The passage I'm going to be preaching from this morning is 2 Corinthians 4, verses 1 through 6. And to begin with, I'd like to read the passage to familiarize ourselves with it. 2 Corinthians 4, beginning with verse 1. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. But by open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless our hearing and reading of his word. There is a story about a minister who died and went and stood in line at the pearly gates. Ahead of him was a guy who was dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, a leather jacket, and jeans. And Saint Peter said to this individual who was standing in front of the minister, who are you? So that I may know whether to admit you into the kingdom of heaven or not. And the guy replied, I'm Joe Cohen, taxi driver, New York City. St. Peter consulted his list, and he smiled, and he said to the taxi driver, take this silken robe and this golden staff and enter the kingdom of heaven. The taxi driver, with joy, went into the kingdom of heaven, and it was then the minister's turn. He stood erect, he put his shoulders back, he said, I am Joseph Snow, pastor of St. Mary's for the last 43 years. St. Peter consulted his list, And he said, take this cotton robe and this wooden staff and enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, the minister was a little put off by this. He said, that man was a taxi driver and he got a silk robe and a golden staff. And I've pastored for 43 years. St. Peter said, up here we work by results. While you preached, people slept. While he drove, people prayed. I trust you won't be sleeping this morning. I hope not. If not, in my own home church, what I normally do is call people out by name. Since I don't know names here, I'll have to ask the person next to you to point out your name of the person who's sleeping. Now, as much as I've been tempted to do something like that, I've never gotten away with it. I don't dare do it in my home congregation, so I don't dare do it here either. Well, we are preaching the truth this morning, considering the truth. in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And this is a truth that is brilliant, is a truth that I trust is a flame in the hearts of all who believe in Jesus Christ. What we're going to see in the sermon this morning is that it's not really about results, despite the little story that I began with. The sermon this morning and the text we're going to look at is in a sense about our goals, but it's going to be about gospel. goals. Not necessarily man's goals. In this section of 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is taking one of his glorious rabbit trails that he loves to take. And by the Spirit of God, he has provided so much rich truth for us. He is getting busy talking about an offering that he is going to pass on to contribute to other saints in 2 Corinthians, but he got sidetracked with the gospel of all things. And he gets caught up in this wonderful truth of the ministry to which he's been committed. He gets caught up in the idea of preaching the gospel to a people who are lost and needing to hear. So the truth of what we're going to see today is that we preach the gospel to see God's glory. In verse 1 it says, Notice here that it says, Paul does not think that he's the only one who's engaged in this kind of ministry. This is going to be very important for us as we're beginning to look at this passage together. If I were preaching to a congregation full of pastors, I might not have to emphasize this point as much. But this is a congregation full of normal people. And so we want to pay attention that the Apostle Paul says, we, therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not use heart. Paul's not only talking about himself, he's not just talking about a band of preachers that went along with him. He's writing to the Corinthian church. In chapter 3, he calls this ministry the New Covenant ministry. He calls it the ministry of the Spirit. When you get further on in chapter 5, he calls it the ministry of reconciliation. And he says every truly born-again Christian is in fact a minister in this way. He calls us as Christians ambassadors for Jesus Christ. So the first thing I want us to know this morning is that when the Apostle Paul is making this statement, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, We do not lose heart. We means every single one of us who are part of the kingdom of God truly, having been born into it through the new birth, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This ministry is a ministry of life. It's a ministry of righteousness, of glory. It's a ministry that's greater than the ministry of Moses, we learn in chapter three. This ministry of reconciliation, in fact, is so great. I want you to ponder this, that as you minister, as a part of this new covenant ministry, it is as though, chapter five, verse 20, God is making his appeal through you. I wonder how often we consider that. I appreciate the prayer for me this morning that I would bring a message that would be faithful, accurate, helpful, and truthful. But how much do we consider that that very same prayer ought to be prayed for every single one of us, beginning at every single day? If we understand that we are new covenant ministers, that God in fact is making an appeal to those who