Again, today we're missing a number of those smiling faces that we normally see every week. So the number of people are traveling, as Pastor Kevin said, and we had a great time at the wedding of Ricky and Marna yesterday. It was really a great weekend. It was a beautiful place. There was a little pond in the background and a gazebo in which they were married. The breeze was blowing. The sun was shining. It was really awesome. It was a great time. So a number of people are still there. But here we are, and before we dig into the scriptures this morning, I want to give some kind of a course that's coming up for us in terms of our preaching and ABF and just remind you of some things that are going on. Of course, you know that we have been giving this year to study verse by verse through this greatest letter ever written, the Magnum Opus of the Apostle Paul, which is the letter to the Romans. And normally when we go through long series of preaching through books of the Bible, we like to take some breaks every now and then and get a breather and put our mind on something else a little. It's a good little rest. And we're going to be doing that coming up in the month of July. So we're going to be, Lord willing, transitioning our meeting time into the building of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church right down the street, just two blocks away, and that will be on July 2nd. On July 2nd, we're going to begin two new things. One is we're going to begin a month-long series of preaching on the church. It's a good opportunity as we transition into a church building that we can remember what the scriptures teach us that we are as a church. What is the church? How does the church operate? How should we participate in the church and all the rest? So for those weeks in July, we're going to focus on that in our preaching time during our morning worship service. Then also we're coming to the end of our current ABF class and so two weeks from now we will have that break and as we usually do we'll probably have donuts and we will pray together remembering what God has done over these recent weeks and we'll also be looking forward to this transition which will happen the very next week. And so then on July 2nd, we're also going to start an ABF class that is also centered around the church. A class called, What is a Healthy Church? In which we will be looking in even more detail than we will through the month of July in our preaching. And then, after July, we'll return to Romans once again. And we'll continue on through the end of the year, gleaning all kinds of riches that we have been gleaning from this letter by the Apostle Paul. So, with that course set, let me encourage you to turn with me now to our passage for this morning, which is Romans chapter 8, verses 26 through 30. Romans chapter 8, verses 26 through 30. As we come to this passage, we have a real privilege today to set our hearts and minds on something that is very important to the Christian life. And that is understanding how it is that God cares for us. And so as we look at this passage, we're going to learn more about God's comprehensive care for his people. Now, I think that everyone in here has some sense that God cares for us. If you don't know that God cares for you, that's one of the things we'd love to share more with you about. We do that when we talk about the gospel and we remember all that God has done for us in Christ. But for those of us who do know that God cares for us, that still is something that we often forget. It easily slips our minds in the day in and day out grind of life. And it is something that we need to return to over and over again. How is it that God cares for you? What is he doing? If we did have some time now to discuss that, we would have a number of different ideas come around. But I suppose, as it would be for me without the text in front of me, I would have a hard time thinking of those. But we want to grow in our ability to know how God cares for us today as we look at this in Romans 8, verses 26-30. Now, God's care for us, as I said, is central to the story of Christianity. It is, in some sense, all about his care for us. And one of the things that we need to remember as we come to this passage and we think about our interaction with God in his world, in his covenant, what he's doing for us, is we need to make sure that we tell the story the right way. Now, as I grew up, I always loved stories about superheroes. They were probably my favorite stories and movies of all. And I think that as a Christian, even, I have grown in my appreciation of them because if you think about all of the great superhero stories, my favorite was Superman, that story is a kind of common sense earthly version of the gospel. We see this superhero figure who comes to rescue those who cannot rescue themselves. There are two ways that we could tell any of those superhero stories. And the reason that I say this is because I think that there are times in which we mix up what the Christian story is really all about. Imagine if I were to tell you the story that we know to be that of Superman, but I were to tell it to you this way in a nutshell. You were to ask me, what is Superman, the movie, all about? Well, the movie is all about a place called Metropolis, in which there are people who suffer under a villain, and they struggle and suffer, and they can't help themselves, and then someone comes and rescues them, and then all is better for them. Well, that's not really the story of Superman, because something is missing. Superman. Superman is not central to the way that I just told you the story of Superman. Who is central? Metropolis, all of the people living there, they become the central figure. Well, sometimes that happens even for us as Christians in our view and understanding of the Christian life. we fall under a kind of delusion that Christianity is ultimately about Metropolis. It's ultimately about all of the people and not about the superhero himself. Well, I think this passage is going to serve us well in flipping that script and reminding us of just how God-centered Christianity is. in fact, to remind us that at every turn in the Christian story of redemption, we are always secondary, and that God himself is always primary. No matter where you look in the scriptures, you will find that the story of Christianity is exclusively God-centered. There is not one ounce of hope ever placed in our ability to help, save, or care for ourselves. But rather, we, at every turn in the story, are depicted as captive, sinful weaklings who are in desperate, desperate need of being rescued and cared for. And that is what we find in this beautiful passage, Romans 8, verses 26 through 30. I want to show you three ways that Paul tells us that God cares for his people. Here's the first. God cares for His people because He intercedes for us by His Spirit. Let's start in verse 26 and 27. This is coming right on the heels of the last passage in Romans in which when we found the Holy Spirit at work there, He was a kind of down payment for us. We were the