Amen. That is a wonderful prayer that we've been able to sing. And now we'll open up God's Word and hear from Him. So you can turn to 1 Peter 2, verse 18 to 25, the second sphere under God's sovereignty. We're looking at Jesus Christ, the shepherd and the overseer of our souls. And if you look with me, we see that theme in verse 25 of 1 Peter 2, you were straying like sheep, but now you've returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls. Now, we're gonna look at this sphere of a master and his servants, or more broadly speaking, in terms of practical application for today, how do we live as employees with an employer under Christ? And what Peter will do here, it's astonishing. He goes from the relationship between a master and his servants or an employer and his employees to the heart of Jesus Christ for his sheep in that sphere. And what we see here is that we have a shepherd that is utterly personable for us. He is personable. We can know Him, we can walk with Him, we can fellowship with Him. We have access to Him 24-7. It doesn't matter what part of the workplace you find yourself in, but you have access to this Shepherd, an overseer of your souls. We have under-shepherds in this church, but we're men, and so we don't have complete access, and you don't have complete access to us in that ultimate sense. But Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, He has full reign, his sheep have full access to him at all times, but he's also not only a personal and accessible shepherd, he's an able and a willing shepherd. He not only has the desire or the will to be the shepherd of his sheep, but he has the ability, he has the authority, he has the sovereignty to effectively shepherd us as his sheep. And what Peter is gonna do here is he's writing to these servants or these employees who are suffering unjustly by their master, by their employer, and you could imagine what they're going through. This is a hard time for these sheep in Christ's fold as they serve in the workplace. And what Peter's gonna do is remind them again of this sweet shepherd and overseer of their souls that is always watching them, always ministering to them 24-7. And as Martin Luther once said, In the gospel, the sweetness is seen and felt when God uses, through the apostles, these personal pronouns for the gospel. And you can look in your Bibles for a moment by way of example, verse 21 of 1 Peter 2. There's the sweetness of the gospel in personal pronouns. This is your shepherd and overseer of your soul. Look what he did for you personally. Verse 21 of 1 Peter 2. Peter says to this, you've been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example. He doesn't use language that's just in the generic form. It would be true if he said Christ suffered for his sheep. He suffered for the elect of God. He uses that language earlier in chapter one, but he personalizes it. He says, this is your shepherd and this is your overseer. He suffered for you. He thought about you when he suffered for your redemption. And then you can see in verse 24, he uses, again, this personal pronoun, though collectively. Verse 24 in our text, he himself bore our sins. And then again, verse 24, by his wounds, you, the personal, you have been healed. And then finally again, verse 25, this Jesus is the shepherd and overseer of your, So there's this personal pronoun heartbeat in this letter as Peter writes to suffering servants under their master or suffering employees under an unjust employer. And the flavor really of this text is what Jesus shows us in John chapter 10 or what David shows us in Psalm 23. That this good shepherd, John 10 verse 14, he says that I know my own, and my own know me." He knows what these believers in Asia Minor are going through. And they know Him and they have access to Him. Look what they're going through in verse 19. We see that their enduring sorrow while suffering unjustly. They haven't escaped the Good Shepherd's mind. He hasn't wavered in his heart and his pulse beat for their eternal good and their eternal salvation. They're suffering here, verse 19 of chapter two, enduring sorrow while suffering unjustly. But they haven't escaped this Good Shepherd's mind or heart. Verse 20, you can see again, Peter says, you do good and you suffer for it. This context here, I'll start briefly, and then we'll dive into the command, but then the gaze that we ought to have. But he's writing here to slaves in the Greco-Roman world. This isn't slavery in terms of what we've seen in the U.S. history of chattel slavery. It's not slavery based on skin color. We know that is condemned in the Bible. And even this type of slavery here in the Greco-Roman world, it wasn't instituted by God, it was instituted by men. So we don't see in the Bible this institution being promoted by God, but this is the environment historically that Christians are finding themselves in. And one side of slavery here in the Greco-Roman world is that some voluntarily sell themselves at this point in history into slavery because maybe they have a debt that they cannot pay. And you can look through the historical context and some slaves actually served as doctors and teachers