And go back to 1st John chapter 5. If you're not planning on being here Sunday, and if you're in town, please come to church and celebrate Jesus with us. Let's offer an amen. We're going to have a breakfast at 9 and you can bring something. can bring some food and we can eat it. I'm gonna get up early and I'm gonna make biscuits and gravy. Come and I'll share with you. Well, Lord, we're delighted to be in your house. I pray that you would help us with this truth, these verses, Lord, that we might understand what your Spirit is saying about saving faith. About faith in Christ. Lord, we know that there is a difference between. The faith that the devils have, they believe in the existence of Christ. There's a difference between that and the faith of those that belong to you. Lord, that one that places trust and confidence and relinquishes all rights of ownership to our sovereign God. And Lord, that we follow you in obedience. Lord, teach us, instruct us, walk with us. Lord, help us to know you, to love you, to rejoice and to admire you and to enjoy you for both time and eternity. In Christ's name, amen. I remember last time we started, I just wanted to tell a little situation I was in a couple of weeks ago when I was going to the bedside of one of my close friends. In fact, he's still living and doing a little bit better. But that particular moment, we felt as if he was drifting into eternity. I began to share the great promises of Scripture about salvation and heaven that is in wait for those that are in Christ. And I believe that his answer was somewhat ubiquitous for our culture today. And it's not a man that's unchurched, by the way. He's been a leader in the church for many years. In fact, a Protestant evangelical church said, I just hope so. And John's trying to deal with these kinds of inclinations that I think are common but not biblical. John wants us to have assurance that we're God's children and to know what saving faith looks like and to understand that because you're not going to have any real biblical assurance until you see that there is true faith, true saving faith, God-given faith, in the person of Jesus Christ in your life and in your heart. In fact, you don't have any entitlement to assurance until you see that evidence. Last time we started in verse one. In fact, we didn't get out of verse one. I'm going to read that. We talked about saving faith will always have the right object. Let's look at the text once again and refresh our minds. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God and whoever loves the father loves the child born of him in verse two let's just go ahead and read the five verses by this we know we love that we love the children of God when we love God and observe his commandments for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome for whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith Who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God? In verse one, we camped out there and spent just one session together just exploring that verse and the meaning of it. That saving faith will have the right object. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And that saving faith always has the right initiator. whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is actually literally in the Greek it's in the perfect tense has been born of God in fact saving faith follows regeneration I don't want to go back into rehash and re-argue that point I don't believe I need to with the crowd that I have tonight that God sovereignly grants faith, saving faith, to those that he has given to the Son as a love gift. Kistemacher said that the believer's faith in God is irrefutable evidence of his spiritual birth. Secondly, we looked at that there needs to be the right Christology. We need to have the right view of Christ. Let's put it this way. We need to trust in the Christ that's reflected in scripture. Unfortunately, we live in a time, and it was then also true in John's time, to where there are a lot of mirages out there, but there's only one true Christ. And what I mean by mirages, there's false representations of Christ. For those of you that know anything about my background know that I followed a false representation of Christ for many years as a young man. and uh... had the gospel introverted because i was taught wrong but god in his grace saw fit to open up my eyes and to deliver me thanks be to him amen and uh... and i know also some of you have been there and maybe different circumstances different religious venues scripture here teaches in verse one that whoever believes that jesus is the christ the christos of god the anointed one the messiah We know that Peter replied that you are the Christ whenever queried by Christ as to who the disciples said that he is. You're the Christ, the Christos. You're the chosen one of God. You're the son of the living God. And of course we know the Lord's reply that flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you Simon that didn't come by way of natural human understanding that is a divine revelation that has been granted to you in grace by the father to understand Christ in this way so right Christology And then point two, that saving faith will produce the right effect. Not only does saving faith have the right object, we're talking about the biblical Christ, a love and a commitment to a passion for the Lord Jesus Christ as reflected in scripture. In fact, that's the Christ that says that we need to take up our cross daily