Well, let me draw your attention back to Revelation chapter 1 this morning, to God's Word found in Revelation chapter 1. And we're going to read the entire chapter again. the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show 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 hear, 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 the throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priest 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 the 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 in 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 white wool, like 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 I 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, and the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord and heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you that we can once again come before your throne this morning, Lord, to worship you, to sing praises to you, and to look to your word, Lord. We ask that you would be with us here this morning, Lord, that you might give us a word to hear, Lord, that you might speak to us here this morning through your word, Lord, that we might come to know you more, that we might come to love you more. Lord, we pray for each person here, Lord, that you would just be ever real to them and may the spirit of God make his presence known here this morning with us. Lord, we pray that as you have as you have placed a lamp stand in this town. Lord, we ask that you would just continually pour out the oil of your grace upon it, that it might shine and be a light to this community and to this world, Lord. We thank you, in your name we pray, amen. Well, as you can see, we're back in Revelation this morning. Just a quick note before we move forward with verse 9 where we left off at verse 8 last time. We're not going to take the time to review in detail the points of the previous message, but you can always listen to that on Sermon Audio, on our Sermon Audio account. But I do want to mention that we discussed what was the overall theme of the Word of God that we find in Revelation. This God-breathed, inspired Word of God given to us that Christ Jesus might be revealed. It's not given to us that it might be mysterious or that it might confuse us, but it's given to us that we may see more of Christ. more of His person, more of His work, more of His sovereignty, His reign, His rule in heaven and on earth. And the provision that He made for us through His blood, where He released us, as it says in verse 5, He released us or loosed us from our sins by His blood. So now to our text, we're beginning in verse 9. I, John. This is further confirmation of who the writer of Revelation is, or who the human author of Revelation is. We know that the actual writer is the Spirit of God working through the person of John to give him a word for God's people. But if you look at verse 1, we have John mentioned there that he made known to it in the last part of verse 1, he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John. And then we find in verse 9, John writing and he says, I John. Well, this was John the Apostle. This was the Apostle John, one of Christ's 12 disciples. There's been a small amount of debate, a very small amount of debate, in my opinion, over this issue of authorship in the book of Revelation, but none of it holds up to any type of scrutiny that this is anyone other than the Apostle John. There was no other John that was so well known during this time and in the Christian church that he could just say, I, John, and they would know who he was talking about. Everyone would have known that this, and even the early church writers even give this as being John the Apostle. But this was the Apostle John who appears in each of the lists of the disciples, and those lists can be found in Matthew 10, 2-4, in Mark 3, 16-19, in Luke 6, 13-16, and also a list found in Acts 1-13. This was the Apostle John, the disciple John, who was amongst the inner circle and followed Jesus on many recorded occasions that we have in Scripture, including occasions such as the raising of Jairus' daughter in Mark 5, 37. This was that account where Jesus took three with Him, three of the twelve with Him, John being one of those. We also have a recording in Mark 9 of the transfiguration account. And this was also one of those occasions where Jesus selected three out of that greater group of twelve. If you remember back quite a while ago when we looked at the transfiguration account that given for us, in the Gospel, where Peter, John, and James were taken up to the Mount of Transfiguration, and they were able to behold Christ, where His glory, His beauty, His holiness just came right through and made itself known to these three. John, one of the inner, amongst the twelve. This is the one who refers to himself in his gospel account as, not by name, but simply by the disciple whom Jesus loved. He does that numerous times within his gospel, the disciple whom he or who Jesus loved. This is the one who leaned upon Christ's chest at the Last Supper in John 13, verse 23. And even at that same setting, he speaks to Christ on Peter's behalf when Peter tells him to ask the Lord something. John leaning upon Christ's chest, asks him a question. And that can be found also in John 13, verse 24 through 25. This is the John who was entrusted to care for Christ's earthly mother, Mary. If you remember as Christ was being crucified on the cross in John 19, 26 through 27, it reads, when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, Standing nearby. He said to his mother woman behold your son