If you will, please. Let's first turn to the Old Testament passage of Isaiah 53, beginning at verse three, and then we'll go back to the Philippians passage, if you hold your place there. Isaiah 53, beginning at verse three, I'll read through verse eight. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him. And by his scourging, we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers. So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away and asked for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. And now, if you will please, turn to Philippians chapter 2, and I'll be reading verses 5 through 11. Philippians 2, 5. Have this attitude in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. May God bless the reading of his word, and you may be seated. And let's bow our heads for prayer. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, because of your mercy, because of your truth. And Father, we pray this morning that you will open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Folks, let's talk politics here for a minute. Politics is a subject that has always fascinated me and repulsed me all at the same time. In the last couple of decades, I think the accent has been on repulsion rather than fascination. But without actually being political this morning, let me tell you what I've observed. It has intrigued me the lengths that certain individuals will go to to gain a political office. And I'm not even talking at this point about anything corrupt or crooked. I'm just talking about things above board, novel ideas they come up with to try to gain access to an office. For instance, I can recall way back in the 70s being on a vacation in Florida and seeing some ads on TV for a man named Bob Graham who was running for senator down there. And in order to get across that he really connected with the people, he again employed a novel idea. During the campaign, one day a week, I think it was Friday, he would don some work clothes and he would work an eight-hour shift right alongside the guys on a loading dock or in a warehouse or in a retail store, whatever. Well, the strategy worked for him. And he was elected, served, I think, several terms as senator. But that idea was not really original with him. You can go back to Governor George Wallace of Alabama. Before a would-be assassin's bullet cut him down, didn't kill him, but did put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, before that, before 1972, The governor, it was not unusual for him on a warm summer day that he would leave his governor's office. slip out a side door of the Capitol building, cross the street, and go to a gas station where there were several good old boys sitting around drinking Cokes, and he would just, he didn't go to make a speech, he would just listen to them talk. Now I've pastored in small towns before, and I've seen gatherings like that, I've sat amongst them before, but George Wallace was doing that to try to keep his finger on the pulse of the people of Alabama, just by sitting amongst them and listening to them, and that strategy worked for him. Now, in Tennessee, As well, we saw something similar. In 1974, Lamar Alexander, the former senator here, he was running for statewide office for the first time, ran for governor, and he lost handily to Ray Blanton. And he realized that part of his problem was people saw him as being a choir boy born to privilege in Maryville, which is largely true. He wanted to show them that he was not just a man, but he was a man of the people. So he donned a red and black checkered flannel shirt, began in our area of the state up here, and literally walked over a period of months, walked all the way across the state, down to Memphis, staying in people's homes along the way and talking issues with them and whatever. When he would finish his walk at the end of the day where he was going to stay for the night, he actually took a piece of chalk and made an X mark and the next morning he'd start at that spot and go on again. And that strategy worked for him. In 1978, he was elected governor and then later on became senator and all. Now, my point is not whether any of these men, and I mentioned Republican and Democrat both here, but it's not whether any of them were any good at what they did or whether they had the right political philosophies or anything else. I'm just looking at their strategy. That strategy, it worked. They got out amongst the people, but it was not really novel idea. It was not original with them. It's an idea that's as old as the cross. It's as old as eternity past with God and the plan of redemption. And we see it in the passage we're looking at in Philippians this morning. Now Paul wrote this as a letter to the church in Philippi. Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote this, and it's a very warm personal letter. He cared about these people. He knew this church. He wanted this church to do well, and it was doing well. Nevertheless, he saw that there were dangers on the horizon, and he wanted to make sure that they were properly warned, and as there were people that could go back and forth between Philippi and where he was in Rome he could get the message to him. He sent this letter to them and Actually as as your pastor said this is sort of part one and I deal with part two tonight My goal is the same as Paul's goal. If you just look back to chapter 1 for a moment when he says in verse 21, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. He goes on down and says that it is God's will for him to remain in verse 25, convinced of this I know that I will remain and continue with you for all your progress and joy in the faith. So he was writing this letter to help enhance their progress and joy in the faith. And that's my goal in preaching to you all this morning. And I have a couple of working titles here, Saved by Grace and Kept by Grace. And maybe that seems a little puzzling to you because in this morning's passage and then tonight's passage, which is the next two verses, you don't even see the word grace. Nevertheless, the concept is there. It's strongly implied. Now, as Paul was writing the words we're looking at this morning, He was urging the people to unity, unity centered around the truth and around their purpose in Christ as a church, and encouraging them to unity and peace, telling them that that would require the utmost selflessness on their part. seeing others as more important than self. And then in the verses we're looking at, he offers up Jesus as the ultimate example of that kind of selflessness. But I want us to focus just on the example, Jesus. I want you to see what he did. And again, it's saved by grace. I want us to have just a reminder or a renewed appreciation for the grace of God and what that grace meant, what it entailed, what it involved for Jesus in order that we who were helpless could have salvation. So let's walk down through these verses together and see just what it was that he did. These verses have been called sometimes the great condescension. I sometimes call it the stair step down. from the loftiness of heaven right down to the basement of hell. Let's take a look at it. and see just what it was Jesus did in this condescension. In verse 5 he says, have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. That's what he's trying to get across to the people. But he holds up Jesus as the example. He says, who although he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now We're starting up here on the landing, if you will, the loftiness of heaven. That's where Jesus was as the eternal Word of God, the scripture calls it, John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the form of God. Now, the Greek word there that Paul used when he wrote this letter is the word morphe. We get our word metamorphosis from it. You know how a caterpillar morphs into, if you will, a butterfly? That's a remarkable change. But typically with morphe, you don't think of change. In fact, even with the butterfly, it was this, and now it's this. But morphe, it not only means the outward appearance, but it's the inward essence as well. But it is something that is considered unchangeable. It's not like, you know, as a human being, you're a baby, then you become a toddler, a child, an adult. ignorant at one point and become highly educated later on. You may be a slob today, but you may be refined tomorrow. You can change. That happens. That's not Morphe. Morphe would be more like you are a human being made in the image of God. That doesn't change from cradle to grave. That's who you are. Well, the Morphe of Jesus, he was and is and will always be God. That does not change ever. And I find myself having to deal with this in just about every sermon I preach now. I'm not sure why, but it just keeps coming up. And it's a good thing, this matter of the Trinity. That's another word. You don't see that word anywhere in the Bible, but the concept is there from the first pages of Genesis to the last pages of Revelation. He is father, son, Holy Spirit, three distinct persons, so distinct that you have the son crying out to the father when he's on the cross. And yet so fully one that the son, when he's facing off with the Pharisee, he says, before Abraham was, I am using The very name, if you go back to the Hebrew, it's Yahweh in Hebrew that God used for himself at the burning bush with Moses. Now, I've heard all kinds of analogies to help us understand how he can be three and one at the same time. None of those analogies work. This is just something we will not understand this side of heaven, maybe not even then fully, but we just accept it. And his morphe never changed. And he was in the form of God, which meant he enjoyed all the splendor of heaven, the glory that only belongs to God. It was his. And he had nothing to gain by ever coming to earth. And now that gets us to the next point here. Now he was, says the image of the invisible God, the creator of all. But it said he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now that's a little bit. awkward construction, and it's translated different ways. Mine is New American Standard. In your copy of the scriptures, your version, it may say he did not think it robbery to be equal with God. Actually, both of those sort of get at the idea here. He did not see equality with God as something he had to go after and try to get or snatch and that's what the word essentially means in the