Dear Father, again, we're so thankful to be here and thankful for those you've brought here, Lord. And we pray for those that aren't here, those that are not feeling well. There seems to be so many at this time. God, that you would give them a healing hand, Lord, that they may get well soon and come back and be a part of the fellowship and worship and hear your word. and enjoy your grace. And Lord, help me with this message this morning. Lord, it's an important message. Every message that anyone says up here is important. And dear Lord, that this would be an encouragement to us in these times. And Lord, that you would be with me. Lord, that I may speak clearly. Lord, what I intend for them to hear, Lord, is what they will hear. And Lord, if I do make any errors or mistakes, Lord, Lord, that would not be put in their mind, Lord. They would hear the truth of your word. In Christ's name, amen. All right, dear brother Byrne, you are reading? Jeremiah 8, verses 9 to 12. The Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites, who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy for the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep for all the people who were weeping when they heard the words of the law. And he said to them, go eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send fortunes to him who has nothing prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved. For the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites come to all the people, saying, Be still, for the day is holy. Do not be greedy. All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions, and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made. Amen. Amen. Dear Lord, please bless us this morning. It's been a while since I've been up here, so I had to shake the mothballs off, so to speak. But seriously, it is a privilege to be here in front of you and to do this. It's something I've needed to do for a while. And I know I've said this before as people who are visiting, but it makes me wonder if brother Chris or Simeon snuck into my house and look over my shoulder while I'm preparing a sermon, because a lot of what is said is what I'm going to talk about today, and almost some of the same verses. You're right, it's no accident. It is amazing how that happens, and it always comforts me to know that that it must be God's will for what I'm gonna say because it's been already started this morning before we even got here. So we're already in the same mind, in the same mindset. So it's already a cause for joy, isn't it? So the joy of the Lord is our strength. Now, when I say that, what comes to mind when I say the word strength? Does physical strength come to mind? like an athlete or a large animal or a machine? Or how about mental strength or mental toughness? After all, strength is an attribute we all admire for ourselves, and no one in their right mind wants to be weak in anything. We all want to be part of a strong nation, have a strong military, a strong economy, a strong family unit, among other things. And most people equate strength with peace, safety, and prosperity. So you would think one can't seem to get very far in this life being weak, because after all, the people who are most successful appear to be either mentally strong or physically strong, or both. Sports stars, business moguls, so-called world leaders, megachurch pastors. Yeah, I meant to do that. And the like, they're powerful, influential people, aren't they? So I'm certainly not saying that being mentally or physically strong is something negative, I'm not. On the contrary, it's a wonderful attributes to have, and I think we should all work toward having those, if we can, as much as God allows. But, what if you have some of them, or none of them, right? Because we have all seen those countless stories of feats of ability and accomplishments and endurance, physically, of people that are saved and not even saved. We've seen things that have an impact on the world, things that even, you can say, change the course of history, so to speak. But what if you don't have any of them or either of them? And even if you have them, what happens if they begin to fade away? Is that a hindrance? Well, as far as the world is concerned, it is. Your future's not going to be very bright, they say. Don't expect too much. Just sit back and everything will be OK. But God is not impressed with your natural abilities, nor does He need them from you. If you're in Christ, you will succeed with them or without them. So, Jeff, you're saying that we as Christians need to strive to be weak? No, no, that's not what I'm saying at all. That's not what I'm saying at all. It's on the contrary. Like I said before, I think we should strive for these things as much as God allows. Now, there is a strength that can help you succeed in the world and a strength that helps you overcome it. And that's the strength we're going to talk about today. So my goal is not to bash natural strength or abilities by any means, but is to look at the other kind of strength and how it relates to joy. So speaking of joy, what comes to mind when I say the word joy? A night out with friends? Exhilaration of achievement or particular circumstance? How about when we're recognized for something, or a wedding, or the birth of a child? We all love to look forward to those moments in this life, don't we? But the examples I just gave could be more in line with happiness rather than joy. Joy, on the other hand, is something, it's a state, it's a long-lasting attitude, a state of being. And it's an attitude regardless of our circumstances. And the world wants joy in their lives. They just look for it in all the wrong places, like that song from the 80s, looking for love in all the wrong places. Some of us probably remember that. It's kind of what they do with joy. They believe they will find it in living a life of selfless sacrifice to others or through philanthropy. And that's not a bad way to live. I mean, some people can actually say they have joy in their life doing those things. And I'd rather have somebody live like that than something else, wouldn't you? but they will never experience the joy that comes from being in Christ, because that is a joy that comes from their own strength. It has to do, the Christian joy, with