And in Galatians chapter one, I'd like to read beginning at verse 11 and then go up till verse 24. Galatians 1.11, here Paul is recounting his life and his conversion. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after men. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many mine equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. And then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James, the Lord's brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not. Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea, which were in Christ. But they had heard only that he which had persecuted us in time past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed, and they glorified God in me. I'd like to consider with you this morning the conversion of Paul. Paul's conversion, but what I really want to speak to is the parallel between your conversion and Paul's conversion. Now, when we think about Paul's conversion, we know that it was very radical. It was very dramatic. It was very thrilling. Paul on the way to do more harm and more destruction to the people of God, to Christ's church, and in a very instantaneous way, God with that light, taking for granted you understand or are familiar with Acts chapter nine, with that light from heaven, blinded that company, and that voice came down from heaven, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? A remarkable conversion. Something that was very thrilling. If you, as either an unbeliever or a believer, had been on the road to Damascus and you witnessed that, I mean, spiritually, that would be a very, very thrilling encounter, a very thrilling experience. And I'm suggesting this morning that your conversion, maybe not as outwardly dramatic, but thrilling, Nonetheless, there's five component parts of Paul's conversion that are identical to your conversion, if you are in the faith this morning. As remarkable as that may seem, which one of us would say, well, we're just like Paul, we're a giant of the faith, and God did something just as magnificent in our life, but in fact, We'll see this morning, there's five component parts of his conversion that, if you think about how the Lord saved you, are identical in your life. So we're gonna look at these five. Number one, we're gonna look at this, the element of time, how God used time in his life and your life. Secondly, we're going to look at the providential care that God showed to Saul. When Saul was unsaved, God was protecting him to get him to the point of salvation. Thirdly, we're gonna look at the call. Saul slash Paul said, I was called unto the gospel. We're gonna look at this gospel call. We're gonna look at the moving cause and the mediating cause of this call. Next, we're going to look at two of the principal truths of the gospel, which are not emphasized today. I don't want to get into negative preaching, but I do want to highlight these two things that are kind of lost today. And then fifthly, why did God save Paul? And we're going to look at 12 chapters or so after his conversion. Paul recounts why God saved him. And they are the exact same reasons He saved you. That is, there's this consequence of purpose. What does God want you to do now? Remember, Paul asked that question. Lord, what will thou have me to do? In that immediate context, he was sent to get right with God. Remember, he was blinded for those three days and there was a lot going on there, but we're gonna fast forward later in the book of Acts and see what God wanted him to do. So first of all, let's talk about this idea of time. When you think about Saul, think about yourself. There was a time when you were born, and then you inhabited some space of time, and then you were saved. You were saved at some specific junction in your life. Paul uses the word when. when it pleased God. When it pleased God. The whole concept of time and where you are in time, time is a very curious thing if you think about it. Time, as you know, unlike the evolutionists, time is a created realm. The evolutionists say, well, with 150 billion years, anything could happen. or something like that, but they forget or they don't know time itself was created by God. Time as this medium, time as this realm, time is under the control of the triune God for a very specific purpose. He created it, he regulates it, and there is coming, a point in time, as you know from the book of Revelation, where time will be no more. God will deconstruct, God will finalize, time will be over. This medium, this realm that you are living in at the moment. And God created time in Paul's life, in your life, in the life of all of creation. God created time to be interconnected to function with this purpose as he would unfold his plan for the ages, as he would reveal his son and the gospel of grace and redemption. And if I were to ask you, this might sound kind of philosophical, but it's really spiritual, in all of time from day one of creation to the end of time, Is there any point of time that would be the highlight? Or be the high point of time? And Paul, later in the same book, tells us when the high point of time is and really what the purpose of time is. He said, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Paul is saying the apex, the apogee, the