Well, we're going to finish off a passage of Joshua chapter 15, beginning at verse 13. Here are the word of God. Now to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he gave a share among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, namely, Kirjoth Arba, which is Hebron. Arba was the father of Anak. Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak from there, Sheshai, Aheman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Dabir, formerly. The name of Dabir was Kirjas Sefer. And Caleb said, he who attacks Kirjas Sefer and takes it, to him I will give Aksa, my daughter, as wife. So Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it, and he gave him Aksa, his daughter, as wife. Now it was so, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, what do you wish? She answered, give me a blessing, since you have given me land in the south, give me also springs of water. So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. Thank you, Father, for this, your word. And as we dig into it, I pray that you would, by your spirit, help us to grow more and more in conformity to it. We take seriously Christ's word that we need to live by every word that proceeds from your mouth. And so we pray that you would bless us, your people, as we do so this morning. In Jesus name. Amen. Well, last week we looked at Caleb, who was the first of three cameos or pictures that were being painted in this paragraph. And Caleb really was a remarkable man of faith. In dealing with the 10 spies, he realized how important it is for leaders to live by faith and how disastrous it could be when they do not. We saw that the 10 spies turned against Joshua and Caleb and set the people against them and refused to go into the land and would have actually stoned the two of them to death if God had not intervened. And so one of the lessons we looked at was that leadership skills alone are not enough. And so that led Caleb to be very careful about whom he promoted into leadership. He wanted to make sure that any leaders that he raised up were sold out to God. They were people of faith who fully followed the Lord. And what did that look like? Well, we saw that Caleb valued a leadership, as Gary already mentioned, in his prayer that was not held captive by the past. And he had plenty in his past that he needed to live down. Second, we saw that his faith did not take flying leaps off of buildings. That's presumption, that is not faith. A lot of what goes for faith today is stupidity. It is not faith at all. Faith is founded on fact, on infallible facts. It's founded on the commandments of God and the promises of God, and we saw that the commandments of God are every bit as much a foundation for our faith as His promises are. Third, his faith enabled him to thrive wherever God placed him. You don't have to be in a perfect environment for your faith to thrive. And we saw that Caleb thrived in the wilderness, you know, during those 40 years that they were wandering. He thrived among complaining, rebellious people. He thrived during the conquest. He thrived as he was raising up new leaders. to the Lord. He thrived in the book of Judges and the land that God had given to him. Fourth, his faith enabled him to reconquer land that had previously been conquered. And we saw that he was a model to us on that issue as well. Don't be discouraged when you have to re-engage in battles on things that you've won in the past and then you get defeated again. Fifth, his faith trusted God against all odds. Sixth, he was not content with just receiving a few things that God had promised to him. If God's promised it, he's going to claim all of his possessions. Seventh, he groomed his leaders to be men of faith. Like produces like. Eighth, he raised his four children. We saw that Aksa is not his only child. He had three sons as well. But he raised his four children to be children of faith. And so basically, his faith was laying claim to God's covenant promises for covenant succession. And we've got promises that God will pass on the faith to our children and our children's children as well. Wonderful promises. And then ninth, his faith was illustrated by three things that he had lived for in the past that he had a different spirit than the 10 spies did. that he had a humble heart that was set upon the Lord, a servant heart, and a willingness to follow God fully in all that God had said. So those were the nine ways in which we saw that Caleb was a remarkable model of faith to us. Well, today we're going to pick up with Othniel, who in the book of Judges shows all nine of Caleb's characteristics. But in this little cameo, we're not going to look at those nine characteristics. No point in repeating those. We're going to look at him as being a model soldier and a model suitor of a wife. of a bride. So don't think that Othniel was being rash or reckless in his pursuit of love. Or on the other hand, as some weird commentaries have say, don't think that he was being mercenary and greedy, you know, just looking for position and land. I mean, he already had great position with Caleb and in leadership, and he was going to be given land. God had promised it to him already. So that was not the issue at all. It was actually Aksa's