Please open your Bibles with me to the book of Daniel for our Old Testament reading this morning. Daniel 10. And we'll read the chapter in its entirety. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a word was revealed to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, nor meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all for the full three weeks. On the 24th day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, that is the Tigris, I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen with a belt of fine gold from Euphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze. and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words. And as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground. And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you. And when he had spoken these words to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have become because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia. and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision is for the days yet to come. When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute. And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke, and I said to him who stood before me, O my Lord, by reason of the vision, pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. How can my Lord's servant talk with my Lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me. Again, one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, O man greatly loved, fear not. Peace be with you. Be strong and of good courage. And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me. Then he said, do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia. And when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth. There is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince. For our New Testament reading, please turn to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1, and we will read verses 1 through 20. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who fear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna. and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun, shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not. I am the first and the last and the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore. and high have the keys of death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. May God bless the reading of his holy word to our hearts and minds this morning. In our last message, we found the apostle John exiled to the island of Patmos, where he had been sent because of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. After the death of the Roman Emperor Domitian in AD 96, John was brought back from that island and he was able to continue to live in the city of Ephesus where it is believed that he lived until he died and that is where he is believed to be buried. We also saw in verse 10 here of Revelation chapter 1 that John was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. And in my last message I said that when John said he was in the Spirit, that he was referring to an immediate supernatural influence that was exerted upon him, showing that he had come under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that he was inspired divinely by what he was writing. But since then, I have come to doubt that this is correct, even though many commentators are very clear to state that being in the spirit was John's way of saying that he had come under this ecstatic trance and he was inspired in what he was writing, similar to... the way that Daniel and Ezekiel had to come under some trance or some Holy Spirit influence. But a friend recently suggested to me that this is rather a statement of the Holy Spirit's presence in corporate Sabbath worship. And at first that struck me as a little odd, But then I did some further research and dug a little deeper and came across a very important article in the Theological Journal by Richard Jeske. And I want you to listen to what he has to say. He writes, nowhere in Revelation is the work of the Spirit connected with the experience of an individual directly apart from the community of believers. to be in the Spirit is actually symbolic code for participation in the worshiping community of the Spirit, especially when particular reference is given to being in the Spirit on the Lord's day. The collective dimension of the Spirit's work throughout Revelation, along with the various liturgical details found here in chapter one, make the worship setting the obvious one for John's claim to be in the Spirit. So the community, the church community, is where the Spirit is at work We see that in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 14. The Spirit is at work through the prophets and it is the setting in which the prophetic message is presented here in chapter 1 of Revelation and verse 3. So he says the consistent communal dimension of the work of the Spirit throughout Revelation provides us with the basis for understanding in the Spirit as a relational symbol rather than as a privately experiential one. So the bottom line is John was likely referring to being among the community of believers on the Lord's Day. That is what he was referring to by being in the Spirit. In Ephesians chapter 2 verses 22, Paul speaks of the spirit but it has this corporate communal aspect to it. Several places in Paul's writings kind of allude to the church when he mentions being in the spirit. In In chapter 5, verses 18 and 19, he says, do not get drunk on wine, but be filled with the Spirit, singing to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. So