Then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that hour The disciple took her to his own home Mary became to him a mother and he became to marry a son. I And this is the John who Paul refers to in Galatians 2-9 as being an esteemed pillar of the church. This is who God chose to breathe His Word, inspire His Word into to write this revelation for us. Well, in verse 9, the second part, He says, I John, and he says, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the isle called Patmos. Well, where was John? He was on an island, exiled. He had been banished to the small island of Patmos, which is off the coast of Asia Minor. So these seven churches that he is going to be writing this revelation in these letters to are on the coast. Ephesus is on the coast of Asia Minor and in a clockwise direction. These seven churches are located in Asia Minor. Patmos was I think about 40 to 50 miles off the coast of where Ephesus was. It was a very small island. It only encompassed about 13 square miles. So it's a fairly small island off the coast of Asia Minor. He was banished as the leader of the churches in the western part of Asia Minor. and being persecuted for what he tells us here is on account in verse 9, the last part of verse 9, on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. History tells us that the Romans persecuted Christians who would not bend the knee to Caesar. They had a saying that Caesar is Lord. And the Christians could not submit to that, because Jesus Christ was their Lord. And they persecuted the Christians because of this, because of their failure to worship Caesar as Lord. John was considered a leader or an instigator in this Christian religion that Rome hated and in an attempt to slow the progress or to put a stop to the progress of this thing called Christianity, they took John and they put him on this island away from the churches that he was overseeing. Well, what is this revelation about? It's about the revealing of Jesus Christ as we have stated. And even before receiving the vision, where God reveals to us more fully Christ Jesus, we find that John is here, exiled for the very reason that this book is being revealed for. The word of God and the testimony of who Jesus Christ is. That he is the Savior. That he is Lord. That he is God of very gods, he's King of kings, he's Lord of lords. This is why John was on the Isle of Patmos. He had an overwhelming God-given desire to share and reveal who Christ was. That's what put him on this island. As Paul stated many times in many ways in his letters, we preach Christ. That's what John was doing. John, the last of the apostles, preaching Christ. Preaching Christ. There is a lot of speculation about those who were exiled to Patmos, what they were sentenced to, and whether they had hard labor, or were they breaking rocks, or were they moving things, or what it was that they were actually employed with while they were there. And I don't think that we have any real evidence of what that was. But I do think that we can confidently assume that the most painful thing in the life of John, being exiled to this island called Patmos, was being separated from the church. Those that he was entrusted to give the gospel to, to preach to, he was separated from them. I'm sure that we can say with all confidence that John longed to be with them and to lift up Christ among them. I think it's very telling how John describes himself here. He says, I, John, your brother and partner in tribulation. He doesn't set himself apart as some lofty apostle. or some super-Christian, or some super-leader. But he says that, I am your brother, I'm your partner. He's in solidarity with his readers who are going to read this God-inspired, God-breathed book of Revelation. He's saying that, I'm here with you. I, just like one of you, am your partner and your brother in the tribulation that we're all experiencing." He is saying, in effect, what you all are going to experience or are experiencing to these seven churches is something that is typical of the Christian experience. We're never promised not to have tribulation, are we? In the gospel account that John has, he records the words of Christ in John 16, 33. He said, I have said these things to you that in me, in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. And then he gives us a great source of peace when he says, but take heart, I have overcome the world. He is letting the churches know that they are partners in this for the sake of Jesus Christ, but there is purpose even in your tribulation. Even in the midst of this tribulation, you may have peace in Christ. You may not have peace in the world, but in Christ, He is our peace. We may find peace in Him. 1 Peter 4.12 says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. This is the Christian experience. As long as we are in this world, we are going to have tribulation. The world hated our Lord, crucified our Lord, hated his word, hated his truth, and if we are following after him, we can't but expect the world to feel that same way towards us. And I think that there is something to be said about the church at large today in that they are so friendly with the world. So many churches accepting of the world and being accepted by the world. By those who are enemies of Christ. How can that be? That's not what the gospel promises those who are true followers of Jesus Christ. Peace in Him, but not peace with the world. He is their partner in tribulation, but also in the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus Christ. One of these days I'd like to look at that a little bit more, but we're going to move on. I