and follow him. Those of you that have ever wondered, let me just give a short explanation as to why our church logo has two crosses and not three. Have you ever wondered that? Because we think often on Golgotha there was two thieves and then our Messiah who died and so three crosses but really there are only two crosses that matter and that is the cross upon which our Savior died and the cross of which our Savior commands us to carry and to bear. So you have the cross of the Lord as the Cross looms over time that saves sinners like us. And then you have the cross that the Lord says you need to bear as you deny yourself. Take up that cross daily and follow Christ. And so there's no Christian life in the true sense of what it means to be Christian without bearing our cross. now point two comes from second through second to the to the fourth verse that saving faith will produce the right effect by this we know that we love the children of God whenever we love God and observe his commandments for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world our faith so here there are five evidences that saving faith has captured our heart that we've been enlivened by grace and that we have been blessed with a not only to suffer but to believe in Christ as the scriptures tell us the first evidence of true saving faith is that there's going to be a love for God the God of scripture By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God. Verse 2. And I'm just going to, I already preached that a couple of weeks ago. The love for God. The second is a love for the saints who loves the father, loves the child born of him. And then verse 2, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God. And of course we know that Jesus gave the command in John chapter 13 in verse 34, a new commandment that I give to you that you love one another. Well, what kind of love, Jesus, do we love one another? Well, he didn't stop there. He says, even as I've loved you, what kind of love did he display toward us? Well, it's a sacrificial love. It is a pure love. It is a holy love, a love that lays down our lives one for another. A love for the saints. Do we love God? we love God that is the God of scripture and of course we know that that love is obviously proven on the battlefield of obedience isn't it and we'll get to that momentarily that we love God and we love the people of God and of course we know that that the whole law Jesus said hinges upon those truths that we love God and that we love one another the third is that there will be an obedience to the commands of Christ what does it look like to Saved, I mean we can just reduce it to those terms very simple terms. What does it mean to be born again? What does it look like in the outworking of it? What kind of a fruit comes forth from it? Well, there will always be an obedience to the commands of Christ What Christ has taught us in Scripture what he's revealed to us in the Bible Look at verse 3 in the first part of it for this is the love of God That we keep his commandments The saving faith is marked out by obedience. Not perfectly obedient, but characteristically obedient. And I think that's a good way of putting that. John chapter fourteen in verse twenty one our Lord said he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. And again, I just want to reiterate, because there are those that believe that if there's any of the slightest disobedience in their life, then they cannot be born again. And that is not true. Every Christian wrestles at times with disobedience in their lives. And I like what Douglas O'Donnell, he's a theologian, said that the idea here is not that Christians keep the commands perfectly, but rather that believers keep them characteristically. By and large, the direction of our life is bent towards obedience. Now there are times when our foot slips off the path of obedience and we sin against the Lord, but that is not characteristic of our life. the exception and not the rule but that we keep the commandments of Christ Christians have as their aim it's the goal let's just put it this way we don't wake up in the morning with our slinging our feet down the ground so I'm gonna see how I can disobey God today I'm gonna see how much sin I can cultivate in my life today I'm gonna see how much sinful pleasure and desire I can tap into today That's not the heart of a Christian. Don't you agree? Why is that? Because our nature's been changed. And regeneration, the new birth. That God's performed a resurrection. And he's given us a new heart. With new and right desires. To love what's holy. And to hate what is evil. I know that in my own testimony, as is with yours too, I know that yours is that way, that there was a moment in time to where my desires were changed in an instant, sovereignly, powerfully, irrevocably, demonstratively. I was in my pickup truck. I was under conviction for sin in an instant. And I don't know how that happened, other than I began to be sorry for my sin in a deep, burdened way. And I know that everyone has different experiences, but the outcome's always the same. And here's the outcome. You don't love what you used to love. And you hate what you used to love. I just know that in a moment of time that the very things that I live for, I was dead to. Does that mean that there's never been a time in the last 30 years that those things have not tried to come back and attach themselves? Oh no, no, they have. But you know what the deal is? The desires of my