and they almost had a higher education than their master. So some would function that way in terms of gaining income. Others would be wrongfully kidnapped and we see in the Levitical laws, that's condemned. They would be brought in as slaves after war and all of that. The Bible doesn't put promote this, but what's happening in this context is that the gospel, it is so powerful that servants, slaves, in the Greco-Roman world are being converted. They're being saved from sin and death, and previously they were an unconverted, ungodly servant with a master, and now they're asking these questions, how do I relate to my employer? How do I have a relationship with an ungodly master, one who hates God, and now I'm a Christian who loves God, and I'm trying to do that which is righteous in the workplace or in my sphere as a servant with a master, and I'm doing that which you call me to, Lord, but I'm suffering unjustly. How do I respond? And more broadly, we can think of that in terms of our day. We're not functioning in that context by God's grace, but we all have employers. Ultimately, Christ is the supreme employer, but God's placed every one of us in a workplace with others, and you may be in a situation where you have an employer who's not a Christian, and maybe at some point you're going to be called to do something that you're burdened with to do something good in the workplace, and you actually suffer unjustly for that deed, and you suffer harsh treatment, and you have sorrow, like verse 19 talks about, and you're enduring that, and it's hard. Well, what's the temptation? We'll see the present command this evening, but then the constant gaze. The present command in this situation for these believers in this context is verse 18. Servants, 1 Peter 2 verse 18, there's that word subject. God says that there is a posture, a way of living that you ought to have even if it's a good master or a good employer or a bad master or an unjust employer. Verse 18, servants, employees, be subject or submit yourselves to your masters, to your employer, with all respect. And you say, but what if he's not a good employer? What if he's an unjust employer? Peter covers every ground. Be subject to your master with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust." Here's this present command. He doesn't say, if you're a believer with an unjust employer, You ought to just destroy that man's livelihood. You got to go to work every day and just boycott him and just plunder his goods and destroy him because he's unjust. He's punishing you for that which you are doing is good in God's sight and you're suffering now. Just plunder his goods. Boycott him. Have rage and rebellion against him because you're suffering unjustly for righteousness. Well, we could feel that fleshly temptation. That's not what Peter goes to. He says, even if you suffer for righteousness, you ought to have this submissive heart. And we'll see the word submission, it's always in the context. It doesn't mean that your master, your employer has all reign on you and he has control over every area of your life and authority over all things. That's not what the word submit means. You can look at this word, submit, to your masters in three ways. First, I'll say that it's a voluntary submission in nature. We've fleshed that out over the last couple weeks. Verse 13 says, So it's the same verb, and then there's a context, for the Lord's sake, and that word submit is always in that context. So it's a voluntary submission. Christ, the Lord of glory, is the one we're ultimately submitting to, but because this God of ours that has redeemed us calls us to submit to the institutions he's placed us in, We do it as free men. We do it as those as we saw last week who have been freed by the blood of Christ. Christ in His blood has purchased us. Caesar doesn't own us, our employer, our master does not own us. We freely, willfully, voluntarily submit to the authorities God's placed us in for His glory. So it's voluntary. It's always unto the Lord. It's always out of reverence to God. The second thing I want to mention is that it's a submission to your master. Look at what he says in verse 18, servants be subject to your master with all respects. He doesn't say be subject to every employer in the world. who God has employed you with, and who's the employer that you're under, be subject to your master that Christ has placed you under. And then thirdly, he qualifies it with this phrase, with all respect. Now you may think, well what does that mean, all respect? Well, the phrase here, all respect, actually can be better translated, with all reverence or with all fear. So what he's saying is, servants, employee, be subject, submit to your masters with all reverence and all fear. This all-encompassing fear and this all-encompassing reverence. Now we know Peter's not ultimately talking about a fear for your employer that is higher than God, or a fear or a reverence for your employer that is supreme, and God's down here. What he's saying with this phrase, all respect, it's qualified by the phrases that Peter's already written about. What is this respect that we're submitting ultimately to, and