Take your Bibles, please, and open them to the letter to the Galatians. I love springtime. It's probably my favorite season. We're getting out of the cold, which I have no affinity for. And we're not yet to the heat, I don't have much affinity for. And there's all the new growth all around. The flowers and the trees are just in full bloom. And I don't know if you noticed even which way you came to church this morning, but right here on Asheville Highway, there's trees, dogwoods that are lining and just full of bloom and full of color, and it's very beautiful. And all of this is based on what we could call the law of the harvest. This is really what allows for scientific research. It's exactly what the Bible teaches about creation, is that things reproduce after their kind, and that when you plant a seed, a plant from that seed and of that same kind will grow up. It's one of the truths revealed by Scripture. and testified by science that things reproduce after their kind. And it's interesting that evolution is based on the hypothesis that something can produce something else other than its own kind, of course, given a few million years in between. And the proverbial missing link has never been found. because the Bible, when it speaks scientifically, is true. And only biblical religion can explain scientific phenomenon. Take the myths of the Buddhists and the other religions of the world, and it does not fit like the Bible fits. But every farmer knows, every gardener knows, that you reap the seeds that you sow. And the Spirit of God takes this principle, which is His own by His own creation, and He applies it to bearing the fruit of the Spirit. So I'd like you to look at Galatians 5, and verse 22 and 23. And it says, "...the fruit of the Spirit." Notice we're talking about fruit born by the Spirit. We're talking about a harvest. And the harvest is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, or we could say patience, gentleness, goodness, faith. A better translation would be faithfulness, meekness, temperance, or self-control. Against such there is no law. Now look at chapter 6 and verse 7. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. And as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Now, what we discover is that the harvest of the Spirit, this fruit of love, joy, peace, et cetera, operates according to a law. And we're using law here in the sense not of a commandment, but in the sense of a truth that cannot be changed, like we talk about the law of gravity. Now if you want to plant, have a harvest of carrots, or bananas, or radishes, or watermelons, or acorns, or squash, or dandelions, or apricots, or potatoes, or apples, or figs, or pecans, or rhubarb, or lemons, or tomatoes, or green beans, or pumpkins, or peanuts. You know that you have to sow what you desire to grow and to reap. And why is that? Because you reap what you sow. That is the law of the harvest. Today we're going to consider how that law, you reap what you sow, applies to bearing the Spirit's fruit. We're going to consider in that context, bearing the Spirit's fruit, the law of the harvest. And what you have, just to see where we're going here, in verse 7 you have the law of the harvest stated. In verse 8 you have the law of the harvest explained. And in v. 9-10, which we won't be able to get to today, you have the law of the harvest applied. And in that application, you are given both a promise and an exhortation. So this morning we're going to consider, first of all, the law of the harvest stated. This is point number 1, v. 7. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." I mean, there it is, plain and simple. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. The harvest is determined by the sowing, both in its kind and its proportion. And notice the way it's worded there. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And from that we can draw several conclusions. First of all, we can see that this law is personal. This law is personal. Look at the verse. It says, For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. In other words, it's not simply that someone will reap what you sow. It's that what? You will reap what you sow. And you'll notice how he begins the verse. He begins by saying, don't be deceived. And here's one point where many people are deceived. They think that they can sow and another person will reap. And the law says, no, this is a law, it's a personal law. Whatever a man sows, that will he reap. So don't be deceived about that. Secondly, we see that this law is procedural. A procedure is something that involves a series of steps followed in regular order. And this law, and remember our meaning of law here, not a command, but an unchangeable reality. It's not describing a single phenomenon, but a series of steps, a process. That's why I use the word procedural. When we talk about the law of gravity, for instance, it states that when I drop an object of weight, it will what? It'll fall, right? But the law of the harvest is much more complex. The law of the harvest states that when I plant a seed, It has to go into the ground, it has to germinate, it has to sprout, it has to grow, and then after a long process with many