I invite you to take your Bibles and please turn to Exodus chapter 34 for our Old Testament reading. Exodus chapter 34. Just one verse Exodus 34 verse 10 here the word of God And he said behold I am making a covenant before all your people. I will do marvels such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation and All the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you Now, these words are echoed for us in our New Testament reading, Luke chapter 13, verses 10 through 17. Luke chapter 13, verses 10 through 17. It would be good for us to remember, for some of us, it's been a little bit just where we are before we read this. Earlier in Luke 13, Jesus reminded the disciples and the crowds that the time is short. You never know when you'll breathe your last breath, so repent or risk perishing. And then in verses six through nine, there was a parable of a fig tree who had just one more year to bear fruit before it would be cut down to bear the fruit. And this was about Israel. They had a little bit more time to bear the fruit of repentance. So now then, as we come to Luke 13, verses 10 through 17, we can listen for this. We can ask ourselves, will the religious leaders listen? Or will they completely miss the fact that the king that is bringing the kingdom is standing right in front of them? So Luke 13, verse 10. Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and behold, there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your disability. And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, there are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. Then the Lord answered him, you hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, who Satan bound for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endures forever. Let's pray. Lord God, help us this morning to know your ways. Teach us your paths. Lead us into your truth. for teach us, for you are the God of wisdom, you are the God of our salvation, and it is for you and for this wisdom that we wait all the day long through Christ our Lord, amen. You may be seated. All right, well, I know the first sermon of a new year, it's supposed to be exciting, it's supposed to be uplifting, but we're gonna start with some bad news. Bad news for 2023. All of us have a disease, and this disease is known as change blindness. A New York Times article describes this malady as writing this and describing what change blindness is. It's the frequent inability of our visual system to detect alterations to something staring us right in the face. So if you still don't understand what it is, you're going to in a minute. So the next time this happens to us, and by the way, I know that I'm talking to the men and the kids more than the women because we are admittedly more afflicted by this malady here. But when you can't find your keys, your wallet, or whatever item that it is and it's sitting right there in front of you, this is what you have. Or kids, you can't find that whatever it is you're looking for in the refrigerator and it's right in front of your face. Well, now I have good news for you. You can just say, look, I just have changed blindness. I need help. There's nothing I can do about it, right? You have a built-in excuse now. Change blindness, though, it's not just restricted to this material world, to the things that are really there, but it's also a good illustration of those things that we can't see. There's a form of spiritual change blindness. And this happens to us when a spiritual reality or a spiritual truth is staring us right in the face, but we just can't understand it. We can't see it. We can't grasp it. Oftentimes this happens to us as the Lord is working and King Jesus is ruling and reigning right in front of us, doing things right before our eyes, but we miss it and we can't see it. Well, that's what's happening in our passage this morning. When Jesus heals this poor woman, the great compassion and mighty victory of the kingdom of God is on full display here. but the religious leaders completely miss it. They just can't see it. So we're gonna reflect on this. And as we go through the passage, first, we're going to see evidence of kingdom compassion. Second, we're going to see evidence of kingdom victory. And then third, we'll spend a few minutes addressing some of the reasons why we often are those who miss what's going on and can't see Christ's compassion and victory. So evidence of kingdom compassion, evidence of kingdom victory, and then our spiritual blindness. So in verse 10, we see the setting here. We find Jesus is teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. So as we read about what happens next, we should think of these events like they're occurring perhaps in the middle of our Sunday school or in the middle of a sermon during worship this happens. And as Jesus is teaching on what I'm sure he's teaching on his favorite topic, the coming of the kingdom of God and the need to get ready for it. That's what he's been talking about before this passage. In God's providence, the perfect opportunity to give some concrete evidence that Jesus really is the promised Christ is actually in attendance in worship that morning. She's there. In verse 11, we read, and behold, there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. So