this fear, and this reverence? Well, we've seen in verse 17 last week, it's fearing God. So when Peter says, you be subject to your masters with all respect, he's saying, God, your master, your Lord, who you fear, he calls you to this submission with this respect, with this reverence. So we fear God, we submit in reverence to God, Peter's saying, in awe and fear of God. Verse 19, after that phrase, Peter's speaking of God. Look what he says, "'For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrow while suffering unjustly.'" He qualifies what the subjection or the submission is. It is understanding what God has done in your life as your Lord, and understanding where he's placed you in the workplace, and out of fear and awe and reverence and worship to your King Jesus, you voluntarily submit to your employer or your master in this context. And understanding how that word submit is framed here, we understand that if your master or the master in this context of a slave or your employer, if he calls you to violate God's will in the workplace, You do not obey him, and you submit to your ultimate master. There's this framework. Because you fear God, and your submission is with all reverence and respect to God, the framework is put there. You submit. You're having to posture voluntarily within that context, knowing that your master, your employer, does not have absolute authority, but God does, and he calls you to this way of life. The second question is, if that is the present command to be subject or submit to your employer in our context, what happens if you submit to your employer but you still suffer, and you suffer unjustly? What happens? How do we respond? And how do we press on? Peter gives us this little command as well, or this phrase that he uses that points us to indicative statements of facts. Look at verse 19. After saying who to subject or submit yourself to, verse 18, not only to the good and gentle employer or master, but also to the unjust, he uses this phrase, this is a gracious thing. submitting to your employer or your master is a gracious thing when you suffer unjustly. You say, well, how is that a gracious thing? How is that a gift from God that if I try and do that which is pleasing in God's sight and suffer under an ungodly employer, that that is grace towards me? Graciousness? That's what God says. Look at verse 19. He says, For this is a gracious thing when mindful of God. What's gracious? When one endures sorrow while suffering unjustly. Interesting statement. Verse 20, he uses that statement again. He says, for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it? So not only are you suffering unjustly in terms of maybe some financial cost, you're not getting a pay raise, you could say, but now they're actually getting beaten for it. What does he say? He says, Well, if you sin and you're beaten for it, you endure. He says, well, you're just getting the consequence of what your sin deserves. But if you suffer, verse 20, for doing good, and you suffer for it and you endure, that is a gracious thing in the sight of God. What Peter's doing here is saying, well, You can't sin in the workplace and then say, well, my employer's just treating me unjustly. No, if you sin against your employer and suffer for it, Peter says, that's your reward. But if you live a godly life and a Christ-honoring life and uphold righteousness and goodness in the workplace and suffer for it, that's gracious. That's gracious and God-sighted. It's a gracious gift from the Lord. It's pleasing in his sight, verse 20. What is going on here? How is suffering unjustly gracious? We don't think that way. If we suffer unjustly for doing good, our first instinct is to try and boycott and plunder someone's goods and just make a sham and a fool out of them, rather than seeing suffering for righteousness as a gracious gift from the Lord. This is God's category that is a paradox, and God is reshaping our mind. Now, to understand this, I want to, if you look to 2 Corinthians 4 for a moment, verse 17 and 18, the apostle Paul, different context here, he's serving as an apostle, but he's suffering unjustly, he's upholding righteousness and goodness, and look what's happening to this man. But look where he goes, he's using this idea behind this statement, this is a gracious thing for suffering unjustly, and we'll see why it's gracious. In verse 7 of 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says, we have this treasure, this gospel that saved us in jars of clay. We're weak, we're broken servants in God's kingdom to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. And then look what he says. He says, we are afflicted in every way. Paul's facing affliction. He's trying to do that which is the most loving thing, to tell men and women of the Savior that can save them from their sins, and he's afflicted for it 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 We won't go on from there, but if you jump down to verse 16, he says, Paul, how can you not lose heart when you're afflicted in every way? When you're perplexed and you're persecuted and you're struck down and you feel like you're always being given over to death and