with me please this morning in your Bibles as we return to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, as we have now for these many weeks been working our way through the Lord's Sermon on the Mount. And as we approach chapter 6, we find ourselves at a very important place in our Lord's Sermon where he is presenting to us what has always commonly been referred to as the Lord's Prayer. Now, we've walked through that already, reminding ourselves that it is the Lord's Prayer only identified as such as the Lord is giving it to us, teaching us to use it as a model or as an example of prayer. And we've talked about the idea that it's a great source of prayer to use if a group is reciting, but it was not intended for God's people to continuously recite, but in fact instruct them on what should be found, what is blessed to be found in every prayer that God's people pray. And because of that, it becomes one of the greatest teachings with regard to prayer and how we are to pray. than we can find in Scripture, barring any. And so I believe that we've at least done our best to convey that to you over these past few weeks as we enter into this passage of Scripture. And I hope that it has rang true for us as God's children. As we have said so many times before, as we examine a passage of scripture that is familiar to us, and certainly the Lord's Prayer is familiar to most Christians, arguably. And so when we look at it, we imagine that we understand, that we know exactly what it's conveying. But I would confess to you as your pastor that it is incredibly beneficial to me, maturing to me. as a child of God and even as the under shepherd of this church, to once again examine closely a passage such as this with regard to prayer. And it has been both convicting and blessing for me as we have undertaken this part of the Gospel of Matthew. So as we enter into verse 11, of the prayer today that we're about to read once again. We find ourselves beginning a section of the prayer where we have gone through the first three petitions that have been clearly directed toward the throne of God and directed to God Himself. And now we find ourselves looking at three petitions that Christ has given us in this prayer that are those that are based upon our existence here on this earth, our welfare, our service to Him, and our deliverance and protection by Him. And so we have that opportunity to begin to examine this when we look at verse 11. And so we will. So as has been our custom up until this time, I'd like to read the prayer in its entirety in this text, verses 9 through 13. The Bible says, In this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Our text today, of course, comes from verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread. As we mentioned, this is entering into a portion here where the prayer is regard to those of our welfare, if you will, and are standing before God. But the prayer itself is amazingly complete. I have seen it marked by others and in various writings, and you will find it. His work entitled Studies in the Sermon of the Mount, where D. Martin Lloyd-Jones preached through this sermon as well. And he made this quote with regard to his completeness, which I think is worth repeating. Our whole life is found in these three petitions, as he begins to speak what is personal. And that is what makes this prayer so utterly amazing. In such a small compass, our Lord has covered the whole life of the believer in every respect, our physical needs, Our mental needs and of course our spiritual needs are included. The body is remembered, the soul is remembered, the spirit is remembered, and that is the whole of man. It's a wonderful presentation of thought with regard to this prayer. And if we think in those terms that we find even a greater blessing than what God is rendering to us in this model, in this example of which we are to pattern our entire prayer life on. Remember, it was the disciples having witnessed the Lord in prayer that would come to him as Luke records in chapter 11 and said, Lord, teach us to pray. And this was the Lord's response. So as we come to this first of the three petitions that are personal in their nature, we find very simply that the wording here is give us this day our daily bread. And yet, Historically in the church and even for those that are reflected in scripture, this is anything but simple in the mind of God's human creation. Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 19, and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now, it is clear that But it is a need that not only God will meet, but one that we need to understand today that God desires to meet. It is God's desire for you to come to Him and you to make these petitions, these requests, because the Lord has taught us in His Word that He is more than ready, in fact, arguably delights with regard to granting this. We look at a great example of this when we look over to the next page, still a part of this sermon of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we look at what he shares with us in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 7, where he speaks and he says, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. And then he ascribes this example. He says, or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? He then says, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? When we hear those words, we're reminded that it teaches that God is willing to grant our request. However, understand what these people were asking for. Even in the consideration of the son to the father, he's not asking for a new car. He's asking for food to eat. So we're speaking, therefore, of needs