this tragedy. He determined to use the enemy in the land to test and teach his people. 

Notice verses twenty through twenty-two of the second chapter of Judges, “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them.” God will use the inhabitants to test Israel. Again in verse one of chapter three, “Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them.” And again in verse four, “They were for the testing of Israel.” 

How do the enemies of ancient Israel in the Promise Land translate into our modern-day experiences? Every day, we face enemies that attack our faith, our finances, our families, our relationships, our courage, and the list goes on and on.  These enemies come to invade our lives from the inside, the outside, and the unseen, usually through circumstances, situations, and struggles, which God uses for teaching and testing. Therefore, it is important for us to understand these enemies and their purpose and meaning in our lives. As we look at the chosen passage, we notice how the Lord tests us to teach us. 

The Lord tests us to teach us.  

In verse one of chapter three, we read, “Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.”  We see some purpose for tests in these two verses.  There is a connection between “test,” and “know.”  Testing is used to teach.  Here, the lesson was about how to fight in a war.  

However, the lessons taught were more than just tactical procedures for war. I’m reminded of the four-week training that they required me to take when I became a chaplain in the correctional setting. I spent the time learning how to defend myself when a situation called for it. The greatest lesson I learned is the fact that I’m a chaplain, and if a riot breaks out in the prison, I’m running.  The lessons were for protection only, and a way for the state to avoid lawsuits.  God’s training for war was much more theological than tactical.  What God wanted to know from the wars with the inhabitants was a greater knowledge of his person.  

His person

By this, I mean his character and nature.  God left in the land as a judgment for the Israelites’ disobedience.  Every war they fought with these inhabitants would be a reminder of God’s judgment upon their sin. The reason God judged their sin is his holy nature.  

God is without sin, holy. Therefore, he must deal with sin. Tests that come as discipline for sin remind us of God’s holy nature. We never sin and get away with it. God disciplines his children, which is a display of his loving nature.  

God disciplines his children for our own holiness. You might be one of those parents that don’t discipline your children, but God is not. If you don’t discipline your child can you say you love your child? God loves his children, and he disciplines his children because he loves them.  God’s love puts our ultimate and greatest good at the top of his agenda.  God tests us so we can know his nature and character, but God is not wanting us to have just head knowledge of who he is. No, at the heart of these tests is God’s desire to teach us about his presence.  

His presence

God’s desire for his children is a close and personal relationship with them. It is all about relationships and constantly walking and enjoying his presence. God was to teach us so we can know, experientially, his presence in our lives. Some of the greatest tests God has allowed me to experience have been the greatest moments of experiencing his tangible presence in my life. Yes, he teaches us to know him more intimately through the invasions of the inside, outside, and unseen enemies in our lives.  And while we experience his presence, we also experience his power.   

His power

God wanted Israel to know war, not in the traditional tactical way, but his way.  When we fight God’s fight we don’t rely on our own power, but his power.  We don’t trust in our abilities, but his abilities. God allows tests to teach us to trust in his power to overcome the trials that the test brings.   

When Pharaoh and the Egyptian army had Moses and the Israelites up against the Red Sea, God said, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Trust the Lord, for it is his fight and his battle. 

When an elite army came against King Jehoshaphat and Juda, the king and Judah poured out their hearts to God. There was no way they could beat this army with their own resources or resolve. They cried out to God, and he told them to stand firm and watch.  The next morning, Jehoshaphat and his army stood before the enemy and worshiped, and while they worshiped God destroyed the army.  

We learn through tests we don’t fight with our own abilities or strengths but by the power of God.  We learn to cast our concerns on the Lord and watch him sustain us, knowing that he will not allow his children to stumble. We learn through tests that we when battles not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.  

I wonder how many times God has brought events into my life for the purpose of teaching me something? Do I look at teachable moments as chance, or do I see them from the providential hand of God?  I imagine when I stand before God and he replays my life he will probably show me some teachable moments that I missed.  

As a father, I have learned that everything I try to teach my children won’t always be accepted by them. The many times I have warned them of a dead-end road, but they took it anyway.  It causes me to sit back and think about my relationship with the Lord, and I imagine he feels the same way I do when I miss his teachable moments he brings through tests, and how I try to do things in my flesh, and not his power. 

How is God working in your life? What methods is he using to test and teach? Are you learning more about his person, his presence, and his power? If we are not careful, we will miss out on a teachable moment that God uses for our ultimate good.  Next, we notice how the Lord tests us to assess us.  

