to give ourselves a chance that for this next year, you and I will be exactly as spiritual as we want to be. There's nothing that's going to hold us back from walking with Jesus Christ as closely as we want to in 1979. Now, such reflection at the beginning of the threshold of the new year traditionally calls for New Year's resolutions. As some of you may have noticed in the Columbia Times this week, in the We Ask column, the question of the West was, what New Year's resolutions do you plan to make for 1979? You may have noticed that the second picture in from the left was that is one of our inmates, Karen Tinderake, who gave a rather neat response to those listed of continuing to seek God's will for her life. But it's something that's on a lot of our minds now. goals and New Year's resolutions. Do you find a motion, a New Year's resolution, or some for 1979? It's not a bad idea, you know, if you should concentrate on an area or two in which you would look for and expect to see some progress in your life. I'd like to consider that this morning. I'd like to think about that idea and encourage it to give some thought to that. The problem, however, for many of us in making our resolutions, is that we don't relate them closely enough to a proper use of scripture to let the scripture determine the resolution. And therefore, we find that we're unable to do it because we haven't been really clear on what it is God wants to accomplish in it. That's true because for many of us, we don't know how to use the scripture for life change. And so this morning, I want to speak on this question of the use of Scripture for life's change in general, and then to apply that to the question of New Year's resolutions in general, and then finally to make a specific suggestion for adopting a year's version as the basis for your resolutions for the New Year. Now, 2nd Commission 316 is the classic preface. for the inspiration of Scripture. I want to examine that with you this morning more closely and see that the main point of 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 is not the source of Scripture, but rather the use of Scripture. Let's take a look at that passage now together. We look at God's Word, follow along as I read. In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 10 to 17. Let's hear God's words. The Greek synopsis follows my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecution, suffering, such has happened to me at Antioch, at Itanium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and out of them all that the Lord delivered me. And indeed all who desire to live godly and praise Jesus will be persecuted, that evil men and imposters are perceived from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things that you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from what you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God, which God breathes, and is profitable for useful, for teaching, for reproof, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped, for every good work. That's why the Scripture. Now Paul, In verses 16 and 17 here, he tells us two things about Scripture. He tells us, first of all, about its source, and then, secondly, about its use. And many of us have been able, very successfully, to keep these two things quite separate. Yes, most Christians, how do you know the Bible's God's Word? And immediately, they'll be able to rephrase 2 Timothy 3.16, and all Scripture is inspired by God. That's how I know that it's God's Word. Literally, it means it's God-breathed. Really, it's not inspired, but rather expired, would be a better translation. All Scripture is breathed out by God. Very good. So we know that the Scripture is God's Word. That wavy word, God-breathed, actually tells us two things about Scripture, as a source, having a source in God. You see them, they're listed in their outline, following along. You see, first of all there, concerning the source, then, the scripture is personal. That's personal about what by this phrase is God's will. You see, the scripture is the very breath of God himself. It's the same word, you see, in the Greek that you use to translate Genesis 2-7. where we read there that God, when he poured man out of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And in a very intimate exchange, God, in a very personal way, imparted life to man. It speaks of God's intimate, personal communication to man. This is why you see that Dwight Almeda, that great evangelist of last century, always read the Scripture on his knees. He was so overwhelmed by the fact that God's heart was communicating personally to his heart when he read the Scripture. But the Scripture is unspeakably personal. You never dare lose sight of that fact when you and I pick up the Bible. No matter how many translations it gave to me, no matter how many copies I've rang around the house, it released thought. It released thought about God. That the Scripture is intimately connected with our communication to Him. God is speaking to me. The second thing that we see about this phrase, that the Scripture is God's means, is not only that the Scripture is personal, but also that it's powerful. That's the same word you see that's used in Psalm 33 6, where we read there, that by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth, all were holy. You see, the word of God is the breath of God. And God, by that breath, by that word, created the heavens, the same way. He would accomplish it, what he said. And you and I speak, we hope that it will have some effect. When God speaks, He inevitably accomplishes exactly what He says. And so the Word of God is extremely powerful. The Bible is alive with power. That's why