zenith of time is when Jesus Christ stepped outside of eternity and into time. The fullness of time. This is really an interesting word in the Greek. This word fullness is not talking about quantity. We think of something full. like a cup of water is full, that's not the word. The word fullness is talking about what's inside. If you had a cup of water and you talked about the fullness of the cup, you're not talking about quantity, you're talking about what's inside the water. In the fullness of time, the focus is Christ. It's not this temporary thing we call time. The completeness of time, the purpose of time, the reason for time, what God is doing in time is Christ-centric. It's all about him. The fullness of chronos, the fullness of time. What gives time any meaning is that God created it to envelope his redemptive purpose. to envelope the Lord Jesus Christ. Time has no meaning apart from that. It has no purpose. It's vanity, vexation of spirit, it's emptiness, it's dissatisfaction. Saul said, Paul said, when it pleased God. We live, what, 70 years, maybe 80 years by reason of strength? Somewhere within that time period of your life, time, God stepped in when it pleases him. God saves young children early in their life. God saves older people. God saves middle-aged people when it pleases God. Also interesting about time, you have to look at time as one unit. God created many stars individually, but the Bible says he created the stars as a body. He created time as a body. And so if you're as old as I am, you remember what a card catalog was in the library. And the scenes of our life, the experiences of our life, are like the cards in the drawer. And the drawer is our life, but the drawer is in a cabinet, this cabinet of time. So God created time to be in harmony for his perfect purposes. The fullness of time is talking about the reality of Christ as the focus of what time is supposed to house and bring forth. Time is not all these freeze-frame experiences or scenes of our life, but it's an entire thing. And the meaning of time is really understood when we realize that God's redemptive purpose in Christ is in time. As the psalmist said, all of my times are in thy hand. Your specific place in time, your sequence in time, you being birthed, was all ordained by a perfect God for a perfect reason. You were born in time, physically, and then when you became born again, it was at the exact time that God thought about before time was created, before the worlds were created, As he was thinking about time and inserting his son into time, the scripture says he was thinking about you and decided, I will put this brother or this sister right there to save them, to make them a child of God. He wanted you new birthed when he thought it was perfect. Paul goes on to talk about all these time sequences, and I think this helps us understand a little bit, because sometimes we question, well, why didn't God save me earlier? Why didn't God save me at this other church where, you know, this certain things happened? Paul says that Jesus appeared after his resurrection. He gives us another time sequence and he says that he appeared to Cephas, then the 12, then 500 brethren, then James, then the apostles. Lastly, last of all, he was seen of me as one born out of due time. As though in man's understanding, man's sequence, I should have been born some other time. Why wasn't Paul born so he could be with the apostles in Jesus' earthly ministry? Why wasn't he born under the ministry of Charles Spurgeon? Why wasn't he born at any other time? Why did God allow me to persecute the church? The scripture says he very vigorously persecuted the church, Christ's own people. Under the banner of the wisdom, the providence, and the perfection of God, God had him born at that time, exactly the right time. And in your life, brother or sister, despite the many questions we may have, your born-again birthday was exactly at the right time. It's when it pleased the Father. We used to have a hymn book that had the hymn, Father, I know that all my life is portioned out for me. It's not in our current hymnal, but what great theology. Father, I know that all my time is portioned out. All my life is portioned out for me. And the changes that are sure to come, I do not fear to see. I ask thee for a present mind, intent upon pleasing thee. Paul, if you follow his ministry, he understood that he had only so much time then to minister for the Lord. Only so much time. And our old lives tell us, and the Bible tells us, Psalm 90, for example, the days of our life are, what, seven years, if by reason of strength, 80. Lord, teach us to number our days that we can apply our heart to wisdom. Now I have to redeem the time. Now it's like I've given a new clock. and I can redeem this time. The brevity of life, the fragility of life. Years ago I was in a leadership class, I will not name the name of the book, it sold 10 millions of copies of books, tried to impart leadership traits and qualities to us, making us aware of them. And one of the exercises they had us do was, and maybe some of you have had this exercise as well, you have half an hour to write your own eulogy. You have half an hour to write your own eulogy to think about your life and how you spent your