Let's turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. And we will begin reading in verse 7. Chapter 4, verse 7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not despairing. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke. We also believe. Therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. for momentary, light affliction, is producing for us an eternal weight or fullness of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Well, Father, thank you for this blessed Word. Thank you for eyes to see the great difference, Lord, and the great chasm between the things of this world and the glory that you have prepared for all who trust in you. Lord, thank you for this apostle and for all those you sent to us with the gospel, both in the apostolic time and in today's age. Thank you for the spread of the gospel despite so many who stand against it. And Lord, as we look into this word tonight, we pray you'll give us understanding that you will speak it into our hearts by the power of your Spirit. In Christ's name, amen. So three chapters of Paul defending himself and his co-workers and their message. The gospel. The message of the cross. The message of the promise of the new covenant. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. That's what they're preaching. That's what we preach. It's our duty to believe in the gospel. and to live in gratitude for all the blessings that come to us through the hearing of the gospel. This is why we so frequently begin our prayers with thanksgiving for all His blessings. And it's also our duty as people born again of the Spirit to be steadily making progress, both in the knowledge of God and in our conformity to His image. So these first six verses of chapter 4 were a continuation of Paul's defense of himself and of the gospel message that he and his co-workers were preaching. And notice what he says here in the first verse. You can look back. Therefore, since we have this ministry as we've received mercy, we do not lose heart. Now we read one passage from Acts 13 and 14 earlier. But Paul's referring, when he talks about not losing heart, he's referring not only to the physical attacks that came against them, but to the spiritual weariness brought on by opponents wherever he went. Ephesus, Corinth, elsewhere. Brought on by false teachers, Judaizers, peddlers of the Word of God, peddlers of the gospel for profit. And not only that, The rejection of the gospel by so many. Rejection of the gift of eternal life. So as Paul is traveling throughout Asia Minor and Europe, two truths guided his ministry. The Word of God is the only source of life. And that God is a witness and judge of all that we think and do. Paul knew that the truth of God was unalterable reality. I mentioned this last week. Nothing can destroy the truth. The truth stands forever. It either crowns a man with eternal life or it condemns him if he rejects it. Now, of those who reject it, Paul said, look, the fact that they reject it is not because of any fault in the message or in the messengers. It's their own stubborn refusal to believe. And it's Satan blinding their eyes. What David wrote in his very penitent psalm, Psalm 51, all men are conceived in sin. We're all born in iniquity. We're all by nature children of wrath, children of the devil. And apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, the fallen mind is confronted with divine truth, but is blind to it. This is the experience we always have when we share the gospel and it is rejected. To be shown the glory of God, the forgiveness of sins, the justification, salvation, Eternal glory with God and to see it, to esteem it as nothing is to be blind. Blindness is the cause of the rejection by so many. We looked at 1 John 5.19, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And yet we are born again of God. And how is it that God overcomes this blinding impact of Satan? The gospel. The gospel. It's not at root some decision we make, it's the gospel is an instrument that God uses to change hearts and minds. He restores spiritual sight through the preaching of the gospel. So he's opened our eyes opened our understanding to make us capable of receiving this truth and believing it. That's what he's done. He's overcome the blinding impact of Satan. In verse 6 he says, God who said light shall shine out of darkness, he's the one who shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. God did this. So this message, the gospel, Christ died for your sins if you believe in him. is the one truth that can take a person from darkness into light. And this treasure, the gospel, this saving message, has been given to and deposited with, entrusted to mere men. Now here's this divine work going on. And it's mere men, unworthy instruments, men who were sinners saved by grace. And it's been given to them to convey this treasure, the gospel, to others. How? Through preaching. In which the power, not of the men, but of God, is displayed. The power of God is displayed in the gospel. Romans 1, 16. The gospel is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. So he says we have this treasure in earthen vessels, jars of clay. Why? So that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God. Why did God entrust this priceless treasure to Paul and to 12 uneducated and untrained men? You ever think about that? Why did he have them do it? Why didn't he send some angels or some superhuman people to do this? Some immortal people. Why did he entrust the gospel to fallen men whom he had regenerated by his spirit? Men who are inhabiting bodies that, as we can all testify, are decaying. Why did he give this treasure of the gospel to such men? What does Paul say? Paul says, so it be clear that the power couldn't be coming from these guys, had to be coming from God. God's power is revealed in men who in the eyes of the world are often of no account, usually of no account. Think about this. What education did Peter, John, and the rest of the apostles have? None according to Acts 4.13, I think it is. They were uneducated, untrained men. And yet, on