God's Holy Word to the book of Ephesians chapter 6. We continue to look at the end of this section looking at the armor that the Lord Jesus gives to us and the last aspect of this armor is that we are to put on prayer. Hear now God's very word, Ephesians 6 verse 18. Praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. And then over in the gospel of Matthew chapter 6, Beginning in verse 9, pray then like this, or after this manner. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And then some of the older manuscripts have, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. And we'll talk more about that last phrase, the conclusion, and we'll see that it is found in other places in Holy Scripture. And so whether it is originally in the end of this prayer, we know it is part of scripture, and it is indeed a fitting conclusion to this prayer. We'll talk more about that when we get to it. But today, our text is the first phrase of verse 10, which is now the second petition. Remember, we said there were three parts to the Lord's Prayer. There is the address or the preface. There are these petitions that we are going through, looking at, and then there's the conclusion to the prayer. And so we'll look at this second petition, Your Kingdom Come. So let's bow before the Lord. Father, we ask that you would come by your spirit and that you would teach us, Lord Jesus, that you would preach your gospel to our hearts, that you would cause us to see and understand with greater clarity that you are the king and that a Christian is someone who has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Father, your beloved son. And so Lord, instruct us, thrill us, Reclaim us, Lord, if there be any here or listening who are apart from Christ, who have never repented and believed in you, Lord, we beg that you would cause your gospel to capture our hearts. And we make our prayer to you, the one true living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, through your Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen. Thy kingdom come. Well, what is a kingdom? Well, it is a realm that a king reigns over. And what do we mean when we pray that God's kingdom would come? As we sang and read at the beginning of our worship service today, in a sense, God is already king. He already rules over the entire universe. Jesus is Lord over everything. He doesn't have to ask permission of any one or any movement to be the king in charge. But what does it mean, then, for the kingdom to come? Well, if you'll turn with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 2, we'll look at a very important truth, and that is that while Jesus has everything under his feet, not everybody acknowledges that. He is the king over everything, but not everybody will acknowledge that. In the olden days when our country was being settled, particularly where there would be a find of gold someplace, there would be a lot of people who would go to a place and they would put down their stakes the boundary markers and say now this piece of land is mine. And then they would go to the town and they would register the deed and many times by the time they got back somebody else would be claiming it. And they called those people squatters. And so at times, there would be a dispute between the rightful owner who had the deed and somebody who just showed up who said, I kind of like this piece of property. It's mine. And they just started living there. Well, in Hebrews chapter 2, For the sake of time, we're just going to begin in verse 5. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God, he might taste death, for everyone. For it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers same. I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. And since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he gives help to the offspring of Abraham. And therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Now this is a rich, rich, fascinating portion of Scripture, and the theme of the book of Hebrews is God is comparing the shadows of the Old Testament economy with the one who cast those shadows. You can think about a person walking into a room, and they're just around the corner in the hallway, and before they come into the room, you can't see their actual person, but you can see their shadow. And that is what the book of Hebrews is reminding God's people, that Jesus was the one who was coming. And he was the one who was casting all the shadows. And the Old Testament is full of these shadows of the beauty and glory of Jesus. But when the person himself comes into the room, you no longer look at the shadow. You no longer are fixated on, isn't that a beautiful person looking at the shadow? You look at the person himself. And here we have the comparison between Jesus and the mighty angels who came to give assistance and help to God's people all through especially the Old Testament time. And God reminds us that he created Adam and Eve as God's representatives to take care of things in the garden. And because they rebelled against God, the whole of the universe has been turned on its head. And people now, apart from the grace of God, no longer acknowledge who the owner of everything is. And even some of the angels led a rebellion against Almighty God. And the chief of those rebellious angels is Satan, Lucifer. And he is a squatter. He pretends to own this world. He is even referred to as the quote-unquote God of this world over in the book of Corinthians. But he doesn't rightly own anything. He's a squatter. And so when we pray