when Charles Hadley Spurgeon was asked last century, how would you defend the Bible? His answer was, well, I'd defend the Bible the same way I'd defend a lion. I'd just let it loose and let it defend itself. You see, the Bible is powerful. The Bible has power because it's God's Word. And that's why, in our evangelistic outreach, we've been taking turns, evangelistic Bible studies, to get our neighbors and our friends into the Scripture together with us, to examine the claims of Christ, because the Scripture is powerful. When James and Peter both tell us in the New Testament, we're born again by the living Word of God. So the Scripture is personal and the Scripture is powerful. So here's where the dichotomy comes in. See, we call the Scripture God's Word. And we say the Scripture heard papers. You know, in my house, where I grew up, we were never allowed to put anything on the Bible. Never put a coffee cup on the Bible, never put any piece of paper on the Bible, because the Bible's God's Word. Unfortunately, we never put your hands on the Bible either. He never put anything on the Bible, he just sat there on his shelf, very sacred, very precious, because that's God's Word. But it had no relationship to changing my life, to letting God speak to me. But what we've missed, you see, is that what Paul's saying in here, in 2 Timothy 3.15, is not simply a pretext for the inspiration of Scripture. Most people, when they quote this verse, will say, how do you know the Bible's inspired? Well, first of all, there's a couple of things you can do to believe it's true. Say, well, it's because it's inspired by God. No, it's not true. But his main point is where he goes on to talk about its use. The source he sees is the guaranteed force accomplishing its use. Now, what's its use? He goes on to say, well, it's because it's inspired by God. It's God's greed. And it's useful. for four things. To teach us, to recruit us, to correct us, to training in righteousness. Now, I've listed that as those four words, teaching, conviction, correction, and training in righteousness. If you don't like beginning and ending with a T, with two T's in the middle, you can also add three T's and a T and call it content, conviction, correction, or training in righteousness. The point is the same. The Scripture is useful for these four things. First of all, you see, the Scripture is useful for teaching, for contentment. The Scripture gives us vital information. Information about who God is, what his nature is like, who we are, and why we were made. Why we're alienated from God, what the problem is, why there's suffering and evil and frustration in the world, what God has done about that in Jesus Christ, and how we can be reconciled with Him through faith and trust, how we can have peace with Him and His own peace, and then how we can live according to His intentions, and how we can have the fullness of life that He offers. Now, that's doctrine. But you see, doctrine has become a dirty word to many of us. And the reason for that is because of two misunderstandings about doctrine, which you see also listed there in your outline. The two wrong views of doctrine are, first of all, that doctrine is unimportant. That's the view that says that, well, you know, really, life is all that really matters. It doesn't really matter what your creed is. Creed or church is turn me off, frankly. It's just a matter of how you live. I just believe the Bible and get down to the business of living. But the problem, of course, you see, is that God Himself is a creed. That's a belief. If it's a creed, it themselves are unimportant because it's anything that we believe. is achieved is a doctrine. And the Sanskrit paper has reminded us again and again, what we believe will determine how we live. And so, doctrine even sats vitally in Christ. Everything which we believe will determine how you live. And the way we live is determined by what we believe. But then the second wrong view of doctrine that has turned it back, and then changes to that, has been the reaction to the fact that doctrine is unimportant, and that reaction then goes to the other extreme and says that doctrine is all-important. This is the reaction that says, well, now, the really big thing in the Christian life is to just get your doctrine straight. The problem with that view It's that in doing that, we equate knowing with being. You see, it's one thing to know the doctrine of sanctification. It's another thing to be sanctified. And I may know a lot about God and the Christian life without having worked it into my own living in a way that feeds me to that. The problem, you see, is that for many others, we could appear to them after that word, people, in 2 Timothy 3, verse 3. We say that, well, what Paul really had in mind was that all scripture is profitable, is all scripture as God believes, and it's profitable and useful for people. Period. Now, the rest of that stuff sort of follows on automatically, of course, but that's really what's important. And I'd like to challenge that notion very strongly. Because I believe that these four uses of scripture are practical and progressive. And that these four items here stem one from another. That's why you see the arrows in the bulletin. That in fact, the teaching is meant to lead to conviction. And that's the second thing. The word conviction is a word that could also be translated recoup or rebuke. This picture is useful for teachers, for doctors, for counselors that will need to convict us, recruit, or rebuke us. It's a word which means to expose sin for the purpose of repentance. The same word is used in Ephesians 5.11, where Paul there tells the Ephesians, do not participate in the