steps, it will produce fruit. And that's why when you think of falling or dropping, they're almost the same thought, because they're almost one and the same. You drop something or it falls. It just happens together. But when you think of the harvest, when you think of sowing and you think of reaping, the two are very distinct. Often separated by a great amount of time. And it's because the law doesn't describe just a single phenomenon, but it describes a process that must take place. And here is where many people are deceived as well, because this law is chronological. It involves a series of steps. It's procedural. For whatsoever man sows, that shall he also reap. That's a future tense. In other words, the reaping comes after the sowing. In fact, four times in these three verses, eight and nine, we have the verb reap. And each of those four times, it's in the future tense. This is something that will happen in the future. It's not something that happens with the sowing. It's something that happens when? After the sowing. And that's why I say it's a procedure. Now, why is this important? Because as I said just a minute ago, this is where many people are deceived. Remember how this verse opens. Don't be deceived. This is an unchangeable law, yet it's one which many people simply don't get. They are deceived into thinking that they can sow and another will reap, or they're deceived into thinking that they can sow without reaping. And why is that? Because when you take your finger and you touch a hot stove, what happens? Sizzle. And immediately it's, ouch! And you learn something about hot stoves. Or you take a lead ball and you drop it over your foot and what happens? Bang, right? And ouch! And immediately you learn something about the law of gravity. But you take a seed and you put it into the earth and what happens? Snap, crackle, pop. What happens? Nothing happens. And because nothing happens, and because the harvest is not instantaneous, but a lengthy procedure, many people are deceived into thinking that it's really not that unchangeable of a law after all. I mean, where's the harvest? Thirdly, we see from this verse that this law is permanent. It's permanent. Though there may be a delay in the harvest, it will follow the sowing. I use that word permanent simply to say that it can't be changed. We can't alter it in any way. It's set in concrete, if you will. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." See, the whole point of the verse is, you can be deceived, but this law can't be changed. And if you think you can make someone else else reap what you sow, or you think you can reap something other than what you sow, or you think that you can not reap after you have sown, then my friend, you're the one that's deceived, but this law isn't changing. It's permanent and fixed. and true for all time. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." And why is that? Because, look at verse 7, God is not mocked. That's why. Not one single solitary individual in all the ages of mankind will ever be able to get around this Law of the Harvest because God is the Lord of the Harvest and He will not be mocked. Now, this does not mean to say that people can't mock God and people don't mock God. People try all the time to mock God, right? What this is saying is that when it comes to this Law of the Harvest, you won't be able to make a fool out of God. Now, sometimes you may have watched, and you may have done this yourself, but you may have seen older children take advantage of smaller children and cheat them out of that which is actually more valuable. Let me give you my nice big nickel for your little scrawny dime. Something like that. And what that older child is doing to that younger child is making a mockery of Him. He's making a fool out of Him. And people think they can do that to God. People think that they can sow one thing and reap another, and they're trying to make a mockery out of God. But the truth is, God cannot be mocked. You're the one that's deceived. God cannot be mocked. Verse 7, then, is the law stated. Secondly, we see in verse 8, the law of the harvest explained. The law of the harvest explained. And here he's going to take that personal, that procedural, that permanent law, and explain how it works in our lives. How does it work in our lives? How does it flesh out? And how does this work with our bearing the Spirit's fruit, or the works of the flesh? Look at v. 8. He that showeth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that showeth to the Spirit And when you see spirit, don't think man's own spirit. Don't think, I have two things in me. I have my flesh. I have my spirit. I don't want to sow to my flesh. I want to sow to my spirit. No, spirit is a capital S. If it's not in your Bibles, you should capitalize it. We're sowing to someone actually outside of ourselves. One option is to sow to my own flesh. The other option is to sow to God the Holy Spirit. And he that soweth to the Holy Spirit shall of or from God's Holy Spirit reap life everlasting. Those are the two options. Now, what do we learn from this verse? Well, the first thing we notice is that sowing is not an option. Notice that he's not distinguishing between sowers