the day of Pentecost, they went into the streets of Jerusalem, preached the resurrection of Christ. And if you believe in Him, you can be saved from your sins. How many believed that day? 3,000 that day, but 5,000 before the week was out. Was that the power of Peter and John, Matthew, Matthias, who joined the group? No. God uses lowly men so that the people see that the power is of Him. And Paul, along with those twelve apostles and all their co-workers, spread the gospel all over the earth in about 20, 25 years. all over the earth. Paul says about himself here, they said about him that his letters were weighty and strong, but people described his personal presence as unimpressive and his speech as contemptible. Paul was not an impressive guy. He's impressive to us tonight. He wasn't impressive in his speech or in his appearance. That's the guy that God sent into Europe and all over Asia Minor. He preached the gospel. He founded churches everywhere. He composed 13 of the epistles that have brought the message of salvation to millions all over the world. This man whose speech was contemptible and whose personal presence was unimpressive. We've been reading Paul for 20 centuries. His writings have led to the rescue of people, millions of people, from the fires of hell for 20 centuries. But this was an unimpressive guy. If this treasure had been, on the other hand, sent through these supernatural beings or some kind of supermen with immortal bodies, the power might have been attributed to them. So what Paul's getting at here is we come to appreciate the power of God in the gospel when we contemplate the weakness of men. Our own weakness. His own weakness. When we contemplate the fact that the men who were all preaching this Word, who's preaching it tonight, are all dying. They were all dying, decaying. We're in decaying bodies that are going to stop breathing and rot. And this treasure that can save people from hell, the only thing that can save people from hell, has been given to people inhabiting these kind of bodies. One writer says this, the immense discrepancy between the treasure and the worthless vessel, the jar of clay, attests to the fact that human weakness presents no barrier to the purpose of God. Indeed, that God's power is made perfect in weakness. And that's what Jesus said to Paul in chapter 12 of this letter, verse 9. My power is perfected in weakness. So having been entrusted this priceless treasure, the gospel message, it was the duty of those who'd received it to believe it, to share it. to evangelize the lost. We have this treasure in these jars of clay. Now Paul's talking about himself and his co-workers between verses 7 and 15. But this is still true of all Christians today. We have this treasure, the knowledge of the truth that can pull somebody out of the fires of hell. Whatever our station in this life, whatever our office. So their mission was going forward with the power of God. But what were they encountering during the mission? Great trials, great suffering. Remember, all but John were martyred. Every one of those apostles, plus Paul, was martyred because he preached and would not recant preaching the resurrection of Christ and salvation in him. So their martyrdom, their day of martyrdom, was not the first hostility they had encountered. So how did they persevere through this? Well, Paul testified to two important truths that sustained them in the carrying out of their mission. And remember, Christ had personally appointed all these men. Personally. The first we saw back in chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. Paul recognized that in themselves, he and his co-workers were wholly inadequate for this mission. So what did they do? Did they just give up? What did they do? They realized they had to do what? They had to rely on God. We can't do it. Certainly Paul knew that. So they had to rely on God. He knew that. He understood that all the power that saves anybody, that imparts new spiritual life to somebody, is of God. And he knew something else. And he's testified to that in this letter. He knew that through every trial, including several attempts to kill him, He'd come to realize that God was going to deliver him from every danger until the time came for the completion of his mission. God was not going to let him be overcome by any hostility until it was time to take him home. He understood that. He believed that. He trusted in that. That's why he endured all that he endured. And we'll look at a little more of it here. So neither Paul nor his co-workers nor any of the apostles could be deterred from this mission to which they'd been appointed. They all knew they were heading for death. Violent death. Torturous death. They couldn't be deterred. They took the gospel into the world and their mission was to make disciples of Christ in every nation. And that's what they did. And as Paul went forward, into Antioch, and then Pergamum, and then Pisidia. Preaching Christ to the Jews first, as we read earlier. Then to the Gentiles. And then to Iconium, Laconia. Lustre and Derbe, throughout Asia Minor, they were afflicted with persecution after persecution and suffering. Now turn to Acts chapter 14, verse 19. Maybe you're still there. In Lustre, Acts 14, 19, Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. Now remember these three names, Lustre, Antioch, and Iconium. And having won over the crowds in Lustre, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. So he's in Lustre. They came from Antioch and Iconium, Jews, and stoned him, thinking they stoned him to death. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe, not far away. And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, what did Paul do? Where were the three cities where his enemies were? He returned to Lustre and to Conium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples. He went back where the people were who wanted to stone him, who tried to stone him to death. He encouraged them to continue in the faith, and he said, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. So on their second missionary journey, Paul and Silas again passed through Derbe and Lustre. They went through the Galatian cities in the Phrygian region. And then they went to Europe, crossed the sea, very short ride, to Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth. After 18 months in Corinth, he came back to Asia Minor, to the Galatian region, to Ephesus. And throughout all of this, all the opposition, all the hostility that he faced, mere men could never deter him. They could never thwart his purpose. He understood that every disciple of Christ is called not only to eternal glory, but to suffer with Christ. To share in his afflictions in this life. I don't know why this isn't preached more honestly. Maybe people don't want to hear it, but Romans 8, 17. Children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may be glorified with him. If we suffer with him, Paul was strengthened to carry on in the face of every one of these obstacles, every danger, because why? Why do you suppose he could do that? What was it about Paul's worldview that enabled him to do this? He had a heavenly perspective. He had an eternal perspective. He didn't look at his circumstances in this world. He looked to the promise of God. He believed the promise of God. He had an eternal heavenly perspective. And the hostility he faced was constant. It was constant. Look at verse 8, 9, and 10. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. on every side, pressed but not hemmed in, perplexed but not despairing, being at a loss but not having lost out, persecuted but not forsaken, thrown down but not destroyed, always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. Now what's he saying? Well first he's saying that he was afflicted physically, emotionally, spiritually, all for one reason. What was the one reason? He was preaching the gospel. That's it. He was preaching the gospel. Look at 1 Corinthians 4.11. We were here several weeks or months ago. 1 Corinthians 4.11. And this is when he's writing from Ephesus. Here's what he says. To this present hour, we are both hungry and thirsty. We're poorly clothed. We're roughly treated. We're homeless. And we toil, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless. When we're persecuted, we endure. When we're slandered, we try to conciliate. We have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things. This was Paul's existence for these 25 years, or most of them. Chapter 1, verse 8 of 2nd Corinthians. We do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia. We were burdened excessively beyond our strength. We despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us. He on whom we have set our hopes. We have the sentence of death within ourselves so that we wouldn't trust in ourselves, but so that we would trust in God. He'll take us to whatever point He has to take us that we might trust in Him. So he says here in this short little passage, we're oppressed with poverty, but the Lord affords us help. We have many enemies taking up arms against us, but we're under God's protection, so I know we're safe. We're brought low so that it might seem it's all over. But we don't despair. Afflicted on every side, not crushed. The Lord makes a way of escape. We'll always make a way of escape until it's time to take you home. perplexed. What's he talking about there? He's talking about being at a loss sometimes as to what to do. What should we do with all of this hostility and violence coming at us? But he knew the Holy Spirit was guiding them. So he didn't despair in the face of vicious attack. He knew he was being persecuted. Talks about it all the time. But he also said, I have never been forsaken or abandoned by the Lord. I'm persecuted, but the Lord's here with me. A risen Lord was always with them. He was strengthened by the all-surpassing power of God, and he was never forsaken by Him. And neither are we. So he uses this phrase, always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus. So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. When Paul was born again and his eyes were opened to the truth of the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ, he died to his old self. As we all must. As we were all called to do And he began to live for Christ. The old self was gone, dead. And he began to view life, as I said, with an eternal perspective. You can read all 13 of Paul's letters and nowhere will you see a hint that he lived or longed for worldly gain. Nowhere. He no longer lived to obtain earthly treasures or even worldly gratification. He knew he lived in a decaying body. We don't like to think about that maybe, but we are living in bodies that are dying day by day. And his eye was focused on the same heavenly city that Abraham was looking at. A city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. He lived with that perspective from the time Christ called him. We must remember we were created by God not for this life, not for life in a fallen world. We were created by God for a heavenly life, for a life with Him in paradise, Adam Law's paradise. Christ has reclaimed it for those who are in Him. But in this life, in this fallen world, Christians will always be, to use Paul's words, carrying about in our bodies the dying of Jesus. The process of dying. The suffering. As He suffered, so will we suffer. That's what he's talking about when he talks about, not the death of Jesus in this verse, but the dying of Jesus. And Jesus dying was one marked by enormous suffering. But that has a purpose, that his life, that the life of the risen Christ may be manifested even in these decaying bodies. God had a purpose in their sufferings. He has a purpose in our sufferings. What's the purpose? To shape us, absolutely. To shape us in what way? What's He want the end product to look like? To shape us to be like Jesus. That's exactly right. When we suffer, what do our sufferings provoke us to do? What do they cause us to do? We have suffering, sadness, mourning in our life. We can do one of two things, right? We may curse God, or we may turn to God. People do one or the