Will you turn with me, your Bibles, to the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 14. We come back to our studies in the Gospel, back to the place we are at. Peter's denial in verses 66-72 of Mark, Chapter 14. I've titled this When the Rooster Crows, so verses 66 through 72. We'll begin reading in Mark 14. Mark 14, verse 66. Now, as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with Jesus of Nazareth. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you are saying. He went out on the porch and a rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him again and began to say to those who stood by, this is one of them, but he denied it again. And a little later, those who stood by said to Peter again, surely you are one of them for you are a Galilean and your speech shows it. Then he began to curse and swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. A second time, the rooster crowed. The Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said to him before the rooster crows twice, he will deny me three times. When he thought about it, he wept. Amen. Let us pray. Our God, we are thankful again that you are a gracious and a good God. and that you forgive all sorts of sins, little sins, big sins. We know God, any little sin truly is deserving of everlasting damnation because you are a God who is from everlasting to everlasting. You're a God who is perfect in yourself. And so we know that you must rightly punish sin. We're thankful that you rightly punish sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of what he has done, because of all the sins of your people are taken away, we're thankful that there is forgiveness, there is mercy, and there is grace. Thank you for the grace that you gave to Peter. Thank you, God, even in the times that you humble your people and teach us how weak we truly are and how much we need you. So we ask again, oh God, that you would be merciful when you do this to us, that you would teach us how often we need to depend upon you day by day. For you are God and we are man. We're thankful you give us all we need in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we ask you to help us to see your glory today. Help us to see your grace today. Be you strengthening your saints, we pray. If they're only here today, you do not know you. Show them their sin, but show them their need for the Lord Jesus Christ and the grace that he gives. And we pray in all things, you would be glorified. And we pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen. Well, sometimes we associate certain sounds with various events or perhaps even traumatic effects that one deals with. Sometimes those sounds are associated with good things, sometimes those sounds are associated with bad things. I've learned this the hard way recently. If I want to go get a snack and the door opens up and I hear a quick crackling of the bag of that snack that I have, sooner or later I hear pitter patter of little feet come on over. I see these two beady eyes looking up at me and a little voice says, what's daddy having? Without fail, every time I do that, boom, there she is. So she associates with the opening of the door and the crackling of the bag with a snack as she comes running over right away. So I've trained her well in that instance. It perhaps helps me if with my own battles with weight. So it's a good thing there. But sometimes there are negative effects that sounds have. Sometimes there are certain sounds that we associate with traumatic and terrible events that we deal with. And certainly the rooster crowing is something that Peter remembered for the rest of his life. He remembered the day that he denied his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He remembered the day that he did not stand before him and confess him at this time. And remember too, Mark's gospel is likely Peter's gospel. Mark has Peter as his source and Mark is the only one who mentions the two crowings of the rooster. Peter remembers those moments very, very vividly and we see this in Mark's account of Peter's denial. And remember, too, Mark is all about who is Jesus. Remember who it was who gave that confession in Mark 8, 29. You are the Christ, the Son of God. And Peter is a ready, fire, aim kind of guy. He's an arrogant man who thinks he's not going to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. But as Jesus has predicted, that will be the case. And really, in Mark 14, as we make our way to the cross, as we make our way to Christ dying on that on that cursed tree, we see that Jesus is going to be alone when he does this. Jesus is going to be abandoned. He's been betrayed by one of his own. He's going to be abandoned by all of them. And the one who said, I will not deny you so vehemently as the one who denies him before a servant girl. And so we're in the setting of Jesus preliminary hearing before the Sanhedrin. And we kind of have this meanwhile effect going on with what Peter says versus what Jesus says before the Sanhedrin. And clearly the problem is very clear. It is the problem of denying our Lord. The fear of man leads people to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter feared being identified with him. I think, brethren, sometimes our own fear of man is greater than we care to