Isaiah 26 we'll be looking to this morning, and probably for many of us a familiar passage that I will read, but one that I hope we will come to greater clarity on this morning as we look at it and seek to unpack it in some degree. But Isaiah 26, verses 3 and 4. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Let us pray. Father, I pray you would bless your word to our hearts this morning for Jesus' sake. In whose name I pray, amen. As I said, most of us are probably familiar with these verses. We've heard them read, we've read them, we've underlined them, we've looked upon them with favor and drawn encouragement from them. But how often do we profit from the application of them in our lives? How often do we actually walk, as we was talking earlier, by faith in these truths? We can have verses in our memory, we can, again, look upon them with delight in some degree, but when we close the book, how quickly we forget what we just read when we walk out the door. This and these verses I read are verses to be practically lived out. And there are, you might say, doing words in this, not just thinking words. We think about the mind being stayed upon the Lord contains more than just thinking about him from time to time or even predominantly. But as we see here, the word mind or the thoughts being stayed upon the Lord is connected vitally with trusting Him. And trusting is an active word. Trusting is not an idle word. Trusting is not just a thought, an abstract ideal. Trusting is something that moves you and animates you and changes the way we live, The choices we make, the reactions that we exhibit, all of these things come from a mind that's stayed upon Him and trust. So all that have a mind stayed upon God are also those who trust Him. So conversely, if our minds are not stayed on Him, we are not trusting Him. Right? That would be the flip side of the coin. For minds are stayed upon him, we are trusting him. For minds are not stayed upon him, that shows we are not trusting him, okay? We're not trusting him, but rather we are trusting some other person or thing or event or experience or hope so, proposition, which cannot provide true peace or love or power that is the lot of the Christian, that is the lot of the believer. Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 1. And as Paul writes to young pastor Timothy, he declares this to him in the opening of this letter, in which he will give him much counsel to help him and his pastor there at Ephesus. One of the first things he says in the opening of this letter is he declares unto Timothy what God has given, what kind of mind God has given the believer. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 7. Excuse me, that's not the one I was looking for. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7, the second letter. Notice what he says here in the opening of this second letter to Pastor Timothy. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Where'd that come from? We inherited that naturally. We're fearful people. John says that they who are not made perfect in love exhibit it by being fearful. Fear hath torment. Fear is what we see in Adam after he fell. He was afraid. God has not given us the spirit of fear. What has he given us? A mind of power, love, and soundness. That is the mind state upon the Lord. Power, love, soundness. That is a mind that is trusting in God. trusting in the God who cannot fail, trusting in the God who is with us when everyone else forsakes us, trusting in God regardless of what sight tells us, the information it feeds back to us. Trusting in God gives us true peace, love, and power. So how we rob ourselves by delighting in verses such as Isaiah 26, 3, and 4 and not actually living them in practice. Because this is something, as we've talked about before, that is not automatic. As we move through some of these other passages, we'll see we are called to do certain things to stay in this mind. To keep a mind stayed. And literally, to stay means to take hold of, to lay hold of, to lean upon. So again, action. You're called to do this. You don't just automatically wake up with it in the morning. It's not automatically there with you throughout the day. You're continually laying hold, grasping, striving for this way of thinking. Because once more, we don't live in a vacuum. Everything out there is appealing to your mind. Visually, audibly, it's seeking to take control or to get a part of your thought life. Think about this, desire this, focus on this, right? Can we all testify to that? How does our economy work? By presenting to your ears and eyes that which they want you to believe you need to have in order to be happy or fulfilled or efficient. what have you, add to the list. So our minds are constantly under bombardment and we have to strive with the discipline of a master athlete to keep our focus on the Lord and our trust on Him, right? Because when we fall away from that, when we are lazy, when we are not vigilant, we suffer the consequences of going back into that default of walking by sight and not by faith. And once you fall into that default in the day in which we live, in days past that other people have lived in, you are going to be defeated and discouraged, and you're not going to experience that joy and peace and love and