for God's kingdom to come, we are praying that people Men and women, boys and girls, would acknowledge and run and make things right with the King, who is the actual creator and sustainer of the universe through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to give aid to the children of Abraham, not to angels. You know, it's a fascinating thing. The angels that sinned, there is no possibility of redemption for them. Isn't that startling to think about? They are doomed. to the black pit of darkness, awaiting that great day when Jesus will come and cast Satan and all of the demons of hell into the lake of fire forever and ever. No possibility of redemption, but not so the children of Abraham. Wonder of wonders, God in the fullness of time sent his own son to come and become one of us. He didn't become an angel to rescue the fallen angels. He became a man, a human being. with flesh and blood, just like we are, for the purpose of living a perfect life, what the first Adam refused to do, and laid his life down on the cross. What the first Adam earned by his sin, not only for himself, but for all of his children. And whoever repents and believes in Jesus, Jesus promises to forgive us, and God is at work calling His lost sheep unto Himself. God has chosen a people to redeem in His Son, and in history that's what He is at work doing, calling men and women to lay down their futile war and foolishness of rebelling against the rightful owner and running to God, bowing before him, confessing our sin to him and saying, Lord Jesus, I am embracing you. Let's look at a couple of passages Colossians chapter 1. I want you to see how when the gospel comes, it's in terms of the king and his kingdom. The saving realm of the Lord Jesus is what we are praying for to be experienced by ourselves and others. We're praying for people to be saved. We're asking that God would give to us a sense of wonder and amazement if we have been redeemed and are now a part of God's saving realm. And here in Colossians chapter one, the Apostle Paul is praying in verse nine, And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, being fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. The Father has qualified us to share in an inheritance. an inheritance with all of the saints in light, being delivered from the darkness of rebellion against God. Now in Jesus, we have the joy of belonging to God and having an inheritance. Look how he describes this in verse 13. He, God, has delivered us from the domain, or the realm, or the kingdom of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Satan is a squatter, and he claims, this world belongs to me. But the father sent his son to rescue those who are held captive in Satan's realm. And when Jesus comes into a person's life, he breaks the stranglehold that Satan has upon a person. and transfers us from that realm of darkness to the kingdom of God's beloved Son, the one that we have redemption in. He shed His precious blood so that we might be forgiven and adopted as God's little children and now belong to the living God and be restored to experience a taste in this life of what Adam and Eve had before the fall, a little taste, hors d'oeuvres, but the fullness of the blessings that are ours in Christ when Jesus comes again in glory. And that's what we pray for. We pray for God's kingdom to come, that more and more territory of the squatter would be delivered from his false claims and wicked designs and evil doings. Let's look at another passage over in Ephesians chapter two. Here we have this description of how a person apart from Jesus is captured by the realm of darkness, but God delivers in Jesus. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 1. Here's what we used to be, and here's, if you're a Christian, here's what you are now. And it's all because of God joining us to his son, Jesus, by giving us a heart of repentance and faith in Jesus. Look at verse 1. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Seated us now by faith. We're seated with Christ. We have just a little taste, but resurrection power has been unleashed to make us alive, joining us to Jesus. And we not only have experienced death to sin, our old sinful nature has been put to death. Now, if you've ever had a fever blister, okay, you know, they're not fun. What that is, there is this virus that lives in the base of your brain. And whenever you get stressed and your immune system gets a little suppressed, that virus goes, hey, hey, hey, it's time for us to go to work. And they travel down that nerve route and attack, and you have an outbreak of a fever blister. If you ever have that, you never get rid of it until Jesus takes us to glory. You constantly are needing strength, and your body is fighting that. Well, that's kind of how sin is. We're a new creation in Christ, but we still have remaining sin. And when we lose sight of the glory of Jesus, when I lose sight of His glory, I forget who He is and I forget who I am, sin breaks out, remaining sin. breaks out. And of course, praise God, Jesus doesn't leave us. He doesn't forsake us. But He comes by His Spirit and brings conviction upon our hearts. And we repent and run to Him and have a renewed cleansing of His blood so that the closeness of our fellowship with our Father is restored. It's just like a little child. You know, when a little child does wrong, that child doesn't cease being the child of that parent if they are truly one of your children. But there sure can be things between you and a child. And if a parent loves a child, a