heart have been in the morning to honor and to please God. And when I have succumbed in sin, my heart has been broken because I've grieved God and he has granted me repentance afresh and anew every time and I've run back to him broken and confessing and repentant and restored. Amen. you know we as Christians we heed the Lord whenever the Lord says when you pray it means something to us we're expected to pray we pray we commune with God we abandon the sin of prayerlessness whenever God commands us to forgive now we might wrestle with that sometimes but we do forgive God gives us grace to forgive people that hurt us when people offend us we don't hold grudges this is the norm for us Now I'm not saying we can't trip up at these but I'm saying characteristically we get this and we love this we obey Christ we forgive others we do good to people when they speak evil of us and we pray for them now in the heat of the moment and there have been times and I'm sure that you probably experientially dealt with this whenever you're hurt in an instant you may have some boil over affections that are not holy but then the Spirit of God begins to convict you and more times than not by bedtime you're repenting over that you ever been there oh come on you holier-than-thou people J.C. Ryle said that obedience is the only reality for the Christian. It is faith visible. It is faith acting. It is faith manifest. It is the real test of discipleship among the Lord's people. Obedience. You know, let me say this. It's not legalism to be compelled to obedience to Jesus Christ. Just last week, I read this Ravenhill quote. He said that anything that Christians don't like in the Bible, they call it legalism. Man, he hit the nail on the head. When challenged to be obedient to Christ, it is not legalism. Well, what is legalism? Legalism is this. It is the system of the law that is invoked as a substitute for salvation through faith in Christ alone. That's what legalism is. It's trusting in your own strivings. It is trusting in your own deeds to earn you a place in the kingdom of God. Jerry Bridges said it this way, legalism does not consist in yielding obedience to the law. Rather, it is to seek justification and good standing with God through the merit of works done in obedience to the law instead of by faith in Christ. You see? So whenever being challenged from the scriptures to be obedient to Christ, and whenever you began to feel the sting the Spirit of God convicting for disobedience don't shake your fist at the preacher and say you're preaching legalism when you're being challenged back to obedience to Christ it's not legalism that's not what it is the moving right on along that saving faith and obedience are just inseparable you cannot say that they're saving faith but no obedience then And for those of you that keep up with theological trends, I'm sure that Pastor Jason has kept up with this, is that there is a ever-growing movement. Lord Darrell, you've probably read up on this. It's to separate the Lordship of Christ from the salvific work of Christ. And what I mean by that, that Christ can be your Savior, but not your Lord. and that you embrace him to save you, but you have no heart longings to obey him. He's my savior, but he's not my Lord. I will not submit to him. I will not be obedient to him. But yet I. Must admit he must save me. You see. It's foolishness that is not taught in Scripture that saving faith and obedience to Christ go hand in hand and you can't separate them. A fool trusts that he's saved without evidence of obedience. A fool. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1, 22 and 23, listen to these terms. Peter says since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren fervently love one another from the heart for you have been born again not of sea which is perishable but imperishable that is to the living and enduring Word of God clearly Peter is yoking together obedience to saving faith Obedience and the truth and the purification of the soul. You know what, this truth that I'm just speaking of here, I'm talking about obedience to Christ permeates every page of Holy Scripture. You have to be blind to Scripture to disbelieve that obedience is not necessary as an evidence of salvation. And the next is this, and it's very clear, not only obedience, but a delight in it. We just talked about it a little bit in this last point. But verse three there at the end of it enlarges it somewhat. For this is the love of God that we keep as commandments. Look at this part. And his commandments are not burdens. That is the fruit that characterizes what saving faith is, that we delight in obedience. Salvation is a miracle to where God changes the disposition of an individual's heart that they have a brand new delight receptor that is inaugurated. We delight to do thy will, oh God. We delight. I'm not a big fan of the New Living Translation. By and large, I believe that there are places that it is just liberals all get out. But I believe that it gives a very, very accurate rendition of Ezekiel 36 as to what God does in the heart when he regenerates a sinner. And in Ezekiel 36 verses 26 and 27 in the New Living says, I will give you a new heart with new and right desires. I will put a new spirit in you. will take out your stony heart of sin and give you an obedient a new obedient heart I will put my spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command well right there is the sovereign grace of God in the regenerating work