who God is and what has been done for us. It's something promised to us by God, believe it or not, and something our Lord even has. So, we look back at our key verse. I'll read it again. Then Nehemiah, who was a governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep, for all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, go eat the festival foods, drink the sweet wines, or sweet drinks, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared. For this day is holy to the Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Or some say refuge or stronghold, same thing. So the Levites silenced all the people saying, be still, says it again, for the day is holy, do not be grieved. then all the people went away to drink, eat, to send portions, and to celebrate a great feast, because they understood the words which had been made known to them." So, is that not interesting there? That we have, in that passage, you have joy and strength, all in the same sentence. And why were they weeping? They were weeping because they just got out of the captivity. They had the words of the law spoke to them, and they understood they'd sinned grievously against the Lord, and they deserved everything they got. And they might even be afraid that God was going to burn them up right where they stood, because they knew they didn't deserve to even be there. But He was merciful. He brought them back, didn't He? So they said, do not be greed. This is a holy day. Why? Because God granted them repentance, allowed them to worship him. So they were supposed to have joy in that. And that was going to be their strength. So again, we could sum this up to say, in the world, strength can bring you joy, but in Christ, joy brings you strength. It's different, isn't it? It's different, isn't it? So again, what God had done for them was what he does for us now, doesn't he? He received the words of the law, the gospel, right? grieve over your sin, right? But then what does he do? He grants you the repentance. He allows you to worship him, which does what? Fills you with joy, and then you get strengthened, do you see? So that was going on there in the Old Testament. Now we can look at another verse in the Old Testament, a couple verses, that look at the same thing but from a little bit different angle, and this is in Ezra. Not very far away, is it? Ezra chapter 7, verse 27. It says, blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart to glorify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, and has exalted favor to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty officials. I was strengthened according to the hand of the Lord my God that was upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. So if you notice something, that he didn't say he strengthened himself. It wasn't something from himself. Did he already possess this and just had to learn how to tap into it like some of the self-help gurus of today claim? No, not at all. This means he didn't possess it, it had to be given to him. Meaning it came to him from someplace else and from someone else. If you look back at verse 27, that's actually a statement of joy. Is it not? He's glorifying God out of joy. He's saying, blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers who had put such a thing in this king's heart to glorify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. He says that full of joy, doesn't he? Because unlike the previous passage where God used conviction and the words of God to move people, what did He do here? He actually blessed someone else to bless Him. And that's happened in our life as well, hasn't it? So sometimes God will move on the heart sovereignly of someone else, and that'll bless us. So that fills us with joy, and that gives us strength, doesn't it? So there's a couple of ways we see already that God can instill that joy in you and strengthen you. through his word and through his works, right? Those two things. Now, is that a theme we can pick up, or is that just something I happened to find while I was going through the Bible? Well, no, it's a theme we can pick up. In fact, it's in the Psalms, not very far from what Brother Chris read. In fact, there was a couple verses in Chris's psalm he read that would work. But I went to Psalm 119. We can start in verse 27. We're going to read 27-28, then jump down to 33-35. So Psalm 119, verse 27. It says, "'Cause me to understand the ways of your precepts, that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds. My soul is weary with sorrow. Strengthen me according to your word. So look at that. 27. "...cause me to understand the ways of your precepts, that may meditate on your wonderful deeds." That's what He has done, right? Which can bring you joy when you think about what He has done. And my soul is weary with sorrow. Weak. He said, strengthen me according to what? Your word. So we have God's word and His deeds doing what? Bringing joy and strength to His people. We start to see a theme here, these things go together. Now, 33 through 35. Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find a light. 33, teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees that I might follow it to the end. What's that? Perseverance. Give me understanding that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. What's that? Worship. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. What's that? Joy. So we see joy, worship, and perseverance, which take strength, working all together at the same time. You see that? So this is something that's... These go together. They're not separate little things. I have my strength over here, my joy over here. No. It's one thing. It's part of our new nature in our heart, right? And these verses, and many, many others, are a beautiful picture of what His works and His Word produce in the life of a believer. So his word is there to remind us of his works that he did, and then we live and we watch him work in our lives. So it's an ongoing thing, which means you can have joy ongoing and strength ongoing, right? So God's command should bring us joy, which leads us to worship, which gives us strength, which causes us to persevere, which is what we just read about in Psalm 19, isn't it? So now, leaving the Old Testament for a bit, let's go to the new and see if