parent will deal with that child. And so, don't misunderstand. A Christian is not somebody who never struggles with sin, but a Christian is somebody who is a child of God, redeemed in the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been justified, and we are in the process of being sanctified. And you can't stand to keep on sinning if you really are a child of God. You can't stand it. God has changed your nature. He has transferred you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved son. He's changed your nature. He's not only forgiven you, but he's made you his child. He's restored you and me in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at another passage. Turn with me to John chapter three. And here we have a very familiar passage, but I want you to notice the language of Jesus. He's talking about conversion. He's talking about becoming a Christian. And how does he describe it? Seeing and entering the kingdom of God. Look at John chapter 3. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. A ruler of the Jews, this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless you experience the new birth, And what is the new birth? It is God the Holy Spirit coming and taking out our dead heart and giving us a heart that is alive. Eyes that see. I'm a sinner and eyes that see. Jesus is the only Savior and a heart that repents, turns from sin, and keeps repenting. keeps repenting and believes in Jesus and keeps believing, receiving and resting upon Jesus alone for salvation. Well, Nicodemus, that wasn't a question he asked. Isn't that something? Nicodemus says, Jesus, I want to know who you are. Nobody could do the signs that you do unless he is from God. And Jesus gets to the heart of the matter, which is, I came to bring salvation. That's who I am. I am God in the flesh. That's what Jesus claims. And that's who he is. the Son of God who came and took on human flesh to deliver us from the squatter and his lies and his false claims and his evil designs and from the evil that has taken up residence in our own hearts because we inherited it from Adam. Jesus is the glorious King who comes and lays down His life upon the cross to rescue us in His saving work, His saving presence. You can't see the kingdom of God, Nicodemus, unless you're born again. Verse 4, Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And you can just picture, you know, here's a grown man. He says, I'm too big. I won't fit. How can a man be born again when he's old? And Jesus says, Nicodemus, bless your heart. Here you're supposed to be a teacher in Israel. And you don't understand this most profound, basic truth This is what it's all about, Nicodemus, what it's always been all about. You need to have a new heart. You need to have a cleansed heart. You can't save yourself, Nicodemus. You must be born again. If you would see the kingdom of heaven, he goes on in verse five, Jesus answered. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Natural birth is accompanied with water. A mother's water brings. So there's natural birth. But Jesus says natural birth doesn't make you right with God. Nicodemus. You see, the Jews had this foolish notion that if you could trace your lineage physically back to Abraham, you're good to go. I got my papers." And they would, literally. The Apostle Paul makes reference to this foolishness when he talks about, in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 10, these false apostles. They would pull out their papers and they would say, let me show you my pedigree. Let me show you who I'm descended from. And the Apostle Paul said, that is ridiculous. He said, I could play that game. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I can show you my papers, but all of that is worthless because it can't make you right with the living God. earn or work your way because we're fallen in Adam. We're under the clutches of the realm of darkness, and the king has come to reclaim his rightful throne as we sign. These old men and women, they understood The gospel. Well, Jesus says, Nicodemus, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes. And you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. It's something that you can't see with natural eyes, but you can see the effects of the wind. And when the wind blows, you can see what the wind does. And so it is with the Spirit. You can't see the Spirit of God, but he comes and takes out a dead heart and gives us a heart to repent and believe in Jesus. Well, let's look at another passage to help us understand this. Turn with me over to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Who is Jesus? Well, Jesus is the Son of God who has come and taken on human flesh. He humbled himself. and was willing to go to a cross, but death could not hold him. And on the third day, he came forth from the tomb, and when he came forth from the tomb, the Father declared him to be who he was all along. Before we look at Philippians 2, turn with me to Romans chapter 1. I was going to do it the other way, but look at Romans chapter 1. Verse 1, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and now I want you to notice verse 4, and was declared declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus was descended from David according to the flesh, but He was declared to be what? The Son of God with power. The Holy Spirit testifies. The Father declared. This is my son. This is God who has come to redeem my people. And he declared him to be the son of God with power by raising him from the dead. That's who Jesus