Father, I thank you for your grace to us. I thank you for the privilege of being able to gather with the local church to worship you. Father, I thank you for your kindness to us in this, and I ask that as we turn to your word, that you would give us wisdom, that you would give us understanding, that you would help for us to know more of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that you would guide us by the power of your word to know how to live as your people for your glory. And Father, I ask that you bring transformation, that you would build us up in your grace, and that if there be any here who have not come to know you savingly, I ask that you would bring them to a point of faith, bring them to a point of repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name I pray, amen. This morning we continue through the book of Colossians in chapter three. We've been addressing the area of sanctification, of growth in the Lord, of understanding the transforming work that Jesus is doing in the hearts and in the souls of his people. But now today we turn to address the subject of the biblical family from Colossians chapter three. The family is such an important part, amen? Such an important calling from the Lord. In fact, I think you see the importance and the priority of the biblical family in the very arrangement and structure of Paul's letter here. Because you think about it, we've been talking about all of this transformation and sanctification. We've spent the last four weeks diving into that in Colossians chapter three. How does sanctification work? What does it look like to grow in the Lord and to be more mature? What does it look like to cast off our sin and to grow in righteousness in Christ? That's what we've been talking about over the last four weeks. And so now after, Unpacking that, after seeing these core truths, Paul turns immediately to address the subject of the family. That's not by coincidence. That's not by coincidence. Let me put it to you this way. As you and I have seen the work that the Lord is doing in our hearts and in our souls, growing us in the knowledge of Himself and in submission to His will, the prayer would be that now we're eager to pursue that, right? That would be the prayer. Now, we've seen these truths. We've seen the work the Lord's doing. We're ready to pursue Christ. We're ready to bring glory to Christ. We're ready to serve Christ. Now, here's the question. Do you need to build a missionary hut in Timbuktu to be able to do that? Do you need to start a non-profit to be able to do that? God calls you to those things. Amen. Bring glory to Him in them. But Paul's answer is much more straightforward. at least as a starting point. You ready? Here it is. You've been transformed by Jesus. You've been saved by the gospel. You're growing in sanctification. Now go home and start living faithfully in your family. Work hard for the Lord's sake with excellence where He's planted you. Pour into your local church. Continue seeking to submit to Him as you are changed by the power of Christ to grow in His grace. That's essentially the rest of chapters three and four in the book of Colossians. And that's encouraging for us because yes and amen, the Lord does call some to go overseas to be missionaries. The Lord does call some to do special works of ministry, but in order to bring glory to God, you and I don't have to be the next Charles Spurgeon. We don't have to be the next John McArthur. We need to be faithful where God has planted us as believers. This is the calling to us. So it's as practical and yet as transformative as go home after service and invest in your family. Be faithful there. Go to work on Monday and pursue excellence for the good pleasure of your Lord. Continue putting your flesh to death and going in Christ. This is the calling. And so first up in this, what we're gonna be talking about today, the family. What does it mean to live a transformed life in the home? And so if you're able this morning, I'm gonna ask you to stand as we read this section of the Word of God. Colossians 3, verses 18 through 21. Colossians 3, 18 through 21. Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. You may be seated. We see all of the closest family relationships addressed here in this passage. Husbands, wives, children, parents, all of it is addressed here. And of course, as we even read this passage, what I want us to understand is that this passage of the life of our culture. I mean, are you kidding me? Wives being called to submit? Husbands being called to lead? Children actually obeying their parents? Fathers not provoking them, but patiently bringing them up in the Lord? This is contrary to every point of what our culture and society would teach today. The feminist lie of our day said men need to be passive and take a back seat. Let the women lead. The progressive left has eaten away at the very idea of male and female by promoting all kinds of homosexual and transgender perversion. And if that's not enough, there is an entire war on the blessing of children today. An entire war. Abortion promoting the murdering of babies in the womb. And the lies of our culture saying that children, they're not a blessing, they're not a heritage from the Lord, they're a chain around your neck inhibiting your lifestyle. And then the reality is, if you do have a heart to raise a child, not abort that baby, but actually seek to raise them faithfully in the Lord, then you have the entire sexual revolution that's coming for your children. And so what we see in this passage about the family and about the home and about them being under the Lordship of Christ and seeking to honor Him here, it is clear and biblical truth in light of the lies of the culture today. And we need to allow Christ to order our homes and to order all of our life, amen, but even these closest of family relationships around His will. Not that they would be ordered around our flesh, or the lives of the world, or even tradition, but by the pure truth of the Word of God. That's the goal. And so I have four points here to this end. Number one, in verse 18, we see godly order. Godly order. Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Now ladies, don't worry, we're gonna get to the men in a second. But wives go first because verse 18 starts with wives, right? And I wanna focus in on that phrase, as is fitting in the Lord, because that's important. That's so important. The focus of the home and the focus of what the home is ordered by is driven by the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. that is driven by Him. It's not human tradition. It's not human ideas. It's not a man-made concept that calls on husbands to lead and wives to submit. It is the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is his revealed will, the very one who created the institution of marriage. And this phrase, as is fitting in the Lord, this is his design. This is how he intends for marriage to operate. The dynamic of the submission of the wife is not about women being less or inferior. It's not about the man somehow being the perfect leader all of the time. It's about one primary reality, and that is divine order. divine order. It's the will of Christ. And that sets the tone for everything else that we're going to talk about. I don't want my family, let alone your family, to live out some kind of vision of my own or your own. I want our families to live out the vision that is fitting to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the goal of this passage of Scripture. And underneath that vision, the wife is called to submit to her husband. That's the heart of a godly woman. Look with me at 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. In 1 Peter 3, we see the heart. That's one of the important themes that we're going to reinforce throughout this passage. because we've talked about the transforming grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what is it in that transformation that leads a woman to submit? 1 Peter 3, verses 1-6 shows us this. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. The gentle, do you notice that? Gentle and quiet spirit of the woman. That the imperishable beauty, right? This is not something that fades. This is an imperishable beauty, which means it's an eternal work that the Lord has brought about in their hearts and in their souls. That this is eternally precious in the sight of the Lord. This is the work of Christ in a godly woman that leads them to this submission. And what I want you to notice in 1 Peter 3, and I think this is important, this is a gentle and quiet heart that has a powerful impact. This has a profoundly powerful impact. It's so powerful that Peter in this context, notice in verse 1 of 1 Peter 3, he's saying, so even if some do not obey the word, even if some do not obey the Word." So these are individuals, these wives have been saved, but their husbands have not. That's the situation they're in. And the counsel that Peter gives to them is that this gentleness, this quietness, this submission, live out to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so powerful that by the grace of Jesus, he can use that as a testimony leading to their conversion by the power of the Spirit of God. That is the powerful influence of godly womanhood being empowered by the grace of Jesus. And so we see that calling, we see that it's the Lord bringing this gentleness, this quietness, this humility into the heart of the woman. But also I want you to notice something very important about this submission. Colossians chapter three again on this. Verse 18, notice, wives submit to your husbands. Whose husband? Your husband. Your husband, not a submission to all husbands. Your husband, the one you're married to, right? The one you're married to, underneath the sovereignty and the providence of God, submit to him. So that eliminates any idea that all wives have to submit to all husbands. In fact, any godly man who sees another man trying to lead his wife is gonna take issue with that. Amen? They're gonna take issue with that. I mean, you're gonna lead my wife, we're gonna have to talk, right? That's the heart that a godly man should have. Her calling is to submit to Him, and that's the pattern that you see over all of Scripture. Now, I want to ask this question, because we're dealing here with the matter of authority, and the matter of authority in the home, and the husband being called to be the head of the home. And the question always arises, dealing with authority, pastoral authority, the authority of husbands, the authority of parents, the question comes in, is that authority absolute? In other words, is this submission of the wife to her husband, is