Our Old Covenant reading is from Psalm 138. So if you would turn with me in your Bible to Psalm 138, we'll be reading the whole psalm. And in reverence for the Word of God, let us stand together as His Word is read. Psalm 138. A Psalm of David. I will praise You with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to You. I will worship towards Your holy temple and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth. For You have magnified Your Word above all Your name. In the day when I cried out, You answered me. You made me bold with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth. Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Though the Lord is on high, yet he regards the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands." Our New Covenant reading is from Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3. We'll be reading v. 12-4. Philippians 3.12-4. Not that I have already attained or am already perfected. but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do. For getting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. And if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind. Brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. All flesh is as the grass, and all man's glory is like the flower. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God abides forever. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. He hated Christians. He despised their doctrine. He considered their words blasphemous. He was persuaded that the things they were saying were destructive to people and led them astray. He despised Christians. He even had authority given to him from the authorities to arrest them to bring them into bondage and return to Jerusalem with them where they could be executed. He'd been given permission to go to Damascus to find them, search them out, and bring them back. But on the way to Damascus, a great light appeared and Christ spoke to him saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Saul fell down on his face and said, who are you, Lord? And the voice said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. So trembling and astonished, Paul was subdued. And he looked up and he said, what do you want me to do? When Paul was apprehended by the Lord Jesus Christ, he was not looking for Christ. He was not desiring Christ. He was at enmity with Christ and hated him and hated his people. and wanted them to be destroyed. If he had seen the Lord Jesus Christ, he would have wanted him to be crucified again. But God in his sovereign power, the Lord Jesus Christ in his sovereign power, reached down and grabbed the apostle Paul, laid hold of him and said, you will serve me. And he says, Lord, what do you want me to do? And that's what the Lord does kindly to sinners who are in rebellion against Him. He lays hold of them. He apprehends them. And our proper response is the same response as the Apostle Paul. Lord, what do you want me to do? I am yours. The Apostle Paul in this letter to the Philippians is talking about what the Lord Jesus wants us all to do. what he has in mind for us, what his goal is for us, what is the focus that he wants us to have. And I believe we were all apprehended. I think what Paul's clearly teaching here is that we were apprehended by Christ so that we could apprehend Christ. We were laid hold of by Christ. He laid hold of us so that then we would seek to lay hold of Him and ultimately lay hold of Him in such a way that we share in everything that He is and everything that He has. That we would grasp Him and cling to Him and He would give us Himself. And by having Him, we would have both His sufferings in this world But then we would also have the resurrection to life, that eternal life with Him forever in joy and gladness. Now the Apostle Paul wants that resurrection power. Just in the verses before we read, he says he wants to know Him, verse 10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. being conformed to His death. He is willing to be conformed to death for the sake of Christ, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." That's the focus. He wants to be raised up in a glorious body into the presence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that is His desire. And he's willing to do whatever it takes, including suffer and die for Christ if he could only have that resurrected life with him. So Christ has laid hold of you just for the same reason he laid hold of Christ. I mean, laid hold of the Apostle Paul so that you might pursue him, that you might seek him. If you're a Christian and he has apprehended you, he has caught you, he has laid hold of you, he wants you to pursue him. Apostle Paul says, I haven't yet attained that. I haven't yet attained that perfection which I seek, but I tell you what, I'm pressing on. And he says, I don't count myself, verse 13, to have apprehended. But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward toward those things which are ahead." He's reaching forward. He's not looking back. This is a racing metaphor here. Your coach, if you're in racing, he says, don't look back. Don't look beside you. Focus on the finish. Focus on the end of the race. The Apostle Paul is using that imagery. I don't look back. I've not yet reached the goal, but I'm pressing on towards that goal, moving, he says, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's