Greek is like grasping or snatching. He did not see it as something he had to hang on to because he might lose it. He had absolutely nothing to gain by coming to earth. He was not looking to be like God because he was and is God. Now contrast him with Satan. Now there's a passage in Isaiah that many feel, it applies directly to the king of Babylon, it's in Isaiah 14, but many feel that it's a veiled way of talking specifically about Lucifer and we We get that in part from Revelation chapter 12. Let me just read what it says here in the prophecy, Isaiah 14, 12. How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, sun of the dawn. You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations. But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High." Well that is surely what Satan, the fallen angel, tried to do and he even tempted Adam and Eve in the garden with that particular temptation. You can be like God, knowing good and evil, and you won't have to obey him, or you can set your own destiny. That's the temptation he used with them. But Jesus did not regard equality with God as a thing to be laid hold of, or seized, or held onto. Like that, he had it. He had nothing to gain by coming to earth, and yet he did. In verse 7, it says he emptied himself. Now again, your version may read differently. It may say, he made himself of no reputation. Well, that's going in the right direction, but I don't believe that translation goes far enough. I think the better translation is he emptied himself. But you have to be very clear here. Again, his morphe never changed. He never gave up his godhood. He was always God and always will be God. But He did give up his privilege. He laid aside temporarily his glory in heaven to take that huge step down. He's off the landing now. He's taken a step down. He has emptied himself. He's laid aside his privilege. And even as he walked this earth, You might remember that Satan tempted him when he was hungry to turn stones into bread and he would not do it. He would not exercise that privilege. He had self-imposed limitations. And I personally believe when he worked his miracles on earth, he did that by resting on the power of the Holy Spirit. He laid aside his privilege as he came and his glory when he came to earth. It's like we read in the Old Testament passage in Isaiah 53. He was despised, forsaken of men. He had no comeliness. He was a man of sorrows. He didn't come as Superman or Chuck Norris. He emptied himself of all vestiges of glory. Now, actually, this is sort of what those politicians were trying to do on a much smaller scale, of course. They were trying to show the common man, hey, we're not elitists that are off somewhere that don't care about you. You know, they took off the suits and ties and they donned the work clothes and they got right out there amongst them. What Jesus did was far, far greater in laying aside his privileges, his visible glory in heaven. Let me give you an example that I think comes a little closer to it. Again, falling short, but it comes a little bit closer. I was a freshman in high school and at our church in Knoxville, I remember this lady, Mrs. Henson, that was our teacher for a while, she told us something that had happened the day before as she had done some shopping in downtown Knoxville. I remember it was a kind of cool, overcast, drizzly weekend. And I don't know if you're familiar with Knoxville at all, but there used to be a downtown department store called Miller's, and they had two locations, one on Henley Street, one on Gay Street, and they were a few blocks apart. And they actually had a bus that would, a free bus that could run between them, and Mrs. Henson said she had been shopping at the Henley Street location the day before, and she ran out through the drizzle, got on the bus to go to the other location, and just before the bus left, she said, I looked out the window and I saw her. This woman was trudging down the sidewalk between the bus and the store, and she looked absolutely horrible. Her face had the worn cares of one, probably two or three times her age. She was dressed in rags. She certainly was not dressed for the weather that was out there. She looked so sad. She looked like she was sick. Mrs. Henson said, I didn't know if she was a prostitute. I didn't know if she was an alcoholic or on drugs. I didn't know what was going on. with this lady, all I knew is she looked sick and she looked bad and she needed help. And she said, and then I made the mistake of looking down at her feet. She was wearing just something like flip flops with socks. And she said her feet were bloody. I mean, to where it began to turn her stomach and she thought, I ought to do something. What can I do? What should I do? And she said while she was, pondering that, this elegantly dressed lady stepped out of Miller's, and this lady, she may very well have been from Sequoia Hills, again, if you're familiar with Knoxville, that's a fluesy section of town. That woman saw the sickly lady, And apparently just forgetting her social standing, forgetting her economic status, forgetting how well she was dressed, forgetting all of that, she had compassion enough to walk up to that woman and put her arm