that something that would dictate obedience in absolutely everything? And the answer to that is absolutely not. Absolutely not. If your husband is leading you to sin, leading you against the Word of God, you have to obey Jesus and disobey your husband. It's a principle as simple as this. God is the only one with absolute authority, total authority, all other authority delegated by him. And it's limited authority. The authority of my husband to lead my home has been given to me by God as a stewardship to use for his glory. Therefore, the goal of a godly husband would be to use their authority in a godly way. But if I'm leading my wife to sin, she has a responsibility to obey Jesus and disobey me at that point. Now some of you are probably thinking in your mind, is there any example of that in Scripture? Yes. Have you ever heard of a man named Nabal? You ever heard of his story? A man named Nabal, you know what that word literally means? Fool. The name Nabal means fool. And yes, he lived up to his name. Right? He lived up to his name. And this is in 1 Samuel chapter 25. He was a wicked man. He was a fool. But his wife, Abigail, is described as both discerning and beautiful. Discerning and beautiful. So she has wisdom in the sight of God. He is a foolish, evil man. And so you have wise woman, foolish man, evil man. They're married together. They're married together. You don't disregard everything the man says. You have respect because he's your husband. So if he asked you to do something that's not wrong, do it. Right. But, you know, you come to this story in 2 Samuel, chapter 25, and you see that that Nabal was being completely foolish. What happens in 2 Samuel 25? Well, King David and his men, they're providing protection for Nabal's flock of sheep. And they're asked resources in return. So give us food, right? Give us for our labor, for what we're doing for you, give us the return. That was the practice of that day. And whatever food they had at hand to be used in a feast of worship to God. Nabal did not do that. Nabal did not give the laborer the wages that he was worthy of, and Abigail knows it, and he's wrong to do it. And Abigail knows that David, the one providing protection to Nabal's flock, had been faithful to the Lord and had been doing what the Lord wanted him to do. And so she goes apart from Nabal's knowledge and apart from Nabal's will, goes and makes peace with David, brings him the provisions, and David pronounces her as a godly, blessed, wise woman for doing so. Nabal was acting sinfully in the sight of God, and Abigail did not go along with that as a wise woman. And she is commended for that. Right? So I mention that for this reason. Husbands don't have the right to lead into sin. No authority has the right to lead you into sin. And so if your husband is leading you in violation of the Word of God, bring gentle and loving confrontation to your husband. be the voice of wisdom, the teaching of kindness on the godly woman's tongue, according to Proverbs 31. And there may even be needs to get the elders of the church or other godly men involved to help to give you wisdom. And obviously, there are not just issues of church discipline, but even legal action that would be necessary in those instances. But barring those exceptional circumstances, that we need to talk about because there are many sad and tragic situations that people find themselves in. Barring those exceptional circumstances, the wife's role is one of godly submission out of a gentle and quiet spirit. And that's because this is pleasing to the Lord. So questions that I think are helpful for wives to consider. Do you respect your husband? Can you list things that you respect about your husband? Do you follow your husband's godly leadership? Where is it hard for you to follow your husband's godly leadership that you need to grow? Do you seek to come underneath him and his calling in a way that would push him forward in what the Lord wants for him? And do you seek all of this because it is fitting to the Lord Jesus Christ? Godly submission, godly order. Point number two in this text, godly love, godly love. Verse 19. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Do not be harsh with them. So we see the call for the wife to submit. If the wife's submitting, men, guess what that means we need to be doing? Leading. Leading in the life of the home. The question is, does that mean that the man gets to lead however he wants? No, you get to lead how Christ wants. That's the call on us as men. Obviously, husbands and wives are going to be growing in this relationship their entire life. That's the process of sanctification. But the longer that the husband grows in the Lord, the more that his leadership should look like the Lord Jesus Christ. Look like a model after Christ's own love for his bride, the church. In fact, I want you to see this with me. Look at Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five, verses 25 through 28. Ephesians five, 25 through 28. This is the call of the husband's leadership and love. Husbands, love your wives. Making sure you love more than she does? No, notice this. as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. This is the kind of love and leadership that husbands are called to exercise in home. Love your wife as Christ loved the church. That's a calling. That's a calling. That's