the prize he hopes to attain, that upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He wants the Lord Jesus who is risen and he wants to be risen with him. But notice, this is not a passive thing. It's not a passive waiting to be raised. He's very active. He's using active words and the racing metaphor. He's not just passively waiting to be raised from the dead. He is pressing on. He wants to lay hold of Christ. He's going toward the prize. He's not looking back. He's moving forward. And that's what Christ has called you to do. He's grasped you. He's laid hold of you. Now you pursue Him. Pursue Him with all your heart. Don't look back. Don't look back longingly. Don't look back at anything behind you. Look forward to Him. Christians are forward-oriented people. We are looking ahead, looking to Christ. So if you're a Christian, you should be making progress in your walk with God. You should be moving toward Christ, becoming more and more like Christ. That's what He desires for you. That's what He's called you to, to pursue perfection in Him. So that's the mindset. That's the mindset that you should have. Is that your mindset? Is that what your goal is? Are you saying, yes, I want Christ, I want Him above all, and I am pursuing Him. He says, if you're mature, that's what you want. Look at verse 15. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, this attitude. That's the attitude we're to have. We were apprehended. Christ has grasped us. We want to grasp him. Christ has called us. We want to go to be with him. We're moving in that direction. We want to see Christ and be with him and be raised with him. And he says, if in anything you think otherwise, you got some other mindset? Are you thinking otherwise? Are you thinking something different? No, that's not what I'm after. If you think otherwise, the Apostle says to the Philippians, God will reveal even this to you. I think it's an interesting attitude for the Apostle Paul. He says, say you're not convinced. Say some of you Philippians aren't convinced that really this ought to be your mindset, that you want to be like Christ, that you want to be with Christ. Well, God will reveal it to you. And He's patient with them. He bears with them. He'll make it known. He'll make it clear to you if you're His, that that's what you're supposed to be about. And we're supposed to walk together in this reality, in this truth, with this mindset. Look at verse 16. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind. Paul assumes that you as Christians want to grow in Christ, and he wants you to grow together. We don't grow in isolation. We don't grow separated, alone, hiding in a closet somewhere. We grow as a people, and we're supposed to grow together as a people. He wants us to walk together, to walk by the same rule, to be of the same mind. What is the rule? Well, we know the rule. The same rule which we are all to walk by is the Word of God. We're to walk together in accord with that Word of God and we're to be walking in the same direction toward Christ. Walking according to His rule, being of the same mind. We have been apprehended by Christ. Now we seek to apprehend the mind of Christ. We want to have His mind. Now the thing that makes it difficult is that we're not all at the same place. We're not all thinking Christ's thoughts after Him. We're in different places in the Christian life. It's inevitable in the church that some are walking more closely with Christ than others. Some have a mind that is like the mind of Christ, and it's more like the mind of Christ than our mind. And there are different people at different places in the church. But he says, nevertheless, to the degree that we've already attained, to that degree that we've attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind. We're not going to be at the same place, but let us strive for that. Try to be of one mind. Do you realize that, what the Apostle wants for you? He wants everybody here to be thinking alike. He wants us all to think alike. He wants us all to think alike according to a rule. He wants us all to be of the same mind. He wants us all to think according to the word of God, to be brought into conformity in our hearts and our minds to this good word. Christ has laid hold of you for that. He wants to make you more like himself. And Paul wants them to dwell together in this unity and to grow in godliness. Now this Word, the Word of God, is the rule that helps us become unified. We know that the Lord Jesus wants us to be of the same mind, but that does not mean we get to pick whose mind we think like. You aren't all supposed to think like some other mind here. Some human mind here is not the Pope, and everybody needs to think like the Pope. We're supposed to think like the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to adopt His mindset. We are to have the mind of Christ. He talks about that earlier in chapter 2, how we're to have the mind of Christ, and let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That's the mind He wants us to have that sought the best interests of others, not just His own selfish interests. He wants us to have the mind of Christ. But we know sometimes we don't. Sometimes there's disagreements among us. Sometimes there's disunity. We have differences of opinion. We have different