idea to ask for the upper and lower springs, not his, and we will see why and how she did that in a bit. But your outlines give six lessons of faith that are at least hinted at in the life of Othniel. It's my prayer that you will be blessed as we go through these six. First thing that I notice is that his name means, God is my protector. Now we saw last week that's a quite different meaning than the meaning for the name Caleb, which means dog. Did Caleb's father name him dog or was that a nickname? We're not told. If it was his father, why then does Othniel have such a different meaning to his name? And as I mentioned last week, the Hebrew and the English of verse 17 is a little bit ambiguous. Verse 17 says, so Othniel, the son of Kanaz, the brother of Caleb. And so the question you'll see answered different ways in commentaries is, okay, who was Caleb's brother? Was it Kanaz or was it Othniel? One theory says that Othniel and Caleb had the same mother, but a different father. So he was a half brother. And the other theory, which I think follows a little more closely to the Hebrew, is that Canaaz was Caleb's younger brother and Othniel was the son of Canaaz. In other words, he was the nephew to Caleb and that's the way that I take it. Either way, it was a different dad who named both and Othniel's dad wanted Othniel to affirm every day of his life, as his name reminds him, that God is my protector. To me, this speaks of faith being passed on from father to son. Even the naming of him, God is my protector, I think shows it's a statement of faith. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with the name Caleb. People came away from the last thing thinking, oh man, is that a bad name? No, it's a great name, because it's associated with a hero of the faith, right? And so it has great meaning. We love that name today. But back then, maybe not so good a meaning. Now, I've already mentioned the second point, that Othniel was a man with the faith of Caleb. And you can definitely see that in the book of Judges. But you can also see it in each one's conquest in this chapter. And let me just briefly compare the two. We dug into it a bit last week, so I won't spend too much time. But last week we saw that Caleb had asked Joshua, give me this mountain. He believed that God would fulfill his promise to take that mountain, even though the other ten spies had thought that this very mountain was untakeable. if that's a word, probably isn't. But he believed it was, that he could take it by God's grace. Now he knew for himself it was impossible to do so. He approached this very, very humbly. He's not gonna put God into a box. He said, it may be, this is Joshua chapter 14, it may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord has said. But then he committed himself to that goal and he paid the price needed to receive it. John C. Maxwell speaks of this kind of commitment of faith and contrasts it with three other kinds of people. He says there are really only four types of people. Cop-outs, people who have no goals and do not commit. Hold-outs, people who don't know if they can reach their goals so they're afraid to commit. dropouts, people who start toward a goal but quit when the going gets tough, and all outs, people who set goals, commit to them, and pay the price to reach them. Well, commentators say that Othniel had that kind of faith, especially in the book of Judges, which we're not going to get into. But I think it is hinted at here as well. We're not told what Othniel said, but we are told that he took Caleb's challenge in the first part of verse 16. Now in Judges, just as a hint, Judges chapter 3 says that Othniel was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came upon him. He was a judge of Israel who engaged in mighty conquests of faith. Almost everybody believes that this particular conquest here, as difficult as it was, would have taken faith as well, because at this point, the giant Anakim had crept back into the land. Israel had moved on from conquering this area, went up north, they were fighting other battles, and then when they came back here, yikes, the land had been retaken by the Anakim. We looked at that last week. And I believe that the reason Caleb gave the offer was as a fleece as to which of his godly leaders the Lord might lead to marry his daughter. We already saw why he believed that all of his leaders were worthy candidates of his daughter. They were all men of faith like Caleb. But this offer was in effect a fleece that would indicate God's green light. And because I explained that in detail last week, I won't say more. Now the next point is related to this. Othniel was willing to sacrifice for his bride-to-be. Verses 16 through 17. And Caleb said, To him I will give Aksum, my daughter, as wife. So Othniel, the son of Kanaz, the brother of Caleb, took it. Now, the so clause indicates that he accepted the challenge and he accepted the required sacrifice. You see, there are no guarantees that Othniel was going to come out of Kirjaz Sefer alive. He could have been killed in battle. There's no guarantees that he wouldn't lose a limb or in some other way become disabled. But when you are led by the Lord to take on some task, You know, those