a high bar. That's something that we look at that as men and we realize we can't do that in our own power. No way. You can't love your wife in this way in your own strength and your human flesh. I can't love my wife in this way after my own strength. This is something where we see the absolute need that we have of the transforming grace of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to live faithfully in the home. that it is only by His sacrificial work on our behalf as men who are part of His bride, the church, that we can even begin to lead our wives in a godly way. to love your wife with a selfless love, this is the call. And I love how you see this, that this is the call that Jesus who gave himself up for her, right, the wife gets to submit, you as a husband get to die, right? I mean, that's the call in this text. You die to yourself out of loving leadership for your wife. And that's something that's very practical, isn't it? It's very practical. You see this call to die for your wife and men are gonna look at that and we're all gonna say, well, of course I'm willing to physically lay down my life for my wife. Good, you need to be willing to do that. But this is something that hits much more nitty gritty than simply being willing to lay down your life for your wife. Are you willing to get up early on a workday to pray for your wife? Are you willing to work extra to provide for your wife and your family if you need to? Are you willing to come home? You're tired after a long day at work. Are you willing to come home and pour into your bride and lay yourself aside and invest in her? Are you willing to do the hard things whenever she's sick and not feeling well and needs care? Are you willing to patiently and tenderly bring the washing of the water of the Word and listen well to her and know her and apply the Scripture to her even when it's not on your schedule that day? Are you ready and willing, am I ready and willing, to consider the needs of our wives above our own every single day, laying down our lives for them? This is the call, this is the model of Christ-like leadership. Because I want you to remember, Jesus died for us, yes and amen, we see his glorious sacrifice on the cross, but brothers and sisters, Jesus, heaven's throne, lived on this earth for at least 30 years, sacrificially giving up himself every single day for our sake. Living a perfect life we could not live. And so this giving of himself, it is the cross, but we're also ready to sacrifice every single day of his earthly life. And so this is the call to lead and to love our wives, not just for our own benefit, but for their good to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Flip with me to 1 Peter 3 again. 1 Peter 3, verse 7. Something very practical, very helpful here. 1 Peter 3, verse 7. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives. in an understanding way. Showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Do you notice that call to live with your wife in an understanding way? Brothers, you and I must know our wives if we are to love and lead them well. We must know our wives well if we are to love them and lead them well. To know her intimately in terms of and where she is going, and where she can help, and how God wired her and made her because men and women are made differently. Newsflash, right? Men and women are different. Men and women are different. And that means knowing and understanding our wives. And then bringing the washing water of the word, as Ephesians 5 says to her. What about the man who has a wife who is unsubmissive? who cares nothing about this whatsoever. The challenge of that is you and I can't change the hearts of anybody else. But the call on us is to be a godly example and to seek to fulfill our role faithfully and to entrust that work to the Lord to bring transformation to our heart and soul. Because again, we can't do this apart from the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you to notice something else in verse 19. There's an opposite to love, isn't there? Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. We're pursuing love, but we're also realizing there's a temptation of the flesh that we need to cast aside and to run from, and that's being harsh with our wives. In other words, harshness is the direct opposite of godly love on the part of the husband. The word harsh, literally it would mean bitterness, right? So you look up that word, it has the idea of like, you just ate something and now your stomach's bitter, it's nasty, it's not pleasant, it's not a good experience, right? That's the idea of what this word is trying to communicate. And so for the man to treat his wife in this harsh way means that he's being bitterly distasteful towards her. that his actions and his demeanors would be fueled by a harsh and heavy hand that's distasteful before the Lord. We shouldn't treat anybody this way, much less the bride God gave to us. And that yet, that's the temptation of the flesh. That's the temptation of God. And so if we're looking at this passage and we're realizing there are areas for growth and there's areas where there's need for change, I want to remind you of what we just read about over the rest of Colossians chapter three. The goal of that and the goal of seeing this is what God wants in the home. And we see, OK, I need to change