rather than wants. It's important to make that distinction because, quite frankly, from the very beginning as we look at this principle with regard to this prayer, there are some things that we need to lay the foundation for if we're to understand fully what the Lord is presenting to us in this petition of giving us our daily bread. For instance, if we look at the illustration that he gives us here in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 7 through 11, he is not only giving of the worldly love, but he's also defining it as well. Because we see, even in this request being made known in Matthew chapter 7, it is as a son does to a father. Therefore, it clearly affirms the fact, which we have presented already, that this prayer that Jesus gives as a model is intended for his children to use. asking of their Heavenly Father. In our world today, even in our secular world, when things get bad, when things are going off the rails, the entire world, believers and unbelievers alike, ascribe themselves to prayer. And they ascribe themselves to prayer to God, seeking and requesting of Him. However, the Bible is clear that this intimacy, this relationship, this communication, this obedience of us to God in prayer is that which has been given to those who belong to God, those who are of His children as He presents here. And those who are His children, what does the Lord tell us? He says, we are compelled to come. We are commanded to come. We are to come boldly with confidence, not in ourselves, but in fact, in Christ. in the desire of God the Father who wants to answer our prayers, who delights in meeting our needs according to his will. And so he delights to answer those children who choose to do it. I would offer one other thing. If we might notice here that the basis of the request that is made here in verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. Does that not tell you that this is something that needs to be prayed every day? That this isn't a once a week prayer? But the idea of this asking for is based on a daily need, based on a daily dependence, and therefore you and I are compelled with regard to our prayer life that this request, that this desire that God is so willing to meet of our needs is to be asked daily, continuously. There are some who recognize, and certainly as I do, that God is sovereign, and that I know that when Paul says He'll meet our needs according to His riches, that God in His grace and His mercy and His love provides for us even when we don't have the sense enough to ask for it ourselves. I get that. And some want to ask that question as if, well, why do we have to do it if we know He's going to meet our needs? Because God commands you to do it. And if you recall, when we began this worship service today, we talked about doing that which is pleasing to Him and not ourselves. Does God not deserve to be pleased in your life as His child? Has He not done enough for you already? That in gratitude, you would want to do nothing less than do what pleases Him, what delights Him. And what father who truly cares for and loves and provides for his children isn't heartened by the fact that the child understands that it's Him who's meeting their needs? and looks to them with honor and respect and reverence even as they consider them. So when we look at that example of a father to a son as Christ gives us in the same sermon, we're reminded a bit of the fact of what does it mean that God is ready to answer our needs. It is not that God's going to neglect us, leave us hanging on the clothesline with no hope, but God desires to hear you. God wants to hear your request. You say, but He knows my mind. Yes, and He wants to hear it. That means I don't care if you're in the closet. You don't have to say it out loud. I don't care about that because God is listening to what's happening in your mind and your brain. He knows the very thoughts in your head. What you say verbally out loud and what you think nobody else knows about. So when we honestly come before God in prayer, we come before a God who is ready and delights in meeting our needs. His desire, by the way, is to meet our physical needs. Now, you and I may not think that's news, but in fact, that's been part of the controversy, believe it or not, historically of this prayer among the church. God does care for our bodies as well as our souls. There have been many who have become, if you will, obsessed with regard to religiously in the church to presume that you and I should never, should never presume upon God some care and welfare of our physical condition. There are those who have believed that the idea of holiness and righteousness is to live what is commonly referred to as an ascetic lifestyle, meaning that they are denying themselves of all sorts of things as some measure of their holiness before God. There are those who will even rationalize and justify to themselves that they can do harm to themselves and their physical bodies, for it's only their soul that God cares about. It is this and this alone that goes on eternally. But the fact of the matter is, if you and I do a study of God's Word, you may be surprised to be reminded of how many times the Lord spent time and effort to heal men's diseases. How many times he compassionately cared for the people that were around him in his earthly ministry. We look in the Gospel of John and it was on the occasion of the Lord having thousands upon thousands that had gathered before him to hear his teaching and his preaching and his healing. And the Lord had compassion upon those knowing they had a long road home. And so what did he do? Well, they did a covered dish meal. Well, not the