Good morning, everyone. This is such a glorious, glorious day, first and foremost, because we know Jesus and we get to worship him. And I guess, am I the only one excited about that? But also, many of you guys may not know it, but today is actually the anniversary of the very first day that I came up here to Clovis, during the process. And it was a very interesting trip. And the reason is, our grandson was born on October 31st. And so I literally had to drag my wife out of the hospital to the car to come up here. And what a blessing it is. Perhaps you saw my grandson's dad. He was here to celebrate his son's one year birthday. We have had a great, great weekend in the Bailey household celebrating this blessing in our lives. My dad and my mom are here, my eldest sister, young lady who's like a daughter to us, my beautiful mother-in-law. Guys, we have a full house and it is a great celebration. I'd also want to thank all of you for the incredible gifts of appreciation that we received last week. Completely unexpected, but it has warmed our hearts and we know that we are loved by you. Last week, we also had a young man here who was leading us in worship. His name was Caesar. And he is a candidate for worship leader here. And so I failed to let you know that that's who he was. And so I apologize for that oversight. But I ask you now to be in prayer for the elders. We need wisdom because we really need to know if this is where God is working with him. We don't know that. But we want to be clear. The reason we want to be clear is because in all things Christ is supreme. And we want him to remain supreme by whoever comes to worship with us and leading that area of worship. So please pray for us this week. Next week, my family and I will not be here. We will be in Southern California visiting family, and David Booth will be preaching next week, so please be in prayer for David this week. And you guys have, there's a blessing coming next week. He has a wonderful passage that he's gonna be preaching from, and I'm looking forward to worshiping with you guys online. And then the following week, we have another blessing. I'm not gonna be preaching that Sunday also. But that gentleman over there, Tony Baudinet, will be preaching. And so please be in prayer for Tony also. It has taken months to get Tony to get into the pulpit. But we are grateful. God has really blessed this man of God. And I am looking forward to hearing what God has to say through him. If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to open them to 1 Timothy 2 and to stand with me as we read the word of God. We'll be turning to 1 Timothy 2 and we'll be looking at verses one through seven. 1 Timothy 2. Verse 1. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling the truth, I am not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Let's pray. Father, once more, we thank you for your word, and we pray that you would open up our ears, our hearts. God, let us see and hear your word. Speak to us now, God, to glorify yourself and to edify your church. We praise you and we thank you for your hearing and answering our prayer according to your will. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated. In your bulletin and perhaps the notes that you received during the week if you're listening online, you'll notice that the title of this message is What God Desires for All People. The key point is God wants his people to pray for Jesus and the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people. The points that are derived from this text are our involvement in God's desire in verses one through three, God's desire revealed in verse four, and only Jesus is qualified to achieve God's desire in verses five and six, and finally, God's desire should define our lives found in verse seven. Now when we read the key point of this message, which also serves as a one-sentence summary of the biblical passage that we're looking at. It's easy to conclude that this statement, God wants his people to pray for Jesus in the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people, that this statement is what God desires for all people. But it's not. It's simply what God wants us to do as a result of studying this passage. Moreover, when we read this statement, God wants his people to pray for Jesus and the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people, the question of why does God want us people to pray in this manner? that question is raised. But this question doesn't just come from this statement, it's actually raised there in the text itself. For when we read, first of all, then we are prompted to ask what precipitated this phrase. In other words, why does God want his people to pray in this manner? Well, the immediate three preceding verses answer this question in chapter one, verses 18 through 20. This charge, I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Make no mistake about it. There is a war going on in this world against Christianity, against the gospel, and that every Christian has been drafted into this war by God. You see, we are charged to hold firmly to the gospel and not to reject this mandate by adding to it or elevating any other thing or person above it. And a good conscience is one that is affirmed in knowing we are doing exactly what God called us to do in waging the good warfare. Now, here's how the Apostle Paul explained this to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter four, verses one through six. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord. with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see, the centrality of Jesus in the gospel that points to him should be the singular life focus of all of humanity. That is what Satan and his demons are fighting to prevent. And it's why God wants his people to pray to that end. So knowing that God wants his people to pray for Jesus in the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people, it's also natural to ask this question. What exactly are we supposed to pray in this prayer? Well, Paul answers that question here in our text today and with our first point, our involvement in God's desires, right here, verses one through three. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, and intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior. To be clear, In this first letter to Timothy, the young pastor of the Ephesian church, Paul lays out a number of things to indicate what waging the good warfare looks like for God's people. We know this by simply reading through this entire letter, but we especially know this when we look at chapter three, verses 14 through 16, for the apostle explicitly says, I hope to come to you soon, but, I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. You see, Christ-centeredness begins in the church. Jesus must sit at the foundation of all of our individual and corporate lives and activities. But we need God's help to keep him supreme. So it makes perfect sense for the apostle to put prayer as the first thing we do in the household of God. And things Paul gives us to pray in our text are the types of prayers for certain people and the reasons for prayer. The types of prayers. All of these things are plural, which indicates the non-ceasing attribute and activity of prayer. Also, the phrase be made speaks to the continuous activity of these things. Here's the first type of prayer, supplications. Supplications are simply requests of God, but These aren't just your regular run-of-the-mill requests. No, you see, supplications are urgent requests to meet a specific need, and they are exclusively addressed to God. You don't pray to anyone other than God when you are praying a supplication. And it's an urgent, urgent prayer. I mean, think about this. If you or I were Peter on the boat, You know, and Jesus comes walking on the water. And you look at him, and you say, look at him walking on the water. Lord, if that's you, call me, too, right? And so he says, come. Peter steps out on the water. He starts walking towards him, right? Then Peter takes his eyes off Jesus, starts looking at the waves and things around him, and he starts to think. So what did Peter do at that time? Did he say, oh, God of our father, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Did he go into all this? No, what'd he say? Lord, help! That's a supplication. That's how we pray an urgent request to God and we address it directly to him. Paul also says a type of prayer is prayers. And the word he uses here is he's just talking about conversations with God. You see, oftentimes we talk with people about things that we should be talking with God about. For Paul uses a word here defined as petitions addressed to deity. Now, it sounds mighty close to supplications, but here's the difference, is the idea of simply, again, having a conversation with God, and in the course of that conversation, you make requests. I think of one of my good friends, a guy named LJ. LJ gets up every morning, and he opens the day with a prayer, in that he says, good morning, Father. Let's go through the day. Then when he goes to bed at night, he says, in Jesus' name, amen. Because what LJ does is during the day, he's just talking to God. That's prayer. That's having a conversation with him. It's not a one-sided conversation. It's a conversation between two people, right? You guys ever have a conversation before? You know how they work, right? All right, that's what prayer is, have a conversation with God. Third type, intercessions. request for others of God. You see, when we make requests of God on behalf of others, what we're doing is, when we're interceding for them, we're following the example set by our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the writer to the Hebrew says, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. So the idea of intercession is praying for others about things when they are unable to and or when it is difficult to pray for themselves. Thanksgivings, last type that Paul mentions here, simply gratitude towards God. It is so easy. to take for granted people who are known for and who are always doing things for us and others. Sometimes this could flow out of a sense of entitlement, but more often it stems from ignorant or even deliberate self-centeredness. Sometimes we just don't think about saying thank you. But here in verse one of our text, the apostle Paul is speaking of that intentional expressions of gratitude, the rendering of thanks towards God that his people express in private and public prayer. It's these types of prayers that Paul says must be indicative of the praying activity of God's people. And we are to pray for certain people. Who are those certain people? Well, according to verse one, we're supposed to pray for all people. We're to make urgent, specific requests, have conversations with God, intercede for and thank God for all people. These prayers are activities every one of God's people can engage in, from the youngest to the most senior cognitive person among us. If we can think and we can express ourselves with rational communication, understandable to God, then we can pray. And if we can pray, then we can approach the throne of God with confidence concerning all people. Now, the reason why I emphasize all people, you guys, is I wanna invite you into my study just for a quick second. You see, I was gonna do this really in-depth study of what all people meant. And then I stopped myself and said, dude, really? All people. Not that difficult to recognize, it's all people, right? All of humanity. That's all people means, guys. It's not a reference to the nations, to some ethno-linguistic people group. It's not specifically speaking to a particular group of people. It's a general term referring to every human being. And with that being the case then, you guys, there's no shortage of things