and non-sowers. Look, you know, in the church, we have some people that are sowing. Other people, they're not sowing at all. What's going on? We all need to start sowing. That's not the comparison that's made at all. It's between two different kinds of sowers. I can't keep from sowing, in other words. All I can do is decide where and what I'm going to sow. To put it really in the broadest terms, my sowing is nothing less than my living. It's my life. To live is to sow. And if you're here this morning, I suspect you're living. Some of you might look like death warmed over, but you're still living. And if you're living, you're sowing. Sowing then is not an option. All I'm doing now will have future consequences. That's one of the greatest deceptions of mankind, to forget that. But this is a law. All I'm doing now will have future consequences. I will be tomorrow the combined product of my todays. One English writer observed, and I quote, what strikes me more and more each day is the permanence of one's early life, the identity between youth and manhood. Every habit, good and bad, of those early years seems to have permanently affected my whole life. The battle is largely won or lost before it seems to begin. End of quote. And the truth that sowing is not an option, that really to live is to sow, puts all I do in a spiritual context, right? And it's moral and spiritual context. All I do is now to be considered as sowing to the flesh or to the spirit. It puts everything I do in a moral and spiritual context, whether it's choosing my outfit for the day or choosing my menu for lunch. It's sowing. Everybody is a sower. And this is so contrary to our thinking. We tend to think that maybe 15, maybe 20% of what I do has spiritual consequence. But really, my average weekday, when I go about my average weekday, it has no moral consequences. It's not really spiritual or non-spiritual. And yet this verse describes everything as sowing. So, if you decide to go on a diet, you're sowing. If you decide to go off the diet, you're sowing. Really, on that level, whether you eat or drink, you are sowing. This verse makes everybody a sower. It puts everything I do into one of two fields, if you want. And that leads me to my next point. And that is this, that the sower's options are antithetical. That means they're opposites. There's no connection between them. They are polar extremes. You're a sewer. You can't help from sewing. You have two options and they're antithetical to each other. You can sow one of two fields, but the fields don't overlap in any way. On the one hand, look at it in verse 8. You have, "...he that soweth to his own flesh." And the King James doesn't have that word, own, but I suggest you add it because it's in there. You have the man that sows to his own flesh. Okay, that's one sowing. And on the other you have, a little bit later in the verse, "...he that soweth to the Spirit," capital S. So on the one hand, you have God the Holy Spirit, and on the other hand, you have your own flesh. What is your flesh? It's not your toes and your fingers. This is the believer's uncleansed humanness. This is that part of us that is still not redeemed and will not be redeemed until we're glorified. This is still that dirty, ugly, yucky thing that's in you and goes wherever you go. the believer's uncleansed humanness. You have these two options. You sow to your humanness or you sow to God's divinity, to God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, or I should say the Holy Spirit, or your vile flesh. You can either pander to your own evil desires or yield to God's Holy Spirit. But you can't kill two birds with one stone. You can't pamper your flesh, that evil part of you, while you try to please God's Spirit. No, no, no. They're antithetical. What does it mean to sow to the flesh? Well, the Britisher John Stott has written, quote, every time, listen to this, we allow our mind to harbor a grudge. nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fancy, wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh. Every time we linger in bad company, whose insidious influence we know we cannot resist, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up and praying, every time we read pornographic literature, every time we take a risk that strains our self-control, we are sowing, sowing, sowing to the flesh. Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they do not reap holiness. Holiness is a harvest. Whether we reap it or not depends almost entirely on what and where we sow." So what does it mean, on the other hand, to sow to the spirit? Well, let me read another commentator, John MacArthur. Quote, to sow to the spirit. is the same as to walk by the Spirit, chapter 5, verse 16, or to be led by the Spirit, chapter 5, verse 18, or to be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5, verse 18. It is the same as abiding in Christ and in His Word and having His words abide in us, John 8 and 15. It is the same as walking in Christ, Colossians 2, and setting one's minds on things above and not on things that are on the earth, Colossians 3. It is the same as giving one's body as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, and