are outside of Christ through us as Christians. That's a tremendous, tremendous calling, a tremendous privilege, and a tremendous responsibility. You know, with responsibilities, sometimes come burdens. Sometimes comes anxiety, sometimes comes trouble. The Apostle Paul knew very well the troubles and the difficulties and the trials that came with the responsibility of being a New Covenant minister. Having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. The implication is there's all kinds of reasons, potentials for losing heart, for being discouraged, There's common discouragements in life. I think I wouldn't even have to lay these out for you. But each one of us have faced discouragements in life. But there's also specifically common discouragements to gospel ministry. Paul's character was attacked. The churches faced division. Persecution was occurring. Opposition to gospel ministry can and inevitably will be relentless. I spoke with a pastor this past week who's further north in northern Delaware. And he was sharing with me about a family that he and his church had supported for a number of years in northern India. And for those who don't know, in northern India, this is sort of the frontier of the gospel in that area. Southern India is far more evangelized, but northern India is a very, very dark place. And this Christian family, this missionary couple, were there for years and years, ministering the gospel, and it was terribly difficult. They had spiritual warfare going on that was so intense that it nearly devastated their family. Just sharing this with me, I'm reminded of the Apostle Paul because I don't think it's a personal weakness that they experienced this difficulty. I think it's a characteristic of gospel ministry. The Apostle Paul himself said in chapter one of this same book, 2 Corinthians, in verses eight through nine, he wanted the Corinthian church to not be unaware of the difficulties he went through. So in verse 8, he says, we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. The apostle Paul could have wanted to die. His burden was so great. Think of that. Paul of all people, this staunch saint, could have rather taken death than face the affliction that he was facing. But he went on. He said, we could have despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Isn't that true of God? That he brings us sometimes to the lowest points in our life that we might not rely on ourselves, our own abilities, our own capacity to adapt, our own ingenuity, but rely on nothing else but God alone. Because at this point, he's the only one there who can help us. Well, he always was. We just realize it more in situations like this. The Apostle Paul was no different. It's no different for us. We who are new covenant Christians, engaged in gospel ministry, we're sure to face the same kinds of challenges and the same kinds of difficulties. But when Paul starts thinking about God's mercy, he can say in chapter 4 verse 17, for this light momentary affliction, He just called it something that he'd rather choose death over. This is not light momentary affliction if we just look at the affliction. The only reason this is light momentary affliction is if we look at Christ. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. There's no danger of overstating the glory that's waiting for us. We haven't yet imagined it. We can't overstate the reality of it. Eye has not seen nor ear heard what God has prepared for those who love him. This is what the Apostle Paul feels that he needs to say to this community of faith, the church, who are engaging in gospel ministry. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. The Christian has afflictions in this life. As Job says, man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward. Jesus said in this life you will have tribulation. And yet, the afflictions of this life cannot overcome us. We who are in Christ, any more than death can overcome the prince of life himself. Because he is risen, because he lives, we will live also. This is our hope. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, Paul says in chapter one, verse five, so also is our comfort abundant in Christ. One of the things that happens when people get discouraged in ministry, and maybe you can testify of this yourself, maybe you can fill in examples of this. One of the things that happens when people get discouraged in ministry is that confidence in the gospel begins to wane. Maybe you go through a dry spell. Maybe you're not seeing the kinds of immediate visible results that you hope for, that you pray for, that you've seen at certain times in your life. When discouragement sets in, one of the things that tends to happen is people begin to lose confidence in the gospel. Disappointment and discontentment can increase. They'll start looking for other ways to fix things, to accomplish their goals. But this is exactly what Paul's going to go on to talk about in verse two. He says, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God." I want you to notice something here in the text. The Apostle Paul says, we have renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. He doesn't say we've renounced certain goals. He's not talking about having different goals. He's not talking about having abandoned the gospel. It's much more subtle than that. He