kinds of worries and fears fade into the past. But more to this point, he was willing to make sacrifices for his bride-to-be. And we saw last week that it would have taken physical sacrifice on his part to do so. And many a young man today is willing to make a lot of sacrifices in order to get their bride. But are you willing to continue to make sacrifices for your wife throughout your marriage until the day that you die. I hope so. The book of Judges shows that Othniel was willing. He continued with the sacrificial servant's heart throughout his life. It wasn't all about him. He was devoting his life to serve others. And of course, that's biblical. Christ has called men and women to be models of His relationship to the church and of the church's relationship to Christ. Men are called to sacrificially lay down their lives for their wives, to love their wives sacrificially. And just like Jesus laid down, you know, sacrificed, laid down His life for His wife, and that wives are called to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. And when husbands lovingly sacrifice and the women lovingly submit to their husbands, then the marriage begins to more and more take on the perfume of heaven. It begins to be a wonderful model of the relationship of Christ to the church. It's a testimony of grace. And there's a book that I mentioned last week that I think portrays this so well. It's not quite published yet, but Scott Brown wrote a new book called Getting the Picture Right in Your Marriage. And far from getting me to do new things out of guilting me, it inspired me because it was such a Christ-centered, grace-filled approach to why a marriage needs to, on a daily basis, be receiving from heaven things every day so that our marriage will reflect the marriage of Christ and the church. It's a great book. I highly recommend it. Now the next hint we have of Othniel's faith was that he was patient in waiting for a helpmate suitable to him. Faith often has to wait. It often requires patience. We aren't told if he had been negotiating with Caleb for quite some time before this, you know, as to the bride. We don't even know if he was seriously seeking a bride before this. We're not told a whole lot. All we're told in verse 17 is that Caleb gave him Roxa, his daughter, as wife. But I want you to notice it's the dad who gives the daughter. Now a lot of people think, oh, that's just old-fashioned. There is nothing in the Bible that makes this a paradigm for today. But I would say that parents are really required to protect their daughters. And while there are exceptions, especially if parents are not parents of faith, Jeremiah 29, verse 6 gives the normal pattern. give your daughters to husbands. So this hints that Othniel was patient to wait for that to happen, okay? He took whatever actions were needed for the dad to give his daughter. He jumped through the hoops, so to speak. And just as an aside, you know, arranged marriages are really frowned on in some Christian circles. They just think that's super, super weird. But when you trace the history of marriage, down through history and worldwide today, some of the longest lasting best marriages have been arranged marriages. And I think part of the reason, there have been some really bad arranged marriages too, don't get me wrong. But I think some of the reasons why these have turned out so well is because the marriages are not purely based upon emotions. Emotional attractions to each other, those can be very, very fickle and can keep people from making rational decisions as to which partner would be the best fit. How many people get married purely based on emotional attraction and within a year or two they want to get a divorce? You know, they're very frustrated. Well, they hadn't thought through all of the implications. Now, let me make a point about the pictures in your outline. I had fun generating them with artificial intelligence. And what I want to say is artificial intelligence doesn't have a clue what they look like. So she may have been far less fetching than the picture portrays her as being, and it really wouldn't have mattered, would it? If she had a godly character, it would not have mattered so much what she looked like. But anyway, We can at least say parents should be very involved in helping to get their children married. God set the pattern by arranging the marriage of Adam and Eve. And you might say, yeah, well, there weren't any other choices, were there? No, there weren't. But God arranged the marriage, and humans were following this pattern all through history. In Jeremiah 29.6, he commands Take wives, and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters, that you may be increased there and not diminished." unless you get really, really nervous about this. Hey, the daughter can refuse, say, no, dad, I'm just not interested in that guy. Keep looking. She didn't have to marry the person that the dad has picked, right? And she, in many cases, can get married on her own, what she desires. There are scriptures that seem to allow for such exceptions. For example, Moses tells the daughters of Zelophehad, let them marry whom they think best. Yeah, they're pretty clear. For marriage to truly be a covenant, both parties