other. True believers turn to God for mercy, for compassion, for strength, for understanding of His purpose. Because we know and believe that He's sovereign over everything. People always want to know, why does God allow suffering? This is one reason. And people who believe in Him and who turn to Him and who trust in Him know that He works all things for good for those who are His. We know that if we're trusting in Him. Because He said that. He works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. That's one purpose, to cause us to turn to Him. And how we respond to sufferings and trials says something to the brethren. We see one another suffer, go through trials, and how we respond says something to the rest. Do we trust God? Are we trusting God? Are we accepting the difficulties He's brought into all of our lives? It also says something to the world. We suffer, we can make a statement to the world by how we endure that suffering. Show the world our faith is genuine. We don't just trust in God when we have times of prosperity. We trust in Him when things are difficult, in times of hardship. And then what Ron mentioned, we're being transformed into His image. What was His life like? on earth. We're being made to be like Him. And so God, in His providence, has appointed all who are Christ's disciples to follow His earthly human course. Not all the way to the cross necessarily. But look at Hebrews 2.10. I'll read it. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author, the captain of their salvation. How? How did He perfect Christ? How did God perfect Him? Through sufferings. Hebrews 2.10. I'll read from verse 9. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. Because of the suffering. So that By the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone. I'll read it again, verse 10. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. We suffer with Him that we may be glorified with Him. And finally, and there would be other reasons, but the fourth one, as the son came to suffer and die, Paul was saying that in their sufferings, they were carrying about, in their bodies, the dying of Jesus. Not just the fact of Jesus' death, but the entire process of His dying. They were carrying that in their bodies, the mortification of His body. the process of dying, and so all of this was a way of speaking of the physical and emotional pain that was associated with the ministry of all of the apostles. And this is all what Paul amplifies in verses 11 and 12. He says, for we who live not dead yet, are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake. So that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our decaying mortal flesh. So Paul declares God's purpose in their suffering and in his committing the gospel to men in dying bodies, is that the risen Christ might be displayed in them. that the hearers of the gospel may be awakened. I mean, after all, this is what the preaching of the gospel is all about, to be an instrument in conveying new spiritual life to a sinner, to open eyes to the saving truth. And the fact that Paul and his co-workers and all Christians don't succumb to our sufferings is evidence, he says, that the life of Jesus is in us. And remember folks, if you're in Christ, his spirit indwells you. And the ultimate purpose of all of this is that eternal life may be imparted to those who hear and believe the gospel. This is some of the greatest insight we're given as to God's thinking, God's reasoning in how and why He did establish His church in the first days. Suffering was a big part of it. Still is. Paul willingly confronted death all the time to promote spiritual life in the people who heard him. That's what it boils down to. He suffered as a servant of Christ with a goal that the Corinthians might have life. He says, so death works in us, but life in you. With his eyes always then on the return of Christ. And he always was looking to the return of Christ. And the resurrection of every believer to eternal glory. So look what he reminds all of us. That as God raised Jesus from death back to life, He's going to also raise all of us to be gathered to Him. This is an interesting two verses, 13 and 14. He's actually alluding back to Psalm 116 here, which is not identified as the psalm of David, but which is regarded by almost everybody as a psalm of David. He says this, Having the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke. And he's taking that from this psalm. We also believe And therefore, we also keep speaking, knowing... And look at his eternal perspective again. ...knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with You. I'm going to read from Psalm 116. You might want to turn there because it really helps us to get a feel for what Paul's saying here and what is actually he's going through. Because he relates very much here to what David writes here. Psalm 116. I'm going to read ten verses. David had his share of distress as well. I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my supplications. because he has inclined his ear to me. Therefore, I shall call upon him as long as I live. The cords of death encompassed me, and the terrors of Sheol came upon me. I found distress and sorrow. Doesn't he sound like Paul? And then I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech you, save my life. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yes, our God is compassionate. The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed when I said, I am greatly afflicted. So he identifies here with the faith of David. He meditates here in this letter to Corinth on these thoughts of life and death that were expressed a thousand years earlier in the psalm. And the point, he says, the cords of death encompassed me. The tares of Sheol came upon me. I found distress and sorrow. That's what David said. Paul says, even at the cost of our own lives, we're going to go on preaching Christ. Death stalked them both. I believed, therefore I spoke. Now I always say our lives are the expression of what we really believe. But our faith is also expressed in our verbal testimony in what we say. Our public confession of Christ and of the gospel is also evidence of faith. And even in their sufferings, Paul said they had assurance they would be raised up with Christ. At 2nd Timothy 2.12, he says, if we endure with Him, we will also reign with Him. Do you hear it? If we endure with Him, we will also reign with Him. And all of you who follow Him in this path, trusting in Him, every circumstance, in every trial, in every hardship, will also be raised up with Him and will reign with Him. For them he suffered agony, endured afflictions, risked his life. And he says here in verse 15, all these things are for them, and all things are for the glory of God. When the gospel enters the hearts and lives of people, God's kingdom grows. His grace spreads. And it gives rise to outpourings of thanksgiving to God for all these blessings. All the good things that come to us are to the praise of the glory of His grace. The redemption of sinners is all by His grace. And all those He saves are testaments to the glory of His grace. If you're believing in Him, you are a testament to the glory of the grace of God. Verse 16, knowing all these things and being assured by God of all these things, Paul says, we will press on. We will not lose heart. No matter what. Because no matter what happens in this life, in this world, in this earthly body, Our inner man, our spirit, has been brought back to life by the very Spirit of Christ. And it's being renewed, Paul says, day by day. And all who have been made alive in Christ will enter eternal glory when He returns. Therefore, don't lose heart. Yes, your body's decaying, but your inner man is being renewed daily. He repeats those words from chapter 4, verse 1. Do not lose heart. Calvin describes this dichotomy between the outer man and the inner this way. He says the decay of the outer man is visible. The renovation of the inner man is invisible. This passage relates not only to Paul and his co-workers, but to every believer. Hebrews 9.27, it has been ordained for all men to die once. So we will all put off this earthly tent. But while our bodies will decay and die, in our essential being, every man lives forever. And that life is unquenchable. And as we saw earlier, this new self is being transformed, renewed day by day in righteousness and holiness to a true knowledge and to the image of Christ. So we must feed the renewal of our living spirit. It's important we do that daily with the Word of God, with prayer, fellowship of the brethren, and with the good works for which we were created in Christ, Ephesians 2.10. With the knowledge of the glory that lay ahead, foremost in our minds and hearts, we should be able to see that the afflictions which we now suffer are but momentary and light by comparison. Now, we all have very difficult struggles, I understand that. But Paul says that our momentary light affliction, and they were attempting to kill him time and again, but he calls it a momentary light affliction. And he says that these things that afflict us are producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. This is what faith's about sometimes. Understanding that every difficulty has no comparison in magnitude to the glory that God has prepared for us. Paul had an eternal perspective on life, on everything. His focus was always on the next world, on heavenly glory. What are you doing today to assure your place in the next world? He looked not at the things he could see in this world. He didn't look at temporary things. He looked on things that couldn't be seen with these eyes. He looked toward heavenly things. And how could he do that? How can anybody do that? How can you look toward heavenly things? How can you see heavenly things? with eyes of faith. Ephesians 2.8, God has given us the gift of faith, and faith, Hebrews 11.1, is the evidence, the proof of those heavenly, eternal things we cannot yet see. See how important the gospel and faith are. The new birth, new birth awakens us to believe, and the gospel communicates this truth to us. And this gift of faith enables us to see the glory of heaven with eyes of faith. As for our earthly afflictions, Calvin says, faith makes that light which previously seemed heavy and makes that brief and momentary which seemed of boundless duration. When we have once raised our minds heavenward A thousand years begin to look to us like a moment, where momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight or an eternal fullness of glory. Our afflictions don't earn glory for us. Our afflictions are not the cause of the glory we have been given. Rather, Paul is saying God uses those afflictions that He allows in bringing His people to eternal glory. And He does this through the testing and strengthening of our faith, through transforming us to the image of His Son. Suffering is a vital part of the Christian walk. I wouldn't have designed it that way. None of us probably would have. But God has. And He has commanded us to pursue our own sanctification in the course of this transformation, this conformity to Christ. Philippians 2.12, So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. We're not to sit idly by on the beach. For, he says, it's God who's at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. And so, here we are in this earthly tent. And we walk, not by sight, but by faith, knowing that though this body is decaying and will die, God has prepared for us an eternal dwelling place in the heavens. Let us pray. Lord, we give you thanks for the promises you have laid before our eyes, for the awakening of our spirit to new life, for faith to believe in the promises, for the strength of your indwelling Spirit and your providential care for us to endure every affliction. Lord, let us not resist your will and let us not turn against you when our flesh is not granted its every wish. Let us pursue the course you have set for us, and let us in gratitude go forward, sharing in Christ's sufferings when you deem necessary, and arriving with all of the saints in your presence on the Day of Glory. In Christ's name.