not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12, 1-2. You're always either sowing to the flesh or sowing to the Spirit. That could be determined by what you do, or that could be determined by why you do what you do. But you're always sowing either to the flesh or to the Spirit. Now what do you have? What do you have that you can sow? Well, you have time, right? All men have 24 hours. and you have resources, and you have a mind, and you can throw all your time and all your resources and all the abilities of your mind for pursuing the pleasures of your humanity, that's sowing to the flesh. Or you can take those same resources and sow them to God's Spirit. Thirdly, notice please that the harvests are mutually exclusive. The reason that the harvests are mutually exclusive is because the harvests are in keeping with the sowing that is done. What we discover in this verse is that there's a lot more at stake than our sanctification. There's a lot more at stake than being a really good Christian. The Bible's not talking about lukewarm Christians versus revolutionary Christians. Okay, and I'm not cut out to be a revolutionary Christian. I'm sorry. I want you to look at and I want you to contrast the two harvests. Look at verse 8 again. He that soweth to his flesh shall from the flesh reap... What is it? Corruption. That's one harvest. But he that showeth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit of God reap," what? Life everlasting, or eternal life. So this is the option between your two harvests. On the one hand, corruption. On the other hand, eternal life. And your flesh can only produce one thing, and that's corruption. It can only produce one thing, and that's corruption. That word means It's used of decaying food. It suggests a gradual decay, almost like the decomposition of a body. And of course, we know that the ultimate corruption of the flesh is eternal death. That's described as the wages of death. That's described as the end of sin. The result of sin is death. That's ultimate corruption. The flesh can only produce one thing, and that's corruption leading to death. And the Spirit of God can only produce one thing, and that's eternal life. And just think of it this morning. Really, I mean, this is a reality right now this morning. Think of the millions of people today that are spending all their energies sowing to the flesh. On my way here, I saw some people that had their boats out, ready to go. And these people are spending all their energy sowing to their own flesh, thinking that that is what will bring them the greatest happiness for the longest amount of time. It's just pleasing that flesh. But they're deceived. Why? Because the end of that is corruption. Their own corruption. I speak to the young people now. You young people are especially vulnerable to this. Deception. Because you've not lived long enough probably to see the full cycle of the harvest. The law of the harvest is the law, but it takes time to come to its full cycle. It takes time to come from the sowing all the way to the reaping. And to the young people, the field of the flesh is so tantalizing with all its juicy fruits. And yet you've not lived long enough to see the bitter decay that all that brings. You know, we forget as younger people that our great grandparents were once just as young and healthy and smart as we are. That's the truth. But we, unlike them, have not lived long enough to see our parents die, our siblings die, our friends die, that special someone who made our heart throb die. Our vigor fade, our eyes dim, our ears fill, our mind unfastened, and to realize that all that seems so promising in the end, yielded only decay. This is a deception especially dangerous for youth. It's the lie, wrote the Scotsman John Brown, that a man may attain ultimate happiness without living a spiritual life. That's the harvest of the flesh. It's bringing decay. And what can we say but to warn? We can't stop it. It's like a train that's already out of the station. It's moving. It's going. It's gathering speed. Corruption and death are coming. What can we do but cry out and warn? And yet, people are persuaded that Noah brings happiness for the longest amount of times. Think of the millions of people that are on that train. But you know, if you sow to the Spirit of God, If you choose not to sow to your flesh, but to sow to the Spirit of God, you know what you'll reap? The Bible says you will reap eternal life. And it's not an exaggeration to say that your eternal destiny rests on where and what you choose to sow. Did you get that? I'm not talking about your eternal destiny in heaven or hell. It's based on this. What and where you choose to sow. This is not just about sanctification. This is about our salvation. If you sow to the Holy Spirit, if you sow to into His field, to knowing God, to seeking grace through those God-ordained means of grace, such as the written Word and the preached Word, and the communion of the saints, and other things that God has instituted to minister to us His grace and the knowledge of Him. If you spend your life showing to the Spirit, you will be saved. Someone says, well, that sounds a lot like salvation by works. You do this, you'll be saved. You do