have to freely enter into the covenant. So we're not saying that both parties aren't choosing and evaluating. They are. All I'm saying is we should not frown on the parents being highly involved, as some of you have been in various marriages. Don't think it's weird. Anyway, let's move on to the next point. Now we'll look at verse 18 again when we look at Auxa, but this verse hints at the fact that Othniel was instantly ready to lead Auxa. It says, now it was so when she came to him that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. Now this speaks well of Aksah in asking Othniel's permission before talking to her dad, but the Hebrew word that is translated as persuaded, which the dictionary defines as urging someone to action, Okay, indicates that he wanted to have good reasons why she should ask her dad for the upper and the lower springs. And she gave him good reasons, and he was satisfied with her reasons, and so he gave her permission. That's all implied in that word. Well, this hints at maturity in Othniel. He was used to leading men. He was one of the leaders there. And leading a woman is going to be different, but at this point, he was ready to lead Aksa, okay? She's not in charge, Othniel is, and a man who lovingly and sacrificially leads gives security to a wife. This is the kind of man who will enable his wife to thrive under his leadership. She isn't forced into a box because he can be persuaded by her, and he's willing to be persuaded. But neither is a limp-wristed rollover, God's role for a husband, you know, who does everything that his wife wants him to do. He needs to be persuaded if she desires large changes, and this would have been a pretty significant request. Now the last evidence that I see of Othniel's faith is that there are strong hints that he rejected the wisdom of the world and opted instead for the wisdom of God. Verse 15 says, then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir. Formerly the name of Debir was Kerjoth Sefer. Now that significant name change for the city is connected with Othniel in Judges chapter one. And let me explain why that happened and how that happened. And I'll begin with some background. Francis Nickel, in his commentary, says, most scholars agree that the city may be correctly identified as the present Talbeit Mirsim, excavated by Dr. W.F. Albright. And I did put a picture of the city into your outlines. He goes on, the ruins revealed no library, although the city was not completely excavated. The archaeological evidence shows an unusually devastating conflagration. Conflagration is a fire. Followed by a settlement of Hebrew people who rebuilt the city. Now, both Joshua and the book of Judges show that most cities were not burned. They were not burned. In fact, in most cases, God wanted them to inherit houses and cities that they did not have to build. In fact, that was God's stated purpose in Deuteronomy 6, verse 10, that they would inherit cities that they did not build. And so why is this city burned to the ground after it is conquered? That seems to be contrary to God's stated purpose for what would normally happen. So I believe the reader is expected to ask, why was this burned? Well, Qirjaz Sifr means City of Books, or as some translate it, the Book City. And later in my footnotes, I'm going to cite a whole bunch of scholars who believe this shows that Qirjaz Sifr was the official a library repository for the pagan worldview of the Canaanites, perhaps even a teaching center for that worldview. So all of the best and the worst of that literature, from pornography to science to technology to astrology, would have been housed in that fortress library city. This was the place of learning for that Canaanite society. And so it's very significant that Othniel didn't just inherit the city like some of the other cities were inherited. Instead, he destroyed the city, he rebuilt it, and then he renamed it Dabir. Rod Mattoon, in his commentary, explains the meaning of Dabir. He says, Debir means the word. It comes from a Hebrew word, Debar. Deuteronomy's original name was called Debar. What a reminder for us today, Christians are to be keepers of the word. Now, many Christians would be absolutely horrified that all of these books of learning were being burned. What a waste, they might think. We're losing history. We're losing books on anthropology and science and all of the things of the pagan learning of the past. But what was God's command concerning the information bound up with the ungodly people in Deuteronomy 32, verse 26? He said, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men. That's written right into the law of God. That was God's goal, to make the memory of both the men and their false worldviews to cease from among men. What does classical education do? The exact opposite. It perpetuates the memory of those pagan civilizations. from generation to generation. In Psalm 9, David says that his goal was to completely destroy the memory of the pagan civilizations around him. And he says, this was the reason for the conquest of Canaan. So that it says, quote, even their memory has perished, verse six. He was saying, that's a consequence of the conquest. He says the same thing in Psalm 109, verse 