power that the Christian has been given in Christ, right? So thou will keep, let's consider these verses back in Isaiah 26. If you're back there, if not, please turn back to Isaiah 26. So look at the words used here and what is brought out in these words themselves. Highlight it once more. Thou will keep, that is God. So the promise is God is the one keeping, that is to guard, to protect, to maintain us. So God is maintaining us. He's keeping us. He's guarding us. In perfect, that is in complete peace, that is complete safety and welfare, who's mine? Now here's the, you might say the requirement. Who is it that God is keeping? Those whose mind, it's interesting here the word mind is to mold into a form. The word translated mind in our Hebrew scriptures are from the Hebrew. So in other words, whose mind, whose pattern of thinking is stayed, see that pattern molded into a form? Let me bring in, interject right here what Paul says in Romans chapter 12, be not conformed to this world, its way of thinking, but be transformed by what? The renewing of your mind. He brings it back to the mind. The mind, as I've said so many times from this pulpit, is the battlefield. If I can get your mind, your body will follow. Correct? Does anybody deny that? The mind is the hill that must be taken in the war. If I can get your mind, the rest of you will follow. And so the Lord has promised to keep those in complete peace whose pattern of thinking is stayed that is, that has taken hold of, that is, that is leaning upon Him. He doesn't promise to keep you in perfect peace if this is not the case. Don't expect it. If you're seeking it in other persons, places, or things, He has not promised to keep you in perfect peace. because the misery that you will experience, the disappointment that you will experience, the letdown that you will experience is part of His grace as well to bring you back to getting your mind where it needs to be. If He blessed you in running after other people, places, and things, that would not be for your good and for my good. So He's not promised to give you peace unless your mind has stayed on Him. Because, notice, because, purpose, or why, why this is so. Why is the one whose mind stayed on God in perfect peace? Because he trusteth in thee. Again, those two go together. It's not just thinking nice thoughts about God. It goes beyond that. I'm trusting. And the word trust here in the Hebrew is to be confident, to be sure. So it's not, I think he's for me, I'm not really sure. From one day to the next, is God good and does he mean good toward me? This trust says God is good and he means good toward me. This trust is confident in God. This trust is confident in his relationship with God. And so think about it. It only makes sense. It's only reasonable. Someone who has this kind of confident, sure dependence and relationship with God, their mind, because of that love, is going to be drawn out to thinking on Him, to being stayed upon Him in their minds. He is my all in all. He is my redeemer. He is my protector. He is my provider. He is everything. He is, as we read about, my fortress, my bulwark. Whatever devils and men rage about, they can't overthrow what God has intended for me. They can't overthrow it. And you see that a trust, that trust is the foundation of being able to have a mind. If I don't trust the Lord, it's very unlikely that my mind's gonna be stayed on Him. Is He even going to be an appealing thought? Right? You see how that you can't drop one without, you can't have one without the other in this declaration here of the prophet Isaiah. The mind stayed on God is found in the one who trusts in Him. Trust, confidence, assurance, surety must be there. So the mind fixed on the Lord in assurance and confidence is a mind at peace and a life contented. How many contented people do you know? Are you one? Are you often discontented? Remember, God has not promised peace when your eyes and your mind and your trust is not in Him. So discontentment is a warning sign that we're on the wrong track. Discontentment is rampant in our culture today. And again, I'm not talking about the lost world. That's a given for them. That's a given for the lost. They're like the waves of the sea. They're never content. But those who sit in pews each Sunday are discontent. They're running after the same things, the same pleasures, the same desires. All the things that the world chases, they are not content. unless they have their flesh being ministered to. And of course, they can never be content even then because it only lasts temporarily. They always have to have another fix, another drug, another feeling. So the mind fixed on the Lord and assurance and confidence is a mind at peace and a life contented. Look at Romans chapter 8. Again, hold your place there in Isaiah and flip over to Romans chapter 8 and verse 6. Paul makes the stark contrast here between the natural, the fleshly mind, and the spiritual mind, the mind of the regenerate, the mind of the person born of the Spirit of God and dwelt by the Spirit of God. He says in verse 6 of Romans chapter 8, for to be carnally minded, that is naturally minded, fleshly minded, is death, misery, and trouble, and convulsion, and unsettledness. That is what is in the carnal-minded man. But to be