The Lord tests us to assess us. 

Earlier, I spoke about standardized testing and how its purpose is to assess the students.  Likewise, God tests us to assess us, not for himself, he already knows what’s in us, but for ourselves.  The one thing God wants to assess is our allegiance to him. 

Allegiance 

In chapter two, verse twenty-two, we read, “in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” Notice also in chapter three, verse four, “They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.” What does God want from us? He wants obedience, faithfulness to our relationship with him.

True worship of God demands exclusive allegiance.  It’s amazing how tests will often reveal where our trust lives. When we lose our paycheck, where is our trust? When a pandemic hits, where is our trust? It’s stunning how a test reveals where our allegiance lies. Do we trust in God’s promises? Or do we act like spiritual illiterates? Do we believe God exists and believe in his promises? Or do we act as a functional atheist?   Tests have a way of showing where our allegiance is.  

Unfortunately, verses five and six reveal the Israelites failed to pass the test. Instead of fighting the enemy, they slept with the enemy.  Literally, they intermarried with the inhabitants and started serving their gods.  They received a big F. 

Our stories don’t have to end the same way. In fact, there is another test found in the Old Testament, one passed with flying colors. It’s found in Genesis chapter twenty-two, verse one, “After these things God tested Abraham and said, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take you son, you only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains on which I shall tell you.” 

What a test! God wanted Abraham to take the promised child, Isaac, and offer him up as a burnt offering. The rest of the chapter reveals that he passed the test. And because of his exclusive allegiance to God, the Lord provided a ram to replace Isaac as the burnt offering.  He passed the assessment.  How? Abraham in obedience trusted the Lord and drew upon the resources of his almighty love.  

How can we pass the tests that come our way every day? Daily, we have to take our lives to the altar of God and offer them up to God as a holy and acceptable sacrifice to him, giving him our full allegiance. When we do, God will bless us beyond what we ever think or imagine.   

Recently, I observed an interaction between a little girl, around five years old, and her father.  The girl wanted to carry an enormous box.  She said, “Daddy, I want to carry the box.” She could pick it up, but it was too big for her to walk with. Her father responds, “No, you will fall trying to carry it.” She kept on insisting, saying that she had a plan.  The father gave in and she picked up the box.  She then told her father, “Okay daddy, now you carry me.”  

God, doesn't just want to take our burdens. No, he wants to carry us and give us all we need from his resources. All we have to do is give our allegiance to him.   Will you come to the altar today? 

   

A Holy Ambition: 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

It started out to be a normal workday for Utah highway patrolman Lieutenant Nick Street.  When Mr. Street saw a car driving down the highway at 30 mph swerving in and out of lanes; it didn’t strike him as out of the ordinary to his daily experiences. However, when he could pull the vehicle over, his normal workday would be one that he would remember for a long time.  

Lt. Street was expecting to find an adult, possibly with a medical condition when he made his way to the front of the car. Instead, he found a five-year-old boy.  The boy had taken the keys to his parent’s SUV.  He told the Lt. Street that he was driving to his sister’s house in California and would buy a Lamborghini with the 3 dollars he had in his pocket.  The five-year-old boy showed tremendous ambition.  

Ambition can be good, or it can be bad. One person has defined ambition “as a striving for some kind of achievement or distinction, and involves, first the desire for achievement, and, second, the willingness to work towards it even in the face of adversity or failure.”  This is a good definition.  

Aristotle spoke about the distinct characteristics of ambition as virtues. He distinguished between “healthy ambition,”, “unhealthy ambition,”, and “lack of ambition,”.  Healthy ambition, said Aristotle, is a “measured striving for achievement or distinction, whereas unhealthy ambition is destructive and more akin to greed.”    

We can see the dark side of ambition in our world and culture today.  One only has to do a Google search for self-help books on ambition and you will find titles like: “Looking Out for Number One”, “Every Man is a King”, “Pushing to the Front”, and “How to be King of Your HIll.”  This is an unhealthy ambition, and it is surely a nonbiblical ambition.   It is an unholy ambition.  

The Scriptures call us to be ambitious for the kingdom of God and for the glory of God.  The word of God calls us to a holy ambition.  A simple definition of holy ambition is aspiring to live a life that is pleasing to God. 

The apostle Paul wrote these words, “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more,” (1 Thessalonians 4:1).  Pleasing God needs to be our ambition in life.  Paul further defines this ambition in subsequent verses, “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and aspire (make it your ambition) to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you. So that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one,” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12).  

