So the rest of us, I'd like to draw our attention, please, to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. In this passage of Scripture, We're going to see some of the things that we've already talked about and was presented to you from our missionaries as well. For those of you who don't know, my name is Darrell. I'm on staff here at Providence Presbyterian Church. I am not the pastor. When our pastor is away, sometimes they'll ask me to fill the pulpit, and there's some others who do that, have that privilege as well. and we'd like to be able to share with you from 1 Peter. And as you're drawing your attention to that, I'd like to give you a little bit of context. The Apostle Peter has been persecuted for preaching about Jesus Christ being the only way to heaven, the only way to have salvation. He's being persecuted for those things, and he's suspecting that his persecution will soon lead to his own death as a martyr. And as a loving pastor, to get word of encouragement to others that he knows of that are spread out and scattered around who are also feeling this persecution. Knowing full well that he may never be able to see them. Knowing full well that this might be his last chance to ever connect with them. Because he's smelling the barn. He's smelling the barn. We'll look at that in a little bit as well. I wanted to make sure you knew that about Peter. so that we can remember those things when we talk about this letter that he's sent to these people. His message is to those who are believing in Jesus as Lord and Savior and who are amid hostility toward the church, being that Peter is calling those senses of hostility various trials. It's a letter to Christians who live in a world system that is not only open to evil and the evil one, but actually seems energized, actually seems energized by Satan and his demons. It's apropos for believers today who face persecution and or hardship, brokenness, heartache in this fallen, increasingly sin-infected world. Think it applies to us? Should we keep on going? Think we might be able to get something out of this? I'm hoping so. Let's look at it as we read together. First, Peter one, starting at verse three. Let's be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled. and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to resolve in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, You greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. Do you see what we saw? This is so cool. From what I've read, what Peter is telling us is you are in a great spot. Now, if I wrote a run-on sentence like some of those, I probably would get in trouble with some of you who know English. But Peter wrote this because he got so wrapped up in how cool of a position we have. And that position is this. That position is you, Christian, are in a great spot. You're in a great spot because you're saved. To stay strong and believing this truth and to be resilient in this confidence. We're gonna look at this We're gonna see that I must believe God's mercy is great. I Must be free to greatly rejoice and I need to keep looking forward to a great outcome Notice the reoccurring word you see it the word Great, you know what that means? If everything goes well, it could be that you'll leave here saying, that Darrell wrote a great sermon. Probably not, probably not. In fact, it wasn't me that wrote the sermon, it is Peter who wrote the sermon. What I would wish to do is to merely to show you what Peter's sermon was in these seven verses. Let's pray and ask God to lead us. Father God, we thank you for the opportunity to know your word. We thank you for the opportunity you had our pastor, Dr. Wood, to preach about six hours ago to those in South Africa. And I pray for the effects of that sermon and that you would minister there. I pray for those in children's worship right now, Father, that during their own time of giving themselves to you, they would realize their love for you because you first loved them and they would grow in that relationship with you. and call them to not be the church of tomorrow, because they're already that church, but because you would call them to be the leaders of the church of tomorrow. And Father, would you guide us with insight through examining your word, through this small portion of 1 Peter, so that we can know what you want us to know about you. We can seek your heart and know your heart. We ask this in Jesus Christ's name, amen. The section starts out with a blessing to God, and this blessing is actually an exaltation to God. It's actually praising Him. It's uplifting His name, and it's giving Him acclaim. When He's giving Him acclaim, Peter, it's because of His great mercy, and what His great mercy has done for us. And that's point number one. I believe God's mercy is great. His mercy is so great that He has caused me to be born again. My first birth. to be a living creature in this world was in sin. Psalm 51.5 tells us that. You can follow along as I read that. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity And in sin, my mother conceived me. And as that, my first birth caused me to be born in sin, and therefore, the only thing that I could look forward to is living out my life in sin, and then having to pay for my sin the rest of my eternity in hell itself. But God. but God, whose mercy drew me to himself and caused me to be born again. Therefore, God's mercy is great. In fact, it's greater than all my sins. To live this side of heaven, in this belief, we must We must believe that I've been born again. We must believe that you've been born again. And keep believing that. This is a resolve to believe that God, who lovingly and kindly has mercy upon you, caused your rebirth. And you know, Christian, to be born again is a status that continues. Not that God's gonna die all over again. is going to die all over again for our sins. That's not what I'm saying, that's once and done. But this born-again status is something we keep looking for, keep striving for, keep reminding ourselves that I've been born again, born again into His into his strength and born again into the forgiveness of sins and to have that power over the temptations of sin. Living as one who takes advantage of the many God-given means of grace, those means of grace that God gives us so that we can continue to live our lives as born again. Practicing habitual prayer, scripture reading, participating in the sacraments of communion and baptism, regular communal worship, sitting under the preaching of God's Word, and the teaching of it in Sunday school, in our small groups, in your own personal worship, and fellowship with other believers, all are assisting you to remain diligent in your faith, to continue that growth in your born-again status, so that you can have the power over sin. Being sanctified, constantly reborn to a life, not my own, because I've been bought by the That's what I read in 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. What? Know you not that your body is not your own? You were bought. You were bought with the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. And you are not your own. And what does Peter write at the end of verse three? this being born again, dying on the cross, Jesus died on the cross for us, this being born again, you were born again to a living hope. Living, meaning it is active and vibrant, constantly reviving a trust in Christ alone to have any kind of hope in the resurrection to look forward to. By what? What does verse three say? The resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus's resurrection means that you too have a resurrection to look forward to that's why it's a living hope It's an active hope and it's a it's a play on words by Peter that you would not only have a living hope But you have a living hope of being alive again eternally one day It would be remiss I would be remiss I didn't invite you To believe that if you have not believed that today is the day of your salvation And if today is the day that you first believed that, you first understood that, you knew that Jesus Christ is your Savior, and you've come to Him, and you've asked Him to forgive you of your sins, if that's true of you today, I'd love to talk to you afterwards. Talk to Ben as well. Let us know, and let us give you an opportunity to show how you can grow in your faith here at Providence Presbyterian Church. God raises you to a position of an adopted child. My sister is eight years younger than me. And when she was adopted, she was adopted into our family. At that time, she had bright, curly, red hair. Nobody else in the immediate family had that. So a lot of people would ask, how did you get all your bright, curly, red hair? And if she wasn't shy, she would say, well, God gave it to me. So I taught her, and this was before I was a teenager, I taught her, this is what you tell people. You tell people that you were adopted. You got your red hair from God, but you were adopted. which means that you were picked out by our parents and your two brothers, your parents just got stuck with them. You tell them that you were picked out and that's what you are. When you're adopted into God's family, he picks you out based on nothing, nothing to do with your hair, nothing to do with your size, nothing to do with your brain, nothing. It has everything to do with the great mercy of our God. Look at verse four. based on his mercy, your heavenly father will not allow you to die a sinner's death, which you deserve, I deserve, but he adopts you being reborn into God's family as a younger sibling of Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, so that you can, what's it say in verse four? You can obtain an inheritance. Child of God, know that you have obtained an inheritance. You're one reborn, a child of God. And no matter what happens in your life, no matter all the things that you go through, your God has called you to himself, to a specific tailor-made place in heaven. never knew who his father was. He never knew who his father was. There were some possibilities they didn't know. I'm sure maybe somebody knew, but they weren't telling him. As a result, he went through high school with at least three different last names through his high school years. And he recounted this story that when it was time for him to be married, he actually had to pay to get his name legally changed, and he picked Macpherson. At that time, I said to him, Dad, if you could pick your name, why didn't you pick Disney? Why did you pick something like that? The whole idea for me was I was looking for a