this is carried over and to what degree and what it accomplishes for us. So, Matthew 25. Simeon beat me to it already this morning. Verse 21, the parable of talents. He says, master said to him, well done and good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter the joy of your master. So if he was well done, and he was faithful, it means he persevered, which means he had to have strength, and he had to have joy to even want to do these things in the first place. So we can go to Colossians chapter 1, and we can look at this further. I'm going to be in verse 9. And he said other things in 1 through 8 getting to this, but verse 9, he says, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the adherence of His saints." There's worship, there's joy, there's perseverance, just like the Psalms. It's all over the place, isn't it? And they always go together. They always go together. And that's what was going on in our key passage at that time. They didn't have what we have. They looked forward to things, but now we have that thing. We have Christ. So we can understand this to a greater degree and a fuller measure than they did, even though God was saying the same thing, treating them the same way they were His people, granted repentance. They realized that He was still with them, right? Which brings joy. That's a joy that transcends anything else that we're going through here. Now, I would argue that our strength is proportional to our joy. The more joyful we are, the stronger we are. the more equipped we are to be Christ-like in our daily lives and how we handle sufferings and even our blessings. Because our blessings sometimes can get us off track, too. We have to be very careful of this, because God's blessing doesn't mean you can't get off base or forget about Him. You can still lose your joy in certain aspects of that. So we need to be careful with that as well, that we always stay grounded and focused on this one thing that doesn't take our focus off of Christ when we're blessed or when we're suffering. So we should be able to find ways to be more joyful in the scriptures if all this is true. God didn't leave us hanging, did he? So does the word of God actually help us with that? Of course it does, of course it does. And we can find that in one of, among other places, in Philippians chapter four, verse eight, we can go there. He says, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. So here we go again. All of verse eight is what? Those are joyful things to think about, are they not? That's the exude joy, that you get us back in a joyful state of being with the Lord. And then what does that produce after you do that? After you have learned and received and heard and seen from me, practice these things. So put these things into practice that you've learned and seen. After what? After you've done that. joyful exercise of thinking on these things about God. So you're thinking about His works and who He is, and that gives you joy, and then you're going to be led to worship, which is practice these things out. So you see that's working right there. So He gives us these recipes, if you will. I watch a lot of cooking shows, so I figured I'd throw that in there, to doing these things for the Lord. So it's all here. Everything we need is in His Word. And as I've done this, now every time I'm reading, that's all I see. Joint strength, joint strength everywhere, right? Because it's always been there. You just notice it more when you study something sometimes. And then we have where God can give provision. We go to verse 10, same chapter. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked an opportunity to act. Not that I speak from need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my difficulty." So, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, joy, and then you were strengthened, joy and strength. Wow, there it is again, joy and strength. So we've got to have those two working together, not separately, but one and the other at the same time, right? Now in Acts 14, I'm not going to read it, it was verse 19 through 23, but he talks about strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying it is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God. So we need strength. to worship God. We need strength to go against our own flesh and the world, right? And just the outright sin everywhere. We have to have strength, and that comes from joy. We cannot be strong without being joyful in what we're even doing. You can't work like that. Now the world, again, they can conjure up on their own natural strength, and they can find something in their life they want to do that's selfless to them, and that's fine. But they're not going to heaven like that, and they're not experiencing the Christian joy. It's a temporal joy, but it is a joy for them nonetheless. So they have a little bit of light there when they realize that that's a better way to live, they have a more fulfilled life like that, but they're not in Christ. So they're coming up short, big short, right? Big short. So I'm not knocking people who don't see that. Now, Hebrews 10. This is getting good here. Hebrews 10, chapter 32. This is going to be the attitude that I'm talking about. And we've all read this many times before. Hebrews 10, verse 32. But remember the former days when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through insults and distress, and partly by becoming companions with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession. That is why they could accept that joyfully, because they had a better and lasting possession. So we have to understand that the things here that we have, or strive to have, they're not lasting. And we cannot and must not find our joy in that. We can be happy about some of these things, yes, but we cannot find our joy in that. And that seems almost crazy or impossible that they could accept it joyfully. They accepted it joyfully. They didn't just accept it, they accepted it joyfully. Because they truly believed, without a doubt, that they had a better and more lasting possession. So that belief did what? Gave them the ability to accept that joyfully. So they had to truly believe and understand who God is and what he did to even go there in the first place. They were not weak, were they? They