untruthful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. The same word there, with the word expose, is the same word that you have here in verse 16, to refuse, or refuse, to expose something. The picture of this is given to us in Numbers, chapter 5, in what is called the Jealousy Option. Now, in the possibility that you haven't read Numbers, chapter 5, and the Jealousy Option in the Quiet Time recently, let me refresh your mind about what that option is about. Remember in Numbers 5, if a husband suspected that his wife had been unfaithful to him and had committed adultery, he had a recourse in the law of God of bringing her before the priest. He would make an offering, and he would put it in her hand, and she would make this offering to God. And then the priest would give her a bowl of water, and this was holy water that contained two things. First of all, it contained dust from the tabernacle floor. The second thing that it contained were the charges and the curses for the crime that he was accused of. These charges and these curses, recorded in Numbers chapter 5, were written on a scroll. And that scroll was then blotted out in that bowl of water. so that the water literally contained the words of those charges and curses. And then that woman would submit voluntarily to that trial by supernatural ordeals, and she would say, yes, so be it, that if, in fact, these charges are true, may this curse, the curses that are written here, come upon me, The curse that was written there was probably what we know today to be dropsy of the ovaries, whereby what we read in the Hebrew there is that her belly would swell and her thigh would rot. What probably meant these measures is that by dropsy of the ovaries, her body would fill with about 100 pounds of fluid, and she would emaciate and die an agonizing death. Deadly. for her own unfaithfulness, for her adultery, for her sin against God. If she says there also in that, that if I am innocent, may this then be seen to me, and my innocence and my purity will be seen before all men. And so, God promised that if in fact that was true, nothing would happen to her. And then, she would drink the water. And God promised that in every case, the outcome would be precisely as it is, according to the innocent who are guilty. Now, what's the point of all this? Well, it's just this. This time, in Numbers chapter 5, we read that that water is called the water of bitterness that springs forth the curse. And that word there, curse or accusation, is the same word in the Greek translation of the Old Testament as the word here in 2 Timothy 3.16, the word that you translate, conviction, where we use, where we see. The water of Sodom and Gomorrah, in the 12th verse, take a look at it, use your hands. You see, that's the water that brings conviction. Now, what's number five telling you and me today? It's telling us that you and I, you see, are that woman, and the Scripture is that woman. And it's telling us two things about the use of Scripture. Number one, it tells us there that we must drink it. Those words had no effect upon that woman as long as they lay there on the floor. but had to be blotted out into the water and she had to drink that water in order for that water to expose her sins. Now, are you willing to take the words of the Scripture from off the page and to receive them into your life for God to show you the things in your life that need to be changed? That's what Number 5's telling us. Things you can pick up on this idea in James Chapter 1. And he tells us that we must in humility, James 1.21, we must in humility receive the word in standard, which he is able to say is bold, but prove yourselves to be doers of the word, not merely hearers who believe themselves as anyone but hearers of the word, and not as doers like a man who looks to his natural face in the mirror. He looks at his face, he looks at himself, and he says, that's a pretty ugly face. So I say, what can I do about it? The hair is all messed up. And he just turns and goes away and says, the quicker I can get away from that mirror, the quicker I can forget how ugly I am and I don't have to bother with it. Two years away, he's forgotten what kind of person he was. The one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it. Having not become a progressive hero but an effectual doer, this man is blessed in what he does. The second thing that Numbers 5 tells us about the use of Scripture is not only that we must be willing to take the Word into our lives to let it change us, but secondly that the Word is effective. You see, that Word, the Word that they were blotted out into that water that she drank, accomplished what they said. The way she read about how that Word had churned her out, it did. And if she was guilty, it exposed it and made it plain. And if you're outside of Jesus Christ, the Word will accomplish what it says to you, containing the outcome of your life and your own gift before our Holy God outside of Christ. The Word will bring about the courage that stands over you because you stand in your own sin and not in the righteousness of Christ. But for those who are listening, this tells us that the Word will bring about the peace we need until God changes by sending on us. That's kind of a scary thing, isn't it? You know, doesn't it cost me intelligence? You know that God won't let go of us? But when He begins to speak to us about something in His Word, He's not going to let go of us until He begins to have that picture and change it in that way, that His words were accomplished in fact for the experts. The reason that that word is so often taken and not appraised is because Jesus ultimately was THE woman. He grants the curses