the context is the gathering of believers there. So other people were living on the island of Patmos. John was not the only believer. He was not in prison on the island of Patmos. It's very likely he was in some small corporate gathering of worship, hence he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. It was on a Sunday that John found himself among fellow worshipers. It was the day of Christ's resurrection, the Sunday that he received this vision. And the risen Christ who had appeared to John at two other times, on two separate Sundays, would now appear to him once again on a Sunday, the Lord's Day. So we have a clear pattern in the New Testament of Christ coming to his people on Sunday, because Sunday is the day of his resurrection. It's a very special day. Why do churches conduct worship services then on Saturday, when Sunday is the day that Christ meets with his church? And here we are this morning on the Lord's Day, in the presence of the same risen Christ, sitting under the teaching, the proclamation of the Word of Christ, and gathered before the table of Christ. So we should never despise the Lord's Day nor the corporate gathering of God's people on the Lord's Day. They fit together hand in glove and are meant as the means of grace for the strengthening of God's people. So to be gathered together with the people of God in the house of worship is to be in the spirit on the Lord's Day. So as we come to the final part of this chapter, chapter one in Revelation, we're presented with a vision that is patterned after the Old Testament visions and the apocalyptic literature. And we wanna focus here in this vision on John's perspective as he relates to his readers the vision that he received. And we wanna consider it under three heads. First, what John heard. Second, what John saw. And then third, what John did. If you look with me here at the end of verse 10, it shows what John heard. He writes, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in the book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. So we see that what John heard was a voice loud like a trumpet. We're not told whose voice this was. It might have been the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's also very likely that it was the voice of a mighty angel. And this would be consistent with the way that Revelation opens, where we are told that the Lord made known this revelation by sending his angel to his servant, John. And we'll find that this particular angel accompanies John throughout the book of Revelation. throughout these visions. And at the end of the book, John falls before this angel as if to worship him, and the angel rebukes him for doing so. 1 Thessalonians 4.16, Paul writes, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. So this voice very well could have been the voice of a mighty angel. But notice here in our text in John 1 that the fact that John heard this voice coming from what direction? From behind him. And that might be an allusion to the Old Testament text in Ezekiel 3.12. where Ezekiel says, and I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake. Isaiah 30 verse 21 mentions how Israel shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. So the very fact that John heard a voice loud like a trumpet from behind him, it conveys the suddenness of this unseen, unexpected summons from God. It'd be like someone coming up behind you and tapping you on the back. Someone that you didn't hear or know was there. It suggests that someone's been watching you. Someone is close to you. And if you'll look at this voice, you'll see that there's a command here. There are two parts to this command. First, John is commanded to write what he sees down. He's told to write what you see in a book, verse 11. This vision in chapter one presents us with a very descriptive picture of Jesus Christ in his awesome and terrifying majesty. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson asked the question, which one of the four gospels gives the clearest description of what Jesus looked like? And he says, the answer is none. The clearest description of what Jesus looked like is here in Revelation. It is a portrait of Impressionism. Many of you may be familiar with the famous French Impressionist painters of the 1800s. The name Renoir or Monet might sound familiar to you. There was a painter who actually was a student of Impressionism. He was an artist by the name of Graham Sutherland, who was commissioned in 1954 to paint a full-length portrait of Sir Winston Churchill, who at the time was still Prime Minister of the UK. And someone described Sutherland's preliminary oil sketch of Churchill like this. The painting is black and rough, as if burnt, as if Churchill were emerging from the ruins of Europe from a world not saved but shattered. It has the sense of sadness and defeat. I'm always intrigued by the exegesis of art critics. Looking at a picture and then hearing how they describe it in the background, and I always scratch my head wondering, where do they get all this? How do they come up with this? I've been looking at this painting for half an hour. I can't see the things that they're pulling out of that. Anyways, many of you might have heard of Sister Wendy Beckett, the Roman Catholic nun. quite the art historian, and all that she had to say about the picture of Mona Lisa, and why she was smiling in that picture, and her relationship with Leonardo da Vinci, and so on. I just have to shrug my shoulders, saying, how did she get all that from a painting? Anyways, Churchill was disgusted when he saw the finished product. He