In verse ten, Paul exhorts Christians to love “more and more”. He states in verses eleven, “and aspire”. Some translations say, “make it your ambition”.  This ambition calls us to a God-honoring ambition. There is an enormous difference between worldly ambition and a holy ambition. Worldly ambition aspires to do what self wants to do.  A holy ambition aspires to be who God wants you to be and to do what God wants you to do. Paul gives four truths in verses nine through twelve that should be the ambition of every follower of Christ. First, we should make it our ambition to have a maturing love for others.  

Maturing love for others. 

In verses nine and ten, the topic is love. Not just any love, but brotherly love.  The Greek word translated is a compound word. It combines the Greek word “phileo” with “adelphos.” Phileo love speaks of a love that is tender and affectionate.  Adelphos is a family term.  Paul is speaking about an affectionate love that God’s family needs to have for one another.  

As believers in Christ, we are born again into the family of God.  We become joint-heirs with Jesus, which makes Jesus our elder brother and God our father.  The Thessalonians were doing an outstanding job affectionately and tenderly loving one another.  God taught this brotherly love to them and to us.  

In the last part of verse nine, it says, “for you have been taught by God to love…” The Greek word for love is not “phileo,” but “agape.”  Agape love is sacrificial love. It is divine love. It’s the love that we experience when we come to Christ and the Holy Spirit pours the agape love of God into our hearts.  The Son of God teaches us to love too. 

It was Jesus, in the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of John, who gave us a new commandment to “love one another, as I have loved you.” He also said, “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” God is love, and he teaches us to love. Not only does he teach us to love; he also gives us the ability to do it.  

In verse eight, it says, “Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”  God gives his Holy Spirit to true believers, and only by his Spirit can we live the Christian life and continue to mature in our love for God and for others. As we experience the filling of the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit, we can truly love others with the same love that we have experienced from God.    

Paul says that we must continue to mature in our love “more and more.” It is a lifelong process. And one of the most frequent ways God matures us in our love is by putting unlovable people in our lives.  Some of these people have hurt us terribly to where we consider them our enemies.  What does God’s love teach us? It teaches us to forgive those who have wronged us. It teaches us to pray for them. It teaches us to bless them.  What does that look like? For me, I ask God to bless my enemy with the same blessings I want him to give me.  I then pray for God to help me rejoice in those blessings if he blesses them.  It must be our ambition to mature in our love for God and others.  Second, it must be our ambition to have increasing faith in Christ.  

Growing faith in Christ. 

In verse eleven, begin a series of commands, “and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you.”  The apostle is dealing with a specific situation in Thessalonica with these commands.  The expectation of Christ’s return consumed this church, to the point they were no longer working and taking care of their own needs.  They were also anxious about Christ’s return.  A few of the believers had died, and they wondered about what would happen to the dead at his return.  Therefore, Paul addresses this issue in the subsequent verses.   

The first command deals with the quality of life lived as believers.  Paul makes an interesting word choice, “and to aspire to live quietly.” Literally, he says, be quiet.  Another way to translate this is “stay calm” or “make it your ambition to be still.”  Paul is referring to the tranquillity of life, calmness, and simplicity in life.    

The anxiety of the Thessalonians caused them to be annoying. It’s addressed in the second command, “and to mind your own affairs.”  One translation says, “don’t be busybodies.”  The Patrick Mead translation of the first two commands is, “stay calm, be still, trust God, and don’t be annoying.”  The only way we can overcome anxieties and avoid becoming that annoying person controlled by anxieties is by trusting God and asking him to give us an increasing faith in his promises.  

I pastored a lady anxious about her salvation. She constantly questioned her salvation. She would call me, or email me with this issue constantly.  I would share the scriptures with her and the promises of God, and it helped for a while. However, over time she would become anxious about the same thing and who did she call or email? Yes, her anxiety was annoying, and what she lacked was a simple faith in the promises of God.    

What about our own lives? We live in a fast-paced society, running in all directions, causing much tension and anxiety. I’m convinced that one wonderful thing from COVIC-19 has been the slowing down of our lives.  As believers, we need to be still and spend time in the presence of God, which results in increasing our faith.  