spiritually minded, there again, spiritually minded is life and peace. Life and peace, what the natural man does not have. He's living in death. He does not know peace. There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God. Restless, troubled, discouraged, running from one pleasure to the next, trying to make it through life, working for the weekend. But the Christian, whether he is abounding materially or in poverty, is at peace. That's the person who is spiritually minded. And what is the definition of being spiritually minded? Having a mind state on thee. Having a mind state on him and trusting in him. That is the one who is trusting and confident in the Father's good providences, in the Father's leaders, in what the Lord has laid out for his work and his purpose and his destiny in this life and what is to come. It is the person who is trusting completely and is confident and sure of the inheritance he's marching toward. And so when I consider what I have in Christ, what can you do to me in this earth, even to the point of taking my physical life? So there's a peace. The mind is stayed on thee. Walking by faith, not walking by sight. But again, how often do we experience this? Let's be true, let's be honest with ourselves. How often do we experience this kind of peace and contentedness as professed believers? And that would take us back to the beginning. If we are not, that means we are not trusting in Him and therefore our minds are not stayed upon Him. See, we're getting down to the root of the problem. Peace has a reason, has a cause. Peace is unto those whose mind is stayed upon Him and who trust in Him. So why not? Why do we not experience this? Is it unbelief? Do we not believe what God has said in His Word? Do we not believe He is for us? Do we not believe we are saved? Do we not believe we have a perfect standing in His presence? Is it an undisciplined thought life, as I already touched on earlier, simply allowing the overtures of the world and sin and Satan and the flesh to come in and influence that mind and those thoughts? Is it an undisciplined thought life that robs us of this peace and this contentedness? I think in many instances that is true, certainly of us all. Or a lack of guarding the mind from that which draws us away from fellowship and confidence in God, which would tie in with the undisciplined thought life. A lack of guarding the mind from that which draws us away from fellowship and confidence in God. And again, I'm gonna harp on this because I've harped on it before, and if no one hears it, I can't control that. If we don't do it, I can't control that. But brothers and sisters, what we allow into the eye gate and the ear gate will affect your peace and will affect your mind being stayed on the Lord and your trust in the Lord. I've said that over and over and over again. In the society in which we live that is so entertainment saturated and driven, It is not innocent when images and words are allowed to come into the mind that faculty God has given us to commune with Him that are contrary to Him. It is not innocent. It is not innocent in what we watch, in what we hear, in what we read. It is not innocent. And all of us are guilty of it. And we wonder why we feel so cold and indifferent after we have partaken of those things. It's sowing and reaping. You reap what you sow. If you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption. You reap death. You reap uneasiness. You reap trouble. you reap restlessness, you reap discouragement, despondency. So we must guard what we allow to come into this mind that is designed to be stayed on God. We are so lazy in American culture. I can go to church for a couple hours on Sunday morning, and then fill my mind with garbage the rest of the week, and I should have the victorious Christian life. And we're surprised when it doesn't happen. Are we really that foolish? Garbage in, garbage out, I may have heard that in years past, whatever's inputted It's going to come out, it's going to affect the mind. And a couple hours of washing on Sunday morning from the Word is not going to overcome as soon as we go out the door or we start throwing mud back in it again. It takes effort to have such a mind. But the result of such a mind and such a trust is peace. Is peace and contentment. in this world that knows nothing about those two attributes. So a lack of guarding our mind. Look with me to Ephesians chapter 4. Again, continue to hold your place there in Isaiah. Ephesians chapter 4. Beginning with verse 22, as Paul writes to these believers in Ephesus, he gives them these words of instruction, of exhortation, telling them, again, to do something. Not just sit and think lofty thoughts on a bench somewhere. This is what you must actively pursue and do as believers in Christ. It is not automatic. Verse 22, that you put off concerning the former life, the old man. Notice he says, you gotta put him off. In a sense, in our position, he's dead, he's crucified, but in our experience, in our walk, you are still in a body of sin. You are still in the presence of sin. And you are called as believers, these Ephesian believers and us, to put him off daily, throughout the day. Put him off as he seeks to control, as he seeks to reign, as he seeks to direct. Put him off. Speak to