said, we have renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. He's talking about different ways to get to common goals. The point here, what's the point? The point is not only should our message be biblical, but our way of ministering the message should be biblical. Our methods should be biblical. When you get right down to it, preaching is foolishness. That's what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians, the passage that was read earlier today. God is pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. That the one who boasts will boast in the Lord. You see, not only is the message and the content of the gospel to be right, but all of our life in presenting that gospel, all of our ministry together as the Lord's people, is to be geared and directed and structured in such a way as to point the glory and honor to Jesus Christ, who alone should have preeminence over His church. That's what the Apostle Paul says. He has renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. And so in verses one and two, there's a contrast. Discouragement in ministry often results in starting to take unbiblical or unhelpful or dishonorable methods. We might easily see the problem with a watered down, worldly gospel. But I suspect the church in our day has not thought carefully enough about the worldly methods sometimes used to present the gospel. And I'm thankful for the faithfulness of your particular pastor in this regard, who has over and over, in my getting to know him, been an example of the opposite. The Apostle Paul was clear here. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1 through 5, he might mark this passage. 1 Corinthians 2 verses 1-5, he says, and I, when I came to you brothers, he says brothers and he came to them, he's writing to the same church as he's writing this second letter. He says, and when I came to you brothers, I did not proclaim to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." With the preachers of the day, they were skilled in oratory and rhetoric. They could present messages and speeches and lectures that would woo and awe and marvel the people. That's not what the Apostle Paul chose to do. It's not that he couldn't do that. It's that he had decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He was going to present the message in such a way that if you got saved, there's no question who did it. There's no question that there was a divine influence at work in the life of the person who came to Christ. He continues, and he said, I was with you in much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in men, but in the power of God. The reason Paul came to them in this way not just with this message, certainly with this message, but in this way was that their faith would not be in Paul, but would be in the power of God, and in the spirit of God, and in the wisdom of God, who alone does this great saving work, so that the one who boasts would boast in the Lord. And so then the way we conduct our ministry will tell others where we get our power. The way we conduct our ministry will tell others where to place the glory. This is one thing that I think is missed in modern movements today. Let me put it this way. Carnal people love carnal stuff. Carnal people love carnal stuff, and so if the church reduces itself to a carnal ministry, it will see visible results. But it may not see eternal results. You can prop up spiritual corpses for a long time with lots of activities. And I don't think lots of activities are bad. But I think we need to be careful and sober-minded about how we handle ourselves in our activities as the Lord's Church. I think that's what the scripture is calling us to this morning. Carnal methods are those which rely on ingenuity of man and promote the ingenuity of man. They, in that way, distract from the truth of the gospel, the power of grace, the sovereignty of God, the glory of Christ. Carnal methods are those which leave a person marveling at human ability rather than the glory of God. A ministry or a church or a Christian that's marked with carnal power is never going to see supreme glory. I hope that's your desire today. I hope you can pray with Moses, Lord, let me see your glory. Let me see your glory. Another way of saying this is what you win them with is oftentimes what you win them to. If you wanted to win them to Christ, you won't neglect the foolishness of the message. According to church historian and author Ian Murray, apostasy generally arises in the church because the danger of worldliness ceased to be observed. The consequence is that spiritual warfare often will give way to an accommodating spirit. Spiritual warfare can take many forms. In our day and in the Western world, oftentimes it takes the form of an accommodating spirit. And the church will devise ways to present the gospel that will neutralize any kind of offense. It's a successful gospel encounter if no one leaves upset. That's sort of the idea behind that. Conversely, I've talked with, I'll give you one example of street evangelists. If they go through a time of sharing the gospel and no one gets upset, they feel like they have to go home and repent. Because they're concerned that they weren't giving the message right. Sometimes it calls for a restructuring of our worldview. And actually, that's exactly what this passage is