Recently, the Lord gave me Psalm 46:10 for the season I’m in, “Be still and know that I am God.” The NAS says, “Cease striving.”  I really love The Passion Translation, “Surrender your anxieties to the Lord, stop striving and know that I’m God.”   The Lord is saying, “stay calm and trust in me. Stop trying to make things happen, sit back, and watch me work.”  Third, we must make it our ambition to have a penetrating impact on society. 

Penetrating impact on society

The last command Paul gives concerning the specific situation is, “and to work with your hands.” With the anticipation of the imminent return of Christ, the Thessalonians stopped working. As a result, they became dependant upon family, friends, and society to take care of them.  They were unproductive contributors to society. There is a broader principle to apply from this command.  

The impact the Thessalonians were having on society was not a positive impact.  It did not reflect well upon Christianity.  Our ambition as believers should be to have a penetrating, positive, Christ-centered impact on the society that we live in.  This impact is about being the person God wants you to be so you will do the things that God wants you to do.  When you have a penetrating impact for Christ you are being productive for God. 

I recently finished the biography of Jim Elliot, one of the five missionaries killed on January 8, 1958 in Ecuador by the Auca Indians. Jim’s wife, Elisabeth, after his death, reached the unreached people with the gospel, and the men who killed the missionaries gave their lives to Jesus.  The lives of Jim and Elisabeth had a positive impact on subsequent generations and continues today.  Madelina Pena said it well about this couple: “Jim and Elisabeth Elliot are two of the most influential people in the history of missions.  Their lives reflect total devotion to Christ and the message of the gospel. Their stories of perseverance, suffering, and even death have inspired many to go reach unreached peoples.” Be all that God wants you to be and do all that God wants you to do.  Have a penetrating impact on society.  Fourth, we must make it our ambition to have a fitting representation before outsiders.  

Fitting representation before outsiders 

It states the reason for having a holy ambition in verse twelve, “so that you may walk properly before outsiders.”  The outsiders that Paul is referencing are unbelievers, people who have never given their life to Christ.  A proper walk with Christ, a holy ambition, gives a fitting representation of Christ to those who don’t know Christ.   

Have you ever been to a funhouse at the fair or carnival? Most every funhouse has a section full of mirrors. They call some house of mirrors.  The house of mirrors is full of distorted mirrors, which do not represent the image in front of the mirror.  Some mirrors make you look fat, others skinny, or tall, or short.  These mirrors purposely distort.  When we don’t have a holy ambition, we distort the image of Christ.  And when we distort the image of Christ, we distort an outsider’s understanding of Christ.  

It’s interesting to think spiritual things are best understood through what we can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.  God uses material evidence to reveal spiritual truths. This material evidence is a sacrament. The word sacrament means a visible sign of an invisible reality.  We see this in baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and marriage.  

As followers of Christ, we should strive to make our lives a sacrament, a visible sign of an invisible reality, Christ Jesus.  To do so, we must have a healthy, holy ambition to please God, one that aspires to love others, trust Christ, be what God wants us to be so we can properly represent our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

When I Said I Do...Forever and Ever, Amen

Forever and Ever, Amen

Song of Solomon 8:5-14

What we're going to see and what we're learning from the Song of Solomon is this: a lasting love, a love that lasts a lifetime, demands faithful commitment. It demands faithful commitment, and these closing verses really sum up the main theme of the whole book. This is the picture of the ideal marriage.

An ideal marriage is characterized by a love that lasts a lifetime, and love that lasts a lifetime demands faithful commitment. Truth be told, whether you're in your first marriage or you've been married a hundred times, if you're married right now, the marriage you are in needs to be a love that lasts a lifetime. The only way that will happen is if there is a faithful commitment on both parts, by both spouses.

What we do as we come to the end of the Song of Solomon… We're going to see the characteristics of true love. We're going to see, really, a love that lasts a lifetime, the kind of love that lasts a lifetime, the kind of love that expresses a faithful commitment. Let me give you several things that characterize a love that lasts a lifetime.

1. A love that lasts a lifetime supports one another in the "for better or worse" seasons of life. Let's pick up the story in verse 5. The very first part of verse 5 says this. "Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?" You have a picture of the husband and wife. They're coming out of the wilderness, and the wife is walking side-by-side with her husband, and she's leaning on her beloved.

This isn't the first time we've seen the wilderness mentioned in this wonderful song. Back on the wedding day, it mentioned the wilderness and how there was a cloud coming out of the wilderness. This was symbolic of how God was leading the husband, the couple, the bride and the groom, how he was leading them to this point.