yourself. You're dead. You have no voice here. You have no right here if we need to. Speak to ourself. Put off this former life, the old man, which is corrupt. Notice he says, which is corrupt. He is still corrupt. He's not one bit better than when you were converted. The old man, what you inherited from Adam, is corrupt. He doesn't say which was corrupt. He is corrupt. He's just as corrupt as he ever was. You gotta put him off. You gotta continue to put him off. You gotta be disciplined in your mind. according to the deceitful lust." These lusts are not flagrantly. They don't come to you and say, I'm here to destroy you. I'm here to keep you from having peace. I'm here to keep you from being content. No, they come as deceitful lusts. They come as lusts that say, I want you to enjoy yourself. I want you to have fun. I want you to lighten up a little bit. Just as Satan in the garden, I want to do what will further your cause. I want to help you along in the way. I am life. You're not living when it's actually death with a pretty mask on. So Paul warns them, these lusts are deceitful. It's part of your old man that is corrupt. What is another synonymous word of corruption? Death. decay, corruption, death, decay. Put it off, don't listen to it. And notice verse 23 reminds us of Romans 12. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Notice he brings the mind in here when he's telling them how to live. Starts with the mind. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Where do lusts begin? In the mind. Don't allow them to get a foothold. I think it was Martin Luther that said, you can't stop a bird from landing on your head, but you don't have to let it build a nest there. Right? We can't stop thoughts from darting into our head, but we immediately rebuke them and reject them. We don't sit there and let the wheels turn and let them germinate. Right? That's the call. And that you put on, verse 24, the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Put off, put on. Put off, put on. That's something I'm called to do. If it was just automatic when I woke up in the morning, there would be no need for this exhortation in Scripture. Corruption is still with you. And again, it's just as rotten as it always has been. It's not been reformed. It's not been cleaned up. It opposes God. It opposes godly thinking. And it's constantly there pushing against you. And you've got to push back. A lazy person doesn't want to push back. He just wants to lay there on the couch and everything be stuck in his mouth, right? He wants somebody to feed Him. He wants somebody to comfort Him and pamper Him. But the Christian life is one of warfare. It's one of battle. And God is telling us in His Word, if you want My peace, your mind's got to be stayed on Me. And you've got to trust Me. Explicitly and completely. If not, don't expect My peace. We're looking for feelings. I'm not saying there's not feeling in peace, but we shouldn't be looking for peace, we should be looking for God. We've all heard that before, right? We don't look for the gifts of God, we look for God. And as we are enamored with Him, those gifts come to us. Those experiences of peace come to us as I'm trusting in God. When I'm anchored in God, what naturally comes? I'm at peace. Why are you at peace, Tom? Because God's in control. I am His and He is mine. What can man do unto me? Peace. And God has said, peace. He's declared peace to my soul. In other words, He's not against me, He's for me. I've got peace. See, that's a mind that stayed on the Lord and is trusting in Him, and is walking by faith and not by sight. So the mind, its keeping and its transforming is central to a spiritual life and walk. I hope we all get that at this point. to a peace that passes understanding. That is the natural way of thinking. It passes understanding because the natural way of thinking is to walk by sight and feeling and sensual experience. So people say, how can you be at peace when everything's falling apart? It passes understanding. In this world, Jesus said, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. That's peace. The peace that Jesus experienced when he could be asleep in a boat when a storm was raging and water was splashing on him. You know some of those waves were coming in the boat to the point where these experienced fishermen who could swim were afraid that they were going to drown. And where was Jesus? He was asleep. He wasn't torn up. He wasn't excited. He wasn't worried. And so the mind stayed upon the Lord is at peace, a peace that passes understanding. Such a way of thinking and trusting must be daily pursued. Turn with me to Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four. Some of you already anticipate where we're going. Philippians chapter four. beginning with verse six. must be daily pursued. And again, not just at the beginning of the day, or the end of the day, or the middle of the day, but all throughout the day, we're to be in a mindset of prayer. Prayer is part of the way we keep our mind stayed upon Him, communing with Him. Philippians 4, beginning with verse 6, be careful for nothing, that is, be worried for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, there's that word supplication again, earnest and treaty, with