powerful name that would give an inheritance to me. The inheritance won't last. The inheritance our Lord gives us, the inheritance our Lord gives us to me is a whole lot more. Look what it says in verse four. Look at what this says. It says that your inheritance is imperishable, is imperishable. What's that mean? What's that mean to you? That your inheritance as a child of God is imperishable. Somebody throw out something. What's that mean? It can't be destroyed. I like that, Ann. For those of you watching a live stream, someone said it can't be destroyed. How about not only imperishable, it's undefiled. What does that mean to you? Undefiled. Pure. I love it. Somebody said pure. And then the last one there we see, Not only is it imperishable and undefiled, but it will not fade away. What could that mean to you? It will not fade away. It's permanent, the permanency of it. Yeah, for those of livestream, somebody said permanent. What do you think God wants to convey to us with these descriptions? It seemed kind of redundant. With these descriptions of our inheritance, what do you think he's trying to convey to us? The inheritance we have is far more than we could ever ask or imagine. But wait, there's more. Look at the rest of verse 4. We also read, reserved in heaven for you. Reserved in heaven for you. Anybody here a Seinfeld fan? I'm not necessarily talking about the stand-up comedian. How about the long-time sitcom? If you're a fan of a long-term sitcom of Seinfeld, Perhaps you remember this. For what does it say? For you. I must believe, I must believe that this Eternal heavenly inheritance. I must believe I have an eternal heavenly inheritance reserved in heaven for You could write your name there. You can write for me or you can write your name. You can write that whole sentence I believe I have an eternal heavenly inheritance for to hammer this home you for your name you can put that there I Must believe that I have that and I must believe look at verse 5. I must believe that I am protected by the power of God I am protected by the power of God if I have an inheritance reserved in heaven for by God's great mercy I'm not getting what I deserve I'm not getting the hell that I deserve and I'm not getting that bad that I should get Through adoption my heavenly father gives me a place in heaven and protects me from this lion's den of a world We talked about that in our bulletin folders. And we remember that a little bit later on in Peter's letter, this very same letter, he talks about Satan being a roaring lion. What does he seek to do? Devour. to devour somebody. God protects me from that evil devourer. And my salvation is to be revealed in the last day. That's what we read. My salvation is to be revealed in the last day. It seems like the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter were of the same ilk, because in Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, 38 and 39, we read this. For I'm convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Scripture interpreting scripture. And did you notice what the salvation is described, how it's described? It is what? It is ready to be revealed. Your salvation is ready to be revealed. It doesn't have to have anything added to it. It's ready. It's ready and waiting. It's ready and waiting, and you have it already. It's ready to be revealed. It's waiting to be revealed. And it's for you, and you have that. Your complete salvation is not developing. You don't need to do anything to earn it. You don't need to do anything to make it better. You can grow in it. because it's reserved for you, but it's ready, and it's not earned by you. It is done and ready to be revealed. Keep believing, Christian, that your salvation, already earned for you, is granted to you now. Granted to you now. And all the implications of what that promise means will be revealed throughout eternity. And we'll never get tired of seeing how that that salvation will be revealed to us. And it can't even say day after day because there's no time frame in heaven. It'll just be continually revealed to you, be refreshing to you, be encouraging to you. That's the salvation we have and that's the inheritance that we have. Therefore, point two, I am free to greatly rejoice. Free to greatly... greatly rejoice even now while living in this sin-cursed world and distressed by what Peter calls various trials. So greatly rejoice, greatly rejoice despite the world of tedium and violence Corruption and anguish and death and disease and abuse and hardship and sorrows the world of broken relationships broken promises angst greed constant temptations the world where Christians are Persecuted for their faith in Christ in places like Pakistan and North Korea and Somalia and Libya and Yemen You could you could be free to rejoice despite those things Peter puts it this way greatly greatly rejoice even though now for a little while Even though now, for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. Just as that wonderful inheritance as described in verse 4 is reserved for you, so is the encouragement written to you. This letter is written to you. Greatly rejoice that the discomfort of this imperfect world will not last. It's going to go away. Peter tells us some important things about those various trials and