love that patient endurance that are in Jesus Christ. Well, some may look at this and say, surely Christ didn't love John that much. I mean, he's exiled in his old age to an island and left there to seemingly just rot away. Well, God had a purpose to work through John. John was not moping around. John was not weeping in despair on the Isle of Patmos. What was John doing? John was worshiping. On the Lord's Day, in the Spirit. Well, how could John do this? There's an insurance advertisement that we see on TV and hear on the radio a lot, and I think, I can't remember who it is, it may be Allstate or State Farm, but it says that we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. Well, why could John still worship in the middle of this island, separated from the church that he was to preach to? Why could he still worship? Well, he'd seen a thing or two, had he not? He knew that there was a greater purpose in all things. John was eyewitness to the crucifixion. John, eyewitness to the empty tomb. Right? John saw on display over those three years of walking with Christ numerous times when Christ, by the power of His Word, healed those who were sick, those who were lame, those who were diseased, those who were blind. He saw on display a great, great visible accounts of God's power and His rule over all things. All things. John saw the ascension of Christ, did he not? John experienced the outpouring of God's Spirit on the day of Pentecost. He knew what was happening He knew that there was purpose in Him being here on this island, and He was sharing in the suffering of Christ, being a faithful steward of His calling, knowing that the inheritance that awaited Him, that was reserved in heaven for Him, was not His to have on this earth. That that would be fully realized in the future, when He was present with the Lord. That inheritance, that undefiled inheritance that fadeth not away, that's reserved in heaven for him and kept by the power of the Holy Spirit. I'm sure he probably read, turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 7 through 8. I'm sure that John, as this letter to the church at Corinth was circulated, he probably had read this very passage. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 7. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke, we also believe and so we also speak, knowing that He who raised us also with Jesus, excuse me, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. for it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God, so we do not lose heart." I may be suffering on this Isle of Patmos, but I'm not going to lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day, for this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." He waited patiently. He had patient endurance. patient endurance for those things which were yet unseen, content to suffer as his Lord purposed for the furtherance of the gospel and the growth of the kingdom in this world until God was finished with His purpose for John here on earth." And He brought him into His eternal presence. Brothers and sisters, this should be a lesson to us as we face tribulation, should it not? that God is on the throne and He is working to carry out His plan and His purpose in all things with our joys and our triumphs, as well as our pain and tribulation. And He is bringing His kingdom. to fullness. If you'll notice there, John says in verse 9, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom. He is now a brother and partner in the kingdom. The kingdom is not some far off, waiting to be made kingdom. Christ's kingdom came when he came to earth. John is a present partner and brother in the kingdom. And God, through His working in this world, is bringing His kingdom to fullness. Well, verse 10. It is the Lord's Day. John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. It's the Lord's Day, the first day of the week. The Lord's Day, that day that was set apart to commemorate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The day that he came forth from the tomb after his crucifixion. John, on the Isle of Patmos, all distractions had been removed, and he is in the Spirit, worshiping God, worshiping Christ, his Lord and Savior, on the day set apart to commemorate his victory over death and over sin." You can almost imagine John sitting on the coast of Patmos, looking off to where his church in Ephesus was. and knowing that they would be gathering, that they were probably praying for him and he was praying for them, and longing to be there worshiping with them and lifting up the name of Jesus Christ. Well, while he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, he heard a voice behind him, a loud voice like a trumpet. Well, he was taken up by the Spirit, out of contact with the physical world around him, and everything else just faded away. This is very similar to what we see of Ezekiel's experience in Ezekiel 3, verse 12, when he says that, then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake. And in Peter, Peter was lifted up in a trance. In Acts 10, verse 10 through 13, he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending. And then Isaiah 6, the passage that we quote quite a bit, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. These visions that God has given to people in the Bible to show them his glory, his majesty, truths about him. And he heard a voice like a trumpet. This is common in scripture and an announcement. It's an announcement that the Lord has something to say to his people, something to impart to them, something to perform on their behalf. We read in Exodus 19.16, on the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on a mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. In Exodus 19.19, just a couple of verses later, and as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in thunder. In Joshua 6 verse 5, And when they made a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every one straight before him. That sound of the trumpet that signified that the Lord was about to perform something on behalf of His people. The shouting was not what brought the walls of Jericho down. It was God. It was God's power. God using the trumpets and the shouting as a sound and a statement that I'm about to do something. I'm about to do something great. In 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, we read about the resurrection from the dead upon Christ's second coming. 