said, it doesn't even look like me. Sutherland could have easily replied, I wasn't painting what you looked like. I was painting what you are like. And in a similar fashion, John is giving us this great impressionist portrait of what Christ is like. And like a painter who carefully mixes his colors and he overlays them on the canvas with great care, here John mixes illusions taken from Daniel and from Zachariah and Ezekiel, and he overlays them in this vision, this portrait of Jesus Christ. One other thought on this portrait of Christ is that our Puritan forefathers all agreed that all pictures of Christ are a violation of the second commandment. But what about this description of Christ here in Revelation 1? Well, notice what John is told. He is not told to paint what you see on the canvas, but to write what you see in a book. And John tells us what he saw. It was an animation, if you will, so that we can understand from this animation what the exalted Christ is like. So that's the first part of this command, write down the vision. The second part here in verse 11, it commanded him to send the book to the seven churches. And look in your text, verse 11 identifies each of these seven churches by name. There was Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, These were real historical churches. These seven churches were in a fairly close geographical location to one another in the area of the Roman province of Asia Minor, which is modern Turkey today. And these churches were located in kind of a semi-circle or an oval shape, if you were to look at them on the map. The first church to be mentioned here in this list is the Church of Ephesus, which was founded by the Apostle Paul during his second missionary journey. And where he returned on his third missionary journey, he ministered in Ephesus for close to three years, from about AD 52 to 55. In Acts chapter 19, verse 10, it describes how Paul reasoned daily in the hall of Tyrannus for two years so that all the residents in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. How did all the residents in Asia, Asia Minor, come to hear the word of the Lord if Paul stayed in Ephesus for this length of time? Well, it's been discovered that Ephesus controlled a large network of outer line villages and towns up to 30 miles from the city. So it was a major communication hub, if you will. It was a distribution center. And so Paul, being there in that city, teaching daily the word of God, it would be taken by others to other parts of Asia Minor. And thus, all Asia heard the word of the Lord. Now, about 40 years later, just before Revelation was written, John had moved to Ephesus, where he had been living, where he had been ministering. He was known to be the bishop of the church, but he had been exiled to the isle of Patmos, which was located about 65 miles southwest of Ephesus. So these seven churches, were most likely personally known to John from his years of ministry in that area. And the selection of these specific seven churches in Revelation likely involved their geographical location, certain geographical factors. So, John would be able to send his letter from the Isle of Patmos to Ephesus. and from there it would be easily taking up the Aegean Coast Highway north to the next church in Smyrna and from there north again to Pergamum and then east on the Roman road to Thyatira and then turning south down to Sardis, Philadelphia and finally Laodicea. So it would be a loop and this loop geographically was small enough to fit inside the state of Arizona. And while there were other churches in the region at the time, these churches are limited to the number of seven, which is the number that symbolizes perfection. It's the number that communicates completeness. So that means that these churches would represent a cross section of what typical churches were like back then as well as today. They are a composite picture that represents any local church at any given place at any given time. So these were real churches, and they were both commended and challenged by a real, live Savior and Lord. And we'll see that when we get into chapters 2 and 3. We need to recognize that the book of Revelation is a church book. We cannot isolate its eschatology from its ecclesiology. Its opening vision is addressed to seven churches. followed in chapter two and three by the seven letters to these seven churches. The entire book was to be sent to these seven churches in order to encourage them. Some of these churches were small. Like ours, some were struggling to stay afloat. Some were under intense persecution. Each church had its own challenge, its own struggle, its own temptation, its own hardship, just like churches today. But they all had one thing in common. They were all under the watchful eye of Jesus Christ, their Lord. And they all enjoyed the presence of Christ. in their midst. They all received the words that Christ addressed to them. As G.K. Beal puts it, John here is commissioned to write to the churches because the initial vision he receives demonstrates that the saint's confidence is grounded in Christ's installation as cosmic judge, priest, and ruler of the church as a result of his victory over death. So these seven churches are introduced to us by a voice speaking to John from Revelation verse 10 and 11. And then if you look at verses 12 through 16, John relates the vision that he saw when he turned to see the voice that was speaking to him. And this brings us to the second head, what John saw. He writes, then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like flames