admit. We care about what people think more than we would like to say. We think that we would stand in those moments when someone says, when our lives are threatened, we would stand in the moment and not fear what man says. We are more weak than we like to think. And we must remember where our strength lies. And if the disciple of our Lord, Peter, falls, it shouldn't be surprising when God's people fall as well. And so what we see in these verses, Peter denies his Lord, fulfilling Christ's prediction. And he does this before the rooster crows twice. So he denies the Lord before the rooster crows twice and will structure this, this, uh, section, uh, around those crowing. So before the rooster crows once versus 66 through 68. And secondly, before the rooster crows twice versus 69 through 72. So before the rooster crows once. from before the rooster crows twice. So let's see what happens before the rooster crows once in verses 66 through 68. So our Lord has been arrested. Our Lord has been taken to the high, to the high priest's house. They're engaging in a show trial with false witnesses against the Lord. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ has done nothing wrong, but the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, they hate our Lord. They don't like him. They don't want him around and they want to remove him and they want to remove him by way of death. And so they need something. that is deserving of death. So they bring up these false witnesses against him. And brethren, we can't miss the contrast going on here in Mark's gospel. As we see Jesus in the upper room, Jesus standing before the Sanhedrin, Jesus confessing who he is in contrast with Peter. Mark is engaging in a sandwiching effect. We see in verse 53, But Peter followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest. And so he sits with the servants. He's warming himself by the fire. We go up into that courtroom or that room where the show trial is happening. Jesus says, I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven. He has confessed who he is. He has witnessed who he is to himself. What will Peter do? So we see this again, meanwhile effect going on in verse 66. Now, as Peter was below, we cannot miss that. It's happening at the same time. Jesus' trial in the upper room, Peter's trial in below, Peter's questioning in the courtyard with the servants. Jesus identifies who he is. Will Peter do the same? And so we see verse 66, he's down in the courtyard and one of the servant girls of the high priest comes in. This first encounter, this first denial is with one who is quite insignificant. With this one who is a no-name, and there's a lot of no-namers in Mark's gospel, but also we see her status. She is a slave. She is a servant of the high priest. She is one who doesn't have much standing in the Graeco-Roman world and in the Jewish world as well. So it shouldn't be someone that Peter is afraid of. Peter shouldn't fear what this servant girl thinks. He shouldn't fear what this young one says. And so she comes in, she comes into this courtyard, perhaps after her shift, she comes and spends time with the other servants in that place where they would be. And so, and when she's there, verse 67, she saw Peter warming himself. Again, drawing our attention back to verse 54, same language, he's warming himself by the fire. So she identifies him, she sees him there, she looks at him, verse 67, and says, you also were with Jesus of Nazareth. She looks intently, as Luke says. She's like, I've seen that person before. So she's staring for a little bit. And brethren, I don't like it when people stare at me. I guess I shouldn't have been a pastor because you're all staring at me right now. But I don't like it when people are looking at me with beady, glaring eyes. My daughter's pretty cute when she does that. But everybody else, nobody else can do such things. And so she's looking at him. She's looking intently, as Luke says. I've seen that guy before somewhere else. He looks familiar. And so she asked him, you also were with Jesus of Nazareth. That doesn't say how she knows him. Maybe she was in Gethsemane when they were arrested and saw Peter slice off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Or perhaps maybe she saw him in the temple. But in any case, she recognizes him and says, you were with Jesus of Nazareth. Were you not? Were you with him? And so they're identifying Jesus. Jesus was actually a very popular name at that time. And so they identify him as the Nazarene. Perhaps there is some derogatory, perhaps it could be a derogatory reference as well. But in any case, she identifies him. You were with this one. And so will Peter, the one who said, I will not deny you, but I'll go with you to death. I'll go with you the way you will go. What will he do? Verse 68. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you are saying. Peter denies him. We already see his misplaced zeal, don't we? Lord, as he says in verse 31, but he spoke morbidly. If I have to die with you, I will not deny you. He is that ready fire aim kind of guy, isn't he? He speaks before he thinks. And here we see him being humbled as he denies his Lord just from this small little servant girl. I do not know nor understand what you are saying. And remember brethren, the three naps of Peter in the garden, When Jesus goes to pray, when Jesus has praise to the father about his plan that he must do, how he must take the wrath of God upon himself, he goes and prays. But the disciples couldn't watch for one hour. Peter's three naps in the garden precedes Peter's three denials in the courtyard. And we see the first one here. I neither know nor understand what you are saying. He pleads ignorance with this one. And brethren, notice how small a person and how minor the temptation that he has that leads him to sin. How small the person and how minor the temptation. Now perhaps Peter does fear he might be like his Lord and perhaps he might die, but there's no indication of that here. He's just afraid to be identified with Jesus. He's just afraid of the shame that goes with that. How small a sin it is, or how small a thing it is, how minor a temptation. Ryle says, let us beware of making light of temptations because they seem little and insignificant. There is nothing little that concerns our souls. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little spark may kindle a great fire. A little leak may sink a great ship. A little provocation may bring out from our hearts great corruption. and end in bringing our souls into great trouble. You could even say a little sin leads to eternal damnation, doesn't it? That's hard for us to fathom and grasp. But one minor, tiny, teensy little sin is enough to have the verdict rendered guilty on that day of judgment. The reason being is because we've sinned against a holy God, against a perfect God, against a God who is absolutely pure, absolutely just, and he must punish sin. Even little light lies. For the beauty is Christ died for sinners and died for sinners who commit little white lies, but also who deny him, but also engage in murder, who also engage in other things. Christ is able to save to the uttermost those who draw nigh unto him through faith. But we should not make light of small and minor sins. And it shows how feeble we really are, isn't it? Just a little temptation can lead us into great sin. I do not know or understand what you are saying. And usually when we get caught in our sin, we like to try and hide, don't we? That's what he does. He went out on the porch. The fire gives some light. He wants to go to a dark place. He wants to hide because his sin is exposed. And that's what he tries to do. He goes out to the porch. Even that phrase there teaches us how often we like to hide our sins, even when we are exposed. And brethren, all our sins are exposed before a God who knows everything. All our sins are seen by him. He knows and sees it all. But Peter denies, he tries to hide, and notice the rooster crowed. Is Peter paying attention? Is Peter cluing in at this point? And the answer to that question is no. But I think one thing we see in these verses, really, brethren, is really how fearful of man we are, how terrified we are of what man thinks of us, how we'd like to be courageous, but most people are not. Most people will not stand up when it's the right thing to do. Most people fear what man thinks, what the crowd thinks. Most people fear those around them. That's why peer pressure is a big problem. That's why honor and shame was a big problem, or the currency of the Greco-Roman world, what the world thought versus what is right. And even Peter, it's not as though he was being threatened with death. It was just, hey, you're with Jesus. No, I'm not. Or later on, Pilate. Pilate doesn't want an insurrection. In verse 15, though, as he said many times leading up to verse 15 of Mark 15, he says, I find nothing wrong with this man. I find no fault in him. I wish to release you. But what? wanting to gratify the crowd. I'm just doing my job is a modern example of that. I'm just doing what I've been told to do. But it doesn't matter if you've been told what you've been told to do. You have to do what is right. The only way that we can stand in those moments is by the strength of God Almighty. The fear of man leads to denials of our Lord. There's a reason in history those who hate God threaten violence against the church. Threaten to take away things from the people of God. Threaten certain things because they want you to fear. The only way we can stand in those moments, dear brethren, is by God who gives us strength and a strength that only comes from Him. And we need to pray now that God would give us that strength when those times come. We need to pray that he gives us strength as we battle against sin, as we live our lives, but we also need strength for that day according to his glorious power with all long suffering and patience with joy, as Paul says in Colossians 3. And this was the lesson for the audience of Mark's gospel. Remember, the audience of Mark's gospel is the Roman church, the church that is in the capital of the great empire, a place that they would have been perhaps near to persecution, near to the reality that they would have to stand and perhaps face a certain death, perhaps face certain suffering because of their Lord. And so there is a warning. There is a call to stand fast. But as we'll see as well, there's an encouragement that there is forgiveness. Lane says it constitute a plea to hold fast one's