It's also symbolic of how God would lead the people of Israel in those 40 years in the wilderness. He was also leading them. Here it has that same connotation. It's symbolic of the hardships because if you read the story of the Israelites coming out of the wilderness or being in the wilderness for 40 years, you will see it was characterized by difficulties, struggles, hardships.

What we have here is a picture of a couple who is coming out of the difficulties, the seasons of marriage, the seasons of life… Because there are those better times, and there are those worse times. This is one of those worse times where they have experienced some difficulty. Yet the people are seeing that they're still together. They're walking side-by-side. In fact, she's leaning on her husband, maybe even setting her head on his shoulder.

That word for leaning means to support, to trust, to find rest. That's what it means to support one another, that you go through these hardships in life and hardships through marriage, and you come together. This is where we talk about becoming one. God said that the man shall leave his mother and father, and he shall cling to his wife, and the two shall become one. Not that they lose their identities, but they grow closer together, not apart.

This couple, through the seasons of life, the "for better or for worse" seasons of life, is growing together. It's the people noticing their relationship, that they are one. They are together, and they're not growing apart, but they're growing closer. I like how The Passion translation translates the first part of verse 5. It says, "Who is this one? Look at her now. She arises from the desert of difficulty…" It translates "the wilderness" as the desert of difficulty. "…clinging to her beloved."

"Who is this coming out? Two people clinging to one another, leaning on one another as they go through the difficulties of life." A love that lasts a lifetime demands faithful commitment by two people to one another, to support one another through the "for better or for worse" seasons of life.

That's why we put "for better or for worse" in the vows. That's something that has been lost in our culture. A love that lasts a lifetime, a love that is "forever and ever, amen" has two people supporting one another, clinging to one another, leaning on one another through the seasons of life.

2. A love that lasts a lifetime acknowledges God's lordship in the marriage. The last part of verse 5 says, "Under the apple tree I awakened you." This is the woman speaking. Verse 5 is the others, the people noticing, and they're saying, "Who is this coming out of the wilderness?" People are seeing their love and their togetherness. It's public.

Then you have the woman. She's singing. She said, "Under the apple tree I awakened you.

There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor." This isn't the first time we've heard that word awakened. In fact, it's used several times in the warning the woman gives to the daughters of Jerusalem. Go back to verse 4. There is the last warning we see, but she gave at least three warnings to the daughters of Jerusalem.

She said in verse 4, "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases." She's warning them, "Don't awaken love." In this context, love is romantic love that results in sexual intimacy. She's saying, "Don't awaken it until its proper time." The proper time to awaken that type of intimacy is in the context of a marriage relationship. Now they're married. Now they've said, "I do." Now she says, "I have awakened love."

Now is the right time for true romance that results in sexual intimacy. It's in the context of a covenant relationship, a marriage between a husband and a wife, a man and a woman. Watch this. She says, "Under the apple tree I awakened you." The apple tree is symbolic of romantic love. It is symbolic of intimacy.

On one level, she says to her husband when she starts talking about his mother being in labor under the apple tree… She's basically saying, "We're doing the same thing your parents did when you were conceived." Okay? You just figured that one out. On one level, she says, "I awakened your love, and the very thing that brought you into the world we are now enjoying."

There is a deeper level here because when she makes reference to the fact that his mother gave birth to him under the apple tree, what she is declaring and what they are doing is acknowledging that God, in his great plan and destiny for these two, brought them together, that he was born for this time, to be in this relationship.

If you're like me, you believe that God has a plan. He said to Israel, "For I know I the plans I have for you…" Right? He can say it to you as an individual. "I know the plans I have for you." What they are doing and what she is doing is acknowledging that a part of God's plan and destiny for her life and for his life is that those two will become one. They're acknowledging.

They've done this before, even in chapter 3 when they were coming out of the wilderness. What they were doing was acknowledging that God had brought them together. She's still acknowledging, "God has brought us together." You know, to know that God brought you together… By the way, if you do get married, and if you have any question of whether or not God brought you together, don't do it. You need to have an assurance that, "God brought us together," because that assurance will also keep you faithfully committed.

"God brought us together," and what God brings together, let no man tear apart. I want to share this with you. I've never shared this in a sermon before. Hey, it is Pentecost Sunday, right? On Pentecost, it says that God would pour out his Spirit, and the old men will dream dreams and have visions and all that stuff. Well, I've only shared this with a few people, but I've never shared it in a sermon.