15. And there are other scriptures that predict that the earth is eventually going to be void of pagan learning. Is this going to happen in human history? Yes, it will. Daniel 2, verse 35 says that Christ's kingdom will gradually grind the pagan kingdoms of this world to powder, cause the wind to carry the memory of those civilizations away like the chaff. from wheat, quote, so that no trace of them was found. There's coming a period in future history when there will be no trace of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, which were the four kingdoms that he says there will eventually be no trace of them to be found. And if God wants no trace of those so-called classical civilizations to be found, why is it that Christians are the chief ones to resurrect the learning of Greece and Rome? Just saying. So I actually see this book burning as an evidence of faith. Othniel did not want his children being educated in the wisdom of ancient civilizations. He wanted them educated in the Word of God. And as a testimony to that fact, he burned the pagan books, renamed the city after the Book of Deuteronomy, the Word. And in my view, Othniel stands as a great exemplar of faith. He wanted future generations to live by the Holy Scriptures. By the way, One of the projects we're working on in Biblical Blueprints, it's going to take a few years, but is showing that the Bible is sufficient to give us a completely comprehensive worldview that includes everything you need for logic, math, science, statistics, music, you name it. It's found in the Bible. And so on many levels, Othniel was a man much like Auxa's dad, Caleb. He was a model of what it means to live by faith. And the book of Judges deals with him in much more detail. Now let's end with Auxa herself. I believe she's a model daughter of faith and a model wife of faith. First of all, as has been demonstrated last week, she was confident in her father's guidance. This was not a forced marriage. We saw that last week. She trusted her father's judgment about the man she would marry rather than trusting her emotions. Now, why would she trust her dad so much? Well, we saw last week her dad was a man who fully followed the Lord, lived by faith, was a man of character. He was totally trustworthy. And her dad had no doubt already convinced her that any of the leaders in her leadership circle would have been worthy candidates of marriage because they too were men of faith like Caleb was. and maybe he already was led by the Lord, who knows, that Othniel might be the one. So Caleb gave his daughter to Othniel and there's no evidence that she resented that fact. Second, she was confident in her position as a soon-to-be wife and in her position as a daughter and knew how to express her ideas of faith in a way that would honor both. In a moment we'll look at why her request should be seen as a farsighted request of faith, but I want to look first of all at the way she expresses it in verse 18. Verse 18 begins, now it was so when she came to him that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field And then she goes ahead and does the asking. And some people are confused, why talk to Othniel about this if she's going to be the one that's going to be asking? But it's actually pretty straightforward. She's already relating to her husband as her new authority by asking her husband to be. permission, rather than unilaterally asking her dad on her own. In effect, she's saying, hey, would it be OK with you if I ask my dad for a wedding gift? And if it's OK with you, I'll tell my dad it's OK with you, right? That's what's going on with the Hebrews. Susan Niditch is absolutely wrong when she portrays Aksah as a rebellious teenager who angrily demands that she get her way or else. And I think that John Goldengay is absolutely wrong when he says, AXA manipulates the men in her life in order to ensure she gets a better deal than the one that they had originally proposed. In other words, both of those authors think she was not a submissive daughter, she was not a submissive wife. But I think the evidence points in exactly the opposite direction. There is no manipulation here. Her asking Othniel shows her submission to him, since he will shortly be her husband. And her getting off the donkey shows her respect and submission to her dad, since she is not yet married. They're on their way to getting married. And so verse 18 goes on to say, She dismounts out of respect and waits for her father to acknowledge her presence. She's not manipulative, surly woman, the way some people portray her. She is confident, yes, she's very confident, and yes, she is not in the least bit insecure, but I think it's her lack of insecurity and her demonstration of confidence, I think it flows from the very faith that we saw last week she had been brought up to live by, by her dad. She's a model of confident submission that can freely dialogue with those to whom she submits. When Ephesians 5.22 says, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, it is not calling for insecurity. I mean, think about it, the church is totally secure in Christ and yet has to submit to Christ in all things, right? So security and submission are in no way incompatible. And so Paul goes on to say, therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Now, how is the church supposed to be submissive to Christ? By following God's Word, right? Keeping God's Word. So the phrase, just as, shows that it must therefore be God's Word that defines submission to the husbands and everything. It's not submission to sinful requests. It's submission in the Lord. But the point I'm making about Auxa is that she evidences faith in her submission. 