of the spirit in the life of a believer I'll give you a new heart a Just go and look at those verses. It doesn't matter what translation you have and look at the I wills, the divine demonstrations. Do you see the sovereign activity of God? You see here, no work of man, but only the work of God in regeneration. You know, a heart that craves sin is a heart that is enslaved to sin. Grace life, the heart is the citadel of passions. The heart. And a redeemed heart delights to do the will of its master. And it just can't be any other way. This is more than just having a duty to obedience. It's characteristic of divine and saving grace to delight. obedience Victorian preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon said obedience rendered without the light is rendering only half obedience let me say it again obedience rendered without the light in rendering it is only half obedience Listen to how the psalmist, those of you that probably have this memorized, characterized a righteous man. Listen to this, Psalm 1, 1 and 2. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night. Why? Because his heart, the citadel of his heart, the passions are for God and it's true. So it's not legal obedience that characterizes saving faith, but delightful obedience. Now, let me just clarify. That's not to say that there's never going to be a time in your life as a Christian when obedience is not going to be difficult. There are times when obedience is difficult. Whenever the tempter cranks up the fire and begins to come at you with temptations, there are times it's a battle. This is not to say that there's never going to be time in your life when obedience is not painstakingly grueling. Because there's times where obedience may become painstakingly grueling. Then what we're talking about is the attitude of our heart that rejoices in obeying our master, our deliverer, the captain of our salvation Jesus Christ here's a good question is your obedience constantly forced or is it consistently flowing and delightful I should preach a sermon on that is your obedience constantly forced or consistently flowing and delightful what is the center of your normal whenever nobody's looking and the X no expectations are looming what atmosphere is it that fills your heart when a decision must be made to obey or to disobey Christ saving faith does not look at the commands of Christ as unbearable or undesirable The fruit of regeneration is to delight in the laws of the Lord. Next, an important truth. The saving faith is characterized by demonstration of overcoming the world. Of course, we know we've already preached the text, love not the world or the things that are in the world. For if you love the world and you love the things that are in the world, the love of the Father is not in you. You listen to Macy? Listen up. Love not the world. Christians overcome the world. Verse 4, whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. The Greek here is very fascinating. I wouldn't even mention this other than it might just fascinate you. Then in verses four and five that there are three forms of a Greek word that all of you are very familiar with. And it's the noun that is transliterated Nike. Ever hear of it? Nike. What comes to mind? Shoes. the Nike shoe company named its company after the Greek goddess of victory Athena Nike and the text here let me just read it and I'll read the English translated word and I'll read the Greek word because there are there are four separate variants here because everyone who has been born of God gets the victory Nika and Ika over the world and this is the victory Nike and Ike the one having victory Nike Sasa over the world our faith who is the one having victory Nikon Over the world except the one believing that Jesus is the Son of God You think whatever does that even mean? It means this God-given faith And God's Son makes us victorious over God's enemies, which are the loveless world, its dictator who is Satan, and its deceivers who are the antichrists. In fact, this verse is John's rendition of what Paul said in Philippians 4.13, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Saving faith is evidenced by victory over the world. We don't love the world. There's been a divorce filed If victory There's Enmity between the Christian the world in the world and the Christian We don't drink out of their pitcher and find joy We find poison there and we run to drink of the pure waters of the gospel Saving faith is always evidenced by victory over the world the world system the ruler of the world which is Satan and the deceptive work of Satan's minions the Antichrist that preach false doctrine The world no longer satisfies us as Christians We're slaves But we're slaves to Christ. We're slaves to Christ. Finally, and in closing, verses four and five. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith, who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Christ of God. I just wanted to share, just in closing, a couple things that saving faith, listen to me, this is crucial that you get this, saving faith overcomes from victory. Victory that's been won. We don't overcome because we're better. We don't overcome because we're stronger. We don't overcome because we're more apt we overcome because Christ Has overcome we overcome from victory We fight from victory We overcome the tempter because Christ has rendered him powerless at the cross And it's rightly said that Christians do not fight for victory. We fight from it. We fight from it. And the catalyst of our victory is the accomplishments of Christ on the cross. Paul wrote, but thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 1557. So saving faith results from the victory of the cross. And this text, I believe, powerfully bears down upon this truth and reality. the overcomer overcomes because he believes that Jesus is the Son of God and there are vast implications in those terms first I want you to see the victory of the cross that our Lord substitutionary work upon the cross is listen to me and I put this at all capital in my sermon it's the ultimate ultimate cause of our saving faith and victory and it's at the cross there then that Jesus purchased our salvation for us and purchased us for salvation and our victory comes from the cross it was one there then and there first Peter 2 24 This was an anthem when I was in the charismatic movement in the wrong context because they took the wounds by which you're healed and applied it to physical healing only. And if you will study that context, it has nothing to do with physical healing. It has absolutely everything to do with the mortal wound inflicted by sin and the restoration of our spiritual life to be resurrected from the dead. It has to do with sin and its vast implications spiritually and not physically. But this is what the text says. It says, and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds the cross you were. You hear what I say? It's not future tense. It's not present tense. Past tense healed. The cross, past tense, the victory Christ won. We fight from victory, not for it, from it. Professor John Mary at Westminster Seminary, great theologian of his day, said, the glory of the cross is bound up with the effectiveness of its accomplishment. Well, if there's anything I want to labor to do at the pulpit at Grace Life Church is to labor to proclaim the glorious victory and the efficacious accomplishments of what Jesus Christ did at the cross. He went to the cross and everything that he died for will be applied to those for whom he meant it. there's no loss he would not suffer on the cross for a possible salvation for maybe somebody might just by their will consent to him to let him be their Lord no no no he went to the cross as a king a sovereign and everything he suffered bled and died for none of it will be withheld from him that's the meaning of John 637 amen So it's by the cross what Christ did there that we have victory over their sin, we have victory over the flesh, and we have victory over the devil. And so John's admonition of victory of the world is directly tied to the cross and what was won there for the people of God by Christ's death. There's no victory for the church and there's no victory for you because you're the church apart from the cross. Secondly, I want you to see the power of the cross. I'm gonna fast forward through much of this. Where does the victory come in for the Christian and why by what power? Does the Christian overcome the world that is under the power and rule of Satan? It's the power of the cross It's not the power. It's not the power that is inherent to you. It's not it's not that you can just muster it up But you're gonna wake up someday and just be resolved to live as a better Christian and What you've got to understand is, is that every mark of obedience and victory in your life is the result of the power of the cross being wrought in your life. It's not you becoming better, it's the power of the cross manifesting in and through your life. Listen what Paul said about the power of the cross 1st Corinthians 1 18 for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but For those of us who are being saved listen what he says it's the power of God The cross, the power of God. For those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. And again, Paul writing to the church of Colossae said this in Colossians 2, 13 to 15, when you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, listen to this, Made you alive together with him having forgiven us all of our transgression Having canceled out the certificate of debt Consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us. He has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross and having disarmed the rulers and authorities when at the cross He made a display of them having triumphed over them through him. Saving faith is the effect, obedience is the effect of the efficacious death of Jesus Christ. It's at the cross that we see the power of God wielded. One Christian man said that this way, that when he is questioned about when he was saved, he says, I was saved 2000 years ago when Jesus Christ died. And there's very much true in that statement. We believe savingly because the power of the cross is effective. I just have a hard time biblically wrestling that the eternal purposes of God are contingent upon frail, depraved creatures like us. God is not bound by his creature at any point at any time. The third thing I want to say is that obedience and the power of the cross. This is just the normal Christian life. To be obedient, to love God, to love one another, to forgive when somebody hurts your feelings. To have victory over the world. It doesn't make you a super Christian. This is just normal Christianity. the one verse five who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God you know today in this shallow Christianity there's very very little sign of victory over the world isn't there am I the only person that