confession of Jesus. But it also provided a word of encouragement that one who failed his Lord through denial could be restored, that he will experience forgiveness and restoration. We have to be aware, brethren, of when the rooster crows for us. And more importantly, we have to be aware of the words of our Lord. Hold fast to him, cling to him, fear him rather than man. Remember he is gracious and good, but may we hold fast to him in those times by his strength. So that's before the rooster crows once. Let's then look secondly at before the rooster crows twice, verses 69 through 72. So this is, we see the second denial. It's very quick in Mark's gospel, verse 69. Less detail in Mark's account than the other accounts. It's all, it's in Matthew, Luke, and John, but less detail here. I noticed the same servant girl sees him again, but this time she ropes in her fellow servants, those who stood by. Hey, she's trying to corroborate. Hey, have you seen that guy before? I'm not, you know, blind, right? I see, he was with the Galilee or he was with Jesus. So they began to say to those who stood by, this is one of them. But again, verse 70, hopefully then he would have learned the first time, right? He denied the Lord the first time, but you know what? The second time he's not gonna do it. He denies them again. Verse 70, or sorry, verse 70. He denied it again. Remember Mark is abrupt, brings in an intensity. builds tension here for us, but Peter denies the Lord again. Fool me once, fool me twice, shame on me. And he denies him again here, as Jesus had said in 14, 27 through 31. Twice, Jesus's prediction comes true, and the third time it will come true as well. He denied it again, same word that's used in verses 14 through 31. verses 27 to 31 of chapter 14. Then we see the third denial, verse 70. And a little later, those who stood by said to Peter again, so a little while longer, I think it's about an hour. Surely you are one of them for you are a Galilean and your speech shows it. Those who stood by this time, not just the servant girl, but others as well. Many witnesses. You are one of them. You are a Galilean and your speech shows it. Just because they were Jewish doesn't mean they didn't have different dialects. I've heard in Britain, there are different dialects and some people don't want to be associated with the other, with a different one who has a different, from a different place, but there's different sounds. The difference between Canadians and Americans, just because we're Canadian American, we share a border, we're a little bit different. We have different ideas, different views, different things. And I learned that the hard way in America, but differences between Canadians and Americans, there's a difference. Surely you are a Canadian by the way you say a boot. Someone actually said, I can hear the boot as you're talking. So we do have an accent. I just don't realize that, but. There is that, but there's a difference. But surely you are a Galilean and your speech shows it. And that's where we see the third denial. And notice this time he swears an oath. Then he began to curse and swear. He does not yet let his yes be yes and his no be no. But he calls a curse upon himself that if he is lying, may that curse come upon me." Brethren, again, the sad part is Jesus has been falsely accused by the Sanhedrin. And Jesus bears witness of who he is. Here we see his disciple lying. and bearing false witness so that he will not be identified with Christ. Not only does he deny, but he lies, and he also brings an oath upon himself. We see here, began to curse and swear. The language of curse there is the word anathema. The noun form is used in Paul's letter in Galatians, as he says, if anyone should preach to you another gospel other than the one that you received, let him be anathema. There is one gospel, and that's free grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on him and you shall be saved. The gospel is not believe and then do a little bit of this. It's not just do all of it. It's believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And the church at Galatia was bewitched by the Judaizers who said you have to be in by faith and stay in by circumcision, by law keeping, and by keeping the various ceremonial laws. And so Paul says if anyone Myself or an angel from heaven preaches to you a gospel other than the one you receive. Let him be anathema. Let him be accursed. Let this fall upon him. And so Peter swears that here. May this curse come upon me. And we see the language of swearing an oath there. as well. He began to curse and swear. The word is used in Matthew 5 and James 7, being careful about the oaths that one swears, that your yes be yes and your no be no. But if you lie, that is a great heinous thing. And so he swears this oath and he says, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And notice that. In Mark 8, 29, he confesses the Lord. You are the Christ, the Son of God. In Mark 14, 27-31, I will not deny you. And here he can't even say the name of Jesus. Here he can't even identify with Him. Before servants, before the so-called riffraff of society. He can't even do that before them. It's not as though he was standing before the Sanhedrin or a king, it was before the servants. I do not know this