going to do. It's going to challenge our theology at a very deep level. You see, it's not just about the superficial, what do we do? It ends up, as it always does, end up in what we believe. It goes on. in verses four through six, three through six rather, to say, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. What we have to see in this passage is that we preach the gospel to see God's glory. That's our ultimate goal. That's the ultimate result. Whatever else happens, our greatest and all-encompassing desire is that God would be honored, that Christ would be glorified, and that people would see it. And so, in these verses, we see the unveiling of glory that happens through the preaching of the gospel. Paul makes a point to the Corinthians. If our gospel is veiled, there's a reason for it. It's not because you bumbled through your presentation of the gospel when you were evangelizing. It's not because someone didn't show up for a particular role they were supposed to play in ministry at some key juncture. It's not because you lack creativity. It's not because of all these other things that display our human weaknesses. You see, God loves to show his glory through our human weaknesses. It's not because of that. If our gospel is veiled, verse 3, it's veiled only to those who are perishing. We have to understand that we do live in a day, in a place, in a time where the gospel is also veiled to a large degree. The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Al Mohler, pointed out that there is now, according to press reports on September 30th, set aside the first annual day of international blasphemy. Maybe some of you have heard of this. And the promotional material for this, various places on the internet, it gives various instructions about how one can blaspheme God publicly, load it up on the internet and send the information to a source and then they would get a, of all things, a free gift. Anything to get a free gift today. In fact, what they say is, you record a short message damning yourself to hell and you load it online. We might think about that and say, well, one, why are people wasting their time with this sort of foolishness? But two, we have to realize that we live in a world and a day where there is animosity toward Christianity because of a veil of darkness that lays over men and women's hearts. The reason Paul said to the Corinthians that you may face discouragement in ministry. The reason you may see discouragement is because people are not responding the way you may hope that they would, because there's a veil that lies over their hearts. They're dying. They're dying, and they're blinded to it. They don't realize they're dying. Not in the way that we understand through the gospel. The psalmist asked the question, why do the heathen rage? We could very easily ask that question today. This is the answer. They can't see the truth. And yet, with sin bound up in their heart, and rebellion against God, and suppression of the truth, they rage. They can't see the truth and they can't delight in the Son of God who is the glory of heaven, who is the image of God himself. Here, this is the explicit reason that Paul gives for discouragement for the new covenant, new gospel Christian. This is the explicit reason, the fact that the people you're preaching to don't always respond positively. share a personal story with you. I was, I came to Delaware via the United States Air Force. I'm originally born in Washington, D.C. I was saved about the age of 21, 22, and I was brought out here as a aircraft mechanic on the C-5 Galaxy, crew chief. While I was in the Air Force, I had the opportunity to move off base and took advantage of that. with a couple of buddies who are not Christians. I was a new Christian, I thought, no problem. Just get them saved. Well, we all know probably that it wasn't, now it wasn't quite that easy. I didn't realize that at the time. There's no problem. It's so obvious. All I have to do is tell them, sit down, have a good conversation, they'll become Christians, and everything will be fine. It didn't work out that way. I remained friends with them, but it was very difficult. And even through our friendship, the animosity level increased. I remember one time sitting on my couch, reading my Bible when one of my roommates came in the door. I said hello. His response to me was, if you tell me I'm going to hell one more time, I'm going to punch you in the mouth. You know, I had never actually told him he was going to hell in those words. But that was a conviction that was setting in by the Holy Spirit. The truth of the gospel convinces man of our unrighteousness. That's the conviction of the Holy Spirit that's setting in. And natural man, apart from the grace of God, cannot see that. They're blinded to it. They're blinded to the reality of salvation in Christ. How does this relate to what we said before about our strategy in ministry? If we're not seeing results in ministry, maybe what we might hope, are we considering switching strategies? Are we tempted to gloss over truth? Paul says, wait a minute, look at the condition of the people that you're ministering to. Look at the condition of the people who aren't listening. Is there any other way to reach them than through the gospel? Is there any other way to penetrate a heart that is hardened to grace than through the gospel of grace? Now in their case, the God of this world has blinded their minds to keep them from seeing the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ. It's not the gospel's fault. The veil's not on the gospel. The veil's on the person. The devil has blinded their minds. He's called here the God of this world. Satan's role is destroying and deceiving. We are often influenced, I think, in Western culture by our naturalistic mindset, our worldview. We don't seem to have much concern about the devil. We don't have much time for him. And so we don't think much about him. But scripture thinks much about him, talks much about him. In John 14, 30, it says Satan is the ruler of this world. Revelation 12, 9, Satan is the deceiver of the whole world. 