observes that there seems to be an in professing Christianity in modern times there seems to be a short supply in victory over the world You know, I turn on the early news and all the liberal media. They're all Christians, they say. But then at the turn of the moment, they can be Buddhist or they can be Hare Krishnas. Are you talking about? You've flipped your lid. And there's absolutely no sense in which they overcome the world, but they characterize it. But yet they want to call themselves Christian. That's not Christian. Listen, the normal Christian life, let's just put it this way, the ordinary Christian life, consists of overcoming sin, Satan, and the world, characteristically. Just sad that there seems to be very little difference today between the confessing Christian and the confessing atheist. very difference by way of lifestyle pattern, very little difference by way of desire, the way that we live. You know, I believe that there has been a great misunderstanding of what Christianity is. We've lost the understanding. We've lost the gospel in that God regenerates sinners and that God supernaturally acts and performs a miracle and makes a dead sinner live. Today it has been so watered down. It's been duped. you join an association you join a church and you're Christian you get baptized you do this you commit this act or got sprinkled when you're a baby and or whatever it may be some edifice of man some false belief and you're Christian because of that you're Christian because you're an American you're a Christian because mom and dad went to church 40 years ago But the Bible teaches that you are a Christian because you've been divinely regenerated by the Spirit of God, and that by the will of God, not of man. Supernatural. Something that God does. All of grace, as Spurgeon put it. But we're living in a time that anybody who feels themselves a Christian and wants to call themselves a Christian, they've got a tattoo and a t-shirt that looks Christian, and we accept them without any question whatsoever. But in the generations that have gone on before us, it just wasn't that way. It just wasn't that way. And that's why we stress church membership here, that we want to make sure that when we join as elders, overseers, professing Christians to the church so that we see this evidence in their life to join regenerate people to the church. Normal Christian living is victory over the world. Just normal Christian living. Nothing spectacular. Just ordinary Christianity. That we overcome sin, Satan, and the flesh. We Christians can overcome the world. My last quote I thought was quite helpful. Kistemacher once again. Faith alone does not overcome the world, but faith in Jesus, the son of God, enables the believer to rejoice in triumph. Often faith in Jesus is weak. Listen to this often faith in Jesus is weak But when faith reveals itself in an unbreakable bond between Jesus and the believer Jesus is conquering power becomes visible in the believer The pastor I'm a weak Christian glory to God serving a strong Christ trusting a victorious Savior. And this is all because of what Christ has done for his people. Victory of the world is just characteristic of what defines us as Christians. So what is saving faith? It has the right object, it has the right evidence, and it fights from Christ's victory. Have you received like faith? 2nd Peter 1 1 Simon Peter a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ saving faith amen a glorious text thank y'all for coming tonight it's so so good to see I missed you Sunday we did not want to canceled but due to the weather we felt it in the best interest of the church and safety we started thinking about some of our grannies of grace slipping on ice and falling down and maybe breaking a hip or something and we just like no we're not gonna do that and so we We cancel, but we're glad to be back again together. Mom texted me Sunday night late and said, boy, I sure missed being with God's people today. I sure missed it. And I felt that way too. I just needed to be with you. So tonight is much more precious to me. Amen. Well, we do want you to come Sunday morning. It's Christmas, and it's about Jesus. And I think what a more fitting way than for us to worship him together on Christmas Day. We're gonna have a meal together at nine. If you've not signed up as to what you can bring, please do that. It's in the sanctuary at the sound booth. Bring enough for you and your family and then some. We wanna be an and then some kind of a people. And we don't wanna just do the least we can do to get by because grace always does abundantly above what we can ask or think. And so we wanna be that kind of a people. We wanna do it right. If we wanna do it, let's do it right and be upright. Amen. Well, Lord, I pray that this word that has been preached will be profitable for your church, but Lord, most especially, that your name be glorified and exalted. Lord, I pray that there will be an application to our lives, Lord, that we would taste of the Lord to see that he is good. Lord, be with us as we depart and go to our homes. Lord, grant us sweet, precious sleep tonight. Rest. Help our minds be stayed upon you. Lord, help us to learn to love you and to love one another. And to delight ourselves in obeying for your glory and our good in Christ's name. Amen. We need to do our missionary offering. If we've not done that, let's pass that around. I'm too late now. It's just too late, isn't it? No, I'm fine, sweetie. Thank you.