time and all these kinds of things. And in this class, as I recall, There was a lady, and you know how the teachers always walk around the room to see how people are doing. And this lady was really struggling. And she said, how in a half an hour am I supposed to write all the things I'm going to do for the rest of my life? And the teacher said, pencils down, everybody. Maybe I didn't make it clear. You have to write your eulogy as though you're going to die tomorrow. And everybody said, wait, die tomorrow? I'm not going to die tomorrow. And this unbeliever said, you don't know that. And what we're trying to show you is you are what you are today. You can't try to put stock in the next 20 or 30 or 40 years. You think you're going to have when in fact that time might come. And they were trying to get people to think about the very biblical concept of the brevity of time, how fragile it is. And as a Christian, we have to say there is truth to that. Until that time, though, we are somewhat, I'll use the word, I don't want to be presumptuous, but invincible, right? The book of Acts, I think it was Stephen who said that, I'm paraphrasing, but when David finished all the work that God had for him to do, he died. When David finished all the work that God had for him to do, he died. God has inserted us into time And it's just remarkable if you think about it, that before the world began and before time was created, God had a plan for you physically to be born, like Paul, and spiritually to be born. Secondly, think about the providential care that God showed. I mean, this has to render thanksgiving in the hearts of God's people. Verse 15, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and then called me by his grace. Notice the space between separated me from my mother's womb and then called me by his grace. Again, we see this time element, this moment of time, these moments and years of time. Think about your life, when you were born, And then all of these significant parts of your life before you came into the household of faith. In Saul's life, he was being steeped in the Jewish system. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He witnessed the stoning of Stephen. This fellow, Stephen says that Jesus was the Messiah. Well, I'll stone him too. Of course, he had to hold the coats. He wasn't allowed to stone him. But persecuting the church, anti-God, anti-gospel, anti-Christ. Scripture says that the King James uses the word he heartily approved of Stephen's death and martyrdom. Very antagonistic against the gospel, against this New Testament church. When you think about Saul's life and this amount of time, all of these external events, And yet, God was preserving him to get him to the point where he would be saved. I don't know what has gone on in your life, but generally in the population, sometimes there's sicknesses, there's car accidents, there's many, many things that could have killed us, or done some many other things, and yet, God was preserving you. by his providence, by his care, to get you to that point of salvation. Even when you were an enemy of God's, like Saul, without Christ, without hope in the world, an enemy of God's, like the ones in Psalm 2 that we read. And yet God was preserving you by his providence. We went about our life like Saul. Maybe we did some religious stuff that assuaged our consciences. Maybe we're involved with a whole bunch of stuff, but not outside of the hand of God's grace, protecting and keeping us. I can't imagine the patience of God. I mean, we can think about Saul, but we can also think about our own life. The patience of God to see us acting irrationally in sin, going about as the king of our own life, ignoring God, maybe even mad at God, angry at God, doing our own thing, thinking we're in charge, thinking we have all these years ahead of us, nothing to do with God, in Saul's case, persecuting God's people. All the while, God is ensuring that these kinds of people, like us, get to the point of salvation, carrying over you while you were unsaved. not bringing you into judgment, even though you were sinning with a high hand, keeping back the evil tides of wickedness and evil that this society wants to bring upon us, not allowing us to believe false gospels, not reprobating our mind, even mercifully revealing to us the futility of life apart from Him. It's an amazing thing that God providentially and perpetually has cared for His own. And in the pages of scripture, God does this repeatedly. Think about Abraham. Abraham, an idolater in Ur the Chaldees. And God makes him the father of the faithful. Think about Rahab the harlot, who, after her salvation, she eventually is named in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Think about Saul. incredibly terrible enemy of the gospel, the thief on the cross, who will have no time at all to live to the praise of the glory of God's grace except for his testimony upon his cross. Think about yourself. The psalmist said in Psalm 139 that even in the womb, God is protecting, providentially caring, all of our times are written in his hand. I know that now we are aware of the sovereignty of God and the providence of God. I'm not so sure it's any less now that we're saved than it was before we were saved. It's just now we're aware of it. Now we understand it, now we know it. What if before you were saved, what if before you were saved you could look and understand God is watching over me. God is caring for me. I mean, what a thought. What a great God. Thirdly, the feature of the call. In verse 15b, he said, he called me by his grace. Saul said, God called me by his grace. God calls you by his grace. Paul said, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. When you think of the call, the word you really need to think about is the word summons. It's a summons from God, and in God's summons, there is power. A couple years ago, I think I've relayed this story before, but a couple years ago, I received a jury duty notice, a summons to go to jury duty. And because of my busy life, I forgot about it, and I did not show up. And then on my desk, I found it a few days later. And I went several days later, and I said, I forgot. And they pretended to punish me by making me sit there for an hour or two, and then they just let me go. So a good trade for me, I think. But that jury summons that came in the mail, it had no power in it. It was a piece of paper. God's summons. has power, it is efficacious, it has your name on it. When God summons you, you cannot do anything but show up, respond to the call, receive the call, embrace the call. This is the call, God called me. But there's two things about this call. Number one, the moving cause. Why did God call you? Why did God summons you? By his grace. It's not because you have any merit, we all know that. It's not because he needs you. Bad news, folks, God doesn't need you. He does not need you. Even though you have gifts and graces and spiritual gifts and talents and abilities that could be put to the kingdom, God is all sufficient in and of himself, and he does not need anything to make up for any lack in him. God could have a complete, world of stones that would be crying out to praise God if he wanted to do that. But it was God's good pleasure to call you. You know the scripture in Deuteronomy 7-7, God speaking to Israel, the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you are more in number, because you are the fewest in number, he says, but God set his love upon you because he loved you. The moving cause is this love of God. And it is really something that is hard to describe, hard to understand with our fallible minds. It pleased God. Same word that the father uses of his son on the Mount of Transfiguration. And at the baptism, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Same word, it pleased the Lord. Wow, pleased the Lord. The mediating cause, of course, is the grace of God. His grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace, as I've previously defined, and borrowing Pastor Downing's four thoughts on grace in his catechism, Grace is a principle, grace is a personification that is Christ, grace is a power, and grace is a prerogative. Grace as a very real, living, spiritual thing was what God used to show that he was pleased to save the likes of you, the likes of Saul. Fourthly, Two of the principal truths that I think maybe are lost a little bit today when we think about the gospel, but what he has done in your life. And what Paul says in verse 15, excuse me, verse 16, verse 15b, he called me by his grace, then notice verse 16a, to reveal his son in me. To reveal his son. The gospel comes by revelation, and the essence of the gospel is, he lives in our hearts by faith. Today, the gospel presentation is more along the lines of an explanation, and then this idea that, well, my life will be better if I respond to this explanation. I can live my life in a better way, without a cloud of guilt, and God will bless me and make me wealthy and all of these kinds of things. But Paul says, and the Bible says, the gospel has to come to you by the revelation of God, and the end game is, as Paul says, to reveal his son in me. My life is now no longer mine own. Whether I live, whether I die, I'm the Lord's. I've been bought with a price. I am a servant of the Most High God. It's not that I'm adding Christ to my life to make my life better, and I can live as the world lives because I've added Christ and I can still be my carnal self. It's a radical change, like it did with the Apostle Paul. You were not knocked off a horse with a light from heaven, a divine voice, but actually that is kind of what happened to you. Less dramatic, less thrilling, but really that's what God did in your life. Paul said in chapter one, chapter one in verse 12, he did not receive the gospel by man, neither was taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Remember Peter's confession of faith when he said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. When the group was asked, who do you say that I am? Well, you're Christ. And Jesus goes on to say, blessed art thou, Simon, son of Barjona. Flesh and blood has not revealed that unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. Jesus said this very same thing. He said, all things are delivered to me by my father, and no man knoweth the son, but the father. Up to this point, only the father knows the son. Neither knoweth any man, the father, except the son. Nobody knows the father except the