2 Peter 3 comments on this when it says this, Wives, likewise be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct. not sinful conduct, in other words, it's not submission to sinful requests, as they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. When women approach the subject of submission and faith, It removes fear and insecurity. It brings joy and confidence in the Lord. I think Barker and Kohlenberger are right when they say in their commentary, Caleb's daughter needed the permission of her husband before she could ask her father for a gift. Since Caleb had given them land in the arid Negev, she requested a field with springs of water. Caleb agreed, and this gift may have been her dowry. Now moving on to the next point, we can see that she was a woman of initiative, okay? Her faith did not make her passive. This is so important. She came up with the idea, she presented the idea to Othniel to make sure he was okay with it, and then she went and talked to her dad about it. Faith is never passive. It is driven to action. It shows initiative. And if you look at all of the action verbs that describe faith on a case-by-case basis in Hebrews 11, which some people call the Hall of Faith, you'll see faith is consistent with initiative. Hebrews 11 says, by faith Abel offered. By faith, Noah prepared an ark. By faith, Abraham obeyed. By faith, Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph. By faith, Moses forsook Egypt. By faith, he kept the Passover. And others who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, et cetera, et cetera. Okay, faith takes initiative to claim its possessions. It is never passive. Next, even her request for a wedding present was future-oriented. When Caleb asked her what she wished for, Verse 19 says, she answered, give me a blessing, since you have given me land in the south, give me also springs of water. So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. Now, commentators point out that the word that's translated as south is negev, and it actually refers to a wilderness or a very dry, arid place that without water is not going to be able to be very productive. You've heard of the Negev Desert, right? That's the word. She instantly recognized that if her family grew in the next few generations, they would need to have access to water. And if her family did not have ownership of it, there could potentially be problems. People fight wars over access to water, right? But by gaining title to it, her family would at least have access to the water for generations to come. So this shows a future orientation. Kenneth Barker says, land in the Negev is of little value without water, but it's very productive when irrigated. Othniel recognized the validity of her request. So she was actually a blessing to her husband by thinking of this. Because of her dad's future orientation, she too was future oriented, and she didn't have to be told everything that needed to be done. She had initiative. She was future oriented. And let me tell you something, secure husbands love this in their wives. Secure husbands don't want passive women, okay? They want wives with initiative. And her dad, recognizing the virtue in her request, blessed her just as she asked. She said, give me a blessing. He gave her the blessing. And since all blessings come from the Lord, ultimately, her faith received a blessing from the Lord herself. Now, here's the thing. If she had not been assertive, would she have received that blessing? I don't think so. Probably not. We need to value the strong women in our congregation and listen to their input. Husbands need to learn from their wives who may have input that could save them a lot of headache in the future. Auxa was a woman of faith who was looking out for the welfare of not just her immediate family, but of future generations as well, and I love that about her. Women, God has given you wisdom and he expects you to share it. Yes, share it humbly, share it with a submissive spirit and the kind of respect that Aqsa showed to her authority figures, but share your wisdom. The marriages will be the stronger for it. And so I hope this little journey into the lives of these three people will inspire all of us to live by faith in 2024. May it be so, Lord Jesus. Amen. Father, thank you for the examples that you give that illustrate the principles that you elsewhere give in your Word. And I pray that as we have meditated upon this passage that we ourselves would aspire to be men and women of faith who try more and more to live out what you have called us to live out, to do so by grace, not being discouraged by our failures, but to keep, as the Apostle Paul did, keep pressing into the upward calling that you've given to us in Christ Jesus. And it's in his name that we pray this, amen.