of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength." So we see some metaphoric language. We see similes. You'll notice that four-letter word, like. It's a comparison. It's not saying that he actually possessed this, but this is what John saw. And notice that as John turns to see the voice, what's the first thing that John sees when he turns to behold the voice? Is it the Lord Jesus Christ? No. It is seven golden lampstands. That's the first thing that he mentions seeing. And these golden lampstands hearken back to the Old Testament tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem. in the tabernacle and in the temple there was only one lampstand with seven bowls of oil from which there would be seven flames. The name for this lampstand or candlestick in the Old Testament is menorah. And it was the duty of the priest to replenish the oil in those bowls, to tend to the flame, to trim the wicks, to always make sure that the lampstand was in good working order. And the light that shone from this lampstand was a representation of the presence of God among his people. Verse 20 tells us in our text that these seven lampstands are the seven churches. And that suggests that the end time temple of God finds its reality in the church. In the church. We're not to be looking for some future temple, a physical building to be built in Jerusalem as some believers think. John is showing us that the end time temple is found here with these seven lampstands. It's a representation of the church. And these are golden lampstands to show their precious value and the pure quality of these churches. And so it's first the lampstands, and then standing in the midst of these lampstands, John sees one like a son of man. How can you stand in the midst of lampstands? Only if those lampstands are in a circle, much like the seven churches of Asia Minor. Christ is in the midst of them. He is tending to them. He is ministering to them. And what's also interesting in John's gospel, in John chapter 20 and verse 26, we are told there that eight days later his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. And although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. And it's the same word that we find here in Revelation. He came and he stood in the midst of the disciples and said, peace be with you. So the context that we see here in Revelation, seven lampstands and Christ is described in the light of these lampstands in that context. So it's important to see from the start this intimate relationship that Jesus Christ has with his bride, the church. He's in the midst of her. He's among her. He's always present with her. We're not even given a description of what Christ looks like apart from the presence of the church. He is never outside the proximity of the church in the opening chapters of Revelation. So don't ever despise the Church of Christ. She is the Bride of Christ. She is precious to Christ, important to Christ. He is with her, always, to the very end of the age. And because Christ is shown standing in the midst of the golden lampstands, it represents Christ as who and what He is to the churches. This is to the churches. We're not shown who or what Christ is to the nations. We're not shown who or what Christ is to the Jews. We're not shown who or what Christ is to His enemies. This is who and what Christ is to His church, to these churches. And the description begins in verse 13, John saw one like a son of man, it points back to Daniel 7 verses 9 through 14. We've seen that earlier in Revelation 1. These lampstands clearly point to a temple environment And as the Old Testament priest would tend to the menorah, trimming the wicks and replenishing the oil, Christ likewise ministers as our great high priest, tending to these ecclesiastical lampstands. Notice that our Lord is clothed in priestly attire with a long robe. and with a golden sash around his chest. The golden sash was something that was also worn by rulers and dignitaries and it would also suggest Christ's kingly office. So when John is describing what he saw, He gives this picture of Jesus Christ both in his royal and priestly dignity. It's a picture of Christ's sovereign kingship and his eternal priesthood. Well, if you look at verse 14, John also goes on to describe the hairs of his head were white, white like wool, like snow. Once again, this is a description that is drawn from Daniel 7, the Ancient of Days. The white hair portrays the wisdom of age. It perhaps communicates the antiquity of his reign. Jesus said to the Jews, before Abraham was, I am. And also in verse 14, we're told that his eyes were like flames of fire. And that would represent Christ's omniscient oversight of his church. In the church, he is the great shepherd of souls. And his eyes, oh, how penetrating are those eyes of flaming fire. John here is telling us that the light of Christ's omniscient gaze allows nothing to be hidden from him. Nothing goes unnoticed. Spurgeon said, he sees by no borrowed light of the sun or moon. His eyes are lamps unto themselves. His own eyes supply the light with which he sees. You know, in the dark, we can't see unless we have external light. but Christ's eyes supply their own light. Spurgeon says, in the church's thick darkness, when she is trampled down, when no light shines upon her, he sees her. And oh, what sweet consolation this must be to a child of God. He is the light that lights every man who comes into the world. There is never a trial to the church. There is never a pain she feels, but those eyes of fire discern. And because nothing escapes the all-searching, all-penetrating gaze