that, you'll be lost. The doctrine of justification by works says this, that I can, through my flesh, merit eternal life. That's what the doctrine of Justification by works says, I can, of my own accord, through my flesh, I can merit and earn eternal life. No, no, no. That's not what this is saying. The works of the flesh only produce corruption and decay. That's the point. And if you go the route of legalism, like a lot of people do, and you try to go the route of morality and living right and following that path, following your flesh down that road, because everyone's flesh... There's multiple ways the flesh can go. Everyone goes his own way, the Bible says. If you go the route of legalism, thinking that you can in your flesh somehow earn God's favor, that's going to result in decay. It's going to result in death. This is not speaking of two possible harvests coming from the same place. No, there's only one harvest that comes from the flesh. You see that? And that's decay and death. And notice where the harvest come from. Let's just point this out. Only the first one comes from your works. Look at verse 8 again. He that soweth to his flesh shall, and now notice this, of, you see that there? Or we could put the word from. He shall from the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit, and we want to point our fingers towards God, shall what? From the Spirit, not out of himself, reap life. everlasting. So you see, we're not producing eternal life. That's the gift of the Spirit. But the gift goes to those who are sowing to the Spirit. Who are giving their lives over to the Spirit. Who are living and sowing in the field of the Spirit. In fact, imagine it this way. Imagine a large field. Okay? And the field is God's Spirit. And there you are sowing all you have to Him. Your time, your resources, your motivations, your heart throbs. And what you are reaping from Him as a person is life everlasting. Or you could go to the field of the flesh and reap all your energies, your time, your money. And if you don't think money's included, just look up to verse 6. It is everything about you, and you could just pour it all into your flesh, into your own pleasures and what you're all about. And you will reap from your flesh only one thing, decay and corruption. Christian, then, is someone who is sowing to the Spirit, and he will receive from the Spirit eternal life. An unconverted person is someone who is sowing to the flesh, see, and he or she will receive in return decay, corruption, and death, because your flesh cannot produce anything but that. It's incapable of producing life. So some people go to their flesh seeking life, they find death. Some people go to their flesh seeking pleasure, they find decay. But the flesh is only one harvest, and it's always bad. Now, there is not only this future eternal application. This will affect your eternity. And we should linger there for a moment. Do an inventory of your resources, of who you are, your living, your sowing as you go about from day to day. Which field are you sowing in? Because don't be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he reap. But if you're a Christian, God has cut off that ultimate consequence of decay, that ultimate death. But you know, you'll still suffer the consequences of decay every time you allow yourself to sow to your flesh that remains. Even in this life, sin proves to be self-destructive. Consider these examples given by Philip Riken. A young couple in love gets caught up in the passions of the moment. They engage in sexual activity outside of marriage. They experience some pleasure, of course, but they are also sowing the seeds of destruction. After they break up, they discover they have damaged their capacity for true intimacy. A man fantasizes about taking control of his organization. He comes to think of his colleagues as rivals and he schemes his way past them. But his selfish ambition is sowing the seeds of destruction, not only for others, but also within his own soul. A woman secretly despises another woman in her church. From time to time they have their petty disagreements, but it's really a matter of personality as much as anything else. With every contemptuous thought, she is sowing seeds of destruction to her own spiritual health and the fellowship of the church. A husband and wife allow resentment to build in their marriage without ever resolving their differences. They too are sowing the seeds of destruction. Year by year, as they drift further and further apart, they reap loneliness, bitterness, and unbelief. So even in life, we see this principle taking place. They can sow to the flesh and reap decay in this life as well as in the next, or they can sow to God's Spirit. Sowing to the Spirit means living for God's pleasure instead of our own pleasure. So, for example, a young couple sows to the Spirit when they preserve the purity of their marriage bed. A man sows to the Spirit when he denies his own ambition in order to serve others. A woman sows to the Spirit when she is reconciled to her sister in Christ. A husband and wife sow to the Spirit when they repent of their selfishness and begin to work together in true spiritual partnership. In short, sowing to the