thanksgiving, Let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." There's that connection again. As we're praying to Him, by the way, you're not making earnest entreaty to somebody who you don't trust. That would be foolish. Why are you praying to someone earnestly making a petition that you don't trust, that you don't have confidence and surety about? So someone who has this trust relationship with the Lord, prays and communes with him, and what is the result? The peace of God that passes all understanding, keeps you. What did we see in that promise in Isaiah 26? I will keep him in perfect peace. Same word, keep, keep, guard, protect, maintain. It's here in Philippians, to guard, to protect, to maintain. The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep us. Verse eight. And this, again, is part of that exhortation for us to do this throughout the day, daily. Finally, brethren, this is addressed specifically to the thought life. We've all read this, probably. But again, as I asked earlier, how often do we apply it practically in day-to-day living? Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Here's something we can use as a filter. Whatever approaches our eyes, our minds, or our ears seeking to get in our minds, we need to ask these questions. Is it these things? Anything that is seeking to gain time with our minds and our thought life has to come through these filters. Is it true? Is it honest? Is it just? Is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it of good report? Is it virtuous? Is there any praise? That's the filter we should use before we allow things to come into our minds and stay there. They hit that filter and they don't meet that requirement, you reject them. Put off the old man. Put off the world's overtures. Put off the deceitful lust. No, the filter says, the virus software says this is dangerous. Danger, the red light starts flashing. Don't let this into your mind. What if we all did that? What difference that would make in our peace or lack thereof? Those things which you have both learned, verse nine, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do. Don't just think about it, Philippian believers. Don't just think about it, people gathered here today. Do it. That's nice. I'd like to start doing that someday. Do it. And notice the promise. The God of peace shall be with you. If you do this, the God of peace will be with you. If you don't, He won't. You think we can justly say that in the converse, the flip of the coin again, like we said earlier? If you don't do these things that you've heard of me, by the Spirit of God speaking through the Apostle Paul, if you don't do them, don't expect peace. If you do, peace will be the result. Peace will be the result. So thinking, hearing, trusting, Paul brought out here in Philippians, leads to doing. Actually trusting leads to doing. Thinking, hearing, trusting leads to doing. The life is led by the Spirit of God in whom it confidently trusts and finds its contentment. And once more, if we are not content, if we are troubled, if we are discouraged, if we are down, it is revealing a deeper problem. I'm not trusting God. I'm not trusting God. And then finally, it requires fighting the good fight of faith. Go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. So I've got a couple more passages here before we close this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. verses 3-5, the apostle Paul being accused of being a false teacher, of walking according to the flesh, of warring according to the flesh, of maybe even seeking to establish his own following or build his own church or build his own empire. He answers that false accusation and that slander in chapter 10, verse 3. Notice what he says, for though we walk in the flesh, I acknowledge we are men, we walk around in a human body, we are walking in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. Another place he says, we have no confidence in the flesh. We do not war in our own, whatever our natural innate abilities might be. Verse four, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or natural, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And notice what he starts touching on next when he talks about strongholds. Casting down imaginations. and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God," mind state on him, knowing God, trusting God, everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, which is what your flesh is going to continually try to do, and the world, and the devil, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. which would bring Philippians 4 or 8 back into play, bringing everything, catching it in that screen, catching it in that net, bringing every thought into captivity. Is this pure? Is this lovely? Is this righteous? Is this virtuous? All those things he lists there. Bring it into captivity, capturing it, not allowing it to run and roam in the mind. bringing every thought under the sovereignty of Christ, under His rule. The vital importance of that. 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Beginning with verse 13. Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind." Have that imagery of someone girding up those long garments so that they can run the race, so they can run in battle, they can fight. Again, we're in battle. So he gives the imagery of a soldier girding up those long garments so he will not be tripped. He will not have a hindrance there. He said, gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober. and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. There's a focus, there's a spiritual mind in this. As Hebrews says, you're looking to the author and finisher of your faith. You have a gaze fixed upon him. The mind is focused on something and it can't be torn away from it. It's discipline. As obedient children, not fashioning, molding, conforming yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance. Your mind drove you into all these ways of death before, but that is your former life. That is the old man that you're called to put off daily. But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of living." And where does our living start? It starts right here. What I desire, what my attitudes are, what I want, what I'm listening to, what I'm seeing, what I'm allowing to ferment in my mind. I can't have peace without God's way of attaining peace. And finally, consider Jesus, who has gone before us in this battle as a real man, assaulted with things, thank God, that we will never be assaulted with. Nevertheless, in the likeness of sinful flesh. The last portion I want to look at is Hebrews chapter 12, and we will close with this. Hebrews chapter 12. Encouragement for us as we fight this fight, to keep our minds and our trust stayed upon Him. There's one who went before us, Captain of our salvation. We continually consider Him. Verse 1 of chapter 12, Wherefore seeing we all saw her come past about was so great a cloud of witnesses, that is these witnesses to the life of faith, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, because this corruption is still there with us, we're still living in this body of sin. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Patience. This is a patient race. As we've heard before, I'm sure, if we've been in church at any time, it's a long-distance race. It's a marathon. You gotta run it patiently. Looking unto Jesus, here's the word of the author, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. For the joy that is set before you endure this life. But you have to believe you have that joy set before you before you're going to endure it. You have to have a sure trust. "...despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint." Where? In your minds. Consider, continually consider, as your mind has stayed on Him, what He endured, lest you become defeated in your mind, and fall down, and give up. Consider what Jesus... because notice what He says next, verse 4, "...He have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sand, like He did." He laid down His life. Literally laid down His life. You have not yet resisted unto blood. Therefore, do not faint in your minds. Do not faint. Do not be defeated. Do not be despondent. Do not fall down. Do not quit. Do not give up. Consider Jesus, author and finisher of your faith. And also acknowledge the reality that yes, you are in a hard fight. an unrelenting daily fight to capture your mind, and to get it off of God, and to get it off of your identity, and to get it off of complete, confident trust in Him. And to get you to walk by sight, and not by faith. All through the day, every day, as long as you and I are on this earth, here's the reality of the situation. That fight is going to rage. And we need one another to push and to prod and to stir up one another to walk by faith. And we are called, when we are apart from one another, to keep our mind state on Him. To continually be cleaving to Him, laying hold of Him, because of trusting in Him. If we don't have the trust, that's got to be made right first. And the mind will follow. If we are trusting in Him, if we are confident, if we are sure in Him and our relationship with Him, the mind will follow. We will be delighting in Him. We will be seeking to walk in His precepts. And we will know peace. Otherwise, we will not. We will not. There is no other way to peace. What is the hymn? Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. There is truth in those words. Trust. If you trust Him, what do you want to do? You want to do what He says to do. Because you believe what He says to do is best, and is good, and is right, and is the way of life, and joy, and purpose, and meaning. Because you know He's for you, not against you. There's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. But how few know that today. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this wonderful Lord's Day that you have graced us with. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your faithful love. Thank you for your patience with us. We are all guilty of unbelief. We are all guilty of walking by sight. We are all guilty of leaning to our own understanding. We are all guilty of listening to people. of listening to this world, of listening to feelings. Father, because of the blood of Christ, I ask for forgiveness, knowing that you are faithful and just to forgive us if we will confess. And I confess my own wrong thoughts and wrong thought patterns. Lord, I pray that each one here today would make that same confession. For Jesus' sake and for our eternal good, Let's stand together.