values. Some value things more than others. And when we have that disagreement, it is sad, and it's a grief. And the Apostle Paul says, I want you to grow together according to the same rule, which is the Word of God. So how do we handle that disunity? How do we handle our disagreements? They're inevitable. We're going to have disagreements about things. Who's right, you or me? Who's right, me or you? Well, we could both be wrong. Could be that neither of us has the mind of Christ. But there's the standard. Do you see the standard? It's the mind of Christ. And we're both supposed to be seeking to conform. We're all supposed to be seeking to conform to that standard, the mind of Christ. We want to think the thoughts of God together. We want to do the deeds that God has called us to do. And so our unity is only true unity and right unity when it is a unity around the Word of God. We could be united and all be wrong. We could be particularly headed in the wrong direction together in unity. That's very possible. But we're not to do that. We're to be united around the Word of God. So when there is disagreement, when there is disunity, we don't flee away from it and say, well, I'm not going to talk to you anymore. You don't think like I do. We're not going to go after them and say, let's fight about this either. What we do is we sit down around the rule. That rule is the Word of God. And we sit down, just as the Apostle Paul, with the attitude of the Apostle Paul, he goes, oh, so some of you differ with me, some of you disagree with this. Well, the Lord will persuade you. He will reveal even this to you. but we need to have the mind of Christ. And to the degree that we can be united, we need to try to be united, but it's always around the word of God. And so when there's disagreement among us, we sit down with the Bible, we open it up and say, what does God say? And I think it's helpful if we look at this and say, you know, I could be wrong. That is a possibility. I could be wrong. You could be wrong too. Paul thinks the Philippians who disagree with him on this point are definitely wrong. But we need both of us and all of us to be united around this word and we need God to reveal to us the right way to think about these things. There's really no reason for disunity in a church where people are willing to sit down around the word of God and work it out. No reason. If you're willing to sit down and say, I will submit to this word, will you? Let's look at what God has said. And let's figure out how to think. Let's figure out how to live. And then, to the degree that we attained and live in accord with this word, let's live together. in accord with this Word, moving forward and moving towards Christ, who is the goal. We want to be like Him. We want to be with Him. We want to be raised from the dead. and conform our thoughts and our deeds to his. And we will one day. But while we're here, it's going to be work. Notice he's not passive again. He is not passively saying, oh, make me make me raised from the make me better. He is diligently pressing on towards the goal. There's work. There's study of the word of God. There's an attempt to come to know God better through his word and through the fellowship with his people. And that's what he begins to talk about extensively in the next verses. Look at verse 17. Brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. We are imitators. We were born imitators and we imitate all our lives the people around us. Have you ever found that you hang out with somebody for a while and you start to speak with like a Scottish accent or pick up we words, you know, here and there and things like that? Well, we live among one another and we start to talk like each other. We start to think like each other. Sometimes it's conscience. We're trying to imitate. We're trying to follow the example. And the Apostle Paul is telling them to follow his example. He says, join in following my example. And he says also, Philippians, look around the congregation in Philippi and say, is there anybody else who's following my example? Note those brothers. Note those who so walk. and have taken us for a pattern and imitate their example too. Paul's just not wanting them to follow his example. He wants them to follow the example of those who've taken up the pattern, the pattern of Christ. In another place, Paul says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. That really is the way to grow. We imitate those who are more mature, those who are more godly. We imitate their example. I remember one of the things that helped me most with evangelism when I was in college was I would spend time with a guy who was very active. in sharing the gospel with people around him. He shared with everybody. Anybody who'd listen, he'd share the gospel with them. And being around him, I saw how it was done, and I began to imitate him, and it was very helpful. And I mentioned that on Saturdays, you know, there's this meeting on Saturdays where John O'Rourke and people get together, and they pray, they study evangelism, and then they go out. That's a great way to learn to do it. If you're having trouble evangelizing, talking to people about Christ, go spend time with John. He does it all the time. And imitate him. Imitate how he does it. And that's how we grow. That's how we become more like Christ. We