1 Timothy 4 and commencing at verse 1. The Word of God says, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding tamari, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nearly stop in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful sign and worthy of all acceptation, for therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth. But be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Amen, and may the Lord bless the reading of his word this evening. The days in which we live are marked by sin, by wickedness, by hypocrisy, and by deceit. The same was true in the days of the New Testament church. In that regard, very little has changed apart from the means that men use to engage in such sin. The apostles' directions and, of course, the direction of the Spirit of God in navigating such a world outside the church and inside the church was to keep watch upon ourselves. Paul's advice to this young pastor, Timothy, was very simple. In verse 6, we find that he was to put the brethren in remembrance of these things, in remembrance of the truth of God, to sum that up. And he was to nourish up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. Paul states in verse 12 that Timothy was to be an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. And that word charity is the Greek word agape, which means love. We mentioned that on the Lord's Day in the context of the passage that we considered. It's the same Greek word here, agape, love. And Timothy's spiritual life in this wicked world that was filled with deceit, his spiritual life was to grow, and there was to be profit. We see that in verse 15. And in verse 16, the apostle says, So in a world of sin, as a pastor of the church of Christ, Timothy was to watch for himself and to continue steadfastly in what he had taught or had been taught, the doctrine of God. But I want to draw your attention to verse 7. And it is verse 7 that really summarizes what the man of God ought to be in such a time as Paul describes. Verse 7 says, The man of God is not to consider or to focus upon wicked things or silly fables, silly stories. That is what we could interpret the meaning of the old wise fables, things that are untrue, things that don't merit our time. But rather, he is to be engaged in exercising himself unto godliness. And of course, this is a fundamental aspect to Christian ministry and to Christian service, exercising ourselves to godliness. And while this text is directed, this instruction is directed to a young pastor, There is an application to us all, to every believer for whom Christ died. I think if we look at it practically, it would be very difficult for a pastor who is exercising himself unto godliness, to pastor in a congregation where every member, every person who attends, has no intention of exercising themselves unto godliness. The pastor's duty, as it were, that Paul is pointing out here, is this exercise unto godliness, and going hand in hand in that, the congregation, those who know and love the Lord, are also moving forward with that goal. In sanctification and in godliness, growing and learning more about God, their lives being changed as the Spirit of God works within them. And this is a verse that is applicable to us all as the people of God. And we cannot and we must not neglect this Christian exercise that the Spirit of God sees faith to encourage in this context in the life of Timothy. Believer tonight, are you refusing the lies of this world? The silly tales and fables? Are you focusing yourself upon the spiritual and the eternal value of godliness? It's a Scottish preacher, Thomas Boston, who said that exercise to godliness is now almost worn out of the world. Exercise to godliness is now almost worn out of the world. He was speaking of his day and generation. He didn't have a time machine. He didn't jump forward to the 21st century, see how things were, and went back in time and wrote a little commentary or a sermon on that period. He's speaking about the day in which he lived, the 1700s, give or take a few years. And he's saying that in that period of time, he saw that this exercising to godliness, this desire in godliness amongst the professing people of God was almost worn out of the world. And how sad that is. It is a biblical duty. A biblical duty. But what does it mean to exercise ourselves unto godliness? The Greek word for exercise in verse 7 literally means this. Exercise naked unto godliness. There's a connection to the sports of the day, to the exercise of the day. And we can understand something of what that means. The thought is, in view of training, the athlete will strip themselves down to engage in their sport. The Olympic sprinter will not go down onto the track in the heat of the day, wearing hockey pads and wearing a hockey jersey, expecting to run with those in their sprinting gear. He's not going to win. He's going to struggle. Why? Because those garments are a hindrance. And the thought of exercising naked is a principle that many of us put into practice each year in the summer. The postman doing his deliveries in the winter may wear shorts. I've