covered dish. Just a basket was some little boy's lunch of bread and fish, of which he provided for the needs of all those that were there that day, so that their stomachs might be filled. So when we look at this, we recognize that there is a continuation here of God's desire to care for us, that we do not serve a God, we do not approach a throne of an unfeeling, without passion God, who does not condescend to us and compassionately care for us. There has been a misconception with regard to this teaching, some that might surprise you, some that may not. We are taught historically that the early church fathers struggled with this idea of praying for God to meet a physical need by asking for the bread. There are reasons why they're tripped up on this. Number one is because the first three petitions were so directed toward God they could not wrap their minds around the fact that then all of a sudden in the fourth that somebody's asking for something of their own physical well-being. So what they did was is they determined that this must not be literal bread that he's talking about, that God is asking about. He's talking about the bread of communion, the bread of the Lord's Supper, The reason why this fit their narrative is because they were still believing at that moment, as many people still do, sadly enough, in the principle of transubstantiation. Now, that's a 50-cent word that says that the bread and the juice that we partake of in the Lord's Supper, once it has been blessed, what it has been called for, that magically it becomes a part of the body of Christ and the blood of Christ, and that you're literally eating Him and drinking Him. That is not the teaching of God's Word, by the way. It is an error, and many have seen it, and some still do not. So the early church father said, that's what this is. The daily bread that's being called upon here is not the daily bread of your life. It's not the daily bread of meeting your physical need. And so they taught in error and tried to discourage people to not have the nerve here, not have the chutzpah, if you will, to come before God and ask him for your bread. Now, as you may well know, In modern age, and certainly for a long time, when I say modern age, it covers a vast territory of years. There has been another extreme teaching with regard to such passages as give us the daily bread and the Matthew chapter 7 and giving to you. And then others would take in such passages and rope them together, such as Psalm, Psalm 37 and verse four, where it says, delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. You know what they thought that meant? They thought that meant that you could come to God in prayer and the idea of asking for daily bread, you ask for the daily $1,000,000. You ask for the brand new car, you ask for the better paying job, you ask for the bigger house, you ask for this and you ask for that because the Bible plainly says that whatever whim is in your heart and your mind, you need only ask for and God is delighted to give it to you. You might find this strange, but there have been many quote-unquote men of God who have stood from the pulpit and taught much the same. Some of them have now been indicted, but many of them are still saying these things. But God's Word does not say these things. It is not a license for you and I to ask of anything and everything. I love Arquette Hughes quip here at the end. Remember this, we are to pray for bread, not dessert. We're to pray for that which meets our need, not our wish, not our wants. The petition speaks to our need to live one day at a time. Now, we need to put some clarification with this too. So the Bible says the idea of giving us this day our daily bread. So the idea of the application here of the principle of what does it mean for you and I to live in a manner that is day-to-day. Is that to mean that you and I are not to participate in a savings account? That you and I are not to plan for retirement? That you and I are not to make any plans regarding the long-term care of our family? But in fact we just get up in the morning and see what we've got in cash and that's what we go with for the day. In reality, most all of us have enough wisdom and discernment to understand that the clarification that has to be made here is the application of this to the time and the place and the culture in which you live. To the men and women that Christ is speaking to, for many of them, they did live, in fact, from day to day. Many of them that would make up the church would have been common laborers, which means that they got paid on a daily basis. They understood the concept of what it meant when he said daily because to some of them daily was the same thing as weekly or bi-weekly or monthly is to us. Does that ring a bell? Then we understand also the economy and the way the economy works always varies to the time and place in which you live. So the Bible does not discount this idea of the application of our principle that you and I are to go against the means of working and preparing and planning as best we can. But what it does want us to know is this. Is that whatever you do. And whatever happens as a result of it, both good and bad. The child of God does not see this as good luck or bad luck. The child of God does not look at this as the failure of a politician and his economic policies. The child of God does not look at this as the foreign affairs that have failed miserably, but instead the child of God knows at the end of the day that whatever has befallen him, regardless of his plans, good, bad, or indifferent, has become and is the providence of God in our lives. For you do understand that everyone who has been