man of whom you speak. Jesus identifies who he is, but Peter will not identify and witness to who Christ is here before the servants of the high priest. The third time, he swears an oath and calls a curse upon himself. And then verse 72, he remembers a second time the rooster crowed. Again, Mark is the only one who mentions this here and in the prediction. Peter probably likely remembered that sound of the rooster or every time you hear a rooster crow, he probably remembered this moment, didn't he? Or wouldn't he have? He recounts it like it was yesterday as he's recounting it. Perhaps the idea is, could be that when Peter preached it, preached the account of our Lord, the account of Mark's gospel, Mark recorded it. And so it was like yesterday, twice, the Lord said to me before the rooster crows twice, before the rooster crows once, before the rooster crows a second time, and after a second time the rooster crowed, then it triggered his memory. And in Luke's gospel, Jesus looks. He can't stand the look of a servant girl, or he's more concerned with the look of a servant girl than the look of our Savior. But we see it finally comes to him in verse 72. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows twice, he will deny me three times. Sinks in. It's the words ring true. Peter has done what the Lord says. And Peter, who once was willing to associate with him and die with him, has denied him here. Jesus is abandoned. Jesus is betrayed. Jesus is alone. And Jesus has been denied by his supposedly one of his closest allies. And Peter, when he thinks about it, verse 72, He goes out and he weeps. All who he thought he was is shattered. He goes from confessor in Mark 8 to denier in Mark 14. Sad and terrible thing to see what Peter did. Thankfully, it's not the end for Peter, is it? And perhaps there is some contrast with Judas. I remember one of the first few Sundays at Free Grace after deciding to go there, Pastor Porter, I can't remember what he even preached on, but Judas was in it and Peter was in it. And he contrasted between Peter and Judas. Judas does not find forgiveness because he does not look for it in Christ. Peter finds forgiveness in Christ, doesn't he? And we see this repentance and remorse in the fact that he weeps. France says his remorse, contrasted with Judas's apparently settled disloyalty, that's very clear in Mark's gospel, points to failure under pressure rather than deliberate change of allegiance. And for that, Mark's readers will have noted with relief, there remains the prospect of forgiveness and rehabilitation. Peter finds forgiveness. Those who deny Christ before they die can find forgiveness in him. Because I think what this teaches us as well is how forgiving Christ is. And as we see what God forgives here, one who initially identified with him said, I won't deny you, denies him before someone so small. And this forgiveness is fleshed out in John 21, but it's very subtle in Mark's gospel. In Mark 16, 7, after Jesus has been raised from the dead, and the women come to the tomb, the one who the man clothed in white, an angel sitting there, said to them, do not be alarmed. You see Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, he is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. Verse 7, but go and tell his disciples and Peter. One of the promises that Jesus says in that section about denial is he says, after I've been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. I will go before you to that place of hope and restoration. Remember Jerusalem was a sign of death and Galilee is a sign of hope. And Jesus goes before them. His prediction comes true with Peter, but also his prediction about resurrection comes true as well. And he wants Peter to know it. But go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him as he said to you. Christ forgives. The risen Christ has been vindicated. He is proven to be who he is, as he says to the Sanhedrin. But brother, he also identifies with humans, doesn't he? Coming in the likeness of men. not sinning, not engaging in wickedness, but living a perfect life. But we see he humbled himself when he does that. He suffers for sinners, and he forgives sinners as well. And brethren, if you're in Christ, he has forgiven you of all of your sins, the sins you have committed, the sins you're committing right now, and the sins that you will commit, because his finished work is sufficient. And brethren, denial is not the unforgivable sin. We like to have our list of unforgivable sins. There's no way God could ever forgive that, right? We have our own. There's only one. Mark 3 highlights this for us. In Mark 3, what does he say? All the sins of men will be forgiven the sons of men. And whatever blasphemies they may utter, but he blasphemies against the Holy Spirit, never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation. I tried to highlight when we looked at that, it's those who deny and do not believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And in time and space, it's really hard to determine if someone has actually done that. But remember, the Pharisees were saying, he casts out demons by Beelzebub, associating the work of the king with the devil. And those who do not believe on Jesus Christ will not be forgiven. Their sins will