that were due to us, so that the curses pass from us to Him. So that to us, this word conviction becomes a word of refuge, rebuke, rather than curse. There is no curse to the Christian. Because Jesus grants all the curses. He puts them all upon Himself. And so, where as in Numbers 5, that word is cursed, In 2nd Timothy 3.16, if you read, watch this retreat and see if that would lead to the third point, correction. And there you see it. The word we use in Scripture is for correction. Now this is the word which in the Greek is a paraphrasing, from which we get This is Greek word orthos, from which we get our English word orthodox. An orthos in the Greek means a straight line or a standard. This word in 2nd Timothy 3.16, a counter-affirmation, means to bring into line with that which is true or correct. You see, the orthodox Presbyterian Church is called that because the word orthodox means correct or straight teaching, ortho-phospha. And so that's where we get that combination of ortho, great, correct, and teaching. And here, this idea of a standard, a straight line, Paul says the use of Scripture is to bring a person from the conviction to the correction, to bring it into line with God's standard, which is actually His faith. That's the purpose and the use of Scripture. Now notice this well. Scripture is never intended to convict us, but that it also is meant to correct us. That's a very pure sign between the accusations of Satan and the abuse of the Holy Spirit. If in your life you find guilt that is displaced, that you can't correct, that you can't deal with, that has no objective reference, there's nothing you can correct, there's nothing you can change, it's quite likely that that's the fault of the evil of Satan. Because when the Holy Spirit takes the teaching of Scripture, and we look at our lives and see that it doesn't match up, and therefore we're rebuked, we're convicted, the Holy Spirit always brings us into that next step of correction. That's His purpose. That's His use of the Scripture. And so the Scripture is always meant to correct us whenever it convicts us. And that correction will build that seed into our life. in a way that conforms us a little more closely to the Lord Jesus. Let me give you an example of what I mean by this. Let's say you're taking a note of Ephesians, and you look at Ephesians chapter 4, and you're looking at verses 31, 32. Not all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from among you, along with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ is also forgiving you. If you look at that, You're aware of bitterness, anger, gossip, hard feelings that you have towards someone. But it's the teaching of God, His forgiveness, His lack of all bitterness and anger, of all bitterness and malice. And you look at that teaching and you're convicted by the fact that you have bitterness and malice. Now, what are you going to do about it? Well, there's two possibilities. One would be to just look at that and say, well, yeah, boy, that's a problem. I don't have time for bitterness and anger and wrath and clamor and gossip. And Lord, help me to not do that anymore in 1979. Help me to be a little more patient. Take away the bitterness. Amen. How much do you think you're going to get a key tapping in 1979 out of such a coil? Well, that may be racist, you know. You surprise me sometimes beyond what you expect, but that's not the proper use of the system. It'd be a fine thing here if it didn't take that key thing. When we're predicted by it, then we should apply it to correction. Now, what's that mean? Well, let's take a look at what we should mean by that. First of all, you say, now, Lord, help me. I affirm that I'm going to put away the bitterness. Good, good, good. Put it away. I'm going to take a definite step of putting away that bitterness. Secondly, I'm going to remember your forgiveness to me in Christ. And so I'm going to make a goal here now, in 1979, of every time that I'm bidding or tempted to gossip or criticize someone, I'm going to meditate, I'm going to remind myself of God's forgiveness of me in my sins in Christ. And then thirdly, I take a look right before that, and what do I see in verse 29? Let no unwholesome words be seized in your mouth, but only such a word as good gratification, according to the need of the moment. Very, very practical correction, isn't it? This is how I say, well, now, Lord, whenever I'm tempted to gossip, I'm going to remember that, and I'm going to watch my words. And as I watch my words, I'm going to find my attitude begin to change, as I put it here on the Gospels in the bitterness. It's just a brief example to give you some idea of the fact that, you see, I can begin to correct what God has convicted me of. And then the fourth thing, I would suggest or not, First of all, determining not to do it, meditating secondly on it, thirdly, watching my words, then fourthly, I would say that I would apply other strictness to say if I've offended someone that I go to them. I find in my own life one of the greatest responses towards sin, in my inner relationship with others, is that where I have gossiped or wronged someone, I've forced myself to go to that person and ask for forgiveness. I want to tell you, think of that 1979. It should be a lot of pain. If you and I were to force ourselves to correct what God is convicting us of, by going to His office and asking for forgiveness where we've been offended, or asking for forgiveness where we have offended someone else, and in fact where someone else is offended us, rather than to gossip by someone else and ask them to praise Him by praising Him, you know, hearing the old guys about it. But rather than go to that