around her and start talking to her. and then started walking with her. And Mrs. Henson said, at that moment, the bus took off and left. She said, I'll never know what happened. She said, I don't know if she got her inside the store, if she called help, called an ambulance, or if she just walked another block with her. I don't know what she did. But for a few moments, that elegant lady laid aside her privilege to get down and dirty, if you will, with humanity, with that lady. Now, let's go from lesser to greater. How much more did Jesus do in laying aside his privilege to come to earth? Again, he had nothing to gain, nothing to gain. And yet he laid it aside and took two more steps down. took on the form of a bondservant, being made in the likeness of man. Let's take that second one first. Huge step down. He was made in the likeness of men. Now you have to remember, now the word likeness here, it's not the same as the word morphe. He became like man. He actually did become a man, but I believe part of the reason it does not use the word morphe is because there was one critical difference. Now he was fully human. He took that on himself, but also fully God. He was not one of the sin nature like we are. We know that he was virgin born of Mary. He had no earthly father in that manner. We say he was virgin born. It might be more accurate to say he was virgin conceived by a miracle of the Holy Spirit, where we are all children of Adam. And according to Romans 5, because of his sin, we are all in sin. We're sinners by nature. And before we come down too hard on Adam, let's admit it. We're also sinners by choice. Jesus did not have that sin nature. Jesus never committed sin. But interestingly, he was tempted just as we are. Now, in every other way, he was fully human. He experienced suffering. He experienced cold. He experienced hunger. He came to earth as a baby. And babies are so, human babies are the most helpless of all creatures on earth, from what I hear. And like any other human baby, he had to be fed, he had to be changed, he had to be taught to walk and talk. He was tempted also, like we are. The scripture says in Hebrews 4.15, speaking of him as our high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, it says it's because he was tempted in all things like we are yet without sin. None of us have been tempted to the limit. Somewhere we've given in. Every one of us has, but he was tempted to the absolute limit and never gave in. So, you see there's a difference. Nevertheless, he was in the likeness of men. He took on human flesh. The Creator stepped into creation to become part of it. And again, never surrendered his Godhood, but he did surrender his privilege. And he did this in order that he might serve mankind, taking the form of a bond servant." Now, the word in the Greek there is doulos. A doulos was the lowest of all servants. They were the ones that when you came as a guest to somebody's house and your feet were covered with the dust of the roads because of the cheap sandals that you had to wear, That servant, the doulos, was the one that would come and wash your grimy feet and do that menial job. Jesus literally did that for his disciples in the upper room. But figuratively also, he took on that attitude for us. In Mark chapter 10, verse 45, It says, the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many, for the many. So he came as a bond servant. Again, he was not born to an elitist family in a king's palace. He was not born to privilege when he came. He did not come as a fully grown man as an emperor to set things straight for us and tell us what to do. He came as a servant because that's what was necessary to secure our salvation. His first bed was a feeding trough. His first home was with the animals. There's no room for Mary and Joseph where the people slept. Now in those days the animals might be in a shed built for the purpose, or it might be in a cave that was used as a stable, or it might even be sometimes they kept the animals in the house, in a separate part of the house. But wherever it was that they stayed there was no room for them to stay with people that night. They stayed with the animals and Jesus' first bed was a feeding trough. He was showing that he came to identify with everybody, even the poorest of the poor, and for a reason. He takes another huge step down. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Now, two things to point out there. Becoming obedient. It tells us in Hebrews 5, although he was a son, it says, nevertheless, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered. Jesus, again, was God in the flesh. Nevertheless, he submitted himself to the will of the Father in obedience. That was not because he was inferior to the Father, Now, we seem to have some convoluted thinking here in America. Part of it's come from this feminist movement that originally was called Women's Liberation, where they did not want to submit to men. But let's face it, guys, we can't blame it all on the women. We were that way already ourselves. There was just something in Americans we don't want to submit to anybody for anything. You know, this rugged individualism Well, I'm not disparaging being disciplined and working