here's a woman here in the synagogue who had some sort of spiritual ailment that was caused by demonic power. She was oppressed by the power of evil. And no doubt she was in pain because she couldn't stand up straight. And this had been going on for 18 long years. Now, I'm sure she was well-known. I don't think there were a lot of commuter synagogues back in the day. You would go to your local one. They know her. They know her situation. And her situation was one of constant misery, constant physical misery, and constant spiritual oppression by the evil one. One commentator described her situation saying she was stooped over in pain, and her disability affected everything in her life. It limited her capacity for work. It disturbed her nighttime rest, hindered her relationships, and prevented her from holding her head up high. Now I'm sure we could certainly go on and describe in more detail just how hard her life must have been and how it must have been a great temptation for her to despair and to lose all hope and to be bitter. But I think we get it. And I know especially anyone here that has a sickness for a really long time or a chronic pain or some serious health issue, I'm sure that you can certainly relate to this woman and how hard her life must have been. And yet, as hard as her life has been, here she is, faithfully attending worship, looking to God for help through the ordinary means of grace. So she must have been then a woman of great faith and great hope because this had been going on for nearly two decades and she's still going to synagogue. And today on this Sabbath, the compassion of the king of the kingdom would be poured out upon her. In verses 12 and 13, we read this. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, woman, you are freed from your disability. And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and she glorified God." Now, this is an incredible story on so many levels. You can just sense the Lord's compassion toward this poor woman. Jesus first notices her. He sees her. He sees her pain. And then he addresses her and calls her over to him. He calls her over to him. Well, why doesn't he go over there? She can hardly walk. Well, he knows each step is hard. Well, perhaps Jesus calls her over so that all can be reminded of what's about to happen here and see the evidence and they can be reminded of her spiritual condition. And we can only imagine, not just what the people sitting there were thinking, but what about this woman as she got closer and closer to Jesus with each painful shuffle. She's walking bent over in front of everyone. We think we would probably be embarrassed, but not her. She knows that Jesus was famous. She knows that he has healed many and perhaps, just perhaps, he would heal her as well this day. Would he do it? She must have been filled with great fear as she approached, but also great hope. And then in the presence of all, King Jesus speaks the most beautiful words this woman has ever heard. Woman, you are freed from your disability. And as he said these words to her, he laid his kind, compassionate, and almighty hands upon her. And immediately she was healed and stood up and praised God. I would love to know what those words were. Perhaps they were something along the lines of Exodus 2. The people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God, and God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. God knew her suffering, and He rescued her that day. Well, whatever words that they were that she praised God with, they were filled with all joy and thanksgiving for she was free. She was free from her disability. And even more importantly, she was free from the tyranny of the devil. What a joyous day this must have been for this woman, for her family, and for her friends. And brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is a picture of Christ's great kingdom compassion on us poor sinners as well. For until Christ rescued us from our sin and misery, this is who we were in soul, bent over in sin and oppressed by the enemy, the evil one. We were unable to live. We were unable to lift our heads, to even look to Christ for salvation. And yet before the foundation of the world, Jesus didn't just see us and our need, he chose us to be his. And in his time, he called to us, preaching the gospel of grace to us, calling us to repent. And then he laid more than his healing hands upon us. He laid the Holy Spirit upon us, straightening out our crooked wills by giving us a new heart so that we might actually be able to hear, to come, to receive, to believe, and to be made new. Praise King Jesus for his compassion to broken sinners. a compassion without end. And this compassion without end is available to every single person who repent and believe in Jesus Christ. When we see ourselves in this woman, we must stand up and praise God as she did. And we get the opportunity to do this each and every Lord's day. We think it just maybe perhaps is a better posture or we need to stand up when we're worshiping because we get stiff or tired. Well, there's even more to the posture of when we stand to sing. We stand to sing on the Lord's day. When we do, let us remember how Jesus had compassion and freed this woman from sin and tyranny in body and soul. And immediately she stood up and praised God. So then that when we stand to sing and praise God, may we be reminded of this and what Christ has done for us and making us able to stand up and praise Him. And may our songs then and our voices be that much louder and filled with all the thanksgiving that we can surely muster. The mercy of Christ, his compassion is truly without end. Praise God. However, there are some people who are eyewitnesses to Christ's kingdom compassion and his victory over evil, but they just can't see it. And instead of responding with praise, they respond with self-righteousness. They are blinded by their legalism. This is what happened in the synagogue on that day. In verse 14, we read this. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, there are six days with which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, not on the Sabbath day. Come on. Well, here was a woman who suffered for nearly 20 years, who was freed from her misery, and instead of seeing that and rejoicing, this man was irate in his self-righteousness. He said out loud, by the way, not even just under his breath or to himself or his own heart, essentially, you can't work on the Sabbath. This lady could have been healed tomorrow. After all, she waited 18 years. What's one more day? See, this man viewed the law of God as an end in itself, as a formula to follow. He did not understand that the whole goal and point of the law is love for God and love for your neighbor. And as a result, he was legalistic and heartless. And so he missed out. He missed out on the evidence of the kingdom's compassion and of its power over evil. He missed out on Christ's compassion and his power over evil that was on display right there in front of him that morning. Well, Jesus doesn't let this slide. He responds quickly and to the point. You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? Jesus is saying if your animal has needs, if your animal's in danger, you'll work to save your animal, even if it's the Sabbath day. Isn't this woman who's a fellow daughter of Abraham infinitely more valuable than your animals? You value your animals more than you value this woman. Your priorities are backwards. The devil bound her for 18 years and now she's freed. Do you really think she should have spent one more day in misery and in chains? Do you really think that? And besides, she's loosed on the Sabbath. Isn't the Sabbath about freedom and restoration and rest? Isn't that what the Sabbath truly points to? The Sabbath was a day of rest. And the Sabbath principle in scripture was not just about resting from work, but it was about restoration. It was about freedom. Restoration and freedom is pictured when Israel was to have the year of Jubilee, which I'm not sure they ever had it, but maybe they did, where lands were returned to the family that originally owned them. They had to pay it off for debt or whatnot. And then eventually after seven sets of seven years, seven Sabbaths, the land was returned to the original owners. or they sold themselves into slavery to pay debt. Well, they were freed or they had other debts. All those debts were discharged on the Jubilee, on that special Sabbath. The experts in the law should have seen that this Sabbath healing was a picture of Sabbath freedom, where there is rest, healing, and where all evil is conquered and undone. the ruler of the synagogue missed the purpose of this Sabbath miracle. This Sabbath miracle was done here to show evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, who is king, king of the kingdom. And as king of the kingdom, he's the one who undoes all the effects of the fall and who conquers Satan and all evil. This Sabbath miracle doesn't show us that it's okay to do good works on the Sabbath. It's certainly an illustration of that. But what it's here for, in the midst of all this kingdom teaching, kingdom teaching before it, and kingdom teaching after it, is to proclaim to us that Christ is the King of the Kingdom. And as King of the Kingdom, He is victorious. And He was victorious through His resurrection and His ascension. He proved that He conquered sin, death, and even hell itself for us. That's what this Sabbath miracle points to, and that's what every miracle that Jesus performs in the New Testament points to. It points forward to His resurrection and His kingly rule and His kingly reign. It reminds us of Christ's complete victory over all evil. This healing is a preview of what we'll see when Christ comes again, coming to conquer evil. And this is what that will look like. Revelation chapter 19 verses 11 through 16. that I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, or crowns, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's what we are to see here in the Sabbath miracle as this woman is freed from the tyranny of the devil. Jesus is the conquering King that frees her. And in his resurrection power, he comes and he will come again to execute judgment upon all his enemies. That's the savior we have. That's who's standing before us this morning. And that's what they should have seen. That's what was standing before them that day in the synagogue. They should have seen it. They should have recognized it. Jesus with all the compassion and victorious power of the kingdom