person with that problem, you will find that that's a correction, it's a very practical antidote to the conviction of bitterness and wrath. The effect of this is training in righteousness, and that's the fourth point. You see, training in righteousness is a process. That's what that word means. But the word which is used is the rearing of children. And that word tells us two things about rearing children. First of all, it tells us that we're to be goal-oriented in our use of Scripture. When we take this teaching and we see that we've missed the mark of that teaching, and therefore we recover that, we ask God to change that, we work that out in practical steps of correction, Then, by doing that, we begin to initiate a process of training. A process of training that brings us into righteousness, and that's our goal. We have a goal before us, you see, a goal of becoming like Jesus Christ. But then so many Christians, and we ask them what their goal is. What is your goal for Christ's likeness in the next year? Well, we ask to grow. To grow in what? Well, we ask to grow as a Christian. But how are you going to grow? What areas is God speaking to you about? What areas are you using the Scripture? Applying? Applying, you know? It's like, you know, serving the Lord. God wants us to begin to be more specific in the use of Scripture, so that we can begin to train ourselves in righteousness, in a goal for Christ's likeness. Whether you're training as an atheist, or whether you're training as a parent, in children. You have a goal set before you, and you frame for that goal by the repetitive setting forth of disbanding, seeing where you've missed a thing, correcting to bring in line with the thing, and framing yourself to continue to see the progress of it. The second thing it tells us is not only that we'll be goal-oriented in doing this, but that God has His way of accomplishing this in patience. He patiently praises you as a father. The problem is many sisters receive when we begin to make Jewish resolutions, we say, well, I've written down my 25 resolutions for the year, I've surveyed my life, and I've seen all the things that really need to be changed, and I've written them all down, and I read them, and rank-ordered them, and there they are, that's what I'm going to do this year. And we go for about six hours, and then we throw away the whole list and despair. You see, what God wants us to do is to begin to zero in on one area, or two areas, as we do with our children. To not expect them to accomplish maturity, to live as a 21-year-old when they're six. And I find it so, so encouraging to me, and yet sometimes sad, that we expect more of ourselves, oftentimes, than we're not expected to. He expects to accomplish more this next year than God expects to accomplish in it. And therefore, you see, we become quite quickly discouraged. God's not discouraged. He's very realistic. He knows what His Spirit will be accomplishing in it. And if we get in line with what He is doing in our lives by examining the Scripture and using it in the way He intends, will begin to pick up a little more of what he intends for as an explaining advantage of Jesus in that patient, gentle fashion of working on his very, very own according to his grace and kindness. Finally, let's apply this now. In terms of the broad life view, you see that I'm arguing that in deep scripture it's always life changing, that no doctrine is abstract and unrelated to how you think and move. To receive the doctrine is, first of all, important, and secondly, to receive the doctrine is very practical. Everything that you do is related to how you think, and we need to understand that this scripture is designed to change our lives, transform our thinking, and that our behavior becomes conformed to that. So let's have a view of this, to receive this scripture is not just useful for teaching, because that teaching is meant to lead to conviction, to correction, to explaining and righteousness. Secondly, in terms of the immediate resolution, don't just write down a list of some thoughtless wishes that you were inspired to put together because of something that happens in the next day or two, somebody criticizes you on something, you say, yeah, well, I guess I ought to make that immediate resolution, you know, so I'm going to spoil the moment. Give some simple factors. Examine the picture in terms of institutions, areas that I've been speaking to you about. If you see results, your life is not in conformity for those. So you're convicted. So you begin to ask God, make a try for that, to want to change that, then to look down specific steps of correction and make those your resolutions. And finally, the last thing is this little chart you see on the back. I'd ask you to consider adopting a year's verse, and if not, to see at least how a chart like this can be used to help you to use this Scripture in a way that I think will accomplish what 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17 are talking about. Let's suppose you were thinking of taking a year's verse from 1879. What might this do? Well, first you'd ask yourself, uh, what is the scripture that I would most want to or need to build into my life this year? If I had my choice of all the scriptures in all the Bible, What one verse would I like to own by the end of 1979? In a year from today, I'd be able to say, I have entered into that verse, I've captured its meaning, I know it's got a saying in that, I've possessed it, that verse has possessed me, and I've seen changes in my life. Because that verse is really become a part of me. Because I've begun to work it out in my living. One verse. If the thought carries over to a part of an energy, it