that we as God's people can be praying these specific requests. But not only this, we are also to pray for people in authority. We see that right there in verse two, for kings and all who are in high positions. And you see, as I studied this text, you guys, I kept asking myself, why did God inspire Paul to include kings and all who are in high positions of authority as people to pray for? Well, I think It's because God is the one who's really in charge, right? And he's the one who really cares for all people. And he knows that the manner in which people govern affects all people. God knows that societies around the world are where people live under God-ordained authority of human leaders. However, in God's mind, what He desires for all people overshadows what human leaders desire for the people that they govern. Therefore, God wants us to pray towards that end, that even in the midst of good, bad, indifferent practices of this world's various governments and ruling officials, God's desire will become true in the lives of all people. For this world and all that is in it is transitory, but those who do the will of God will endure forever. It's easy for people to get thrown off center by people in authority. That's why we must pray for all people and those in authority in specific ways for clear reasons. And Paul gives those to us. Here's the reasons for prayer. First of all, for us, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. And just so you know, he's not just talking about Christians here. The context is talking about so that we, the world, right can live and lead a peaceful quiet life godly and dignified in every way you see paul is telling timothy all christians that god's people are to pray for all people and for those in places of authority in order that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life godly dignified in every way the apostle has in mind the continuous manner in which we will spend our lives with a singular life focus, a focus worthy of an entire lifetime of devotion. We know this because of the adjectives and nouns that Paul uses to describe this lifestyle. He says this lifestyle is peaceful, referring to a state of quietness without disturbance. He also says this lifestyle is quiet, which speaks of the necessity of being able to hear God in the midst of all the noise in the world and all the things that always clamor for our attention. Then the apostle describes this lifestyle as godly, talking about the awesome respect accorded to God observed in devoutness and piety. And finally, Paul says that this lifestyle is dignified in every way. It is here the apostle encapsulates in one phrase the manner of behavior which is an appropriate response to a singular life focus that is above what is ordinary and therefore worthy of special respect. A dignified, serious approach to life because of that which is at the center. Interestingly, this last word only shows up in three places in the Bible, and Paul uses them each time. One place, he uses it to describe how overseers, elders, pastors care for their families in 1 Timothy 3, verse 4. And in Titus 2, verse 7, Paul uses it to describe the teaching of pastors. We also see it here in our text, here in verse 2, being applied to the lives of all people. Yet even with these specific descriptors, the apostle has yet to give the foundational reason why God's people are to pray for those specific purposes. But he's moving in that direction, which we begin to see in the second reason for these prayers. We pray for God. It's right there. It says, this is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior. The question is big, what is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior? Is it the lives that we lead? Is it our praying activity or could it be both? I think it's both. You see, Christians please God when we pray for all people and all those who govern all people to spend our lives focused on pleasing God. This is not some mystical spectacle of a reason to pray. It's pretty standard Christian activity, right? Live to please God and pray to that end. But that's the problem with a lot of people. Folks want to be dazzled. They want the spectacular and mind-blowing experiences they've been duped into believing is what fulfills our greatest need. The simplicity of what truly fulfills us is deemed unsatisfying because the devil does his job really, really well. And Christians don't pray for the right things enough. The Apostle Paul says, We are to pray for all people, including us, to be able to live a particular type of a lifestyle. Why? So that God's desire might be revealed in the lives of all people. So what is God's desire for all people? What is that singular focus that is above what is ordinary and therefore worthy of special respect? Paul hints at this truth with God our Savior, but we see it more clearly in verse four, for that's where God's desire is revealed. Let's look at it together. Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth? Oftentimes, people will ask, what is God's will? What does he want? Well, ultimately, this is what he desires, what he wills, what he wants for all people. It's right there, verse four. He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. You see, when verse four is the reality in our lives, then we are able to rightly discern the will of God in every one of our circumstances. See, granted, it may take a little longer in some cases, But the reality remains, if we're saved, if we're God's people, then the means by which we're saved influences our worldview. But let's slow down for a minute and take a closer look at God's desire revealed in verse four. For when we do this, we notice that there are two specific things which make up God's desire. When we read this verse too quickly, we are apt to combine these truths, equating them to be the same thing. And although they are inseparable, they are not the same thing. Here's