I knew I was going to marry Christy before I even had a date. It gets better. I knew I was going to marry Christy before I ever broke off that previous relationship I was in. I knew I was going to marry her. You say, "How did you know?" It was soon after we had that divine appointment connection in our family and marriage dynamics class where I said, "We have a lot in common."

It was just a few days after that. I remember I had a dream. This is the only time this has ever happened to me. In this dream, God was telling me I was going to marry Christy Brashear. I even woke up. I remember waking up and sitting in my bed and saying, "God, what are you trying to tell me?" The next morning, I had this great confidence. I had never even been on a date with her.

I went to my mom. Back then, Criswell College had these student handbooks. They would take the pictures at the beginning of the semester so you would know the students. I went in to my mom. I was living with her at the time. I said, "Look, mom. I'm going to marry this girl right here." My mom wasn't a believer at the time. She just awkwardly said, "Okay."

"No, I'm going to marry her."

"How do you know?"

"I had a dream last night. God told me I'm going to marry her."

Then I told the girl I was engaged to. "You're not going to believe this. I had a dream, and there is this blonde-haired girl at school who God told me I'm going to marry." Now her dad did not like that. That relationship was gone after that. I'm telling you the truth. We had our date, and 19 years later, I have married the woman God wanted me to marry.

I share that with you because God is the one who brought us together. Through that relationship, we acknowledge the lordship of Christ in our relationship. There is nothing greater you can do for your life and for your marriage than to acknowledge the lordship of Christ and to surrender to the lordship of Christ in your life and to make Christ and his kingdom and his righteousness the priority of your life, the priority of your marriage.

When you acknowledge God's lordship in your life, what you're doing is acquiescing to his leadership. You're saying, "Lord, I'm putting you first. I want your will for my life, however difficult that may be." I remember praying as I was still in that relationship with that girl and wondering, "Is this the girl I'm supposed to marry after three times calling off the wedding? God, I'm so emotionally involved, I don't know what to do. I'm putting it into your hands."

Guess what. If you'll put it into God's hands, he'll take care of it. The truth of the matter is love is painful, and there are going to be seasons of pain in every relationship and every marriage. In a couple who is committed to one another, I believe it takes an acknowledgment that, "Christ has first place in our marriage. We're going to seek his kingdom. We're going to seek his righteousness. We're going to seek his glory."

The beauty of those painful seasons in marriage is this. Though they may be painful, they can be fruitful. Can I get an, "Amen"? Though they may be painful, they can become something very fruitful. When they become fruitful, it glorifies the Lord.

3. A love that lasts a lifetime protects the marriage at all costs. We see that in verses 6-10. I'm going to give you four ingredients to protecting your marriage at all costs. All of these are in the text. First of all, you need passion. Passion will protect marriage at all costs. Look at verse 6. The woman is still speaking. She's still singing. She says, "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death…" What imagery. "…jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord."

She sings, and she says to the husband, "I want you to set me as a seal upon your heart and then upon your arm." What does that mean? Well, a seal was a signature that a king or someone would stamp on something to say, "This belongs to me." If it was a law, he would stamp it with his seal and say, "This law is coming from me." If it was a possession, he would stamp that possession and say, "It's mine. I own this."

What she is saying is, "I want you to put your name on me. I want you to set me as a seal upon your heart and a seal upon your arm." In this context, it speaks of her being so valuable that he won't want to depart from her. It speaks of value. What's she's saying is, "I want you to so love me with such great passion that you love me with all of your strength. Seal me upon your arm." That's the symbol of strength. "I want you to love me with all of your strength."

Then she says, "Seal me upon your heart." She's saying, "I want you to love me with all of your being." Passion. Passion protects a marriage. Then she goes on. She describes this type of passion, this type of love. "…for love is as strong as death…" What does that mean? Well, death is irreversible, right? As much as we try, we're all going to die. Of course, Jesus has conquered death, but truth be told, it has been appointed to every one of us to die and then face judgment.

In that same manner, just as death is irreversible, the kind of love it takes, the kind of passion it takes to protect your marriage, is the kind of passion and love that says, "My love for my spouse…for my wife, for my husband…is irreversible, no matter what." Then she says, "…jealousy is fierce as the grave." Think about that. The grave does not give up the dead. Right? Yeah. It doesn't give up. It doesn't give up the dead.