of God was right in front of them, right in front of them, but they missed it. They couldn't see it. Their legalism and their own desires on how the kingdom should come and what it should look like, it made it so they just couldn't even see it. We wonder how could they? How could they not see it? Well, before we're too hard on them, we know that it's through the spirit of God that our eyes are opened and that we see. But even as Christians who should be able to see, sometimes we miss it. Sometimes we miss the compassion and the victory of the kingdom. Sometimes we just don't see it. So we should ask ourselves this morning, am I missing it? What am I missing? And if I'm missing it, What is keeping me from seeing and fully enjoying the compassion that Christ brings and has done unto me? And what is keeping me from resting safely and comfortably in his complete victory over evil? What is it? What's in our way? Why are we missing it? Well, there's a list of potential things and that list could be endless. We know that our own idolatry certainly gets in our way. We know that our own unrealistic expectations of what God should do in our life gets in our way. But there's kind of two that I think are maybe more in our way these days than others. One is our obsession with ourself gets in our way. See, the world tells us that when we wake up each morning, our goal is to do whatever we can for it so that we are the happiest. What gives us the most personal pleasure and enjoyment. We're saying, what's most pleasurable? What should I do this morning with my time? What's going to bring me the most comfort? What's going to be the easiest way I can go? What can I do to avoid pain, to avoid things that are hard and at all costs? What can I do for that? Well, what do I want to do and how can I do that and be true to myself? ourselves are getting in the way. And when we hear that, as soon as we hear it, we know it's wrong, but we can't help it sometimes. Because we also breathe the air of this world, and we are affected by it, whether we want to be or not. We can't help but think at times we are the center of our own universe. Just about any time that you're frustrated with anyone else, and it's not because they sinned against you, it's because you think you're the center of your own universe. It's getting in the way. There's something in the way of us seeing the kingdom work of Jesus. There's something in the way and it's us. We're in the way. Or perhaps another one, I think right now that gets in our way is that we constantly pursue spectacles. We want to see and experience great things or emotional highs or even emotional lows and spectacles and distractions get in our way. We want to be constantly entertained so we're not bored. We want to constantly have our minds engaged in something that's really cute. or really funny, or that makes us think in ways we never thought before, or that gets our indignation up. How could they? Or something that's really shocking, or we want to be just in awe of something amazing. I can't believe I just saw that, and we feed that to ourselves over and over again. Well, if we're feeding ourselves all those things, we're not having time to feed ourselves the things of Christ, better things. This could be in our way. That's why we're missing it. Our brains are full of those things. Our hearts are full of those things. Now we can't possibly list everything that's in our way, but there's something in our mind, in our heart that often keeps us bent over like this woman and looking down at the things of this world or even at ourselves. that keeps us disabled and oppressed by evil, even though we are born again and have life in Jesus Christ. Well, I don't know what it is for everyone. We can only figure out what it is for ourselves. But may the Spirit of God reveal what it is to each of us here this morning that's getting in our way. I don't know exactly what it is that might be getting in your way from fully seeing and experiencing kingdom, mercy, and victory that is already yours in Christ. But whatever it is, I can tell you how to break free from it. We want more love for thee, O Christ, don't we? We sing of this, we do. Well, Paul tells us how to get it. One place he tells us is Colossians chapter three. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you will also appear with Him in glory. Here it is. Whatever's in your way, here's how to get it out of your way. Seek the things that are above. Set your minds on things that are above. Look up and look to Christ who's seated at the right hand of God the Father. And remember, that you're united to Him and you're seated with Him there, and when He comes again in judgment, you're going to appear with Him in glory. That's a lot better than any earthly spectacle we can take in or even think of. The Spirit of God has enabled us to break free from what keeps us crippled and bent over spiritually, free so that we might stand up straight, look up to glory, and praise God. If we really say that we want more love for Thee, O Christ, then we need more Christ. Doesn't that make sense? You want to love God more? You want to delight in Christ more? Well then you need more of Him. So how do you get that? How do you get more Christ? Where do you find Him? Well, the typical