of Jesus Christ, we learn that He sees every sin that we commit. No sinful thought, word, or action can go undetected. But we also learn that Jesus sees and beholds every faithful thing that His people do, even when no one else may notice it. And we also learn that Jesus sees and He takes note of every evil deed that is done against His people by His enemies. He has eyes of flaming fire. And next, in verse 15, he tells us that his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace. Christ, in the midst of his church, he is walking among the golden lampstands with feet that are like bronze refined in a furnace. It's a picture of Christ's absolute purity. Every step he takes among his churches is always pure and spotless and sure. So from the top of his white-haired head to the bottom of his burnished bronze feet, we have this picture of Christ's majesty. Oh, he is glorious. He is spectacular. He is wonderful. And John goes on to tell us about the voice of Christ. It was like the sound of many waters. That voice of Christ causes all creation to tremble. It portrays His power. The voice of many waters drowns out all other voices in the world. Someone was saying that Victoria Falls, the rumble of the falls, drowns out all other noise around it. And the Africans would refer to it as the smoke that thunders. The voice that roars like many waters is the voice that brings new life. When the word of God is proclaimed, the factual calling, the voice of many waters, Verse 16, in his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. I don't have time to unpack all the details of this description, but let it suffice to say that this picture of Christ, it had an incredible impact on John. when he saw it. Look at verse 17. Our third head is a description of what John did. He says, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. The radiance of Christ's purity, the sheer weight of his majesty, it overwhelmed John, as it should. And isn't that the normal response of all the men in Scripture who've experienced a direct encounter with the Almighty? Remember how Isaiah responded in Isaiah 6, when he saw the Lord in His holy temple, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple? Isaiah cried out, Woe is me! I am undone. I am a man of sinful lips. I dwell among a people of sinful lips and I have seen the Almighty. I have seen the Lord of hosts, the King. When Peter was confronted with Christ's miraculous power, he fell before Him and he said, Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And when Christ confronted Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, Saul fell to the ground. He was blinded by the pure light of Christ. So whenever fallen man is confronted with an immediate encounter with the Holy God, the reaction has always been the same. Fear, dread, accompanied perhaps with physical weakness. And John, the Apostle John, you remember, was an intimate friend and disciple of Jesus Christ during his public ministry. We might expect John to be overwhelmed and overjoyed to see his master again, but he's not prepared to look on Christ as the glorified Son of Man. And when he beholds him, he falls at his feet as though dead. Spurgeon says we are never so much alive as when we are dead at his feet. We are never so truly living as when the creature dies away in the presence of the all-glorious King. I know this, that the death of all that is sinful in me is my soul's highest ambition. Yes, and the death of all that is carnal and all that savors of the old Adam, would that it would all die. And where can it die but at the feet of Him who has the new life, and who by manifesting Himself in all His glory is to purge away our dross and sin? So John's description of Christ here in Revelation 1, it's not all that difficult to understand if you only take a minute to consider it. It shows that Christ is no longer the rejected and despised one, but He is the Lord of glory. And His royal dignity ensures the obedience of angels. His priestly merit wins the acceptance of His Father. So you unconverted sinners among us this morning, Here you are called to come to this great Lord and bow before Him. Surrender to Him. Acknowledge that you have been a rebel, that you are a sinner. Cry out to Him for mercy. and he will grant it, and you will be forgiven and reconciled unto God the Father. And you who are his people come and find great comfort and encouragement. This is your Lord. This is your God. This is the one that you will one day behold face to face. This is the one who has loved you and has freed you from your sins by his blood. This is the Lord who beckons you to come, take up your cross, deny yourself daily, and follow Him. And you will follow Him into glory. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we are grateful to You for this Awesome picture that we are given in the Word of God of who Jesus Christ is. In His dreadful majesty, in His spotless glory, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who was once dead, but behold, He is alive forevermore. O Lord, grant that we will worship Christ Grant, Lord, that those here today who are yet unconverted, that they will surrender into the hands of the Almighty King, that they will cry out to Christ for mercy, that they will seek grace from God, that they will turn from sin and repent and put their faith in Christ alone. a Savior who is able to do infinitely, abundantly, beyond all that we can even imagine. Lord, we pray that you would strengthen your people this day and forevermore, for we ask this in the name of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.