hard with your own two hands and trying to provide for your family, but as far as humility goes and submission, well, let's face it. Humility is something that all of us really admire in somebody else, but not in ourselves. We want to be cool. We want to be independent. on our own and perfect. And the irony is most people don't like other people that are like that. But the reality is, as God designed it, we all have to submit somewhere, somehow in this life. Wives submit to their husbands, to their godly leadership, while husbands are supposed to love their wives and do the best they can for them. Children are to obey their parents. employees have to submit to the leadership of the supervisor or else the work just doesn't get done or doesn't get done properly. All of us, if we're out driving on the highway and we see the well-marked police car and the blue lights going, we know to pull over and he may give us a ticket and we have to submit and take it. And we have to go to court and face the judge or else pay the fine, whatever. On the other hand, the arresting police officer and the judge know that even the one they're arresting or the one that they're trying in their court, they know they have to show them the respect to do a citizen of the United States. Everybody has to submit to somebody in some context of life. There's no shame in that. It doesn't mean that one is superior and one is inferior. These are the roles that we're assigned. Jesus willingly took that attitude of submission and obedience to the Father and he did that to secure our salvation. He was obedient even to the point of death. Now, it makes it very plain by Jesus' own words in the Good Shepherd passage of John 10. He said regarding laying down his life, he says No one has taken it, his life, away from me. I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my father. So he did not have to die. That's the point. He willingly went to the death. In Romans 6 23 it says the wages of sin is death. Now we think of wages as being something good that you earn from your work. But wages can also be something bad that you earn that you didn't really want. Our sin earns us death. Well Jesus never committed sin. He didn't earn those wages. And yet he willingly went to death. And for us You know, well let's face it, death is a repugnant thing. For us, the elect of Christ, who belong to him, he has taken the stinger out of death. Nevertheless, when it comes time for us to die, we're entering something that's unknown. It can be a frightful thing. Whenever I see a dear saint who's about to depart, I pray for dying grace for them. And sometimes they will die with a smile on their face. I think maybe they're seeing the face of Christ even as they're leaving. There are others, though, and I've talked to them shortly before they died, those that I believe truly know and follow Christ who admit, I'm afraid, I'm scared. It's because we don't know people that have died, gone, and then come back and told us all about it and what it's like. It can be a frightful thing. Death is a repugnant thing. It's not God's ultimate desire for us from the very beginning. It's what our sin brought on ourselves. And again, thankfully, he's taken the stinger out of it for us. But it's nothing pleasant, and Jesus was obedient even to the point of death. But that's not the final step he took. He took one more huge step down, even death on the cross. And for him, that was a huge step that even the other two that were crucified with him did not step down to. Now, just death on the cross was bad enough. I don't believe there has ever been devised a more excruciatingly painful kind of death than crucifixion. You'd be hanging on the cross for two or three days, your hands nailed up, your feet nailed to the projection coming out the bottom of the cross. And I don't know if you know how the cross killed them, but basically it was suffocation. They'd be hanging there. They could hardly catch their breath. And so they would push up with their feet from that little foot pedal thing so they could catch their breath. But to do that because of the spikes of their feet, it was horribly painful. And so they'd have to let off again and then they couldn't breathe and they would do that for hours and hours. And sometimes to keep them from going into shock, they'd give them that bitter wine stuff that would dull their senses a little bit so it would prolong the show for those that were watching. It was a horrible form of death, but that was not the final step down. Even the other two experienced that. Jesus experienced something they didn't. And your pastor read it this morning from 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God the Father made him who knew no sin, that is Jesus, to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. On the cross, he took our sins on him, the sins of his elect. I mean our our murders, our sexual immorality, our lying, our cheating, whatever we have done, He took it on Himself. He was guilty of it, not because He did it, but because He took it on Himself. He became sin for us. And in the book of Habakkuk, chapter one, it tells us that God is too holy to look on sin. And that's why on the