Sunday school answers work really well here. The Bible, God, prayer, church, right? Those answers, by the way, always work and are always good answers. But this morning, I'm going to suggest that church is especially the appropriate answer. How do we get more love for Christ? Here at church, hearing the teaching and preaching of our Savior, hearing our Savior speak to us through the preaching of the word of God, hearing words of comfort and words of correction so that we might see clearly and then reorder the desires of our hearts and have our minds lifted up unto glory. That happens here through the teaching and preaching ministries of the church. in a special way that is more than us reading books on our own and podcasts and whatnot. Those are good things. But this is the best thing here. It's here at church where we can get the focus off of ourselves. and direct our praise to God who has loved us and saved us. It's here where we can get the focus off of ourselves and look out to other people, other people that need our love, our kind words, our prayers, our encouragement. It's to them that we can minister to. That's how we get our eyes off ourself and our eyes on our savior is look to minister in the body of Christ. It's here at church that we see and experience the great event and the most impressive spectacle that the world has ever known. Through the preaching of the Word of God, we see Christ crucified and raised. And the Lord gives us visual sermons, He gives us baptism, He gives us the Lord's Supper, where He makes His grace known and real to us through all of our senses. These things here in this place that can only happen at church as we're gathered together, they're infinitely better at lifting our minds and hearts to heaven than even say the best new series, and I don't watch these, and by the way, I'm just gonna say it, and we can talk about it later if you want. I don't think you should watch them either. I think it's commandment violations and other things, but here's it's getting at why, okay? And again, I'm going to open that can of worms, and then I'm just going to close it. And hopefully, the main point's not lost. But why not? I can see it on a two-dimensional movie. Or what about a really cool VR program that could put me right in the first century and see actors playing Jesus and whatnot. That would really be something. That would be an experience. That would lift up my faith. Man, that would make church more exciting. I would feel like I was there. Well, these man-made imagined things, they all claim to be amazing, and they are impressive, I'm sure. They claim to be amazing spiritual aids. This is how we reach the culture. This is how we really tell people about Jesus. But my friends, this pales in comparison to what we have here. The preaching of the word of God, the administration of the sacraments, the communion of saints, for it's here that we get to see, hear, touch, feel, and do, and participate in the story of redemption each and every Lord's day. This is what we're doing here. It's so much better than those other things. Now if you have a hard time believing or experiencing this, like how can this be better than those things? It's probably because we're still too bent over and filling our spiritual and emotional appetites up with the distractions and the junk food of this age. But think of it like our stomachs. How much food can you eat? I made a really good tri-tip last night. I wanted to eat the whole thing. I'll tell you all about how I made it later. But I wanted to eat that whole thing. There's only so much room in my stomach, right? And only so much that I should responsibly eat. There's only so much room in there. Well, there's only so much room in our minds. There's only so much room in our hearts. There's only so much emotional capacity that we have in general. If we're spending our time bent over looking at the things of the world too much, whether it's our idols or our possessions or the constant news cycle or getting really angry about this or upset about that or looking to be constantly entertained, we're filling up our spiritual stomachs and there's no room then for the great things that we do here. Perhaps that's why. It's not that the God-ordained things are ineffective or that they're boring. Perhaps it's that we're eating too much before we come here on those other things. We have limited capacities even in those areas. We can't just limitlessly take in things with our eyes and our ears and our emotions forever and ever. We need to replace some of those things We need to replace some of those things with what happens here. So brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is my main plea or charge this morning for 2023. Let's make sure that we don't miss the kingdom work of Christ. Make sure we don't miss it. Let us fill ourselves as much as possible, as much as we can. Let us gorge ourselves on Christ here. More love for Christ means less love for the temporary things of the world. And that also means more kingdom blessings for us. So I would encourage each of us to think about how we can experience and be even more blessed by kingdom blessings this coming year through the ordinary ministries of Yuma OPC. Your members here, you're here. This is the spiritual diet that the Lord has for you because this is what you need. Let's make sure we don't miss it. The Lord has provided all of us here. And I know that a majority of you take part in almost all of these things. So I'm talking to those of you on the fringes that are doing the minimum. I'm pretty sure you're not happy and that you're not fulfilled, but that you also want more of Christ. Well, something has to give them. Something has to change in your priorities and what you're doing and the way that you're living your life. And here are many opportunities for you here in this place each Lord's Day to come and hear things in Sunday school. We're going to hear how Christ rules his church and governs it. There's going to be a Westminster Confession study starting twice a month. We have a small group study going through Philippians on Sunday nights where there's teaching and fellowship and prayer together. The Lord's providing you with all of these opportunities to get more of Christ. And he's provided opportunities to get eyes off ourselves and to serve one another. In fact, we have a place on the board over there. I mean, some of the new papers, it looks a little empty right now, but we have plenty of opportunities to serve there. We need people to do these things and to make it nice for visitors and other people to fellowship here. So pick something. We have tons of fellowship here. Every single Lord's Day, people stay forever if you didn't know that. They stay for a long time. There are fellowship meals here. You know, and I know we always have a great crowd, but I always feel bad for the people that just leave. And I know sometimes we all have things we need to do or sicknesses or responsibilities, I get that. But there's some people that never stay. And I'm not saying you need to stay for the fellowship meal and if you're not, you're in sin. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is I'm sad because you're missing out. And we're missing out because you're not there. if you want to experience more kingdom blessings. Is there anyone here this morning that doesn't want more love for Christ? You've got enough. Is there anyone here this morning that says, please, Lord, stop. I have enough kingdom blessings. I just don't want any more. Is anyone doing that here this morning? No, we're not. So if you want to experience more love for thee, O Christ, more love for each other, you want more kingdom blessings, then take advantage of something for 2023. Reorder something in your life. We have visitors here from other places. Do something that you're not already doing at your church. Serve in a way that you haven't yet. Or join one study and give it a year and see what happens. If you want more love for Christ and more love for each other, then you have to come here. And you have to participate. There's no other way around it. You can't keep saying, I wish I was holier. I wish I loved God more. I wish I had closer relationships at church. And then just do the minimum. You'll never get more of those things if you just do the minimum. The Lord will sustain you certainly. He will certainly sustain you. But if you wanna flourish, if you wanna grow in love for God and one another, take advantage of these things that are offered here at this place. Don't miss out on kingdom blessings in 2023 by doing the minimum. Gorge yourself on every opportunity that's offered. Or at least pick something. And then maybe you'll pick something else the next year, and before you know it, your life will be full. This is how we seek the things above. This is how we set our minds on Christ. We show up. That's pretty simple. That's a lot simpler even than a year-long Bible reading plan that you fall behind on, right? Those are good. Do those. But those are hard. This is easy. Just show up. Just be present. and your love for Christ will increase, your love for one another will increase, and your kingdom blessings will increase. So let us use this opportunity of the new year to do a little bit of self-reflection, a little bit of recalibration. I know we can't just add things to our schedule. I'm not asking you to do that. We can't just add stuff. We're all busy enough, and we don't need the guilt of you should do more. We don't need that. What I'm saying is get rid of something. Get rid of something and replace it with something that Christ offers through his church. So in 2023, may the Spirit of God work in us to increase our spiritual appetite for heavenly things this upcoming year. And praise our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for having compassion on us by causing us to stand up straight so that we might look up and praise our God every day all the year long. Let's pray. Oh, Lord God, we thank you. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for our salvation. And we thank you that you are a God who just is so faithful and just even, I would say, reverently can't stop pouring out blessings upon your people. We thank you for all the blessings you give us, but we want more. Lord, help us to order our lives in ways that are pleasing to you so that we might enjoy you more and enjoy one another. In Christ's name, amen. Well, we get to participate in one of those things, one of these ways now that the Lord continues to feed us.