son. But then it goes on to say, and to whomsoever the son will reveal him. It is spiritual revelation, where the Holy Spirit of God is able to take the revealed will of God in the word of God and make it that living and abiding word. It's reality. It's got a life of its own. It's spirit, it's life, it's truth. And that spiritual operation is able to change the likes of a Saul, and the likes of us. Very often in the scripture, Paul talks about this revelation, and he's always saying now to the believer, he's made known unto you the mysteries of his will, that the God of our Lord, Father of grace, would give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. God wants to be revealed in your heart on an increasingly deeper and wider basis. This is why one of the reasons, as we'll see, why he saved you. And then that second truth is to reveal his son in me. The whole dynamic of union and communion with Christ is something that perhaps has fallen on hard times because Again, the gospel has been tailored to bring about a more of an outward, a service ministry-minded activity type life now. And we're not saying that that's wrong, all of it, but Paul says at this juncture, he was revealing the Son of God in my life. He dwells in my heart by faith. And the whole idea of union and communion with Christ is really the bedrock of your foundation, the foundation of your faith. Paul would always go back to his personal relationship with God when he would do this, or he would do that, or he would teach this, or he would direct the believers to do something. Even when he was gonna die, he said, I know whom I've believed. I know him. I know him deeply. I know him richly. spiritually, it's Christ in me, the hope of glory. The gospel came to you by revelation. Who are you that God himself would reveal himself to you? We're nobodies. And then, who are you that God would now have this reality of his son, in your life to that degree that it should be, and it is. Just as thrilling as Paul when he got knocked off the horse. Just as dramatic. Well, fifthly and lastly, so the purpose. Why is God doing this in your life? Why is he doing it in Paul's life. Turn over, if you would, to the book of Acts, chapter 22, if you want to follow along. Just wanna read a couple of verses here. In Acts chapter 22, the apostle, he's come to give a defense, and he's gonna recount certain things in his life, but mainly he's gonna concern, talk about what, what happened to him on the road in verse 11 of chapter 22. He came into Damascus. And then let's pick up our reading at verse 12. And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews that dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me, brother Saul, receive thy sight. In the same hour, I looked up upon So now at this point, Saul has restored sight, he's converted, he's a changed man, he's gonna have a new and a different life at this point. And then notice verse 14 and verse 15, Ananias speaking, and he said, the God of our fathers has chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will, see the just one, shouldest hear the voice of his mouth, and for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. These four marching orders that Ananias gave him are the same things that he has given to us to have accomplished in our life. Know his will, see the just one, hear the voice of his mouth and be a witness unto all men." Now in the immediate context, of course, Paul saw the Lord and he heard the voice and all of these things in this immediate context, of course, happened, but Paul's conversion as a template of your conversion in all of its principal elements, and now Paul's purpose as a believer, as a born-again believer, is a template, not in detail as Paul's life was, but in elements, the same purpose in our life as well. Know his will. Paul was a special case, I think, providentially, As an apostle, special revelation given to him, this chosen vessel. Paul was to know God's will. Know God's, and this is for us as well, know God's will in general. That is, we have to know God's will in the world, that he's saving individuals, that he's building a church. The gospel, the scriptures. but know the will of God relative to our life as well. Here very often we get hung up on the details. Should I marry this person? Should I take this job or that job? Should I go to this church or that church? Where should I live? And in all of these, we do want to be in the center of God's will. But the Bible also speaks about a bigger picture a larger picture. And Paul, who studied for at least three, maybe seven, maybe 14 years before he got connected again with the apostles, went back to the scriptures to unlearn his Jewishness and then to build on that and learn what the scriptures, what the truth of God's word was really all about. And so relative to knowing God's will, Paul says some very general things that I think we sometimes forget. In Ephesians 5, in talking about knowing the will of God, Paul gives this imagery of contrast. Darkness, light. Evil deeds, good works. Walking in the flesh, walking in the spirit. General topics. He says, walk circumspectly, not as a fool, but as wise." And then he goes on to say, therefore, do not be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And