be rightly punished forever. But deniers can find forgiveness. Murderers can find forgiveness. Abortionists can find forgiveness. Adulterers can find forgiveness. Those who commit suicide, it's not the unforgivable sin, is it? It's a sad way for one to end one's life, but it's not the unforgivable sin. And neither is denying. As Augustine says often, the best of men are men at best. And Ryle says, let us carefully remember that Simon Peter's case does not stand alone. The word of God contains many other examples of the infirmity of true believers, which we shall do well to observe. The histories of Noah, Abraham, David, Hezekiah will supply us with mournful proof that the infection of sin remains even in the regenerate and that no man is so strong as to be beyond the danger of falling. Let us not forget this. Let us walk humbly with our God. Brethren, the best of men are men at best, and we are all prone to wander and leave the God that we love. That's why we have to be on guard and watchful and watchful in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we stumble and fall, there is mercy and forgiveness in him. And notice as well, the type of repentance he forgives. Peter goes out and he weeps. Now, it's true in John 21, there is a little bit more of a fuller restoration there. Three times, Peter says, I love you. But sometimes we require people to do all these sorts of things before we forgive them, don't we? Peter, God hears Peter's tears. God, as the psalmist prays, do not be silent at my tears. Now, yes, God's people, when we sin, we should be quick to say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Please accept this forgiveness, accept my apology. That should be quick upon our tongues when we sin against someone, right? It should. But sometimes it doesn't always happen as quick as we wish it to be. Even in Mark 12, what Jesus says to his disciples, he says, and whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him. Even if they don't ask for forgiveness, that's hard. We require people to do all sorts of things before we forgive them. And here we see Peter's tears and God forgives him and hears. And Jesus says, or the angel says, Jesus through the angel says, go tell his disciples and Peter. He wants Peter to know that there is forgiveness for all of his sins. Brethren, forgiveness is so very foreign to man. We want everything to be absolutely right. But God is one who is quick to forgive. And he delights to forgive and delights to give mercy and grace to those who do not deserve it. And he does so in the Lord Jesus Christ. But when you consider our frame, and consider our wickedness, consider all the sins that we commit, small and little, sometimes we have to ask ourselves, why would God do such a thing? Why would God forgive us and be merciful to us? It has nothing to do with you and I. It has everything to do with Him who sent forth His Son, who came into this world to save sinners and to give life everlasting in Him. And if you're an unbeliever here today, your sins can be forgiven in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to him, believe upon him, for he is merciful and good, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. And as the psalmist says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. Blessed is he whose sins are covered. Blessed is he to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. And the reason we have happiness and blessedness is Christ for the sins of his people upon himself and forgives all sorts of sins. Christ does not deny himself and does not deny us, even though we would deny him. Let us pray. Our gracious heavenly father, thank you for your forgiveness that you give. Please forgive us for our fear of man more than you. Please forgive us for our weak and feeble faith, but we're thankful that even weak faith is still saving faith because of you, because of Christ, because of his finished work. And thank you that Christ confessed that he is the I am before the Sanhedrin, that we who are so quick to deny him before others might find mercy and forgiveness. We ask, oh God, by your strength and by your spirit, you would strengthen us with might, that we would stand fast on the day we must confess. We would stand fast by your strength and your power because you've saved us and given us life everlasting. Keep us strong. Will you lift us up, carry us, be the shelter for us as we are trust in the shelter of your wings. Thank you that you are God and we can look to you. And we pray that there are any here today who do not know you, pray that you would save them, work in them, show them their sin, and show them their need for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray, O God, that we would fear you rather than man, that we would hold fast to the truth, and that when we stumble, we would find mercy in the blood of Christ. And so we ask, O God, you give us encouragement, strength, Teach us to know our frame, teach us to number our days, that we might know that we are man and you are God. For truly who is man that you are mindful of him, that you would send forth your son. So we ask you to be with us now as we go into the world. Give us strength and encouragement, we pray by your grace. And we pray these things in the name of Christ, amen.