is. He is God. In Philippians chapter two, we see the apostle Paul praying that these Philippian Christians would experience of the outworking of their salvation. That they would love God and they would love one another. Look in verse 1. So if there is any encouragement in Christ. Now these ifs are not iffy ifs. These ifs are, since this is true ifs, like you had when you took geometry. You remember taking geometry? And you probably thought you would never use geometric proofs. I can just about guarantee you some of you sat there and thought, why am I having to waste my time learning this? Well, here we're going to use, in a very practical way, one of those proofs, because those proofs were teaching us to think that if this is true, and if this is true, and if this is true, then this must be true also. And that's what the Apostle Paul is doing here. He's stringing truths together. And he's saying, since this is true, and since this is true, and since this is true, then this must follow. Let's see what he says is true. So if, since there is encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. This past Wednesday, we looked at a passage over in Colossians chapter three, a prayer meeting. talking about how God binds his people up in Jesus to be in perfect harmony with God and with one another. And it's like a symphony orchestra. Have you ever been to a symphony? And at the beginning, before everything starts, the symphony players will all come out and sit. And all of a sudden, they just start warming up. And they don't do it all together. You know, the violins are over there sawing away, and the trumpet player's back there doing his thing. The drums are doing it. And it's just a cacophony of sound. Everybody's doing their own thing. And then all of a sudden. The conductor walks out, and the first violinist will get up and give everybody an A, and everybody tunes, and then there's perfect quiet. Then the conductor walks out and raises his baton, and all of these people play together in perfect harmony. No longer is it just a cacophony of sound of everybody doing their own thing. And that's what the Lord says happens when the King comes. Not only does he redeem us as individuals, giving us joy and peace with the living God, but to whatever extent we are walking and living in harmony with the King ourself, others around us also, we share that oneness of joy and delight to acknowledge the King in our own hearts, in our homes. in our church family, in our community. And when we're praying, thy kingdom come, we're begging that the Lord would pour forth his spirit and that not only would we come to love and trust in Jesus, but grow up in him so that more and more the remnants of remaining sin would be conquered. and the victory of Jesus would be experienced. We're praying that more and more our homes would be places of love and peace and harmony in and for Jesus. We're praying that more and more we would love each other in our church family and stand together, lifting the banner of Jesus together to honor the King of glory. in the workplace. We are praying, thy kingdom come, that I would do my work and I would be an encouragement for others around me to do their work with dignity and honor and diligence for the King We're praying that every institution that exists in this culture, including civil government, would acknowledge the King. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. That's what we pray for. We pray for people to be converted and then grow in Jesus. to work out this delight that Jesus is King. Look at verse 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, what did God do? What did the Father do? Because His Son was willing to come and humble Himself and live a sinless life, the Father exalted His Son. And what position does the Son have now? Look at verse 9, Therefore God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is what? Lord. What's the Lord? Well, it's another name for the ruler. The King, Jesus is the one who is in charge of the universe. To the glory of God the Father. Turn with me to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. What happens when a person becomes a Christian? How do you become a Christian? Well, God the Holy Spirit comes and gives you the new birth, but what does it look like to experience that? Well, look at Romans chapter 10, verse nine and following, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is what? Lord, the kurios, the ruler of everything. Now, the Roman Caesars did not like biblical Christianity. They would tolerate every other religion known to man. They were fine with religion. They didn't care. As long as you were willing to confess Caesar is Kurios. As long as you were willing to acknowledge Caesar is the Lord, You can have your religion, great, do it. You can even practice human sacrifice. It doesn't bother Caesar. As long as you bow and acknowledge that Caesar is Lord, everything's cool. But there was one religion the Roman Caesars refused to allow. And it was biblical Christianity. You know why? Because Christians said Caesar is not the Lord. Jesus is Lord. And that's why, dear friends, That's why, brothers and sisters in Christ, in communist China, Christians are being hunted down. That's why in North Korea, Christians are being hunted down because these communist thugs, these brutal communist dictators understand that Christians have an allegiance to somebody other than the civil government that's higher than them. Our founding fathers understood that in the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created and endowed by their creator with what? life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Inalienable rights, rights that don't derive from men, but rights that derive from the Lord, the creator and sustainer of heaven and earth. And when a person becomes a Christian, we confess that Jesus is the Lord. He's the one who is over everything in the universe. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction. between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." And so this is at the very heart of becoming a Christian. And when we pray, thy kingdom come, we are praying as a Christian, Lord, I want to grow more and more to experience you reigning graciously, savingly in my heart and life, in my home, in everything I do. Lord Jesus, you are the king. And it's my joy to confess and live for you. And not only are we praying for ourselves, but we're praying for everybody around us. We're praying for the rest of our family to come to know Jesus is Lord and confess Him from the heart. We're praying that our neighbors would come to know Jesus. We're praying for the people at work to come to know Jesus. We're praying for strangers to come to know Jesus. We're gonna take up a special offering here shortly. I don't know any of these people, none. Why would we give for their help? Because the king! The king loves us and the king has given us that privilege to show and share his love with others. And so we pray, thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. Well, again, we've just scratched the surface, just barely scratched the surface. But this is a glorious thing. We're praying for ourself more and more that King Jesus reign. I had intended for us to look at Isaiah chapter 9, and you can write that down, and Psalm 2, you can write that down, and Psalm 110, you can write that. We don't have time to look at it today. But in our prayer and in our lives, we're saying, Jesus, your Lord, You're the Lord. You're the one that I delight to honor in my own heart, in my thinking, what my eyes look at, what my ears listen to, what my tongue says. Lord Jesus, I wanna live for you. You bought me with your precious blood. My home, Lord Jesus, like Joshua 24, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's what it looks like for the kingdom to come. We delight in who the king is and we say, not only do we want to love him, we want other people to love him, we want our family to love him, our church family. We pray that more and more Jesus would come and give us joy to worship him together and to love each other in his name, showing the gospel and reaching out in his name. We pray that this nation would repent and bow before King Jesus. I wish we had time to go over and look at Psalm 2, but Jesus addresses the kings of the earth and he says, kings, you better, you better wise up. You better bow and kiss the sun lest he be angry and you perish in the way. That's what Jonah was given to tell Nineveh. Yet 40 days and the king's coming to clean house. I don't know how long America's got. But however time he continues to give us, we need to make good use of it. And we need to be bold and full of compassion to tell the people around us and show the people around us about the king. To tell them about the king. To pray for his kingdom to come. To see this nation turn back to Jesus so that the word of God is once again loved and honored. in the public square, and in our courtrooms, and in our school rooms, and in our halls of justice, and in the business executive suites, as well as the factories of this land. Oh, how we need the saving presence of King Jesus. And that's what he is at work doing. And I've got good news for you. Satan, the squatter, he lies to people and he tells people, you'd be better off with me than with him. It's a lie. Because you know what's going to happen to the squatter and all those who continue to delight in his strangling reign? They will perish. In God's time, they will perish. Today is the day of salvation. bow before the king, confess Jesus is Lord. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for the gospel. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are the king of the universe. And it's our joy to confess with joy as those who are redeemed your precious name. Becoming a Christian is confessing from the heart, Jesus, you are my Lord. You are the one who not only died on the cross, but you've been raised from the dead to be my Lord. You're the Lord of this universe. And so, Father, we pray that you would encourage us this day. We thank you that even though we are no match left to ourselves to this squatter, Satan, or to even sin that remains in our hearts and lives, sin is no match, Satan is no match for you, Lord Jesus. And so, Lord, encourage us and give us joy and comfort. Lord, to run to you even this day, either for the first time or anew, confessing, Jesus, you are Lord. You're the King. And we do yearn for your kingdom, your saving realm to spread. Oh Lord, we give not only ourselves anew to you today, but our homes. Lord, you're the Lord of our homes. You're the King. Save us, Lord. Come and be present. Lord, you're the Lord, the King of this congregation. Lord, be in our midst to save us. Lord, you're the king over this nation. Lord, please grant repentance that the people of this nation would lay down their foolish, futile war against you and confess Jesus is Lord and throw away their rebellion. Oh Lord, hear our cry. Bless now as we continue to worship you together and we make our prayer in Jesus' name, amen.