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. And the dead in Christ will rise first. So this trumpet sound signifying that God is about to speak or God is about to act. The voice tells John to write what he sees in a book and send it to the seven churches. God the Son is about to make something known to John. He's about to give the church something further, something more about Himself. He is going to impart to them knowledge about Himself, His purpose, His authority, His sovereignty over the church, over His messengers, and over creation and His creatures. And He sells John to send that to the seven churches. So John hears this trumpet, this signifying that the Lord is going to speak. The Lord is going to show him something. And then he tells him that he wants him to write what you see in a book. And then we get to verse 12, and this is where I start to get excited, here in verse 12. Here is where we see Christ and what Christ is revealing about himself to his church. It's very interesting what Simon Kistemacher points out and what he seems to be saying in one of his commentaries. He says, John says, then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And it's as if John was turning to see who it was that was speaking, not just what was being said. And as I got to thinking about that and reading this and rereading and rereading it, I thought, what must it have been like for John to hear that voice? Whose voice is this? This is the voice of Jesus Christ. Did he recognize it? Was the voice familiar to him? You know, it's almost uncanny sometimes when you're out and about, especially when you hear a voice that's similar to someone who is in your family or a friend that's died and passed away. You hear a familiarity, and what do you immediately do? You turn right to it. You want to see who it is that's speaking. This is a voice I haven't heard in a long time. Or you hear a videotape or an audio tape. You know, I think of Grace when she listens to her dad's messages. You know, if one of those was on in a room and she came into the room, she'd immediately... Would you not recognize that voice? Yeah. Well, can you imagine how many times John had played How many times John had played over and over again those conversations from those three years where he walked and talked and listened to Jesus Christ. Oh, to hear that voice again. Right? Sure that he had played it over and over again in his head. There were times when he sat with Christ, walked with Christ, and now to hear that voice, the voice of one who spoke with authority and with power, was something that was beyond what was possible for mere mortal men. You can just imagine John turning as he heard the voice clear and loud as a trumpet blast. Was that my Lord? Was that my God that spoke? That was the voice of the one who first called my brother James and I. While we were in the boat fishing with our father Zebedee, and he said, follow me. That was the same voice of my Lord who said to Jairus' daughter, little girl, arise. And in this irresistible power that came with that voice, that girl that was dead rose up and lived. That's the voice. Did I hear the voice which called Lazarus forth from the tomb? The voice like a trumpet blast that echoed, Lazarus come forth. And Lazarus after four days being dead and buried in a tomb walked right out alive. Was that the voice that told me on the cross behold your mother, and to Mary behold your son?" Was this the voice that I heard cry from the cross? Alone among the disciples, the only one there, hearing his Christ say, it is finished. That's it. You can just see John, that must be the voice I recognized from Christ's ascension when he blessed us and parted from us as he was brought into heaven. And he said, I must turn to see it, to see my Lord Well, he turns to see it, and upon turning sees seven lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstand, what does he see? He sees his Lord. He sees one like the Son of Man. We'll come back to the seven lampstands sometime. We're not going to get through the end of Revelation 1, unfortunately, today. But we'll come back to the seven lampstands and the seven stars. But for now, we'll concentrate on just Christ in His glory as John sees Him and get through part of that hopefully here this morning, Lord willing. But let me say now that this is a beautiful picture because of what these lampstands represent and we're told later on in Revelation 1 what they are. They're the seven churches. The fullness, the completeness of God's church. But we see Christ in the midst of them. Christ knows what His church is going through. It's not unknown to Him. It's not a mystery to Him. And He tends to those lamps, keeping the oil of His grace pouring as He makes use of those lamps to light His gospel and truth in the