redeemed, everyone that has been saved is on an absolute undeterred path to the glory and the joy and the peace and the rest that is the fulfillment of the kingdom of God. We're citizens of the kingdom right now. Paul describes it in Ephesians saying we're sitting in heavenly places even as we find ourselves in Sandy Creek Baptist Church. And therefore, we recognize that the only goal that means more to us than anything else is that of being with our Heavenly Father, perfectly equipped, ready and able to serve and to live the life that He has promised us. That doesn't mean we live recklessly. That doesn't mean that somebody sets a date and decides that's the day the Lord is going to return. So we spend all our money or give it all away because we won't need it anymore. What absolute foolishness, borderline absolute heresy. So when we think in those lines of thought, the idea of what it means to live in daily dependence upon God, it speaks to the idea that we put our confidence in Him. And regardless, regardless of that which is swirling around us, and this becomes a time for me as well as for you to apply this to our lives. Regardless of the chaos and the mess that is swirling around us right now, we do not curl up in a ball in the corner of the room and fret over the future. For we are in the hands of God. It is His providence that cares for us. And if it all falls apart tomorrow, if it all blows up tomorrow, I wouldn't mind being swept away with it. For the Bible says to be absent from this body is to be in the presence of the Lord. Now, I'm not going to harm myself. I'm not going to run out in front of a bus. But, you know, the longer I live, the less excited I am about hanging on. So when we think in those terms, we recognize that this is not the life that controls us, that consumes us. We endeavor to live it according to God's word. We endeavor to live it to his honor and his glory. But regardless of what is before us, I do not pretend to suggest that you can live your life without worrying about this. I would be an absolute hypocrite if I did. But all of us, even in our worry and our concern, must come to a resolute moment. There must be a moment when we find ourselves looking at God's Word. There must be a moment when we're looking up in prayer and we're thanking God as we petition Him for our daily bread, that we do not live for this world. We live for God. We do not rise and fall for this world. We draw a breath and we stop by the hand of God. Therefore, when we can say daily bread and our physical needs being met, We can say it earnestly and recognize, as the book of Proverbs tells us, that man may plan, and he may plan wisely, but it will be the Lord who will direct his steps. Now, when we think about the physical cares that God is concerned with, compassionate in our life, however, we cannot leave this phrase without recognizing that though it speaks of our physical care, there is a spiritual element to it, without a doubt. For Christ himself used this principle of bread as a spiritual truth. In fact, as it's been read before us this morning, as our dear brother Roger read to us, I want to return to it now. It is the only other occasion, it would seem, where anyone has asked of God, give us bread, as recorded in Scripture. Jesus recalls this to the people that he's addressing, and it is a means by which he gives them, in fact, not only truth, but a loving rebuke. Because as he addresses them this day, he has been giving them the bread from heaven sermon, as it were. What is the occasion of the bread from heaven sermon? It is the fact that those who are following him are absolutely consumed with nothing but their physical needs slash wants. On the heels of having been beautifully fed by Christ, on one side of the body of water. They get up the next morning and rather than ready to go home and tend to what they have there, they immediately began looking around for the same Jesus Christ that had fed them the day before. And once they had found that he had gotten over in a boat and crossed over to the other side, they didn't say, well, let's go home and tend to our business. No. They went over to the other side pursuing Christ. And we say it would be wonderful to say they were pursuing Christ because they really wanted to hear more teaching. But along with that, they also wanted to see if there was going to be a breakfast buffet. And so as they came to him, this sparked, if you will, the next presentation, the next teaching that our Lord gives them and truly presented here most profoundly when he responds to them. When they made reference here in verse 31, and said, after asking, what sign will you perform then that we may see it and believe you? What work will you do? And then they reminded Christ of all things. Our fathers ate the manna in the desert. In verse 31, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. That's not exactly what's written, but here we go. So our fathers ate manna in the desert. Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven. But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' And they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. In the final conclusion, what Christ makes it clear with regard to this image of bread and the image of bread from heaven versus the manna that showed up on the ground versus the bread and the fish that got multiplied from the boy's basket. And by the way, in verse 35, he threw in for good measure of reference to the woman at the well. For she was concerned and could not see above the level of what water could be found in the bucket as it had been drawn out. And Christ would tell her that what I can supply to you will provide a well springing up within you for which you will never thirst again. And so Christ brings us back to that occasion and that teaching. And he says very literally in verse 35, he who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. So it is clear that the Jews and the Samaritan woman were thinking about physical bread and water and Christ used it only to point them to their greatest spiritual need. He said that manna they were picking up every day, that's not the bread from heaven. Jesus says I. I'm the bread from heaven. I'm the bread from heaven. I'm the source of both food and water in your life spiritually. Those who consume me, those who come to me. He said those are the ones who will never hunger and never thirst. The idea of being as pointing to their great spiritual need is to understand the great notion here. Even in this idea of petitioning God for your personal need of daily bread, there is an inference here that reminds us that God does care for our bodies, and God cares for our complete being, not only keeping us alive, but keeping us filled such that we should never hunger nor thirst, meaning that the work that is done in our heart and our life is absolute complete. And I would argue to you, outside of the true message of the gospel, outside of the true message of God's Word, what it means to be redeemed, what it means to be transformed, what it means to have the atonement, there is nothing else like it. For the Bible teaches us that those who have been redeemed by God through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who have been chosen and set aside, are sealed for all eternity. There's no messing it up. There's no losing it, like your car keys. There is no rejecting or denouncing it, like some political philosophy of your life. There is none of this. That which is rescued and delivered by God is kept by God. And therefore the elements of this idea of meeting our needs is an absolute certainty. Paul can tell us in Philippians 4 that he'll meet our needs. Christ can tell us in Matthew chapter 6 that you and I are to pray that he would meet our needs. One does not contradict the other. Though the world may want us to know otherwise. Finally, I want you to look at something in verse 11 as well. It is not just in verse 11. It is in all three of these petitions. I want you to notice something significant when I when I highlight some words here in the remaining part of our prayer. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us and to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Did you notice the distinction here of the words? The prayer does not instruct that you and I pray I me. But us. We our. Such as to remind us that even as we come before the Lord in prayer, even as we plead with him mercifully on behalf of ourselves, that there should never be such a prayer that should be so focused and so selfish that you and I are not simply praying for ourselves, but for our brothers and sisters in Christ as well. Is it possible that you could care less whether I've got enough bread today? Don't answer. I would have to answer the same thing. When I pray, am I simply to be praying for me or am I to be praying for all of us? You say, but there are certain things, Pastor, that are very personal and direct. I understand that. Let me ask you a question. Is there anything that you're going through that you cannot imagine that another brother and sister in Christ is going through as well? Is your problem that much greater than anybody else's? Is your problem the singular problem in the world that nobody else is going through? Do you know there are people who are tempted and sometimes utter the thought and the word, but Lord, you don't understand what I'm going through. We do it to one another. And there's some in their frustration and their angst may even dare to say it to the Lord. My friend, when you think of the suffering, when you think of the incredible thing that you're having to endure, you would do well to realize that even at that moment when you're crying out to God, there is another brother and sister in Christ who's experiencing the exact same thing. Shouldn't we pray for them, too? So that we understand that it's not about me. Oh, my goodness, isn't that isn't that one of the greatest challenges of our human existence? It's not about me. There are some of us who even when it bring up, we actually cringe. Yeah, I know it's not about me. You know what that is, don't you? Okay, I know you're right, but really it is. You're almost disgusted when somebody points out the truth that you know and you don't wanna have to admit it. It's almost like crying uncle when somebody points it out and you reluctantly say, okay, yes, that's true. No, no, no, that's not the response. The honest response is to say, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. Shame on me. Give us this day our daily bread. It is a glorious phrase because it reminds us of the fact that God does indeed care for us, that Jesus himself would inscribe to us as a part of this model prayer that you and I are indeed to seek at his throne the very daily things that we need in our life coming to him that understanding that knowing that when we propose it in such a way that we realize that the Lord is going to always meet our needs he may not always meet our wants and in fact the suggestion is not that we should ask for what we want but instead that we should ask for what we need This is very difficult for us in this culture. There are exceptions. There are numbers of people that we've probably failed to understand and realize that live in absolute abject poverty who struggle from one day to the next. But the