Spirit means living for Christ in every area of life. Every time we think a thought, speak a word, or perform a deed, we plant a seed. Every time we think, say, or do anything for the glory of God, we are sowing to His Spirit. To be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. Why do we sin? We sin because one reason is we have removed from our minds the consequences of our sowing. You cannot sin while meditating on the harvest. You cannot sow evil while meditating on what you're going to reap. Because the thought of corruption and decay does anything but spur you on in that sin. And if young people would think of the decay that such an action would bring, or older people would think of the decay that such a word spoken in the family would bring, it would preserve them and keep them for much of the sowing that takes place to our flesh. Where have you been, Gehazi? It's at 2 Kings 5.25. Gehazi. Where have you been? Imagine Gehazi standing before his master, the prophet Elisha. Gehazi replies, Your servant went nowhere. That's his answer. See, he thought he had fooled his master. He was so sure the old man would never find out that he had pursued and overtaken Naaman, who had just been cleansed of his leprosy and had, through trickery and lies, got for himself from this new believer two talents of silver and two brand new changes of clothes. And he'd taken them to his house and he'd hid them. And he was sure the old man Elisha would never find out. And Elisha replies, did not my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your descendants forever." And the chapter ends with these sobering words, "...so he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow." See, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. Sapphira, tell me, have you sold the land for such and such a price?" Acts 5.8 says. And she replied, yes, that was the price. She thought, he'll never know. I fooled Peter. In fact, I fooled the whole church. See, she thought she could make a mockery of God. Peter turns to her and says, "'Why is it then that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well.' And she fell immediately at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband." See, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a woman soweth, that shall she also reap." And don't be deceived, because you don't walk out as white as a leper, or you don't drop dead right now in your pew, that the law of the harvest will not apply to you. It's just as true for you as it is for Sapphira. It's just as true for all of us. as it was for Gehazi. The harvest may be long in coming, but it's an unalterable law that it will come. And if you give your lives to sowing to your own pleasure, Hebrews 11 says, there is a pleasure in sin for a season. And there is, Proverbs says, a way that seems right to a man. That's why he sows that way. But the end thereof is death. Don't be deceived. God is not mocked. You will reap what you have sown. Would you bow your heads, please? Before we pray, I'd like to issue an invitation. I believe the Spirit of God works through His Word and works through the preaching of His Word. I have faith in His Word that that is so. And what I fear for our congregation is that we have people whose lives are one of consistent sowing to your own flesh. It's about you. It's about what you want, when you want it. That's your life. And certainly there's certain restrictions placed upon you from the exterior that keep you from doing certain things. I'm not talking about that. But you know in your own heart that there's no sowing to the Spirit of God. And the warning for you today is that the end of that is death and decay. I wonder if there's anyone this morning that will confess this morning that you have been sowing to the flesh. Do you want to be saved? Do you want your life to be one of sowing in the field of the Spirit of God? And you want to reap the fruit of the Spirit The good news is that you can be saved. The reason we can reap from the Spirit eternal life is not that we have earned it, but that Jesus Christ has earned it. And it can now be given to us as a gift. Oh, but turn from your flesh. Don't think that a prayer will save you. A prayer has saved no one. You will reap what You have sown. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we pray for moving of Your Spirit in our congregation. We've been speaking of You and of Your Spirit. We acknowledge that each one of us is really a field, in a sense, in which we sow to You or we sow to ourselves. We pray that the Savior of Christ and the ministry of the Word would be a ministry of life to each one here and not of death and condemnation. Please, may Your Spirit work in our hearts, convicting us of the truth and of judgment and of righteousness. May we be saved from the wrath to come. We thank You for the salvation that is ours in Christ. But please, don't let anyone here be deceived. The person that is deceived doesn't know it. They don't see it. They don't understand it. They don't grasp it. And they're helpless and caught in their deception unless you take the veil off their eyes. Please do that for Your glory, for our good. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.