imitate others who are pursuing Christ. We see how they do it. It's one thing to learn about it and read a book about it. It's another thing to see somebody do it and watch them do it and then imitate them. We were made to imitate. God has designed us that way. And do it. Take advantage of the opportunity there. And Apostle Paul wants the Philippians to do that. Follow his example and note those who also do. But you've got to be careful whose example you follow. You can't follow everybody's example and there are certain people you don't want to follow their example. In verse 18, Paul warns about these people. For many walk of whom I have told you often. Note that. He's told them often about these people. And I'll tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Now, there are people, apparently, that are in the lives of the Philippians, or in their church, possibly, whom he's talked to them often about, and he's warned them. He says, I've told you many walk, and I've told you a lot about them, and I tell you even now weeping. So apparently, while he's writing this letter, he's thinking of these people who are in some relationship with the Philippian church, but they're enemies of the cross of Christ. And he weeps for them. And when he talks to the Philippians about those people, he's not gossiping. That is something that has to be done. You've got to warn people against certain examples not to follow. Don't follow them. Don't do what they're doing. Jesus did it with the Pharisees. He said, when they speak the word of God, listen to what they say, but don't follow their example. Don't do what they do. Calling out names, saying they are not to be imitated. And parents, you have to warn your children. You have to say, that is not somebody you should be imitating. That's not an example you should be following. That's not gossiping, that's being a faithful father or a mother. And you have to be warned. The Apostle Paul says he warned them often. I told you often, they're these people, they're enemies of the cross of Christ. Don't imitate them. So you need to think about who you're imitating. Who are your heroes? Are they pursuing Christ? Is their goal to apprehend Christ, to lay hold of Christ? Is that who you imitate? That's who you want to imitate. Those who are not following Christ are not those you should want to imitate. And you should weep for those who are enemies of the cross of Christ. And he goes on in the next verses, verse 19, or in verse 19, to describe these poor people. Who are these enemies of the cross of Christ? Who are these people for whom He weeps? He says, verse 19, their end is destruction. These are not straying believers. These are people who are damned. Yet they are in some relationship to the church at Philippi. Their end is destruction. Their end is not Christ. Their end is not resurrection to life, everlasting life. Their end is destruction. And look at the nature of them as described in the rest of verse 19. "...whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things." There are three characteristics of these enemies of the cross of Christ. And the way he says it is a powerful rebuke Their God is their belly. Their great concern is not Christ and His kingdom. Their great concern is not the apprehension of Christ. They just want their own selfish desires met. When they wake up in the morning, what they really want is what their self wants. It's all about self. It's all about their own bellies. Their God is their own belly. They're not seeking first the kingdom of God. They're seeking first their own bellies' satisfaction, their own selfish desires. And Paul weeps for them because their end is destruction. It's a powerful image. We have to examine ourselves. When we awake, whose glory are we seeking? Calvin says, being desirous exclusively of their own honor, of their own ease, and of their own gain, they have no regard for the edification of the church. They don't care about Christ's kingdom. That's not where their loyalty is. That's not where their heart is. Their heart is in satisfying their own selfish interests, their own selfish desires. Their end is destruction. And he weeps for them. And he says also that they glory in their shame. They're glorying in garbage. They're glorying in trash. They're glorying in themselves and their own accomplishments, and they do not glory in Christ. Remember a little earlier, the apostle talks about he does not want the righteousness that comes from the law. He wants the righteousness that comes from Christ. That righteousness that comes from the law, that is trash, that's garbage, that's rubbish. He doesn't glory in that. He definitely doesn't glory in what He should be ashamed of. He glories in Christ, and He wants the righteousness of Christ. But these enemies of the cross, they glory in their shame. They've set their mind on earthly things. They're just concerned about this world. They're concerned about their next pleasure, their next entertainment, the next thing to satisfy their belly, and they are damned. They're not to be imitated. They're not to be looked at as models for us. They're to be pitied and we are to weep for them. So we need to ask some questions. We need to look at our lives and we need to give honest answers. We're amazing creatures in one sense. Dr. Bonson talked about this in his