distresses. First, they're temporary, aren't they? Even though in some cases, these hardships affect people for a lifetime. Some people go through hardships for a lifetime, but it's only a lifetime compared to our eternity. So our distresses in these various trials are temporary, and they are necessary. We also read that. If they weren't necessary, our fully sovereign God would not allow them. Why he allows them will be displayed to us along with our salvation, but we know that they are fulfilling a purpose and one that we'll know fully one day. And these trials are various and are distressing, but they must not be allowed to steal your joy. You can give up your joy, but your joy can't be stolen. Your joy cannot be stolen. So Christian, it is time to greatly rejoice despite these trials. Why are we free to rejoice? Look at verse 7. What we read in verse 7, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What we read there is gold, even pure gold that's refined by fire, is perishable. So no wonder you wouldn't want to take your gold with you to heaven. It's perishable. There's better gold there, apparently, from what I read. So why would you want to take anything with you? The gold here, even though refined by fire, is perishable. What is not perishable? Proven case. Proven faith proven by the trials that we go through Peter writes God has a purpose in allowing and utilizing these trials and I encourage you to lean into his will in the midst of those trials Leaning into his will So that I am free to to greatly rejoice and I believe that God is Proving my faith through these trials and tribulations and these things that we go through. I believe he is proving my faith To whom is he proving your faith? Well, would you say that God has to take you through things to to learn something from you Trina Let's see, I saw you earlier. Where are you, Trina? There you are. Would you say God's taking you through things so that he can learn about your faith? He knows your faith. He knows your faith. Providence kids, the kids we had in Sunday school earlier, does God need to be learning something? No, he already knows everything, doesn't he? What he knows everything, what's that word, that class I had, what's that word? It is, Omniscient, that's right. It is omniscient, President Brandon. It's omniscient. It means he already knows those things. He doesn't take us through things to learn about you. Who is the proven faith for? Who's he teaching? He takes me through those things, so He's teaching me where my faith is, and who I lean on. He's teaching me, and He's also taking me through those things, or taking you through things, so that other people can watch you, and they too can learn from you about how faith works. Do the trials you go through, have Him learn something about you? Of course not. The proof of my faith, which is more precious than gold, which I read in verse seven, because it is what results in the praise, honor, and glory. The praise, honor, and glory. It'll be proven faith that is more precious than gold. Who say the praise and honor and glory is gonna be given to Jesus at the last time? The praise, honor, and glory that we go, who's gonna get that? Is it gonna be Jesus? Wait, what if, is it gonna be us? Those of you who think maybe it's us, we're going to get that praise, honor, and glory. He's going to call it on us because he helped us go through this thing. If you were to ask me, is it Jesus or is it us who receives the praise, honor, and glory? I'd say yes. I'd say yes. The proved faith that God gave us is that we lean on while in this sin-cursed world results in praise, honor, and glory. Let me explain this a little bit. Imagine with me. Imagine I'm in heaven, and I'm enjoying the freshness of it, the new smells I never had, the new feelings, the textures, the peace that I've never had before, and as I'm walking along, I hear my name get called, and it's a female voice, and I turn, and there's Miriam, Moses' sister, and she's coming towards me with the Apostle Peter, and somebody that I know Think that person is one of the sailors that was on the ship with Jonah and and that sailor saw Jonah get thrown overboard hit the water and the storm that when they thought they were gonna die on was instantly calm and That sailor came to trust Yahweh and those three are coming to me. And they said, hey, we were just sharing some stories of faith that God took care of in our lives, and he was there, and we saw you, and we thought, we wanna be reminded of some of your stories as well. Come tell us, tell us a couple of the ways that God used you on earth to display faith. And as I start to tell them, I see they're leaning into, and with wide eyes listening to my story, that I didn't even know I had, because I all of a sudden realized the spirit of Jesus is there too with all of us. And he says to me, go ahead, tell him the one about, and before he even finishes, it comes to my head. And as I'm telling them that story, I look over Miriam's shoulder, and I see that there's another group of people, and they're talking and they're being together, and one of them happens to be Thomas, and the other one happens to be Rahab, and another one happens to be I'm not sure of his name, but he was one who was an Egyptian and came to know the true God of