seen postmen out in minus 20, minus 30 wearing shorts. But in winter or in summer, it's very different. You'll not see a postman today wearing his thermals, his winter boots, his insulated pants, his big jacket, his scarf, and his hat. Why? Because of the heat of the day. You'll see him in shorts. You'll see him in short sleeves. You'll see him, perhaps, wearing clothing that is appropriate to that particular activity. He stripped himself of the winter garments. in order to fulfill His purpose and His duty in the heat of summer. And Paul's thought here is simple. We are to strive toward godliness, and in doing so, we are to actively remove those things that will hinder that purpose. Those things that will hinder that purpose. I remember hearing a preacher many, many years ago And he didn't preach against the television used in the right place, but what he did say was that he struggled to control it. For him, it was a hindrance. It may not have been a hindrance to another believer or another brother in Christ, but to him it was. So what did he do? He got rid of it. He got rid of the hindrance. And this is what Paul is referring to here. You're stripping yourself. You're removing the hindrances that will prevent you fully exercising thyself unto godliness. In Hebrews chapter 12, in the verse 1, the apostle says, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, strip ourselves of these things, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." And, believer, there is a race before us, a path that God has for us in this life, a path where we stand for Him, we live for Him, we serve Him, we exercise to godliness. And in order to run that path, we need to strip ourselves of the various hindrances that we meet. We often talk about a profession of Christianity, but there's much more to Christianity than a mere profession. We could think that professing Christianity speaks something of stating a particular truth, stating you're a Christian, and staying put in one place. The Christian life is moving, and this verse shows us clearly that the Christian life is a life that is flowing, a life that is in motion. The ungodly sit around and they go to hell, but the believer, his life is an exercise in godliness. There's a flow, there's a movement, there's a motion forward unto God. Believer, tonight, before we engage the main outline of this message, let me take a moment to reflect upon some helps for our godliness. When we think of godliness and we look at specific examples of godliness within our lives, we could take different approaches with this verse, but that's the approach we'll take. But we are to be diligent in the use of all means in the pursuit of godliness. God has given us means as we pursue godliness. God has given us preachers. God has given us his word. God has given us the privilege of prayer. God has given us the means of grace. We are to use those as we pursue godliness. We're to take heed of the world. We're not to love this world, but we are to be aware of it. We're not to be blinded so that it hinders our godliness. Thomas Watson said, he whose mind is rooted in the earth is likely enough to deride godliness, or to meditate upon holy thoughts, or to think on the word of God. The psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse 59, I thought on my ways and turned my feet onto thy testimonies. We are to watch our hearts. Christ told his disciples to watch. We are to redeem the time. We are to think on the brevity of life. Life is short, and if we pursue godliness, then we are absolutely ready when life draws to an end. A godly life gives us peace and confidence at the close of our lives. As we pursue godliness, we're to fellowship with the godly. We're to fellowship with the godly. Those whom we socialize with, they help form our person. They help form our person. As an eight-year-old boy, my regular school friends changed overnight from being Northern Irish to being Welsh. Six months later, what happened? I spoke like a young boy who'd lived in Wales all of his life, ruling my hours like the Welsh accent. There was a change. At the age of 11, those Welsh friends were changed to English friends. What happened? My accent changed again. Those friends around me in school, the social circle, I picked up on the accent, how everyone talked. A few years later, I moved back to Northern Ireland, and what happened? My accent changed again, back to somewhat of its original voice. And it was clear then that we are influenced by those around us. They affect us, even if we don't see the change ourselves. I had no idea my accent was changing, but yet We are influenced by those around us. And the same is true spiritually. We are to fellowship with the godly. If we desire godliness, our fellowship, our main friends, those who will encourage us, those who will help us, ought to be believers. Because we grow from their influence. Whereas if we fellowship with the ungodly, we may not even recognize or be aware that their influence upon us is not good, is not good. We're to remember that godliness is the purpose of our lives, as it glorifies the Savior. And may these thoughts help us tonight as we consider this evening, striving for godliness, striving for godliness. And firstly, I want you to see, strive for a godly foundation. If you desire to strive for godliness, you have to strive toward a godly foundation. As we exercise ourselves towards godliness through the means of grace and the Spirit's work in our lives, we need a godly foundation, a life that is founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We see firstly that this foundation is built upon faith. The Christian man or woman is a man or woman of faith. Thomas Watson wrote that faith is the vital artery. of the soul. Faith is the vital artery of the soul. It was Luther who was connected with that text, that just shall live through faith. And our godly life is the result of the work of faith within our hearts, wrought by the Spirit of God. We can think of the justification of a sinner. Their salvation through faith in Christ alone forms the foundation of a godly life, a life that has been changed. And truly we could say with the Apostle Paul, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the faith, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And believer, how marvelous that is. Christ being in our life, his spirit dwelling within us. We consider on the Lord's Day and last Tuesday the fruit of the Spirit in general and then the fruit of love on the Lord's Day evening. Do you desire to show forth the fruits of faith in your life? The fruit of the Spirit is that fruit of faith, that evidence of faith. If we desire to live godly for Christ, then that fruit of the Spirit will follow. Hebrews chapter 11 is the chapter of faith. And this chapter shows us what men and women did and what they achieved through the power of Christ. Faith is a wonderful thing. Do you have that justifying faith? Do you have that faith in God for the trials and temptations and challenges of life? When we look at faith and the saints of old, we see they had faith as they stood. Do we have faith to stand as they stood, to suffer as they suffered, to witness as they witnessed? The hymn writer said, give me the faith which can remove and sink the mountain to a plane. Give me the childlike praying love which longs to build thy house again. Thy love, let it my heart o'erpour and all my simple soul devour. My talents, gifts, and graces, Lord, into Thy blessed hands receive, and let me live to preach Thy word, and let me to Thy glory live. My every secret moment spend in publishing the sinner's friend. Child of God, if you have faith in Christ, that is the foundation for what Paul is saying here. He's saying, exercise thyself rather unto godliness. And to achieve that, to work toward that, there must be this platform, this foundation of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe rejoice in what Christ has done for us. May we give Him thanks that this foundation in all eyes has been built. May we pray that God will continue to increase our faith, to increase this great foundation. Then secondly, we see that There is knowledge in this foundation. A godly man is filled with knowledge. Many today will look at Christianity as a faith of feelings and emotions, a faith in which they can feel good about themselves. Sermons have been stripped down to short devotional talks that make men and women feel happy and blessed, not challenged, not convicted. Sermons. can feel in this aspect of knowledge. They lack the substance of teaching and doctrine, therefore they lack in increasing the knowledge of a believer. And our knowledge of Scripture helps us in the building of this foundation of godliness. How are we to live a godly life? How are we to please God? How are we to be close to God? There's knowledge, our knowledge tells us, knowledge gleaned from the scriptures of truth. Proverbs tells us that the prudent are crowned with knowledge, the wise are crowned with knowledge. If we desire to be wise as a godly man or woman, we must have a desire for scriptural knowledge. A natural and sinful man may know something about God, but he lacks that knowledge that is gleaned through an intimate relationship with God and His Word. Paul said in Colossians 1 verse 10, his purpose was that he may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Peter said the exact same thing. In 2 Peter 3 verse 18, Book Roman, grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And if this was not important, why are the apostles, under the inspiration of God, taking time to tell us to do this exact thing? It is part of this foundation of godliness growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's a knowledge that should increase. And believer, tonight is your knowledge of Christ growing. Is it growing? When you look back to the day and hour you were saved, can you say that since that point you've been growing in knowledge? That you know more of Christ today than you did those years ago. That you know more of Christ tonight than you did months or years ago. This knowledge grounds us in truth. Colossians 1 verse 23, Paul says, if you continue in the faith grounded and settled. Grounded and settled. And to be grounded and settled in the faith, we need to know the truth. And this truth is that knowledge of God. It's a knowledge that rests upon Scripture and the Spirit of God. The martyrs believed in this knowledge, and they gave their lives for it. This knowledge, it transforms our lives. Our old nature passes away and with our new nature comes a new knowledge, a good knowledge, a godly knowledge, a knowledge that exalts Christ and hates sin, a knowledge that will direct us in the paths of righteousness, a knowledge that is focused upon God. That is what theology is, that's what doctrine is, that's what it points us to, our God, our Savior, the Lord, Jesus Christ. Many today will say, and there's Christians who've said to me, they hate doctrine. It's almost a contradiction for a Christian to say they hate doctrine, because when a Christian says they hate doctrine, that really could translate as they hate hearing truths about God. whom they claim to love and serve. Doctrine can be deep. Doctrine can be hard. Doctrine can pierce the heart through the power of the Spirit of God. That teaching, we realize that something we've always held to or something we've believed is actually, when weighed up in the balances of Scripture, actually wrong. Maybe all the teaching that we've ever heard on one particular issue, all of our years, and we realize suddenly through the illumination of the Spirit of God in Scripture, And God gives us that knowledge, we realize that what we've believed for many, many years is not actually in Scripture at all. There are those that will turn away from doctrine. But this passage, this chapter, is a chapter rooted in doctrine. Timothy, the young pastor, what was he to concern himself with? One of those issues, verse 6, is good doctrine. We see it again in verse 16. He's to take heed unto himself, thyself, and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Child of God, tonight this doctrine, this knowledge, this theology of God, There may be limits to what we feel we can take in. There may be limits to how much we'll know. Certainly, we cannot learn everything. We never can. We're dealing with an infinite subject, God Himself. But do we have a desire to learn, to learn the truths of Scripture, to learn the truths of God, for this knowledge not merely to be a head knowledge? One of the lessons that we learned in the theology class at college under the Reverend James Beggs, who was one of the former lecturers in theology, was that theology was not merely to be a dry subject. It was not an academic subject. It was a subject that should pierce our hearts, that should be applied to our lives. And that is what this knowledge actually is. It is knowledge of God that we don't store up for whenever we have a Bible quiz or something like that. It may be useful. But this knowledge has a practical benefit, because this knowledge is a practical benefit. helps us to exercise ourselves toward godliness, to bring us closer to God. If you were to study the attributes of God or the perfections of God, if you were to look at the cross of Christ and what the Savior suffered and all the great truths and benefits that come from salvation, adoption, sanctification, you looked at those doctrines, even as they're described in the Shorter Catechism, Is it mere head knowledge, or do those truths fill your heart? Because this is what Christ, this is what the Savior has done for your soul. He's adopted us into the family of God. It's a theological truth, but there's much practical value. Do we love the Scriptures that contain this knowledge? Do we desire that spiritual knowledge to grow? It's knowledge that comforts us. It's knowledge that helps us. And may God open the eyes of our understanding to see these things. Secondly, I want you to see that as we strive for godliness, we're to strive for a godly disposition. We're to strive for a godly disposition. The godly man has a spiritual disposition. In 2 Peter 1, verse 4, the Word of God says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, partakers of the divine nature. Now, this verse does not refer to us actually receiving part of the divine essence in the sense that Part of us will have all knowledge and all power. We'll have something of that. That is not what it means. But rather, there's a new likeness in the image of God. We bear God's name as one of His children. We bear His image. It is one thing to profess you love God, but it is another thing entirely to resemble Him and to strive toward godliness. This is a Christ-likeness. were bearing a fruit, we could say, not a divine exaltation of ourselves, but a renewed spirit within us that desires to walk in God's ways and bears testimony of His grace and power within our lives. Godly man will therefore be marked by godliness. God is glorious in holiness. God is marked by His holiness. And so His children that strive toward godliness will also be marked by holiness. Not a pure and perfect holiness, but by holiness. We'll fall short. We'll sin. We'll grieve the Lord. But we as the people of God, as we strive toward godliness, we strive toward a life of holiness. Thomas Watson said that the goodness of a Christian lies in his holiness, as the goodness of the earth lies in the clearness of it. This is God's great design. He drives on in the world. It is the end of the word preached, the end of sermons really, we could say. The goodness of a Christian lies in his holiness. Believer, do we desire holiness? To be holy for the Lord. They are marked, the believer is marked by the fruit of the spurt that have their perfection in the Godhead. And when we think of God, He is permanently holy, permanently good, permanently truth. And that's what I want you to think upon. He's holy, He's good, He's truth, but the word permanent. God does not lose His goodness. God does not lose His truth. He does not lose His holiness. Malachi tells us, for I am the Lord, I change not. And that is part of his character. He can be trusted. And as we strive in godliness, what a joy it is for us to know that the God that we're serving, the God that is enabling us to be holy and to be godly, is a God that never changes. There's changes in the face of this earth, but our God never changes. In other words, He is a steadfast God. He is a stable God. He's a God marked by constancy. He's a God who is consistent. He doesn't sin. His attributes and His perfections do not clash one with another. We can think of God's love and God's wrath. Infinite love, infinite wrath. How can such things exist? in one person, we cannot comprehend it. But yet God's love and God's wrath and God's justice and God's holiness all coexist in a perfect harmony. For He is perfect. He has a perfect consistency. And as believers, we are to strive forward towards godliness, and part of that godliness is associated with this steadfastness, this consistency, consistent in Christian living, consistent in speech. Steadfast in our actions and our beliefs. The inconsistent man, the man who is not steadfast, is the one who blows with the wind, without a rock, without a foundation to call his own. The godly man is consistent. But inconsistency marks the unrighteous man. In Psalm 1, verse 3, we have the words that refer to the godly man as a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit. A man who prospers. But verse 4 tells us the ungodly are not so. There's a difference here. They're like the chaff which the wind driveth away. They blow in the wind. There's no purpose, there's no consistency, there's no steadfastness. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58, based upon the great truths of the resurrection of Christ, Paul says to the brethren, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Be consistent. Be steadfast. Do not move, do not change. Be strong, be true in all that you believe and all that you stand for. This is a godly aspect that marks the true believer that is striving toward godliness. That our words and our actions in life will align with the Scriptures of truth. Thomas Boston deals with this thought of steadfastness or consistency in light of the gospel and the difference between the sinner and the saint. And he says, people must either give up the name of Christians or else abandon their old exercise to sin and ungodliness. There is no consistency betwixt the two. In other words, a Christian should not be engaging in sin and ungodliness. There's a conflict. There's no steadfastness there. There's no consistency. There's nothing there that reflects the character of God, the one who is truly and perfectly steadfast. We can think of believers struggling with overcoming sin, and that sin can be a great inconsistency in their lives as they seek to live for the Lord. We can think of those who speak the truth of God. And there are many, I could name names of men that I know who stood in pulpits preaching the Word of God. They preached against sin. They preached against adultery. They preached against all those great sins. And as time passed, they fell into those sins themselves. There was inconsistency between their message and their actions, there was no steadfastness, steadfastness in speech, no steadfastness in their actions of their own hearts and lives. And as I said before, there but for the grace of God go I. The same is true of us, but for God's grace go us. And so if you truly desire to strive toward godliness, to exercise thyself to godliness, there are things that need to be stripped aside as we look toward God, and part of that is being steadfast. Being steadfast. We can think of 1 Timothy regarding the church of Christ, and We see consistency here in 2 Timothy 4, verse 2. Paul says, He's speaking of steadfastness in the Word of God. He's speaking of a consistency. In 1 Timothy 3, we see the exact same things. There's qualifications, qualifications that apply to all believers. And what do those qualifications teach? Steadfastness in life, steadfastness in family, steadfastness in marriage, steadfastness or consistency in every aspect of our character. In Titus, we see holding fast the faithful word, being steadfast in faithfulness and in truthfulness regarding the Word of God. And so the godly believer that desires to exercise toward godliness looks to the great example of steadfastness, the Lord Jesus Christ. Was his ministry marked by instability? Is His ministry marked by inconsistencies? Is His salvation marked by consistency? Yes. He is a steadfast Savior. He is a consistent Savior. These things are all part of this godly disposition. Our time has moved on. We'll draw to a close. But under this, and we'll move through this quickly, there's a love for God. There should be a fire burning within us as we exercise toward godliness. We should treasure the Lord. There should be a prizing of Christ. Christ is precious unto you, therefore, who believe. He is precious, precious above all things, precious above this world. And as we exercise ourselves to godliness, we see more of Christ. There's an indwelling of the Spirit of God as well that enables this disposition. the spiritual disposition. But notice here thirdly, and we'll move through this quickly as I've said, we're also to strive for godly worship. Godly worship. A godly man is a right worshiper of God. We'll reject the false worship of this world, but not only reject the false worship of this world, we will reject the dry, cold formality of worship. We can have, oh, or pattern right in worship. We can follow the scriptural pattern. We can follow orthodox worship. We can be conservative. But if it's void of love, if it's void of sincerity, if it's just going through the motions of our own heart, then that worship is not what we ought to be striving toward. That happened to the church at Ephesus. They lost their first love. They went through the motions. The godly man will desire a worship that burns in his heart, a worship that feeds his soul, a worship by which he truly offers praise to his Maker. We see here a love for the Word. Psalm 119 says much about this, but I'll leave one verse. Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it. Thy servant loveth it. If we desire to strive toward godly worship, we'll love the Word of God. We'll love the Scriptures. When I think of the cats that we have, those cats love to eat, all you have to do is shake the tin of treats. If one of them is missing, you shake the treats and he'll appear from under the sofa normally. He'll appear and he'll come. If you open a tin of cat food, one cat comes running, the other one is deaf, he doesn't hear, so he doesn't know the food is there, but he sees the other cat running like crazy to the food and he knows something good is happening. And he goes as well. And believer, These cats, they don't sit and calculate the amount of calories they need. They don't sit and watch the nutritional needs. They don't say, well, we're on a diet. We only want one treat today. Don't give us a handful of treats. They've no idea. They see the food, and they just desire it. Believe it, we ought to be something like a cat, where we desire the Word of God, where we long for it. Very often they sit by the treat box or by the bowls of food. There's nothing there, but they're letting you know they want some. And we are to have such a desire as that. But there's something we have that those cats don't. We know the nutritional value of the Word of God. They just eat because it tastes good or it's something to do with the time. They're not looking at all the important aspects that that food has upon their bodies, but we can when it comes to spiritual food. We need the Word of God. We need the Scriptures. May we love them. May we desire them. There's a love for praise, a love for preaching, a love for fellowship, a love for prayer. Fourthly, we are to strive for a godly life. Thomas Boston said, no person goes to heaven sleeping. The Christian life is an exercise. They have much to do. The Christian race is to be run. There are many enemies to wrestle with. And this brings us almost full circle to looking at the fruits of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit. If we are to live godly and strive for godliness, we'll exhibit the fruits of the Spirit. The godly are blessed by God. How wonderful it is to be loved by Him. And believer tonight, are you rejoicing in Him? Are you rejoicing that He has saved your soul? In a world of deceit, in a world of lies, in a world of hatred, are you desiring to exercise yourself to godliness for the benefit of your own soul and for the benefit of those around you through a witness and testimony to Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless his word tonight for his name's sake. Amen. Amen. Let us pray. Eternal God and our Father in heaven, we thank you for thy word tonight. We pray that thou would bless it to us. May we be those who desire godliness, who desire to live for thee, who desire to be steadfast for thee. Father, may we strip ourselves of all that hinders us, and may we move forward in holiness and in true godliness. Bless thy word to our hearts, we pray. As we come to this season of prayer, we ask that thou would bless us richly. Teach us how to pray, we pray, and we ask for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. As we come to our...