1 John 5, verse 19, it says, we know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. We don't wage war against flesh and blood, but against spirits and principalities and so forth. There is a spiritual battle that goes on that we cannot see. And that's what's happening, one of the things that's happening in the mind of the unbelievers. So this clarifies Paul's mission. When the Lord Jesus called Paul in Acts chapter 26, it says, And so the point here is that natural man, in his unregenerate state, is incapable of seeing the goodness, the blessing, the beauty, the glory, the truth, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He can't see that there's actually freedom in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2 says, And you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, who is now working in the sons of disobedience. That prince of the power of the air is now working in the sons of disobedience. And so this is a dire situation. It's ironic then that unbelievers envision themselves as free. Haven't you heard reasons for not coming to Christianity? Say, I like my freedom. I don't want to be tied down with all of that. That's oftentimes the mentality of a non-Christian. And it's ironic because it's the non-Christian who truly has no freedom, but they can't see it. because the God of this age has blinded their eyes. It's a deception so thorough that sinful man can't see his slavery to sin. This was true of the Pharisees. When Jesus was speaking to them in John chapter eight, he said, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And they answered him, we're the offspring of Abraham. We've never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will be free? They didn't get it. They didn't understand their slavery to sin. Only by grace can we understand that. So what is our calling? Paul is preaching the church. He says, we've received this ministry by the mercy of God. Therefore, don't lose heart. Because of the nature of lost humanity, we have a certain calling. It's fixed. Our faith is in the gospel, and our ministry is to promote the gospel. We're called to preach it and handle it with humility and sobriety. 2 Timothy 2, it says, And the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. And this is key. In this way of handling our ministry, it says God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been captured by him to do his will. We're being admonished here to handle ourselves, not just to articulate a certain message, which we are, the gospel, but to handle ourselves and handle the gospel in a way that God might be glorified and that he might bless our ministry. There's no guarantees of repentance of sinners based on what we do. But ultimately, saving repentance is a gift from God alone. So the results of our ministry are in the hands of God. That ought to be a great encouragement to the church. The results of what you do are not totally dependent on what you do. God is greater than what you do. And so the results of our ministry are in the hands of the Lord, just like our whole lives are. It's for this reason, then, that God alone gets the glory. Verse five, what we proclaim is not ourselves. We don't preach ourselves and our own ability to accomplish or to succeed, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus' sake. You must come to Jesus. I trust many of you, if not the great majority of you here, have come to Jesus. But not knowing you and realizing a congregation this size, there's likely some who have not. Maybe some who have made professions of faith in Christ, but have not had their heart renewed by grace. Scripture says there's one God and there's one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Says in John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me. There's salvation in no one else, for there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. We don't proclaim ourselves, we proclaim Jesus. If you're outside of Jesus, come to Jesus. The message of the new covenant is that His blood has been shed on our behalf for our sins, that we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Him. Not because of works of righteousness, which we have done, but by his mercy, he saved us. And we receive this ministry by mercy, as well as our salvation. Paul saw in his day that a large portion of the Jews were not responding to the message. And people in church were throwing up their hands saying, Paul, you're saying Christ is the Messiah of Israel. What's going on, buddy? hearing the call. Why aren't they believing if your message is so great? 