here. I'm not measuring up to this. I'm not being faithful. Don't go into despair. Don't go into discouragement. Go into godly repentance. Go into godly repentance, look to your glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and realize your need for His transforming grace, and entrust your heart and your soul and your life, and yes, even your home to Him. And seek to be faithful, and seek to be faithful. What about at this point in the passage, If there's someone sitting here and you're an unbeliever and maybe you've never heard this here today about men leading and women submitting, you're probably like, what have I just walked in on, right? This is God's order for the home that can only be lived out after you've been born again. And so if you're here this morning, you don't know Christ, the point of this is not to see this and say, okay, here's what I need to do. You need to be changed by the power of Jesus first. You need to be born again. You need to be saved by the gospel. Come to Christ, turn from your sins, trust in him and your penance and faith for your everlasting life and salvation. And then come to the word of God and seek to order your life out of a heart of gratitude and thankfulness for his praise. So we've talked about wives, we've talked about husbands. Now that brings us to point number three, where we begin to address children here in verse 20. Point number three, godly obedience. So we have godly order, godly love, godly obedience. Look at verse 20. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. I love the last part of this verse. I love the last part of this verse. Because God's design for the home brings pleasure to him. Do you notice that? That's so informative and life-changing for us when we get a hold of that. Because we have this notion sometimes, again, that we need to go out and we need to do something extraordinary for God to be pleased with us. This verse says that something as straightforward as children submitting to their parents and obeying them is pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's such a gift of grace and such a testament to the value that God places on the family and the home. And so this orients our perspective in the home away from being man-centered, centered on ourselves and our own pleasure, to being centered on what is it that is pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's pleasing to him is that we have a sincere and genuine faith that is lived out even in the most private crevices of the home. And for children, the direction is obedience to their parents. Obedience to their parents. Not just the father, not just the mother, both of their parents. This is clear by that word in verse 20. Of course, you see this in the Ten Commandments as well, don't you? See it in the Ten Commandments as well. Exodus chapter 20, verse 12. Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that God is giving to you. So foundational. So you know, for the children who are here today, don't minimize your role in the family. Don't think lightly, don't think lowly of your role in the life of the home. You have the opportunity to bring pleasure to the Lord. That's a profound calling. And of course, first, that's by placing faith in Him. That's by looking to Him for salvation, trusting in Him, having your sins forgiven, and trusting in Jesus for eternal life. But then it's by walking in obedience to your parents. That is something that he values. And why do you do that? Because God's commanded it. Because God has commanded it. But I want you to notice, and this is why I brought in Exodus 20, it's not just obedience, it's also honor. It's also honor. Parents with adult children, that relationship changes away from one of obedience at that point. But it is one of honor. one of honor, one of care, one of respect, one of love, that you have respect for the reality that these are the parents that God gave you, and that should drive you to want to honor them and care for their needs, especially as they get older, and honor them by seeking to cultivate a relationship as much as possible with them. And there's no doubt the foundational importance in the home. So that brings us to our final point here today. The Apostle Paul turns now to address fathers in verse 21. Point number four, godly influence. Godly influence, in verse 21. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Now, obviously, mothers aren't to provoke their children either, okay? Let's just put that out there. Mothers aren't to provoke their children either. But he does turn to address fathers here, and he told the men in their role as husbands back in verse 19, don't be harsh with your wives. Now he tells the fathers, don't provoke your children, right? So he's kind of harping on this point here of not being harsh, not being overbearing, not being indulging of the sinful flesh in these ways as men. What does it mean to provoke somebody? It means you're just throwing them up, right? You're exasperating them. You're irritating them. You're frustrating them, right? Think about that person in your life. Don't say them out loud, but think about that person in your life who just nitpicks you in all the worst ways at the worst time, and they're overbearing towards you, and they just know how to get under your skin, right? That's the kind of thing that we're talking about. Don't