the first one. God desires all people to be saved. Sadly, some people go through life thinking that because of all the bad things that happened to them, that God must have it in for them. They view him as some Maleficent despot in the sky, dedicated to the ruin of all people, or at least to those who have yet to recognize him as God. That's not true. And this verse clearly declares that reality. God desires all people to be saved. This is the teaching of the New Testament. For even the Apostle Peter says in 2 Peter 3, verses 8 and 9, But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Perhaps someone is saying, yeah, I hear you, preacher, but God still has it in for me because of all the bad that I've done. Plus, you only quote it from the New Testament. Well, if that happens to be you or someone that you know, hear the word of the Lord in Ezekiel chapter 18, verses 21 through 23 in verse 32. But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live. They will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the sovereign Lord? Rather am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live. For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God. So turn and live. Now, it might be argued from this text that a person must do specific works in order to live, but the Bible is clear that mere human works in merit are totally insufficient to make a person righteous in the sight of God. Remember Ephesians 2, verses eight and nine? For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Today's scripture reading in John chapter six, verse 28 and 29 tells us our part in this transaction of faith. Remember when Ron so beautifully read that passage. Thank you, Ron. Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. we must turn from our sins and turn to Jesus. Trusting in his sinless life and death on the cross alone as sufficient payment for our sin. Believing in Jesus, belief in the gospel is the way God saves all people. For the apostle John says of Jesus in 1 John 2, verse 2, he is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And this leads us perfectly into the second truth in 1 Timothy 2, verse 4. God desires all people to come to the knowledge of the truth. I know some people argue that there's this process or progression toward being saved, toward the knowledge or a set of truthful facts to base our salvation upon. And this passage is actually used to prove that such a process exists. Now, while there may be valid reasons, and there are valid reasons for our Christian faith, it's still by grace, through faith, that God saves repentant sinners. God does not save us based on our acknowledgement or our assent to a particular set of facts. If that was the case, then fallen angels and demons, they would and could be saved. For James writes in chapter two, verse 19, you believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. But then Matthew 25 verse 41 makes this truthful statement. Then he, being God, will say to those on his left, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. You see, fallen angels have good theology, but they're still defeated and they are still doomed to the eternal fire. You see, God saves by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Salvation is wholly a work of God in grace alone. And according to Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine, again, even our faith is a gift. So this come to the knowledge of the truth here in this passage is not talking about the process of getting saved. However, it does reveal a progressive recognition of a specific particular truth that has already happened. What is that truth? I'm glad you asked that question. You guys ask questions, good questions every week. Here it is, that there's only one way to God. Christ Jesus, the one appointed to save his people from our sin. That's literally the next point, guys. Only Jesus is qualified to achieve God's desire. It's right here in the text. Look, verses five and six. Four, there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. If you haven't come to this specific conclusion by now, let me state it plainly. Jesus and the gospel should be the singular life focus of all people. Amen, amen, amen, amen. All right, okay, make sure that we're together here. But a question is raised still, guys. Why should Jesus in the gospel be the singular life focus for all people? Well, it's because only Jesus is qualified to achieve God's desire. And he does that through the gospel. You see, verses 5 and 6 flow directly out of verse 4 where God's desire is revealed. And the way Paul phrases these verses show that the fulfilling of God's desire is dependent on the truths in verses 5 and 6. And the first thing the apostle does is show the qualifications of Jesus. We see it in verse 5. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Within this one verse, Paul is showing the unique nature of Jesus. That in one person, he is both fully God and he is fully man. For there is one God, the man Christ Jesus. You see it there? Listen, to achieve God's desire for all people to be saved, provision had to be made for our sin. For according to Isaiah 59-2, our sins separate us from God. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you. But not only this, but our sin must be paid for, because we have offended the almighty, sovereign, absolutely holy God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death, not might be death, it is. Sin must be paid for by God's holy character. He demands it, has to be satisfied. God wouldn't be God if he didn't deal with sin. And he has dealt with it once for all in Jesus Christ. In 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, Paul shows how uniquely qualified Jesus is to achieve God's desire. Why? Because he is the one mediator between God and men. Notice the men is plural, referring to all people. What makes Jesus qualified to be the one mediator is his unique nature. For being God, whatever he does has eternal effect. But being God, he can't be killed. Therefore, he took to himself a full human nature in order that he could die in our place for our sins. Put these truths together. And we see that Jesus' death for our sins has eternal effect, thus keeping saved, keeping saved all who he saves. Oh, that's good news. You guys, we don't have to worry about being saved 350,000 years from now. We're going to be saved. Why? Because Jesus, our God, our Savior, is just that, God. And he saved us. Now, I know someone may astutely ask, because you guys, again, ask good questions, where do we see Jesus's death in verse five? Well, we don't, but we see it in verse six, right? It's right there. Who gave himself as a ransom for all. And of these truths, the apostle says, which is the testimony given at the proper time. In other words, this is the gospel. Only Jesus sufficiently paid the sin debt of all people, including his own people, for only his death satisfied God's wrath towards sin. And so, Christians please God when we pray for all people and those who govern all people to spend our lives focused on pleasing God, which he defines as seeing all people saved and recognizing Jesus is the only way to God. God wants us to pray for Jesus and the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people. Moreover, God's desire should define our lives. It's right there, verse seven. For this, I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying. A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. God's desire permeated every aspect of Paul's life. He recognized that God gripped his entire life for the express purpose of proclaiming Jesus in the gospel. Paul lived Jesus's words in Mark 8.35, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it. Here in our passage, Paul used a strong formula of affirmation to declare this truth about himself. He says, I am telling the truth, I am not lying. But his words to the Philippians in chapter three, verses seven through 14, really drives this point home. Listen, but whatever gain I had, I counted as lost for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. not that I have already attained this or am already made perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus. Do you remember the model prayer there back in the beginning of Matthew chapter 6 verses 9 to 13? Remember how it begins? It says, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Guys, that is a prayer for Jesus in the gospel to be the singular life focus of all people. We know this because heaven rejoices when one soul is saved according to Luke 15, seven. And according to first Peter chapter one, verses 10 through 12, angels long to look into or understand this thing called salvation. Guys, heaven is obsessed with people getting saved. They throw a party every time one person comes to Jesus. Guys, we need to dedicate our lives to pray that that saturates our culture. Only God can make that happen. As I get ready to take my seat, let me just ask a question. Have you ever run into someone who for them Jesus is clearly the center of their lives? It's like they got this really good look at Jesus. They tasted and they saw that he's good and that his mercy endures forever. And then they just flipped over. They fell head over heels in love with and for him. You ever run into anybody like that? I remember the first person that I ran into like that. She's sitting here today. It's my mom. My mom loves Jesus. I believe God put her in my life with a big old arrow in front of her with her life that points to Jesus. Now, while I know by God's grace alone that he has wrought me to be so just committed to Jesus in the gospel, I believe with every fiber of my being that because of my mom. I love Jesus and his gospel. When I got to Clovis and I came up here to this church, I ran into two ladies here who had that same singular focus. Ladies, I want to invite you to get to know them, if you don't already know them well. And if you do know them, get to know them even more. One of them sitting here today, her name is Cricket. She's sitting over there. She loves Jesus. She is head over heels in love with him and for him. Get to know her if you don't already know her. The other lady, she'll be back when we can all sit in every single chair without these masks. Her name is Jeannie Espindola. Oh, she loves Jesus also. Get to know these ladies. And I'm not saying, ladies, that there's nobody else like that here. I'm just telling you who I ran into. Get to know them. Family, God calls us to pray for Jesus in the gospel, to be the singular life focus of all people. So as I get ready to sit down, again, let me give you two applications of this message. First, join us tonight from 530 to 630. We're going to pray, we're going to praise God during this election season. And 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 is going to set our path. It's going to be our guide tonight. So come on back. And the second one is pray for 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 for yourself. Pray for your family and for your family. That during this election season and as you go through life, that Jesus and the gospel will be your singular life focus. Let's pray. Father, how gracious you are to us. We don't deserve any of it. And if we did deserve it, it wouldn't be grace. But God, thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for securing forever our salvation Thank you for making us yours. Thank you that you have made us to belong to one another, that we can encourage each other to live our lives for you. So please, Jesus, take your rightful place on the throne of our hearts individually and here at this particular local church. You are supreme, Jesus. We boldly proclaim that. Help us to regularly live life. All to the end that you are glorified and your church is built up. In your name we pray. Amen. God bless you.