convicting truth is, in this country in which we live, most of the world looks at us and says, we are rich. We are wealthy. That comparably, we have no cares. There are some, by the way, who have come full circle with this idea and they look at the brothers and sisters in Christ in this country and they feel sorry for us because we're so wealthy that it hinders our spiritual life. They feel no sense of entitlement or entrapment with the material wealth of the day. They don't have a problem with their exterior circumstances humbling them. We do. Give us this day our daily bread. To understand no matter the plans that we make, as God has providentially given us even the means and the opportunity to do so, that we are still to bring ourselves before the throne of God every day and know that what we have this day is what God has provided. Not by my hand, but by his, and it always will be. That we come to God with a recognition that that same God who provides for us daily according to our physical needs, oh, It reminds us just how wonderful it is to know that he has met our greatest need. Our greatest need is not physical. Our greatest need is spiritual. And we're reminded in that same phrase with regard to bread as we look over to John chapter six, that it is the bread of life that Jesus uses as an example and an illustration of what he has done for us. May we be humbled by the fact May we be reminded that it's not about us individually. It is about us as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is about us as brothers and sisters in Christ, all made a part of the same family, given the same privilege and the same responsibility, joined together by the same bond. We sang last week, blessed be the tie that binds, the tie that is Christ. May we rejoice in that truth, may we be humbled by that truth, and may we never fail to repeatedly on a daily basis pray to God according to that truth. You must be his child. You must be one of his to benefit from the prayer that Christ has proposed to us today. To be that means that the Lord has opened your heart and your mind to see this incredible truth about yourself, to see how sinful you are. Now, to some degree, you already knew that, but God's going to show you far more. That indeed, the sin in your life is so prevalent, there is no answer that you can come up with that will remedy it. And then he will inform you After having having brought you from death to life to see such a thing that you've never seen at such length before. He will show you. He will show you the way and the life. The only way and the life that is through Christ. And he'll share with you the precious good news that resolves your bad news. And that is, you cannot remedy this yourself, but you can believe, trust, follow, and depend upon that which Christ has done for you. To recognize that He has lived the perfect, sinless life. That He is the one who has offered, not simply for Himself, but for all those whom God the Father has given to Him. He has sacrificed Himself on the cross. A perfect, sinless sacrifice. to accomplish what God would require of me, and yet I cannot bring to the table. He will take your wrath as He has taken mine. He will take the judgment of God against you as He has mine. And He will bring to you that precious gift of salvation, a relationship with Him that binds you to Him. such that you have a desire in your heart and your life to be pleasing to Him. For my friend, you and I start out as a believer with the greatest of debt. The greatest of debt. We cannot imagine being worthy of what we've been given. We cannot begin to imagine how we should ever pay back what has been provided. And yet the scripture teaches us that every day, as a true believer, we will strive to do just that. We'll want to live in gratitude of what he has given, and therefore we'll desire to live according to his word. We'll desire to be found worthy and faithful regarding the calling that is placed upon our lives. We'll stumble and we'll fall, but we'll get back up, for we will want the Lord to find us striving. working, struggling. This is the life of a believer who can look to God and say, Lord, give me this day. Give us this day our daily bread. Stand with me if you would. As Steve comes forward, prepares us for the song of commitment today, would you join me in the word of prayer? Father, how we love you and how we thank you. Lord, for as your children, you bless us each and every day. You bless us each and every hour of the day. And I can't imagine anybody in this room who does not come away with the prevailing thought that you give us more than we can imagine might be considered daily bread. Will you care for us physically? You provide for us amazingly. We are blessed. In fact, so blessed that we're tempted to take sinful pride in it. I pray we would resist that and recognize that all that we have, all that we've done has been nothing except that which you have done through us as your children. Lord, that we may be reminded as you provide for us daily, That it is only a picture and illustration of what you have provided for us eternally. Where you have met our greatest need. Not the need found physically in our stomach. But the need of our souls. The need that would save us. Set us aside with no righteousness of our own, and yet be counted righteous before God, because the righteousness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been applied to us. Lord, let us rejoice in these truths, even as we're humbled by them. For it is in the name of Jesus we pray, for there is no other means, way, or standing we have before the throne of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask. Amen.