unjustly, like Peter and the believers there. He says we don't lose heart. Why? Because this gracious gift from God when we suffer unjustly. Look what God's doing for us in our Christian life when we suffer various trials. Paul is speaking more broadly here, but this relates to every trial. It relates to the believers in Asia Minor, their trial. Look at verse 16 all the way down to verse 18. So we do not lose heart, 2 Corinthians 4, 16. Why? Though our outer self is wasting away, Our inner self is being renewed day by day. And then verse 17, this is what I believe Peter's also hinting at, this gracious gift from God when you suffer unjustly. Look what God's doing in any trial when you suffer. Verse 17, this light. It's light in comparison to the gracious thing that God's doing and preparing. It's momentary in light of eternity and the glory to come. This light, this momentary affliction. Paul is saying that when I'm afflicted, and when I'm persecuted, and when I'm perplexed, and when I'm struck down, this is what God's doing. He's preparing, verse 17, for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Well, you're not going to see that if you're doing opposite to verse 18 as Paul says, we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. If you're suffering unjustly in the workplace for righteousness and you're looking at what is seen, you're going to see that's not a gracious thing. God says, this is what I'm doing when you suffer unjustly, and you're persecuted, and you're afflicted, that through your trials I'm preparing an eternal weight of glory for you. That's this gracious thing that Peter's talking about. That we embrace the wave, as Spurgeon says, that throws us to the rock of ages. Because this trial that God is doing in our life is preparing an eternal weight of glory for you, Paul says, beyond all comparison. We don't think of suffering that way. We don't even think of persecution that way. We don't call on God to bring persecution, but if He does, and if He ordains suffering in our life, Peter and Paul tell us what God is doing. He is preparing, through your suffering, eternal weights of glory for you. That's what Peter means, I believe, when he speaks of this gracious thing, that if, if you go back to 1 Peter 2 verse 19 and verse 20, that if You're mindful of God when you endure sorrow, verse 19, while suffering unjustly. This gracious thing. Peter's being this coach here and he's saying, I wanna draw your mind back to glory. I mean, you can be so consumed with the pressures of this world that you forget the eternal weight of grace and glory that God is preparing for you now and awaits you on that great day. He's this coach that's bringing Christ's sheep to the Savior before our eyes, and He's saying, keep your eyes on this grace that you've received from your shepherd and your overseer of your souls. Don't lose your eye off of Him, even if you suffer, even if they plunder all your goods while you try and do that which is pleasing. Don't lose your eyes off of Him, because He's working through that which is unseen. And if you live for the seen, you're going to forget this gracious thing, this eternal weight of glory. If you suffer for doing good, Peter's saying, you will be rewarded. I mean, I can't even think of this reward. I mean, you will be rewarded. I mean, I wish I could just scream that to your hearts and my heart that there is glory. And you say, well, what's the reward? Look back to chapter 1. This is amazing. Verse 3, this is the gracious thing that Peter's talking about. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he's caused us to be born again. What does he say? To a mundane hope? To a hope that can be squished by my employer on Monday? By the new prime minister tomorrow? No, you've been born again by the shepherd and overseer of your souls to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What's this gracious thing that we await on the last day? to an inheritance, verse four, that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, in this you rejoice. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice. with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. What's this great reward? I mean, the ultimate reward is what Peter ends with. He begins with this living hope through the resurrection of your shepherd and overseer. And he says, this is the great reward. Though you now love him and would lay down your life for him, though you haven't seen him with your own eyes, you love him, you sing about him, you worship him, you preach about him. You haven't even laid your eyes on Him. But when you lay your eyes on your Savior, every momentary and light affliction that you faced in this world, what will it abound to? He says it will abound with inexpressible joy and filled with glory. Verse 9, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. So this great reward that Peter says that when you suffer unjustly, think about this gracious reward that is yours on that last day. The gracious rewards ultimately gazing on your shepherd and your overseer of your souls as you see him, the one who's been raised. and who's alive, seated on the throne. That's what Peter's