cross, Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? For the first time in all eternity, there was a breach between the father and the son, a breach of fellowship. That is the great condescension. Now, we talk about the grace of God and how He saves us by His grace. Well, that's getting down to the nitty-gritty of what was involved in His grace in order to pay the penalty to atone for the sins of His own elect. Now, it doesn't stop there. because Jesus was sinless even though he took on our sins. And in verse 9, for this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, every tongue of those who are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That name that is above every name, I believe it is Jesus Christ, Lord. in the New Testament times, and particularly in the century or so after that when the Christians were so horribly persecuted. Part of the persecution came was because they were unwilling to affirm Kurios Caesar, Caesar is Lord. Their testimony was Kurios Jesus Christos, Jesus Christ is Lord. But the scripture tells us the day will come when every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. Those who are in heaven, on earth, under the earth, that means the angels, the saints that are in heaven right now. It means those of us here on earth, both the saved and the lost, those under the earth, those that have died, particularly even the lost that have died and are awaiting final judgment. Everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and bow the knee. That means even Madeline Murray O'Hare and her son, Bill, will be confessing Jesus Christ is Lord. You know who I'm talking about? Maybe you young people don't. Those of you my age or older will know. She was the woman that America loved to hate. She was the atheist whose lawsuits basically got the name of God and prayer taken out of just about every public venue that there is, starting with the public school in a landmark case in 1962. But she founded the American Atheist Association. Now, she came to a violent death. She and her other son, John, and granddaughter, Robin, were kidnapped at gunpoint, held for a month, and then violently killed after the perpetrator couldn't extort any money out of them. They did find their graves in Texas. Interestingly, her son, Bill, who was on board with the association for a long time, finally had a breach with his mother. People couldn't get along with her very well. And somehow along the way, the Lord opened his eyes, drew him to repentance. He gave his life to Jesus Christ, and he's been an evangelist ever since. He says he hopes that maybe God opened Mama's eyes before that man pulled the trigger and killed her. He said, but I can't know. One thing we can know, though, is that both of them, their knee will bow, their tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. For those of us that are the elect of Christ, it will be a pure joy to bow the knee and confess He is Lord. For those that are lost forever, it will be a terror, but they will have to admit it. But it will happen, and He is highly exalted, He's restored, I think it's talking about his resurrection, his ascension, is being restored to the glory that he knew in heaven. He came all the way to rock bottom for us to secure our salvation, and now he is in heaven once more. Now again, Paul is offering this as an example to the Philippian believers of selflessness. I want to offer it to you today though, just as an assurance, again, for your progress and comfort in the faith, that that's the length that God went to to secure our salvation, and that we can take great comfort in that. Our salvation does not depend on us. It's purely by His grace, and grace going to that length. Now, I'll end with this this morning. My great-grandfather was what, he was a godly man, a Christian, but he was in what was called the Primitive Baptist Church. And as I understand it, Primitive Baptists actually hold to the five points of Calvinism. But I just found out this week, I did not know this, that the Primitive Baptists, when they talk about the hope of salvation, they're talking about a hope so. I hope that I'm saved. They don't believe you can have assurance. They don't believe you can know that you belong to Christ in this life. I don't know where they get that from. 1 John 5, 13 makes it very plain. These things have been written that you may know that you have eternal life and this life is in the Son. And that's what I'm offering to you today. It's no hope so. You can know. Now he went to that length for you. That's the grace of God. It's that grace that saves us. Nothing we do of ourselves. Now tonight, I want to get to the next couple of verses because I believe we need this as well. It's not just his grace that saves us. It's his grace that even keeps us as we navigate life in a sinful fallen world. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Dear Father, we claim your promise that your word will not return to you void without accomplishing what you desire and succeeding in the matter for which you sent it. And even as we sing a hymn of response, I pray, Father, that there will be the proper response to your word in every heart here. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.