We often think of jealousy as something very negative, but not in this case. This is not connected with envy, wanting something you can't have. You see, our God is a jealous God, right? For us to have a passionate love that is jealous for the other person means we are so concerned for that person, and we look out for the interests of that person. We want the best for that person. You see, God is a jealous God because he knows what is best for us, and he wants what is best for us, right?

See, when you're passionately in love with your spouse, you're jealous in the sense that you want the best for your spouse. You realize, "The decisions I make could hurt my spouse, could hurt my wife, could hurt my husband." It takes that type of passion that says, "I'm going to love my wife. I'm going to love my husband with all of my strength, with all of my being. I'm going to look out for that person. I'm going to look out for my spouse. I want the best for my spouse." It takes passion.

It also takes perseverance. The first part of verse 7 says, "Many waters cannot quench love,neither can floods drown it." You have this passionate love, this fire. What she is saying is, "No matter what comes our way, no matter how serious the situation we may be going through, nothing can quench this love. No matter what, we're going to persevere. We're going to stick together. We're not going to quit on each other. We're going to work through this." That's the type of love that lasts a lifetime, when it's passionate and when it perseveres.

The third truth is that it's priceless. The last part of verse 7 says, "If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised." Simply put, you can't buy love. No money in the world can purchase love. If you think money will buy you love, then you don't have love. The love you purchase isn't love because true love is given. Right? You can't buy that. It's given.

What she is saying and what this text is teaching us is that when you find love and you find a spouse and they give you love, you have found something that is priceless. You have found something you can't buy with money. You have a treasured gift from God that somebody loves you. I think about that all the time. I think, "My goodness. I can't leave my wife. I don't know anybody else foolish enough to marry me." I mean, somebody loves me. By the grace of God, she was blinded for just long enough to say, "I do." Now she's still blinded, obviously.

The point is I have somebody who has given love to me. I can't purchase that. I can't buy that. No job is worth losing that type of love. Amen? No temptation or flirtatious temptation is worth giving it all up, or some demonic lie that says, "You know what? If you just had the right person, the grass would be greener." That type of stuff. "If you just had the right person, then you would be happy." Let me tell you it's not about having the right person; it's about being the right person. It's priceless.

Here's the fourth truth. The fourth ingredient to protecting your marriage at all costs is purity. What we have here are her brothers. They're singing, and they're piping in. We're going to the past before they got married. It says in verse 8, "We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar."

What he is saying is she's not at the point of maturity. Now that she's spoken for and there is this season of getting to know each other, the betrothal… That's what they did. They were betrothed, and they still didn't have sexual relationships. It was usually a year or so before they actually had the wedding ceremony. Here is what the brothers are saying. Here is the value of a good family. They're going to help her stay pure. They're going to help her seek holiness in this relationship.

Then, of course, she's going to respond. Verse 10. "I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers…" She didn't give in to the desires she had. She knew there was a proper context for sexual desire and sexual intimacy, and that was in the context of a committed marriage relationship. Even before they got married, they sought purity and holiness, and they were full of self-discipline. They disciplined themselves to stay pure and holy.

What they did is wait for the marriage. They waited for the wedding night. What they did is lay a foundation, a foundation of purity and holiness to build upon. When they said, "I do," they could bring that same purity and holiness into the marriage relationship. The same is true if you are married. One of the ways you protect your marriage at all costs is to pursue purity and holiness.

4. A love that lasts a lifetime gives oneself to the other completely. In the very last part of verse 10, she says, "…then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace [favor]." Then it says in verse 11, "Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred." In other words, "I give you myself. I give to you myself completely."

He says in verse 13, "O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it." You see, this is what marriage is, and this is what oneness is: two people coming together and giving oneself to the other completely. That's what it is. "Everything I have is yours." Not that they lose identity, but they have this oneness identity. "Now I give myself to my wife," and vice versa. "She gives herself to me."

You see, marriage isn't 50-50. It's 100 percent-100 percent. Husbands, it's you being as Christ is to the church. Christ didn't give 50-50, did he? What did he give? Everything. A love that lasts a lifetime demands faithful commitment. A faithful commitment supports one another through those better and worse seasons of life, acknowledges the lordship of Christ in the relationship, protects the marriage at all costs with passion, perseverance, pricelessness, realizing what you have can't be bought with money, and then purity.

You have two people becoming one, and they give themselves to one another. Here is what happens. When you put all this together, and you have a love that lasts a lifetime with faithful commitment, that faithful commitment creates a marriage that reflects the glory of God. I want you to look at this last verse. The woman is speaking to her husband. She's saying, "Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices."