were very strong. It takes a lot of strength to do that, to truly believe that and truly accept that. 35, therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward. They believe that too. Do we believe that our confidence has great reward? We have to truly believe that, and I'll talk about that a little bit later. How do we get there again if we're not there right now? 36, for you have need of endurance, strength, joyfully, joy and strength, joy and strength, there it is again, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. So we do have need of endurance. We can't just Believe something once and pitter around here or there. It's an endurance, meaning it's constant. Not constantly bad, it's just a constant thing. Like Paul talks about the race. When you're racing, you don't just stop. It's a race. You keep going, right? You run until it's done. That's what he's talking about. Sometimes you run fast, sometimes you run slow, sometimes you might be walking, sometimes you might be crawling. but you're still never not moving. Right? Amen. Even if you fall, fall forward, so at least you'll fall five feet or six feet forward, not back. Right? And that takes strength. It takes strength to fall forward. So this, you could almost say, Hebrews 10, is a Christian life in a nutshell. Right? Because you're going to have the persecutions of varying degrees at varying times. And you have to joyfully accept those things, whatever they might be. Whether they're an emotional thing, a physical thing, financial thing, you name it. They're going to come if you live long enough. So we need to be able to do that joyfully. and you know as well as I do, that's very difficult, especially here in America. Very difficult. I heard Paul Washer say one time that when he came back from doing some missionary work, and he came back to America after a few years, and he saw the malls and all the clothes and all the stuff, it was disgusting to him. He said it was harder to serve God in America than it is anywhere else. And I can believe that from his perspective. So it's an amazing thing to have the prosperity and the things that God has given us, at the same time, they go too far, they begin to work against our own walk with him. It's just a strange thing that goes on. So again, about the blessings, I've talked about that before, we have to recognize Who gave it to us? What are they really here for? And what are we really here for? What are we really here for? So we must remember, like in Hebrews, that this place is not our home, as difficult as it gets sometimes, and not make what we do or what we have, our own personal goals, be above what we have in Christ. So we need to put these things, the things I just spoke about, under our feet, And if they go over our head, what are we going to do? What's going to happen? We're going to drown in it. So we've got to keep those things under our feet, and sometimes that is the hardest battle, isn't it? It's the hardest battle. It's amazingly hard. We don't realize it, because we're already, you know, our nose sometimes is like that, and we don't even realize it until we're drowning in it. So we need to be like the saints in Hebrews we just read about, and Paul, and learn to be content with whatever the Lord gives us in this life, because happiness may come from our possessions, but joy comes from the Lord, and it's a gift, like everything else. And to show that, we can go to James, James 1, verse 17. I'll read it, if you all can't flip that fast. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. So is joy a good thing? Is strength a good thing? Mercy a good thing? Patience a good thing? The fruit of the Spirit's a good thing, isn't it? So all that, all those good things that have to do with us being joyful and having the strength to serve God, to worship Him, come from God. None of this stuff we're doing in our Christian life that actually pleases God and actually does His will comes from us naturally. None of it does. It can't, it's impossible, because it's not our joy, not our strength that's making these things happen. So who do we look to for this? What's our best example of joy and strength? None other than Christ Himself, right? So we can go to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 12, says, therefore, since we also have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let's rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us and let's run with endurance strength, the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the what? Joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so what? That you will not grow weary and lose heart. In other words, so you will be strong. Run with endurance, take strength. Christ did this for what? For the joy set before Him. He endures. For the sake of joy, He endured. For the sake of joy, we need to endure. Okay? Now you can say, you can even say that joy is the very foundation that strength rests upon. you have your joy, and then you have your strength, and then you have your worship, and then you have your perseverance, and then you have your promise at the end of that, right? It has to build on something. And what was the joy that was set before Christ? Was it not that He was going back to the Father and unveil glory, and to receive the reward for which He died, the church, His bride, us? So for that joy He endured. Okay? That joy he endured. So, is anybody here suffering or dealing with a sickness? How about trouble in a marriage or personal troubles? Anybody? Nobody? Nobody? Right? So he needs to be the one we look to first. It says, looking only at Jesus. You're running the race looking only at Him. So when things look bleak, and there appears to be no end to what you're going through, and it appears you have no joy anymore, and you're out of energy, and you can't go another day, look to the originator and the perfecter of the faith. And remember that he who began a good work among you will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus. So you don't need to look necessarily at your favorite internet pastor, or a book, or even church fathers. That's fine. They give you a lot of encouragement. But it says look to Jesus, right? Because what? His joy is our joy, and His strength is our strength, not somebody else's. So, how do we take