2 Corinthians, the same epistle, verse 3, he says, The Jews' minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Their unwillingness to come to Christ is related to the veil remaining over their hearts. God said in verse 6, God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is the rub. This is the rub. Why is there no glory for man in ministry? Because salvation is all of God. In creation, I appreciate the reading of Genesis 1, I believe verses 5 through 8 today. God said, let there be light. And what happened? There was light. It was instantaneous. Creation by God, spoken by His Word, and it was there. The Apostle Paul is referring back to Genesis 1 directly in this passage. He said, For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ. This is what he means. Creation is the pattern for new creation. How much did creation help God create the light? Well, it didn't. God spoke and light was. How much are unbelieving sinners helping God get the light into their hearts? Well, they're not. They're blinded. But that's okay, God is greater than their blindness. God is greater than their sin. God is greater than their rebellion. All through scripture we see these truths, where sin abounded, grace does much more abound. Creation is the pattern for new creation. God who said, let light shine in the darkness, has shown in our hearts to bring the light of the glory of Christ. When you came to faith in Jesus Christ, It was because the light of grace shone in your heart. It was because the light of glory was illumined in your mind. You began to look at Jesus in a whole other way. You began to look at your sin in a way that you never had before. You now look at your sin like God looks at it. And you now look at Jesus, the way the father regards him. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Every Christian can pray that same prayer. This is my, this is the beloved son of God in whom I take great pleasure. The son of God in whom I'm well pleased. Let me close with a story. I like stories. Sort of mark my life by stories. Some years ago, about 10 years ago, I was in Bible college and I was in a class on grace. Come to the conclusion that in some ways I was greatly helped by this class, in some ways I was greatly hindered in my learning of grace. We sat around and as at least a great number of Bible college students love to do, we argued. We argued about grace. I was walking out of the class one day, down a long parking lot toward my car. And in the distance, along the row of cars, there was a tree. And the tree was coming out of the ground crooked, and then for no apparent reason, began to go straight. It may have been 100 yards away from me when I first saw it. And so I had some time as I walked towards it to think about, why in the world did that tree begin to go crooked and then go straight? See, there was no apparent reason. There was no evidence of any obstacles in the tree's path that would re-divert its growth. There was no evidence of lightning strike or of damage done to the tree. There's no evidence of other things surrounding the tree that would redirect it. And so here it is, this inexplicable oddity of this crooked tree gone straight. And I stopped and I looked at that tree and I thought, I'm totally missing it. In my whole class on grace, I think I'm totally missing it. Here I have a perfect illustration. The God who can make a crooked tree straight is the same God who can make crooked sinners saints. This is the gospel of grace. The inexplicable life change, inexplicable to our human eyes and to our visual sight. We're not able to credit our ingenuity or our creativity, redounds to the glory of God. God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to let us see the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ. So in the passage today, we see that we preach the gospel ultimately and primarily and with great enthusiasm to see God's glory. And God will show it. We can trust him for that. We can trust him to show his glory and we can trust him that he'll bring fruit according to his perfect pleasure through it as well. Let's bow in prayer, if you will. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the truth of the gospel. We thank you that you've given a message of redemption. Thank you for Jesus Christ, who is the propitiation for our sins, having taken upon himself the wrath of God, suffered, died, and was buried, risen again on the third day. Because He lives, we live also. Because He's risen and has given us this ministry, we also preach. Help us, by grace, to convey the message to your honor and glory in the world today. We pray, Lord, that you would build your church. Pray for this local assembly here at Berean. Thank you for each one who's here. Thank you, Lord, for your grace in their lives. We pray for those who may not have yet come to a knowledge of Christ. Pray that you would help them. Let them trust in the Lord and find salvation for their souls. We pray for those, Lord, who are weary in ministry. We pray that you would help them to know that they're not alone. That with saints down through the ages, Others have been wearied as well, and have found help in the mercy of God. So Lord, be our strength, the strength of your church today. Let our boast be in your glory, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.