What a way to end it. "Come on home, honey." That's what she's saying. "Come on." I believe that when you have two people who are working at having a love that lasts a lifetime, it is work. Can I get an, "Amen"? It doesn't happen on its own. It takes work. When you have two people faithfully committed to one another and enjoying each another, what happens in that relationship is the home becomes a place to be, not a place to avoid.

Sadly, I've been around pastors who didn't like to go home. They would do anything they could to avoid going home. You see, when you have a love that lasts a lifetime, it becomes a place to be, a place where joy is experienced between a husband and wife. What happens is that joy overflows. You have children, and it overflows into the children. Then it overflows into the world, and the world begins to see this joy you have because you're walking hand-in-hand through the good times and the bad times.

What happens is your marriage begins to reflect the glory of God. I want you to hear what Augustine said. He said something like, "Where there is love there is trinity: a lover, a beloved, and a spirit of love." Is that not a good statement? Where there is true romance, the kind we see right here in this wonderful psalm, what you have is a reflection of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Thank God I made it through the Song of Solomon. Let me tell you. It has been tough. We spent seven weeks on what it means to prepare yourself. I tell parents this all the time. "Your kids are hearing about sex on the playground. They need to hear it from you, and they need to hear it from the pastor." I make no apologies if I have offended somebody by using the word sex. God created it. God has a plan, to prepare ourselves for marriage and what to do after the marriage.

I'm going to be honest with you. This has been one of the most convicting books I've preached through. Why? Because I'm married. Quite honestly, it can be discouraging. For our young people who will be in this next service, maybe they've lost their purity, or for couples who are going in the midst of chaos, and they're really wondering, "Is this really possible? Can we truly be a relationship like that?" We have people who have gone through a divorce.

This book can be discouraging, but there is always the hope of the gospel, all right? I want you to think about this. I want you to think about life as a garden because that's how the psalm puts it. It says in the book that we're to keep out those little foxes that can come into the garden and start tearing up the garden. There are always going to be foxes that will come into the gardens of our lives and destroy them.

Here is the good news. Jesus is the Master Gardener. He comes in, and he specializes in those gardens. In fact, it's only those who realize, "My garden is messed up," who can actually… TheMaster Gardener comes in. He will replant. He will restore. He will renew. He will recreate. Amen? No matter what has happened to the garden of your life, the gospel is all about Jesus coming and saying, "I want to bring healing. I want to bring wholeness. I want to bring restoration."

He will if we allow him. He will if we will say, "Lord, here is my life. Here is my garden. It's messed up. Come on in." See, that's what the gospel is all about. The gospel does not call people who have their lives together. Jesus didn't say, "I have come to those who have their lives together." The church is not a place that says on the outside, "Only those who have their lives together are welcome here."

Jesus did not come to the righteous. He came to those who realize they need God to come into their lives. They need God to give them righteousness. They are sick with sin. That's what the gospel is. It's hope. Maybe you're here this morning, and your life has been ravaged. Your garden has been ravaged by the little foxes, and you realize, "I need Christ as my Lord and Savior."

Maybe you're a believing couple, and you realize, "There have been foxes that have come into our marriage. They're still there, and they're still destroying it." Listen. Jesus gives you hope. There is no hopeless marriage. There is no hopeless life. None. Jesus gives hope to everyone. The question is, "Will you allow it?"

Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. You're here this morning, and you know you need Jesus. You know you need Christ. You know the garden of your life has been destroyed. The flowers are broken. You know you need grace and you need mercy. You come to Jesus this morning. You turn from your sin and self and place your faith in the saving work of Christ.

That is your only hope. That is our only hope. You turn to Jesus, and you say to Jesus this morning, "I need you. I place my faith in your death, your burial, your resurrection. I give my life to you." When you do that, Jesus will come in. He will restore you. In fact, the Bible says the old will be gone, and the new will come. You will become a new creature in Jesus Christ.

In a moment, we're going to sing a song of invitation. I want to invite you to come forward. By doing that, you'll be saying, "Pastor, I need Christ." I also want you to know you're here today. You're a couple. You're married. Maybe you're a young person, and you've allowed impurity into your relationship. I want you to know Jesus stands with his arms wide open, and he says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." You come to him this morning.

Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your love. We thank you for the grace you have demonstrated through your Son Jesus Christ, and we thank you for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. We pray for this time to glorify you. In Jesus' name, amen.