hold of that joy, Jeff? I'm glad you asked. One, we know that God accomplishes whatever He desires, He's sovereign. Number two, Christ endured for the joy set before Him. And number three, His joy is tied in to the saving of all those the Father gave Him, not losing any, and presenting them to Himself as a bride by enduring the cross and thus being fully glorified. Therefore, how do we do this? We have to go back to the basics, to the first thing. So when we're caught up in all these things, and these things are real to a lot of us. I'm not discounting what people go through. I go through like it's no big deal. It's a very big deal to each one of us. It hurts. It's hard sometimes, OK? But, what do we do? Where do we go when all these things happen around us and we seem like we're just drowning in it? We do the same thing that David did and the prophets did, right? In our key text, you go back to who God is and what God did. You have to go back there. Being a high and mighty theologian and knowing all this other stuff, That's no good if you can't get back to the basics, because that's not where your joy is, not in all that stuff. That stuff is necessary, but that's not where your joy is at. If you hang around there and try to read all this and do all this thing, you're going to find joy. You're never going to find it there. You've got to find it in a place where even a child can understand the basics, right? His plan of redemption. So what is the first thing? We were once enemies of God under His deserved wrath. Right? But while we were yet sinners, what did He do? He died for us. And He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. That's what we have to go back to. We have to be reminded that we are wretched, undeserving sinners. and you got to see that He has actually changed us. He did more than just change the heart of Artaxerxes to bless Ezra. He did more than change our heart. He gave us a new one. That's much better than changing somebody else's heart and blessing us. He's changed our heart. All the more joyful we should be of Him doing that to us than watching Him do that to somebody else to bless us. We can't get blessed any more than that in this earth by being changed and forgiven. We have to go back to that. That helps us take our eyes off of what we're going through. It doesn't eliminate it, but it brings you back to that fact that, I said it before, that we need to be acquainted with the God who is acquainted with us. He cares for us. He'll never leave us. So our joy is not found in our own strength or deeds, but our joy and strength is found in Christ and what He's done. So if we're in Christ, then what? His joy is our joy. His strength is our strength. And He cannot fail, so we cannot fail. You see? So rejoice in the mercy and the grace of God and His salvation and be strengthened. They may take away your possessions and your lives, but they can't take away what God has promised you. And we have to look at that. And my God, I know it's hard to look at that. But we have to go back to the basics and realize why we're here and who we're here for and what we're really supposed to do here. and thank God when we do get these things that we really need and really want and we can enjoy and be happy in the circumstances and some possessions and we have to enjoy it for what it is for the time God gives it to us. Because if we don't enjoy that, then it makes the struggles even harder. So you're making it worse for yourself and me if we're groveling and not enjoying the things that God gives us to enjoy, whether it's five minutes with our wife and two years with the little one I have, or you get a vacation to Europe for two weeks. We've got to learn in our mind to put that aside and look at Him and be thankful for that time we have for whatever we're doing. We have to. That helps us keep centered and focused on Christ for that particular time. And that strengthens us in knowing that whatever we're going through, at best, it'll last till we die, or even better than that, it's just temporary anyway. And that's just not flawed. Of course that's easier said than done. I understand that. I understand that. But he's given us the means, he's given us his worries, he's given us the works that he's done, that he's doing now, and he will do, to look at. We can't do any better than the Old Testament saints did and people in our contemporaries are doing. All through the scriptures and the psalms, what did David and the other psalms do? When they went and felt really bad, things were going awful for them, they felt abandoned, they went back to the basics. Who God is, what he did, his word and his works. And they got their joy again. Not that they ever lost it, it gets veiled and all this other stuff. But they saw it again. They experienced it again. And they were strengthened, and they kept going. And God will give you times of refreshing. He will. Sometimes they might not last as long as you want, but He'll give you a time of refreshing. We're not machines. He knows that. He knows that. So, we're going to make it, we're going to persevere to the end, and we're going to be victorious. So, brothers and sisters, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble by putting to remembrance who and what we are and who we live for. And this place here, Covenant Peace, will be filled with more joy and will be stronger Right? And we can say along with the saints of old, now, and the ones that will come, that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Amen? Amen. We're going to make it. We're going to make it. Amen. Dear Lord, thank you so much for this morning and this word. Lord, I pray that we can look to you, the originator and the finisher of our faith. And Lord, that you had joy set before you and you endured. And Lord, you said that these things are done, that our joy may be, that your joy may be in us and our joy will be full. And that's a promise, Lord. So, Lord, your joy is our joy and your strength is our strength. And with that, Lord, we cannot fail. We will make it, Lord. and we'll be encouraged. And we can shout with praise and glory when we get there, Lord, that all the good things you have done and promised, they're true, and they're real, and they're coming. Let us rejoice in that, in Jesus' name, amen.