dissertation. We're the most amazing creatures that we can lie to ourselves and then believe the lie. We can be self-deceived. We can tell ourselves a lie, know it's a lie when we say it, and then we can believe it. Self-deception. So we need to examine ourselves and see who it is we're seeking or what it is we're seeking. Apparently people in the Philippian church, and I guess I'm a little stunned by it, but it must be so. There are people in the Philippian church whose God is their belly. They're really not pursuing Christ. They're just pursuing their own selfish interests. I would like to think there were none here that were like that. That your personal peace and affluence is not what you're really motivated by. You're not getting up in the morning so you can serve yourself. You're getting up in the morning and saying, how can I serve you? Lord, what do you want me to do this day? So are you motivated by that desire? Selfish interest, my own belly, is that really what's motivating you? Or are you motivated because you want to see Christ exalted? You're motivated by a desire to see Him honored in every place, in your life first, and in everyone's life around you, and ultimately in every place that He would be honored and made famous. Or is your life and your wealth spent in just serving your own belly? You have the name Christian put upon you, but you just pursue the desires of your own belly. So we have to take the Word of God seriously. It's possible people are sitting in this church whose God is their belly. And if it is, and this Word has convicted you tonight, I am really just seeking my own selfish interests. Cry out to Christ for mercy. Ask Him to apprehend you, to lay hold of you, and make it your own heart's desire that He would change your heart so that your heart's desire would be to apprehend Christ, that He would apprehend you so that you would seek to apprehend Christ. Now, this apprehending of Christ, and he talks about setting your mind, they set their mind on earthly things. In other places, he says, set your mind on things above, Colossians 3.2. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth, but these whose God is their belly. They're concerned mainly about what's going on around them. We're to set our mind on the things above. And I want to say something briefly about what that means, because I think it's misunderstood a lot. Sometimes we think setting our mind on heaven or thinking about heavenly things is not being concerned about the earth, but I believe that's wrong. You might have heard the saying, He's so heavenly-minded that He's of no earthly good. You might have heard someone say, He's so heavenly-minded, He's of no earthly good. But if you are heavenly-minded, actually you're of the most earthly good. There was nobody more heavenly-minded than the Lord Jesus Christ. And He was of the most earthly good. So when we set our minds on heaven, we're not thinking, how can I get out of here? How can I escape? I remember there was a conversation between several Puritans when they were talking about the focus of life and focusing on heaven and focusing on Christ. And one of them said, because they were all talking, saying, I just can't wait to get out of here. This place is terrible. I can't wait to get to heaven. I can't wait to get out of here. And he said, y'all got the wrong mindset. When we set our mind on things above, we're not saying, I can't wait to get out of this place. He says, when we set our minds on things above, we're adopting the mind of Christ with regard to everything. We're adopting the mind of God. We're setting our mind on things above in the sense that we're adopting the ways of the kingdom of heaven. We're making those ways our own. And then we return and look at the earth and say, I want the world to be like that, too. How they think in heaven is how I want everybody on earth to think. That's how I want to think. That's how I want everybody else to think. The things that they desire in heaven, those are the things I want to desire. And that's why we pray the prayer that we do. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So the mind set above, the mind that is set above, that's set on Christ, is not a mind that neglects the earth. It's a mind that wants heaven to come down to earth. It's a mind that wants Christ's kingdom rule to be obeyed on earth, just like it's obeyed in heaven. Just like all the angels and the saints of heaven obey the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has his mind set on things above wants the whole earth to do the same thing. And they're excited about the possibility of what that would be if the whole earth obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just this longing to escape, to get out and go to heaven. We do have that too. For to live is Christ, to die is gain, but to live is Christ. To live is to live with the mind of Christ and desire the world to live with that mind of Christ. So when we think about living and setting our mind on things above and not on the things of the earth, remember that it's an adoption of the mindset of heaven and a desire that the earth adopt that same mindset. So I want to ask a couple questions. What is Christ thinking about us? When He looks down at our church, when He looks down at our city, what's His evaluation? Is He pleased with the