will allow a version to pass itself. But what one thought did you want to take? You might say it's something to do with the nature of God. Maybe it's a promise that you want to take. Maybe it's a command that you want to build into your life. Or a prayer, a scripture, that you want to make your prayer. Well, I talked to you about a month ago from Psalm 34, if you remember, and that was a year's worth of that, a couple years ago. Now, in Psalm 34, if you remember that verse, it says, I was taken to a dimension of God. I needed to know more of His goodness. I related that to the promise that I could taste, that I would taste and see that He is good, that I would taste that the person is blessed to trust Him. And I wanted to experience that promise by obeying the command of tasting and seeing. Well, whatever it is, I would suggest that you take a look at that part, and that you put it along those lines. Take the verse, whatever it relates to. It may relate to one, two, or three, four things. Say, what is the teaching? What is it that I want to learn? Secondly, what is the conviction? How am I missing it? Thirdly, what are some goals for practical change in 1979 as a result of this? And then, fourthly, how can I trace the progress through the years, the progress of training in righteousness? The promise is that the Scripture, by the power of God's Spirit, will equip us for every good work. Because God wants to let you and me lean on the power that He has of our spirit and the building of the Scripture into our lives in 1879, if we seriously use His Word to take the future, leading from that which is ridiculous, from that which is corrective, from that which is insanely racist, to that which must be right. Let's ask God to do that. Let's pray. Father, how we thank You for Your Word. We consider the Grandfather this. This is something that you have grieved yourself. You are aware of how profound our darkness could be without him. There is nothing, Father, that we could be sure of. Nothing that we could know, except your word told us, with absolute authority, with absolute trust in you. So, Father, we're so grateful to you that you have given us the way, that you have spoken to us. We, we, this is a very good thing, because we have an identity here. We've turned our backs on these people. When we considered you in past days, we have said what you ought to be like, and you have tried to break into our conversations to peddle such a life. We told you to shut up, but we knew better what you ought to be like. but in your most great kindness you prevail, and by your word you've always kept your mouth shut. And we confess to you, Father, this morning, that you're not only much more affable, much more to be feared, and often a majestic God than we could have ever conceived, but also you're so much kinder, more gracious, more compassionate, more loving of a father than we could have ever guessed that, or ever dared to hope. And Father, we pray that you would enable us to use this discipline, in its encouragement and in its compass, to see this teaching, its immunity, to not simply perceive it and to look at it with interest, but Father, that where we can tempt you to be bored and not understand your work, that we could make practical and progressive use of it. to see the future. Tell us those areas that you want to bring into the experience of what you teach us. And that that will not simply leave us in a vague, sea-floating guilt about how rotten we are and how much we've missed it. And Father, that you have lead us to come to such a correction. In a couple of areas that we've been dealing with this about, in 1979 we might see progress in training and license. Father, we pray that you would do that in us, because of your ministry, because of your gift. We pray in the beginning of this year, the Hafez will go to Mexico on Tuesday for the next week and a half. Father, we pray that you would give them a good sense, that you would fill them with your Spirit as we teach it in the theological education by extension program, that Father, you would be able to make your words clear and plain, and they would lift up and build up the faith in Mexico as they were teaching along in their midst. We pray for the Monsignor, we thank you Father for the source of little faith and for the arrival of another of your children in this world. Father, we pray for the church to be reconducted on high. We pray that any problems you have had be quickly seen and discovered and treated. Father, we pray that that. And she would be an atrocious honor to you, a vessel of honor in your heart to glorify the Lord Jesus, and she would come to love him, to serve him, and to own him as her own personal Lord and Savior. And that she would bring that family together in love, love for you, and serve in unity. Father, we ask that you and God be very near and precious to them in this time when we have given to them that preciousness of faith. Father, we pray for your assistance in Taiwan in these days of upheaval, of the change of policy, the aberration of the treaty. Father, we pray for Taiwan and our missionaries there that in these next months and years the policies that you set for us maintain an openness in that land for the vast land. Father, we ask you to do that according to your power. Lord, we ask now that as we examine our lives and look towards the future years, if you would enable us to examine ourselves by ourselves, giving it a prior awareness, youthfully, in the purpose which you seek to accomplish today, by your grace and by your mercy, and sown in us in our history, to make us more like your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we may ask you to do. Amen.