provoke your children. Don't be overbearing to them. Don't be impatient with them. Don't be harsh with them. Don't be too edgy after a long day. Right, and that's the challenge for the godly man, that you can't be passive, because if you're passive, you're abdicating your responsibilities before the Lord, but you also can't be overbearing, because if you're being overbearing, then you're not living out God's calling either. The call is biblical balance by the transforming grace of the Lord Jesus. And brothers and sisters, that shows us something important, that the only way we can live this out, it's not by self-help, it's not by this new 12-step program that's gonna renovate your home to perfection, it's not by do these 10 things and make sure you got it, it is by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ working through the gospel, working through his sufficient work. This is central in the life of man. It is by casting off our sin, casting off the flesh, and learning by the transforming grace of Jesus to live in a way that pleases him. And the goal for the men, according to this passage, is casting off the sense of the flesh of harshness, of a provoking spirit, and seeing the goal to lead for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, you walk through this passage and you see that Paul intentionally, while talking about the home, points back to Christ again and again. Verse 18, he focuses on what is fitting to the Lord. Verse 20, he focuses on what is pleasing to the Lord. Jesus is the center of the home. And when Jesus is the center, does that mean that everything in your family is going to go smooth without any bumps? No. Have you ever seen, like, people who have that question, like, okay, like the godly family is gonna be perfect. Have you ever seen a godly family? Like, have you ever lived, like, are you kidding me? No. I recently ran across this illustration that a godly church and a godly family is less like a fine-tuned engine and more like a flock of sheep. Right? You think of a fine-tuned engine, it can run without problems. you think about a flock of sheep, you can guide them where they need to go. But like, you got this lamb who's kind of trying to go over here a little bit, and you gotta come over here and poke them the right way, and you got this guy over here who's got a little bit of sickness, and you gotta deal with that, and like, you're steering them in the right direction, but you're dealing with issues as it comes up. That's much more what the home life is like. But whenever we're coming by the power of the gospel, and we're coming to the Word of God, and we're seeking to order all of our lives around what He has revealed, and we're submitting to Him. We have the sufficient means that we need to live pleasing to the Lord in every area, including in our homes. And so, as we see this passage and we see the importance of the home, brothers and sisters, let's not minimize our families. Let's not take lightly our families. Let's not lack gratitude for our families. Even when it's hard. Even that family member who's gonna be coming at Christmas, who you're like, man, even them, even them, yeah, even them. Even them. Seek to love them. Seek to be grateful. Realize yes and amen, they're a hard situation. There are difficult circumstances. There are things that come up, but God has a design, and God has a sufficient word for us in the life of the home. And we should be grateful that we have the privilege of seeking the pleasure of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only when we gather as a church, but even every single day in our calling in our homes, and may we be faithful there. I ask Brother Doug, if he would, to come and to lead us in our closing hymn. If there's anything you need to talk about or anything you need prayer for, it would be my privilege to visit with you after our services this morning, to pray for you about anything that you may have on your heart or on your soul. Again, about 10 minutes after we close, we're gonna reconvene as church members for the business meeting. So looking forward to that time as well. Let's bow together in a word of prayer. Father, I thank you for your grace. Father, I know that as sinful human beings, we're all sitting here at this passage and we're realizing ways that we need your grace to grow us. Relationships that are not what we would wish that they would be. Things in our families that we're struggling with. Ways where we need to be more faithful leaders as men, more faithful wives and submitting to our husband, more godly children, obeying our parents, showing honor. Yet, Father, your grace is sufficient, and the gospel is sufficient, and your word is sufficient. And so, Father, I ask that you would help us to repent of our sins, and that you would let us flee to Christ and realize there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and that we would seek to live out your design in the home for the pleasure of your will. and because it is fitting in your sight, and that we would seek what it is that you desire in our lives. And Father, if there be any here who have not come to know Jesus savingly, I ask that you would let them see the weight of their sin, his glory, his holiness, and that they would flee to him for salvation. And it's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.