way we're living? Is He pleased with the way we're thinking? When He looks at the way we run our households, is He pleased with what we're doing? When He looks at our city council, is He pleased with what they're doing? Do they have the mind of Christ? We should want them to. When he looks at the educational system, does he say, yes, that's good? Honestly, if we have the mind of Christ, we look at our educational system and say, that's not good at all. Christ is not honored there. He should be. There's no educational institution on the earth that has the right to dishonor or disregard the Lord Jesus Christ who is wisdom himself. When he looks at the businesses, It says, does that business honor me? If they don't, they do not have the mind of Christ and we just think they need to. They need to honor Christ. Eastman needs to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. ETSU needs to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. The City Council of Kingsport and Johnson City in Bristol all need to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have the mind of Christ, you look at them and you say, yeah, that's what they ought to be doing. But instead, they serve their bellies, and we weep for them. So the heavenly-minded person is like a citizen from another country who comes to a new land and says, I want this land to become like my beloved homeland. The citizen of heaven looks at heaven and says, that's the way it ought to be, and I want that to come to earth. I want the Lord Jesus' kingdom to be honored on earth as it is in heaven. And that's what we're supposed to be doing on this earth. And that's how we become earthly good, by being heavenly minded. We see the heavenly mindset, and we want that same mindset on earth. And we work for it. And we're not content with the godlessness and the anti-Christian philosophy and all the junk that pervades the world. We want to see everyone brought into submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to see everyone apprehended by Christ, so that they could go on to apprehend Him. So our citizenship's not here. Verse 20. Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's coming again, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Christ is coming again, and when He comes again, He'll take these bodies whatever state they are, whether they're dust, old and, you know, crotchety, or they've, you know, just bones in a grave, whatever they are, He will make our bodies like His glorious body at that final day. And He was going to do it with the power, the same power in which He's subduing all things to Himself. So, where's your citizenship? You're citizens of heaven. You look to heaven and say, oh, I want all the earth to be like heaven. I want the earth to become like heaven, that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven, that his kingdom would come down to the earth in power. And ultimately, it will happen. Ultimately, you will be made, remade into the glorious likeness of Christ. So we'll conclude with chapter 4 and verse 1. It's, therefore, in light of all of this reality, in light of this fact that Christ has apprehended you, He wants you to pursue Him, He wants you to pursue His kingdom, and He wants that kingdom to come to earth, and it will. Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. Stand fast. Stand fast. All kinds of troubles in this world, you're to stand fast in Christ until the day of His return. You're to stand fast, awaiting your inevitable perfection. You are to seek first the Kingdom of God, knowing that His reign is forever. It's an eternal reign. And that all those, all those out there who frustrate you and are at war with the Messiah, those whose gods are their belly and whose end is destruction, will not triumph. They will not win. Their war against the Messiah is completely futile and vain. The kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ will come to earth. It is in the process of coming now. His reign in heaven will be a reign on earth as well. Slowly but surely, he's building his kingdom and conquering all his enemies. They are being made a footstool for his feet. And until that time, you have a job. Your job is to pursue that king. to pursue His will, to pursue His will for your own life, for the life of your family and the business you're involved in. Every sphere of influence, seek to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. And my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. the Lord Jesus Christ will prevail. So let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we're thankful that you have apprehended us, that you have laid hold of us, and we pray you would deliver us from any desire, any desire to serve our own bellies. And you would give to us instead a desire to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, and that you would take care of all our earthly needs, all the things of this earth. We wouldn't worry about that. We would be deeply concerned and devoted to your kingdom, pressing forward, reaching forward toward the goal of the upward call that God has given us through you, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, in these things. Give us the grace we need. And as we approach this Lord's table, please feed us with all the blessings of Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen.