If you would grab your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Philippians. We're in chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has a reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee. as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." Father, as always, it is a joy to be among Your people. And as always, it is a joy to open Your Word, to read Your Word, to study Your Word, to learn from Your Word. It is a joy and it is a privilege. And so we ask that now You would be in our midst, that You, by Your Spirit, would open our hearts and open our minds to receive what You would Say to us in this moment. Speak to our hearts. Mold us more into the image of Christ, we pray. Sanctify us in the truth. Thy word is truth. In Jesus' name, amen. This text in particular is a very special text to me, these verses are. These are actually the verses and the passage that I preached at Highland Baptist Church when I first candidated to the search committee almost five years ago now. So it's a very special place for me and it was really a joy this week to go back into this text in our study through Philippians and see even greater, deeper things than I saw years ago. This epistle, remember, is about joy. In fact, it's nicknamed the Epistle of Joy. The entire point, the entire thrust, the entire momentum, the entire argument is joy. We see that even in this passage this morning. He says once again in verse 1, Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. That word finally really means, so then, or therefore, it's a continuation of what he's saying. It doesn't mean that he's necessarily concluding, even though we're coming very rapidly to the end of this epistle. But he tells them once again, rejoice in the Lord. And then, as if he knows he's telling them this again, he says, to write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. You know what that means? That means He knows He's repeating Himself once again in this letter. And He doesn't really care when somebody asks me why I repeat myself sometimes. One of the answers is, you know, Paul does that, so I do it too sometimes. It helps to sink in. It helps repetition. It helps it to sink in. It helps it to really get into the heart and into the minds of who is reading. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord over and over again. He tells them to rejoice or to have joy in Christ. Our culture thinks it has a handle on happiness. All of life, according to so many in our culture, is based on a pursuit of happiness. It even says it, right, in our Constitution. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And of course, the world defines happiness in a very different light than Scripture does. personally, that our current culture defines happiness in a very different way than our founding fathers would have when they wrote that phrase so many years ago. The happiness that the world seeks is self-centered happiness. It is egotistical happiness. It is hedonistic happiness. It is happiness and pleasure simply for the sake of happiness and pleasure. It's subjective. happiness. It depends on how it makes a person feel. Whatever I feel will make me feel good. Whatever I think feels right. Whatever I think will bring me pleasure. That's what happiness is to the world. A few weeks back, I was watching an episode of Dr. Drew. I don't know if anybody in here ever watches Dr. Drew. The only reason I was watching Dr. Drew is because he had a panel discussion concerning homosexuality. It was after the Supreme Court ruling, and he had a theologian on there that I respect, and so I wanted to sort of listen and hear what he had to say. And unfortunately, the first time he was on it, he Skyped in, so he wasn't actually there in studio. And therefore, he was given like a minute and a half out of the 50 minute conversation. So every time he would try to say something, they just kind of, you know, just like everybody else does, you know, just hush and go away. But one of the panelists actually said something at one point, the second time this person went on about, What we need to do in our culture is allow people to be happy, allow people to pursue what makes them happy, what makes them feel fulfilled. And even Dr. Drew, who himself is a secularist and a humanist, even he had to acknowledge the fault in that type of reasoning. He mentioned, for example, that you can't tell recovering addicts to do whatever makes you feel happy. You can't tell the mentally unstable, do whatever makes you feel happy. Even he understood the incoherence of the entire argument, and yet the sad reality is that although he at least sees that much of the incoherence, and that much of the irrationality of it, the sad reality is that although he acknowledges all of that, his worldview offers no hope for anyone. Although he sees the inconsistencies in that type of argumentation, He has nothing to offer of value or of hope to anyone. But the Christian does. The Bible has very little to say about that type of happiness. Maybe I should say it another way, the Bible does have much to say about that type of happiness, but it calls it idolatry. It calls it sin. It calls it unrighteousness. But the Bible does speak of joy. And biblical joy is deeper and sweeter than anything that this world has to offer. Biblical joy is rooted in God Himself rather than the things of this world. Biblical joy is rooted in God as the source of eternal joy rather than the fleeting pleasures of sin. That is the ground and the foundation for biblical joy. And it is what Paul has in mind when he tells these Philippian brothers to rejoice in the Lord. Don't rejoice simply for the sake of rejoicing. Rejoice in something. Find an object for your joy to be in. And for Paul, it is the Lord and we'll see that. What he does is he takes them on a journey. that helps them to see the characteristics of those who find their joy in the Lord. Characteristics of true believers versus false believers. And the first characteristic that He gives them is that those who rejoice in the Lord discern between the false and the true. Those who find their joy in the Lord can discern between false and truth. Verse 2, look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. And he doesn't really go into specifics implying that they should be able to tell who the dogs are, and who the evildoers are, and who those who mutilate the flesh are. First he tells them to look out for the dogs. This is a little bit different. You'll remember the story in Matthew 15 when the woman came and she had the daughter who was demon possessed. And he says, it's not right to throw the food to the dogs. And she says, well, even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master's table. The word used for dog there is a different word. It is a domesticated animal. It's a pet. The word that Paul uses for dog here is a different type. It's a wild animal. It's an undomesticated dog. It's the same one that Jesus uses in Matthew 7, verse 6, "...Do not give to dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you." Peter uses this word in 2 Peter 2, verse 22, what the true Proverbs says has happened to them, the dog returns to its own vomit. And the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire. In the book of Revelation, at the very end of all things, when the Bible is being closed, in chapter 22, verse 14, we read, "...Blessed are those who wash their roads, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." That's the kind of group that this type of dog is used metaphorically to talk about people. It's an undomesticated wild animal. In the time of Christ and in the time of Paul when he would have written this letter, they ran in packs throughout the town and they would sometimes attack people, but mainly they ate out of the garbage. They pillaged and foraged for food. The term became a derogatory term for people. So who would Paul refer to as dogs? He's referring to false teachers. He's referring to those who don't properly teach. Perhaps he has in mind those that he talked about before, who preach out of selfish ambition and for unrighteous gain. In fact, he's going to go on down in verse 18 of chapter 3, "...many of whom you have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly, their glory, and their shame with minds set on earthly things." These are the dogs. They run in packs. They attack people. Beware of these types of false teachers. Beware, look out for the dogs. Look out also for the evildoers. You know, many times false teachers clothe their unrighteousness in a veneer of piety. Paul calls them evildoers. Doers of evil. And many times, false teachers, although they are unrighteous, will hold out their righteousness as if it's some sort of proof of their super-spirituality. They're like the Pharisees, right? The Pharisee in the story that Jesus tells who stood on his own pride and stood on his own righteousness in the temple. As he said, I thank you, God, that I am not like these other men. or like this tax collector. In reality, false teachers are evildoers. As I said, they just hide their evil deeds under a blanket of piety. Look out for these evildoers. They're like the Jewish leaders who falsely accused Christ and who depended on the false witness and the false testimony of men in order to accuse the perfect Son of God. They hid behind their own claim to righteousness and their own claim to leadership, but in fact were evildoers and murdered the Son of God because of it. It's the same thing Jesus says in Matthew 23 in His woes against the Pharisees when He calls them what? Whitewashed tombs. You clean the outside of the cup, but on the inside it's dirty and nasty and filthy. Your whitewashed tombs, you look perfect on the outside, you look right on the outside, you have all the boxes checked, you do all the right things and you say all the right things, but on the inside you're dead. You have the appearance of life, but you're dead. That's how Paul talks about them in Colossians chapter 3. He talks about the false teachers who are bringing the legalistic approach to things like eating and handling. Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch. Colossians 3.23. These have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism. and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh." Paul says, they appear to be wise. In Jew, that excellent passage in Jew that talks about false teachers, he calls them waterless clouds. It's a waterless cloud. It's a cloud that looks like it might bring a little bit of rain. Looks like it might bring a little bit of rain for the crops and a little bit of rain for a break in the heat like we've had over the last week. Then the cloud passes over and not a drop of rain comes down. It looks right. It looks good. It looks like it's bringing something that you need and at the end of the day it's worthless. It's nothing. It's devoid of any truth. These are like the false teachers, the evildoers. They hold out their own righteousness as proof of their hyper-spirituality. But in fact, they are unrighteous and they are evildoers. Look out for these evildoers, Paul says. And finally, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. This is a reference to Paul's primary opponent in his earthly ministry. the legalistic Judaizers. One of the big controversies that Paul has had to combat over and over again in his ministry was the false teaching that one had to be circumcised in order to be allowed into the church. One had to be circumcised in order to become a Christian. This is the controversy that he's battling in his entire letter that he writes to the Galatians. For example, in Galatians 5 verse 1, for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again, to every man who accepts circumcision, he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ. You who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. They were teaching that you had to be circumcised in order to be considered a Christian. You can read, by the way, about the Jerusalem Council in Acts chapter 15 when they convened and came together and denounced this false teaching and said, no, you don't. In fact, listen to how strongly Paul words it later in Galatians chapter 5, down in verse 11. He says, but if our brothers still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the Christ has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves. The argument that he's making is if circumcision is what makes you perfect, why stop there? Emasculate yourself. Cut it all off. He's using hyperbole to make his point. Why merely stop at circumcision? To Titus, who's in Creed as a pastor, he says in chapter 1, verse 9, that an overseer and elder of the church must hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict it. for many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, or there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. This was the primary enemy of Paul, his primary opponent in his earthly ministry was the legalistic Judaizers who constantly battled for the maintaining of circumcision within the Christian church. Not simply as something that they did, but something that they had to do, a requirement in order to be considered one of the people of God, which of course would nullify the grace of the New Covenant, which is why Paul combated it so viciously. Paul tells these Philippians, beware of these men who mutilate the flesh. That leads us right into the next point. Another way to say that, beware of those of the false circumcision. So first, believers can discern between false and true. Secondly, believers worship by the Spirit. By the Spirit. He tells them to beware of the false circumcision, and then in verse 3 he says, for we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus. In contrast to these members of the false circumcision, in contrast to these false teachers who mutilate the flesh, we are the true circumcision. And you say, in what way are we the circumcision? In the metaphorical sense, that circumcision is circumcision of the heart on the basis of the promise of the New Covenant that God would take out the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. To the Romans, he said it this way, in Romans 2, verse 29, a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God. Colossians 2, verse 11, he says, in him, that's in Christ, also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. We are the circumcision. We are the true people of God. We are the true spiritual heirs and descendants of Abraham, as he says also in Galatians. And what do we do? We worship. We worship God, and we worship by the Spirit of God, and we glory in Christ Jesus. This is really two ways to say the same thing. You worship by the Spirit, you glory in Christ. Do you glory in Christ alone? I remember hearing this somewhere and I honestly don't remember where I heard it or where I read it, but one of the problems that we have in our culture is that we glorify the trivial and we trivialize the glorious. So football season is back again. the yearly pastime for many, NFL, professional football, college football, which means that most of the conversations for the next six months for a lot of us are going to revolve around who's the best and who's the greatest and who's number one and who's going to make the playoffs and who's going to make the new college playoffs and who's going to win the national title and who's going to win the Super Bowl and so forth and so on. Now, I love football, so don't misunderstand me. I love to watch it on Saturdays. I love to watch it on Sundays. But ultimately, who cares? If you want something worthy of glory, and you want something worth talking about, and you want something worth getting excited about, start with Christ, and His glory, and His renown, and His beauty, and His majesty. I know people who will complain to anyone who will listen about coming to church and sitting in the pew for an hour, how terrible it is. And they'll think nothing about plopping in their Lazy Boy and not moving for six hours while they watch football. There's a disconnect there. There's a major disconnect there. We worship, and we glory in Christ, and we worship by the Spirit. This is exactly what Jesus said He was doing when He came in John chapter 4. The hour is coming and is now here, and the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. You remember what the woman at the well had asked Him about. Our fathers say it's on this mountain that we should worship, and you say it's on this mountain you should worship. Which one is it?" And he says, no, no, no, no, no. I'm inaugurating a new covenant. And in this new covenant, it's not going to be about a time and a place for worship. In this new covenant, worship will be in spirit and in truth. And it will be a daily activity, an hourly activity, a minute-by-minute activity. All of life in the new covenant is worship. Now we come here on Sundays for corporate worship. But all of life individually for the Christian is worship. Everything that you do is worship. Or should be. So believers discern between false and true. They worship by the Spirit. Thirdly, they put no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in the flesh." That's the end of verse 3. The circumcision, worship by the Spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Then he launches into this entire description of what it means to have confidence in the flesh. He says, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. a checklist of the work's righteousness. I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. We know that from pre-conversion Paul in the book of Acts when he was miraculously converted. He's on his way to Damascus, right? To persecute Christians. He was there at the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter 7. Of course, at the time, his name was Saul. He says, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. As far as Paul is concerned, as far as Paul is trying to describe, in his days as a Pharisee, he had done everything that he had been taught he needed to do in order to stand as righteous before God. He was blameless. He persecuted the church. He understood the law according to the way the Pharisees did. And then he says, I put no confidence in these things. that He doesn't put confidence in them, He magnifies how much He does actually have to boast about in the flesh. It's like if someone has a $1,000 bill and they hold it up in front of the church and they wave it around and they say, look at this money, it's worth a lot and a lot of you guys would want this $1,000 bill from my hand, but compared to Christ, it's worthless. Lighting it on fire. You know, that kind of argument may not quite work for someone who's poor and can barely hold up a quarter. But for someone that has $1,000 or $10,000 to say it's worthless and burn it in the name of Christ, there's a little more weight to the argument. And that's the rhetorical argument that Paul is making. We put no confidence in the flesh. And I'm not someone who doesn't have reason to have confidence in the flesh. Look who I am. Look where I came from. Look what I gave up. Because I realized it was worthless. It was rubbish. Jesus spoke like this, these sort of crazy, seemingly contradictory things. In Matthew 7, he tells them, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For whoever asks, receives. And the one who seeks, finds. And the one who knocks, it will be opened. And then in Luke chapter 13, verse 22, He's asked, Lord, will those who are saved be few? And He says, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able, when once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us, then He will answer you, I don't know where you come from. So, you know, Jesus, which is it? Are you going to open the door if I knock, or are you not going to open the door if I knock? And I think at least part of the answer is found in the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. This is just a few chapters later in Luke. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank You I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner." You say, will the door be opened or not if you knock? The answer is, it depends on how you knock. A self-righteous Pharisee would seek to enter the door of the Master with his chest puffed out and his head held high, and his knock would be quick, short raps of confidence in his own flesh and confidence in his own righteousness. Bratt's even thinking that Jesus and God would open the door, thankful that this man had made it all the way to the end, thankful to have this one into the Kingdom. the knock of pious self-righteousness. But if we come as the tax collector, those who cannot even lift our eyes because of the weight of our sin, and simply throw ourselves on the mercy of Christ, those who approach the door crawling on our hands and feet, the knock of humble submission and repentance and faith. In that story, who's putting their confidence in the flesh? And who's putting their confidence in something outside of themselves? The answer is in the conclusion to the story. Jesus says in verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house, justify, that's the text collector, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." We put no confidence in the flesh. Not our own flesh. But we throw ourselves on something different. If we aren't putting confidence in ourselves, then what do we put confidence in? And that's next. Fourth, believers, those who rejoice in the Lord, put their confidence in Christ and in Christ alone for salvation. Paul goes on in verse 7, Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things. Count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." This is Paul's wonderful, probably the most descriptive and most majestic way that he describes his personal testimony in any of his letters. Whatever I had, I counted as loss. And I had it all. as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal of persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. And all that gain I counted as loss for the sake of Christ, because of the surpassing value, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus. Jesus told us in Matthew 13, verse 44, that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found, covered up and in his joy went home and sold everything he had and bought the field for the treasure. Joy is the foundation of the Christian life. Joy in Christ is the foundation of our joy. It's no mistake that right after Luke records for us the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, just right after that in Luke chapter 18, we meet the rich young ruler. who also had confidence in his own flesh. And Jesus listed off the commandments to him. And the man said, all these I have kept from my youth. Jesus told him, one thing you lack. Matthew puts it, if you would be perfect. One thing you lack, Luke says, sell all that you have, distribute to the poor, You'll have treasure in heaven. Come and follow Me." That's the one thing that he lacked. For all of his confidence in the flesh, for all of the gain that he had attained for himself by his own observance of the law, what was the one thing he lacked? He lacked Christ. He lacked Christ. He was putting his confidence in something different, He was putting His confidence in Himself. Jesus says, one thing you lack, Me. For this man, what was really in his heart was covetousness, that's why Jesus attacks it. Sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and then come and follow Me. You must give all that you use to define your worth, and begin defining your worth in Me. That's what you lack. You lack Me. That's the call of the Gospel in Matthew 16, deny yourself, take up a cross and follow Me. Also in Luke, back in chapter 14, it says, if anyone comes after Me and does not, what, hate his father and his mother, his wife and his children, his brothers and sisters, and yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Self-denial of everything in this world that we use to quantify our worth in order to find our only worthiness in Christ and in Christ alone. In order to find our joy in Christ and in Christ alone. The self-denying call of the gospel isn't a call to joylessness. It's not a call to ultimate self-denial. It's a call to deny everything in this world and to worship Christ and Christ alone. To find your joy in Christ and Christ alone. To find your satisfaction in Christ and Christ alone. To find your treasure in Christ and in Christ alone. I was having a conversation one time with somebody about their hang-ups with the church, their hang-ups with the church's teaching and the church's dealing with homosexuality. They said that they searched the Scriptures and they finally came to a realization that they couldn't hate themselves anymore, that Jesus wouldn't want them to hate themselves anymore, that the call of the Bible wasn't to hate myself, I shouldn't have to hate myself, everybody wants me to hate myself, and that's not what Jesus would want. I said that is exactly what the call of the Gospel is. If anyone comes after me and does not hate even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. When you see Christ through the eyes of faith, you see worldly things, you see fleshly things, you see sinful things, you see good things and bad things, and you say, it's all loss. With Paul it's all rubbish, scubalon, dung, because Christ is enough. Christ is enough. What happens? We rejoice to share in His sufferings. That's the last thing. We put our confidence in Christ and in Christ alone, and finally, we rejoice to share in His sufferings. Verse 10, that I may know Him, the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. This is what makes our witness believable. He already told the Philippians back in chapter 1, it's been granted to you for the sake of Christ, not only that you should believe in Him, but also suffer for His sake. It's been granted to you, it's been given to you, it's a gift, that you would suffer for the sake of Christ. Paul warned Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. This path that you're on, Timothy, and warn all believers of this, it will mean suffering. Matthew 10.25, if they call the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? A servant is not greater than his master, nor a student greater than his teacher. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. The Christian life is promised to be a life of suffering for the sake of Christ. Paul rejoices in it, that I may share in His suffering. That I may know Him, the power of His resurrection, and may share in His suffering, becoming like Him in His death. That by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection of the dead. Howard Guinness wrote a little book called Sacrifice. This was read in a conference message I heard years ago, and now I'm reading it to you. Where are the young men and women of this generation who will hold their lives cheap and be faithful even unto death? Who will lose their lives for Christ, flinging them away for love of Him? Where are those who will live dangerously and be reckless in this service? Where are the men of prayer? Where are the men who count God's Word as more important to them than their daily food? Where are the men like Moses of old, commune with God face to face as a man speaks with his friend? Where are God's men in the day of God's power? You see, whether you're a mom or a dad or a brother or a sister, whether you still work or you're retired, whether you're still a student, married or single, you see, if you get this, how radically Christ-centered and cross-centered your life will be. If you get this. So it's no surprise that in chapter 4, He turns right back around again and says, in verse 4, "...rejoice in the Lord always." And again I say, rejoice. Let's pray. Father, we do pray that You would make us like this, that You would make us people who rejoice in Christ, put no confidence in our own works and our own righteousness, fling ourselves upon the mercy of Christ. Make us people who find our joy in Him, and in Him alone. Help us to root out and weed out any shred of idolatry, and any shred of the worship of the things of this world. that we may worship our Savior Christ and Him alone. Keep us faithful as we seek to be obedient. Keep us strong and courageous as we encounter the sufferings and the persecution of this dark world. In all this we ask in His precious name, Amen.