saying will get you through suffering unjustly in this world. That is the fuel behind the verb submit. It's a present command. Submit with all reverence, all respect. How do we do that when it's hard? He says, gaze on this gracious thing that you've received. Now as we wrap this up, where does Peter end? He ends on the gracious one. He ends, it's interesting, verse 21 to 25, he ends on this note of bringing these suffering servants to the ultimate servant. And he also brings the suffering servants who have an unjust master to the just master, and the master of all things. He says, this Savior who suffered for you and bore your sins in his body on the tree, and who is the shepherd and overseer of your souls, he is both the great suffering servant, who suffered great injustice, more than we could ever suffer, but he's also the perfect master who will govern and instruct and sustain you to the end, to give you that inexpressible hope that's filled with glory, the outcome of your salvation. So what he does here, if we just look at this text on its own, we lose the meaning and beauty of this. Suffering servants. are now called to gaze on the suffering servant king, Jesus Christ. And what Peter does here is he alludes to Isaiah 53. He doesn't directly quote Isaiah 53, but from verse 21 all the way down to verse 25, it is just oozing with the suffering servant king from Isaiah that wonderfully sets before us this shepherd king who suffers for his people. Let's just look at the three aspects and then we'll compare it to Isaiah. But look what Peter says. This is your suffering king. When you suffer injustice in the workplace, in the world, Look to Him who suffered injustice, unjustly, the sinless one, the one who is heaven's praises. Look what He did for you. Verse 21 of 1 Peter 2, gaze on Him. To this you've been called because here's the first action of Christ and His work. He also suffered personal pronoun for you and your stead, leaving you an example so that you might follow him in his steps. Verse 22, he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Now, let's just flip for a moment back to Isaiah 53 and see what Peter's alluding to. This is the suffering servant, but also the master of glory, the king of glory. Look what he endured for his sheep. He uses the same language here as Peter. Isaiah 53 verse 4, look at the personal pronouns, collectively, dying for the sins of God's people, His chosen inheritance. Verse 4 of Isaiah 53, here's what Peter's alluding to. And then verse 5. And with his wounds we are healed. Peter quotes that. He continues to quote, look at verse 6. Remember he said that you have a shepherd and overseer of your souls, but we were once sheep who went astray. That's what Isaiah is saying. Verse 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And remember he said that Christ died. And when he died he brought us into a place where we died to sin and lived to righteousness. What's he talking about there? That's Isaiah 53 verse 11. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied and by his knowledge shall the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous. He shall bear their iniquities. This is what Peter's alluding to. He's saying, if you're gonna submit and obey that command, this must be your constant gaze. That's the second action that Peter's encompassing here. He's saying there's three things you must gaze upon. And I'm pulling from Isaiah first, that Christ suffered for you, 1 Peter 2 verse 21 to 22 and 23. And he says, when he suffered for you, He committed no sin. And he says, neither was deceit found on his mouth. That when they took the whip and lashed him, and his skin and flesh was ripped off, and his bones and his muscles were shown. No deceit was found in his mouth. No uncorrupt or corrupt words rather. No slip of words. Even in that dire moment as he goes from Gethsemane and he's mocked and beaten and carries his own cross. There was no little stumble on a cuss word. There was no deceit. No pollution coming out of his mouth. No sin for all of his life. 33 years of his life, this suffering servant king, who Isaiah says was despised and rejected by man, who had no place and no home to lay his head at night. Notice he was found in his mouth, and he was brought under the Roman tribunal and the Sanhedrin, and they said, we can't find anything that sticks to this man that would condemn him. Perfect life, sinless life. Peter says that this is the Christ that suffered for you. Every aspect of his suffering, his whole life, was lived for you, with you on his mind. Not an unknown people, but a known people, knowing everything about you, all your sin. He suffered for you, that's your shepherd. If you forget that, you're not gonna do good works when suffering for that which your employer says is evil and ungodly, but it's godly and it's good, and you suffer unjustly for it. You won't endure if you forget Christ who suffered for you. That's what Peter's saying. John Calvin puts it this way, that the face of Christ, which was dishonored by spitting and blows, That face of Jesus Christ has restored the image of God in the face of his people, now to live for God in all of