the Hebrews through the signs and wonders that God used in the plagues to release the Israelites out of Egypt. And I see that, and as I'm telling, I'm continually telling my story that God asked me to tell, I see that the spirit of Jesus is with them as well. And he talks to that Egyptian, and he tells them something, and the Egyptian, with wide eyes and excitement, starts telling his story. And as I'm telling my story, I'm noticing there's bigger groups over there, and the spirit of Jesus is there. And there's smaller groups over there, and the spirit of Jesus is there. And when I finish telling my story, those three that were with me start praising Jesus. Wow, praise God that you helped them through those things. And I look, and Jesus looks at me, and he smiles, and he nods. And he says, you are right to have faith in me. You are right to obey and to follow me and to trust me. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. And they're all praising Jesus together. I can't point to a chapter and verse that says that that's what it's gonna be like or that that Jesus will say well done now good and faithful servant more than once I can't do that but I do know God is able to do more than we can ask or imagine and I do know that Peter says that my proven faith will result in praise glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ I look forward to that And that's what's gonna continue to help me go through the trials and the struggles and the frustrations of this fallen world today. Therefore, I believe that God will reveal proven and perfected faith. I believe God will reveal my, my proven and perfected faith, exemplified in Christ and the faith given to me by God in the first place. This intimacy with God, This worship that Dr. Wood, our pastor, wanted us to strive for in 2024, this is that intimacy. God's great mercy, and he's greatly be praised for it, which brings us to point three. We can look forward to a great outcome. After Peter reminds us that we will witness and experience the praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, he goes into a shepherd mood. And we're going to look at verse 8. Verse 8 reads like this. And though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. If someone were to say, this passage of Scripture needs to be preached so that it is a command. This is what you have to do. You have to love Jesus and you have to live according to His purpose. You have to have faith in Him even though you don't see Him. If they were to preach that, I couldn't say they were wrong, but I want to give you a little nuance. What if it's probable that the apostle Peter went into a shepherd mode, and he says to those who have never seen Jesus, as one Peter is one who did, and he says to them, compassionately encouraged them, and says, you have, you have that kind of faith that I should have because I saw him. What if Peter gives a pastoral pep talk and says, this is who you are. This is who you are. You are the ones who love Jesus, even though you didn't see him, even though you didn't hear him, even though you couldn't touch him, even though you couldn't experience him like we did, you are this kind of person. Peter doubted the resurrection with the others while he was in a room. Thomas wasn't there, but the others were there. And Peter heard Jesus' rebuke in Mark 16, 14. He reproached them for their unbelief and hardheartedness. Then when they were all together again, and Thomas was with them this time, Thomas said, remember, unless I put my finger in his nail mark, and unless I put my hand in where he was pierced with the spear, I will not believe. Then eight days after Thomas' death, rash declaration they were all together again, including Thomas and Locked in a room and then Jesus appears the resurrected Jesus appears in front of them and he invites Thomas come Touch me and see that I'm real Peter saw that Peter heard Thomas's declaration of my Lord and my God and Peter heard Peter heard Jesus say to Thomas in John 20, 29, in John 20, 29, where he says to Thomas, do you believe because you have seen, you touched me because you have seen me? And then he says, blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. Who are the they? This blessed, by the way, earlier we saw the blessed was actually praising Jesus and praising God for the mercy He's shown us. This blessed, and I'm not a Greek scholar by any means, but looking it up, this blessed is actually well off. How fortunate you are that you believe. Why are you fortunate? Because as somebody who believes like this, you can look forward, you can look forward to a great outcome. Peter reminds his readers who they are. He's telling them that they are people of great faith because they love Jesus, even without being able to see Him, touch Him, audibly hear Him, or experience Him. Faith-filled Christians here at Providence Presbyterian Church, that's you. You've impressed me so much. We as a church have individuals who are going through some difficult, difficult times. Just this morning, we heard about one whose loved one passed. You are the people of faith despite the trials you face, and you're looking forward to a great outcome of your faith. You are taking strong stand now in this temporary world of discomfort and aggravation and temptations