world. Well, we see John, he sees Christ when he turns. He sees a vision of him, not necessarily as he physically is, but what he is. Richard Phillips says that the vision does not show us what Jesus looks like, but rather what Jesus is like, symbolically depicting his person and his work. These are visions that John is seeing here. He was taken by the Spirit and shown visions. They're symbols that speak to Christ's character, His power, His purpose, His role, and His reign both in heaven and on the earth. How do you describe these things? You know, you think about how would you describe an abstract character That you can't really it's not Physically visible, you know strength. How do you describe strength? Well, there's a reason that when we have cars we talk about horsepower Because it's a way for us to describe strength in terms that we can sort of understand and Well, and this is what John here is doing. He's describing each description, shows us something of who Christ is, and then as a whole, what He is. And before we go too far into this, and we'll look at that next time because we're running pretty short on time already, I think it's important to note not only what John sees, but what John doesn't see. And I get a little... I get a little frustrated sometimes when I hear people talk about things, especially at funerals or talking about longing to be in heaven and see heaven. They'll talk about, well, this person was such a great person, and I'm sure that the saints are just lined up and applauding and clapping as they enter into heaven. I also think about, you know, we hear a lot of people talk, well, I can't wait to get to heaven and see my mom or my dad. And I don't know if there's gonna be opportunities for that in heaven or not. I don't think the Bible really declares to us whether or not that's the case. But what John doesn't see, to me, is pretty telling. His brother was killed by the sword and axe, James. I'm sure he longed to see his brother again. He's the last of the apostles. The last living apostle, the last of the disciples. James is gone, his brother. Peter's gone. Paul's gone. Andrew's gone. Zebedee, his father and his mother, most likely have been dead and gone for years at this point. He was the last. We read about in Acts 12 how that Herod laid violent hands on the church and killed his brother James with a sword. Now Peter escaped martyrdom at that point, but his brother was killed. So many people that John loved dearly in his life, yet who does he see? He sees Christ. This is the focus of heaven. This is the one, if we were to turn to Revelation 4, 9 through 11, since it's close, let's just turn there real quick. Revelation 4, 9 through 11. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders, fall down before Him who is seated on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever. And they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. Do you long to see Christ? Is that your singular longing? When you think about, I am one day going to die physically here and go to heaven? Is it, I get to see my Lord and my Savior? You know, I think sometimes that there are a lot of people, a lot of people that I'd love to sit down and have a conversation with. I'd love to sit down with Robert Murray McShane, or Horatius Bonner, or Charles Spurgeon, or John Knox, or Jonathan Edwards, or at this point, R.C. Sproul. I'd love to do that. I'd love to ask them questions and discuss things of the Lord with them. But the more I see of Christ in Scripture, the more I see of Christ in Revelation, I just want to see Christ. You see, these men, my parents, one day will not be here. And I'll miss them. One day I won't be here for my kids. But I didn't die to set them free from their sin. I didn't shed my blood on a cross for them. I didn't leave my eternal throne to come in the likeness of human flesh to suffer and die on their behalf. Christ did that. Not me, not my parents, not these great men that I would love to have an opportunity to sit down and speak with. What's your desire? What's your longing for when this world passes away for you? Imagine if I would speak to any one of those men and say something to the effect of, you know, I'd really love one of these days to have a conversation with you in heaven. What do you want that for? Worship at the throne of Christ! John, in Revelation 19, I want you to look at something here. Revelation 19, verse 9 and 10. So then the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brother who hold to the testimony of Jesus. worship God. So when John turns to see the voice, he sees Christ. That's what he sees. And that should be our longing. That's what this book is about. Lord, let us see Christ. Let us see Yourself. Show me more of You. Show me Your glory. Show me Your righteousness. Show me Your sovereignty. Let me just catch a glimpse of You. And then it doesn't matter whether I'm on the Isle of Patmos. It doesn't matter if I'm in a dungeon. It doesn't matter if I'm in prison. Paul and Silas in prison, what were they doing? Praying and singing praises to the Lord. Why? Because they saw Christ. That was their focus. That's what it was all about. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and we'll try and pick back up next time. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for revealing yourself to us. Lord, I pray that we would live to Your glory and to Your honor. Lord, that we wouldn't be bogged down or enthralled by the things of this world, but Lord, our joy, our hope, our focus, our life's work would be to bring glory and honor to Your name. It's in Your name we pray. Amen.