life. Peter's saying, when you think of his suffering, every aspect, that suffering face that was despised and rejected by men was for you, to restore God's image in you. Number two, Peter goes on, verse 24, Christ bore our sins, What he's doing here, he's appealing to a couple different aspects of the death of Christ. His penal death, that he died for our sins. He died under the penalty of our sins, is what that word penal means. He died as our substitute for our sins in our place, atoning, covering our sins with his shed blood. That's what Peter alludes to when he says Christ died for your sins, that when he died, it was as if, you think of an earthly court, you were that man that was a condemned criminal, and the judge was about to smack the gavel down, and he was about to say condemned, and what did Christ do? Christ stood in your place, and that gavel of God's eternal wrath smashed, and he died for you, and he died for me. Your sins were paid for in full. He died for our sins, Peter's saying. And then finally, that second aspect of the atonement, there's also a double imputation here. We forget about this reality. It's glorious. Look what Peter says in verse 24. He says, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Peter's saying this, remember what happened the moment you looked at your Savior, that all of your sins by grace through faith in Jesus Christ were imputed to Him as if it were His own, though committing no sin. Every crime that you've committed against God was placed on His account, and the penalty was eternal wrath. Your sins were imputed to Him. as if it were his own, though committing no sin. We know that part, but we forget this part. The other aspect of imputation is that his perfect righteousness, loving the Lord his God with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength was imputed to you as if it were your own, though committing no righteous deed in this world on our own. Your sins imputed to him, his perfect righteousness imputed to you as if it were your own, so God looks at you and he sees perfect righteousness. That's double imputation. He died for you, he suffered, he bore our sins. One hymn writer says, he took my sins and my sorrows and made them his very own. And then another man says, I'm dressed in beauty, not my own. Those two truths are double imputation. He took your sins as if it were his own. And He dressed you in beauty as if it were your own. And then finally, not only must we remember Christ suffered for you, Christ bore your sins, our sins, but we must never forget this reality that you have a shepherd and overseer of your souls. That's where Peter ends. to these suffering, afflicted servants. He points them upward, verse 25, and he says, you were straying like sheep. Remember Isaiah 53, he says, we all, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own ways. That was you, but Jesus Christ, you're a good shepherd. What did he do? He sought you, he found you, he brought you into his fold when you were wandering, and now, Now you've returned to the shepherd, to the overseer of your souls. And this phraseology here of a shepherd and overseer, again, you can go to Psalm 23 and think of the wonderful allusions there of a shepherd that knows his sheep and nourishes his sheep and protects his sheep. Peter's saying, when you suffer unjustly, You ought to go back to your shepherd. You ought to come as a needy sheep, come to him and plead for his rich pastors to sustain you and nourish you and protect you in this world of evil, even if they treat you unjustly. You have a master, not the master set before you ultimately, but your Father in heaven who's your master, and you have this shepherd. There's a present command, there's a constant gaze, and those truths together, Peter's saying, the gospel of Jesus Christ is never detached from any area of your life. It influences the political sphere and how you serve the Lord in. And it also influences how you work in this world of sorrows and evil and wickedness, a world that hates righteousness and justice and hates ultimately God's people. It's ultimately the gospel applied to all of life and sustaining you for all of life. That is our shepherd and overseer of our souls. That doesn't just continue with us today, but tomorrow and Lord willing, the next day, and then Lord willing, we'll see our shepherd in glory. And every tear, Samuel Rutherford says, every tear on the pathway to glory, it'll be wiped away, dissolved the moment we see Jesus face to face. And that will be a sweet, sweet day. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you that we have a shepherd and overseer of our souls, one who never fails us, one who never strays from us, isn't repelled from us, but bids us to draw near to him to find help and mercy and grace for our every need. We pray, Lord, as we enter a new week and serve you in different spheres, We pray, Father, that this gospel that has saved us, this gospel that has sustained us and will sustain us will be the source of our joy and our strength and our service as we serve you in the workplace in this week to come. And we pray this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.