just in case we don't get this light, darkness, evil, good picture, he goes on to give detailed ideas. Be filled with the spirit. Walk in the light. Give thanks. Do good works. And so the will of God, although we want to get it very minimal and very small, sometimes in our life the will of God is quite broad. And there's a lot within the will of God that we don't have to always know all the details about very specific things. Paul says again later, this is the will of God, even your sanctification. That sanctification is a pretty broad topic. Know the will. That makes sense, doesn't it? Doesn't it follow on from God's revelation to us? Revealing Christ to us? And then he opens up that spiritual door where we can know more about God's will in our life. Secondly, see the just one. Who is the just one? Well, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, of course. Matthew, Henry, in a very quaint way says that Stephen, Stephen seeing the Lord, Stephen saw him standing at the right hand of God, but Paul saw him standing at his right hand. In other words, Paul had Jesus very close by. We don't know to what degree Paul saw Jesus in the flesh, But by way of application, I think one way that Paul saw Christ is the scriptures that used to be this rule book, and a list of do's and don'ts, and history, now he was able to see Christ in the scriptures. The law of the offerings, Solomon's temple, the Exodus and Passover, all of these things, he was able to see the just one, see Christ working to bring about his perfect will. He saw Christ as the sum and substance of the scriptures, or as he says in Ephesians, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And this, I think, should parallel what we see in this life. We should be looking for Christ. Next he says, hear the voice of his mouth. This implies hearing, understanding, and obeying. Hearing his voice. My sheep, Jesus says, hear my voice and they follow me. And so rather than listening to the world and the culture and the society, our hearing range should be tuned to hear God's word, the word of the Lord in the scriptures, the word of the Lord, as you recall, the father said of Christ, again, at his baptism and amount of transfiguration, hear ye him, hear the Lord Jesus Christ. And then of course, lastly, be a witness. Paul said, I am the least of all the saints, and yet God has given me the grace to preach to the Gentiles of all people, the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ. We too are called to be a witness. You're not called to be a missionary. Maybe, probably. You're not called to be an evangelist. maybe, probably, but we're called to be a witness. And a witness is different than a missionary and an evangelist. A witness is one who has the Holy Spirit, knows the Word of God and the promises of grace. And at a moment's notice, we can share the gospel when someone asks us. At a moment's notice, we can hand out a tract to somebody. At a moment's notice, Others are observing us and just say, it probably starts with, they're really different. I don't know what it is about them, but they're different. Be a witness. Each of us with a diversity of gifts and graces, different talents, different areas of life that we're involved with, but each one of us is a living epistle, known and read of all men. He asks us to be faithful. Paul, it's interesting, Paul did not immediately react and go out on the dirt roads and was a street preacher. Paul prepared himself to be the kind of missionary and witness that he was gonna be. He went back to restudy the scriptures. And later he hooked up with the other apostles to hone his understanding of what this thing was all about. And Paul was, of course, as you know, a witness. And we too, you too, or to be a witness. Again, I'm not trying to downplay evangelistic efforts, but a witness is different than an evangelist or a missionary. You may be called to be a missionary or an evangelist today, tomorrow, maybe five years from now, but in the immediate context, Paul, us, are called to be a witness. That's what I want to share this morning, friends, again, When you read about the conversion of the Apostle Paul, as thrilling, as dramatic as it is, God uses those same elements in our life. Outwardly, maybe our conversion was a lot more quiet, and maybe people around us didn't know what was going on. Inside of our never-dying soul and heart, there was light from heaven, and the word of the Lord, and we were changed. Praise God. Father, we thank you for your word this morning, and we thank you, our God, for the gospel of grace. Lord, we desire to be faithful. Help us, Lord, to be not downcast if we failed, but help us to be encouraged, to live for Christ, to be blessed in him, to, like the Apostle Paul, just go forward, and doing the will of the Lord, help us to understand thy will. Help us to hear his word. Help us to see the just one. Help us to be a witness. We thank you for this Lord's Day here. We thank you for the hour of worship. Lord, we ask that in this coming week, you would go with us, bless us to that point where we can be as burning and shining lights for the gospel of truth. Help us to love the Savior more. Help us to be thankful. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.