and fears and sorrows, and you're steadily going on in your faith, which is God mercifully granting you that faith. I've seen this in so many of you. Persevering through the loss of a spouse. Holding up strong and faithful through broken relationships, repeated disappointments of adult children and adult grandchildren and younger ones. Trusting God despite the traumatic news from a physician, cancer, MS. Alzheimer's and other dementia, as well as other mental illnesses, through Parkinsonism, West Nile virus, congestive heart failure. You don't cave into despair through severe illness of a parent, a child, a spouse, or a friend. You keep on keeping on. Providence Presbyterian Church, Peter is writing this to you, and I'm just conveying what he's saying. You are those people of faith. Keep on keeping on. Keep on keeping on, because you can look forward to that great outcome. The glory you look forward to in experiencing in heaven. And therefore now, you can greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible, joy that can't even be expressed with normal human words. You're rejoicing in the truth that you are promised by God, who cannot lie, that you already have an eternal place in heaven, tailor-made just for you. Again, I'd be remiss if I didn't invite anyone here who isn't sure that you have that place. Trust Jesus Christ. Believe that he died for you. Call on him and let us know how we can help you grow in your faith. And then we'll look at the last phrase of verse eight. and full of glory, meaning God wants you to rejoice in heavenly status now. You already have that ability to be full of glory in your looking forward to a great outcome. Full of glory, the glory of heaven itself. Peter is telling us that when we live this kind of faith now, God will have others notice it and encourage you, and they might even point it out to you because you let it shine. In verse 8, I believe that God granted faith Shines through me. I believe God-granted faith shines through me the joy granted you when living in this kind of faith is inexpressible and full of glory meaning its joy that is reflected the eternity that you have now to others in the faith that you give Providence Presbyterian Church and you're doing that and I must believe God will continually reveal my salvation to me He'll continually reveal that salvation. That's what I think verse nine says when it says, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. You're continually obtaining that. You're continually finding it true. When you stand up under those trials, when you share your faith, when you take advantage of those means of grace, you're continually preaching to yourself, continually telling yourself, continually showing in God's word that you have that ability to grow in Him and to grow in your Christian walk. despite the various trials." Well, I want to conclude with, I'm smelling the barn. Do you remember that earlier? I'm smelling the barn. Christian, believe that you are near to your eternal home in heaven now. When I first did a trail horse ride, any horse folks here? I know there's some of you here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I did a trail ride at a camp, I was just a teenager, and I remember that the leader told us, hey, when we get it to a certain point, I'm going to tell you, you're going to have to pull back on the reins, because that's going to be a little over the halfway mark, and these trail horses, they're going to Smell the barn, they're gonna smell home, they're gonna smell where their food is, they're gonna smell where their bed is, and they're gonna smell where they can get you, the burden on their back, off. Are you smelling the barn? Home, where the burden can be all the way taken off. Are you smelling the barn? Where it's comfortable, where it's at peace, and where your Savior is. Let various trials, time, sickness, even the devil do their worst. They just quicken my heavenward pace. They just steady my heavenward attitude. Our Lord is in glory with your readied salvation. More and more people you love are there. All your real treasures are there. Therefore, your heart ought to be there, and nothing can hinder your arrival there. God continues to reveal this salvation as you look forward to that great outcome. And all this encourages me to travel on as I get nearer. You too? As I said earlier, you're nearer the home in heaven now than you were ever before. You're nearer home now than you were last week. Nearer there than you were yesterday. Nearer there than you were this morning when you woke. Nearer now than when this sermon began five minutes ago. Keep believing God's mercy is great, greater than anything. Be free to greatly rejoice despite anything. and keep looking forward to the great eternal outcome reserved for you, where you'll receive everything. Father, I thank You for this time. Thank You for revealing Your Word to us. And Lord, I pray that You, Lord, would take these words, augment them, massage them, so that they meet the needs of the individual hearts here. You know the preacher. and you know the failings, you know the weaknesses, but you, Lord, take your word through your Holy Spirit and make a difference in each and every individual's life as only you can. In Jesus Christ's name I pray. Amen.