first fruits of His eventual plan and work, the Holy Spirit, to carry us to the very end. So Paul has already told us that the Holy Spirit is the one who's going to carry us to the final completion of God's plan. And now Paul turns his attention to now, and he shows us what the Holy Spirit is doing now in order to care for us. And here's that first way. He is praying for us. So in verse 26, Paul says this, in the same way, in the same way as he, how he faithfully, the Holy Spirit faithfully keeps us until the end, The Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself intercedes, and he does so for us with groaning too deep for words." So you see it there again. Look at the way that we are depicted. We are depicted as people who are in weakness. We are in need of the Holy Spirit to intercede for us. And one of the major reasons is because we don't know how to pray as we should. Now, this becomes very clear to any of us when we hit any measure of suffering in our lives. I'm sure that if you're a Christian and you've been a Christian long enough and you faced any kind of trial or temptation, you've come upon one of those times in which you just did not know what to say to God. You didn't know what words to use. Maybe the only words you could get out were help, help. I'm so overwhelmed by the circumstances of my situation. I'm so overwhelmed by my own exhaustion underneath the weight of the trouble. I'm so confused and deceived by my sin. I don't even know what to say. Well, for people like that, there's good news. Because in those times, there is someone more important praying for us, and that person is the Holy Spirit. Even when we don't know what to say, He does, and He is at working. It's great to have people praying for us, isn't it? We're often asking other people, please pray for me, and that is very important, but there is something even better to remember, that in the midst of all of our trial and trouble and tribulation, the Holy Spirit Himself is interceding for us. It reminds me a little of that old movie, it's funny to call it an old movie, but the old movie, Titanic. You remember that? With Leonardo DiCaprio and he played the character Jack and Jack fell in love with Rose and then in the end, you remember how the ship is sinking and there they are out in the frigid waters with other people and And Jack is clinging to that driftwood floating in the ocean, and they are freezing. There's icicles coming off of his face, and there, Rose is on top because he's such a gentleman, you know, he's making sure that she's going to be safe. And there he is, and she's just losing consciousness, and she falls asleep, and suddenly she's awakened by the sound of the whistles of those coming to rescue. And it's too late for Jack because she sees that he's already died. But she has been out there for so long that she doesn't even know what to say. She can't even get the breath out. You have a sense of what that would be like of needing help and needing to call out for help, but you don't know what to say. You can't get the right words out. She reaches and she grabs just before he slips under the surface of the water, Jack's whistle, and she starts blowing the whistle, remember that? That is the kind of situation that people like you and I find ourselves in all the time. That's what the Holy Spirit tells us through this text. We don't know what to say. And that's a problem. Because God has ordained prayer as a means of accomplishing His will. He has ordained the prayers of his people as a means of bringing about his purposes in their lives. That's why we are so often exhorted in the scriptures to be prayerful people, to be always praying, even praying without ceasing. You remember that Jesus' disciples made that request of him, teach us how to pray. They saw the importance of this. But there are those times when we in our weakness and all of our frailties and afflictions, our sickness, our shortcomings, we just don't know what to say. But here Paul brings us such comforting news of God's care for us. Listen to these words again. We do not know how to pray as we should, but The spirit himself. There it is again. You see that repetition? He doesn't have to use the word himself. It's enough to say the spirit intercedes for us. He says the spirit himself. It's again one of those ways that he's giving it punch. He's trying to punch it into our hearts. The spirit of God himself. The one who breathed life into all creation. The One who was hovering over the waters before there was anything. The One who was there when all of creation was spoken into existence. The One who gives us life. The One who keeps us. The One who is our down payment until the end. He Himself is making petition for us. The Holy Spirit is ever praying, He never sleeps, and He's always praying to the Father on our behalf. And He's praying in ways that we never could. Keep in mind as we look at this passage that what Paul is not saying is, you sure should be thankful for the Holy Spirit because He's doing what you should be doing. And that is in some sense true. But what he's actually doing is something that none of us could ever do. Because listen to three ways that he prays for us that we never could. Number one, he prays for us without words. His communication with the Father on our behalf does not require the forming of any words. There is no work that is necessary to get the words right the way we often feel. He says this, the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. It's another way of simply saying, there simply are no words. It is this work that is being done in a way that we could never do. Number two, the Holy Spirit, when he intercedes for us, he intercedes from the depths of our hearts. Now in God's grace and wisdom, he's given all of us some knowledge of our own hearts, but we know that it is only the Lord who really knows our hearts. Only the Lord really knows what's going on inside of us, and therefore only the Lord really knows what we need. Our prayers are never sufficient to give us what we need. Listen as Paul goes on. And he, verse 27, searches the hearts. This is what God the Father does. He who searches the hearts knows what's in our hearts. And he knows this because he knows what the mind of the Spirit is and he is interceding for us. the Holy Spirit who comes to live inside of us when we repent and place our trust in Christ and we're converted. He knows everything about us and he is caring for us by praying for us. But notice the third way that he prays for us and I think this one perhaps is the most awesome of all. He is always praying for us according to God's will. I regularly pray for you as one of your pastors. In fact, you probably receive routine emails from me asking you ways that I can pray for you. And I hope that as soon as you get those, you'll reply and you'll tell me, because I want to be praying for you. But even then, my prayers can only go so far. Why? Because I don't always know what God's will is. I don't always know what to pray for you. Do you remember what Jesus said to his disciples in John 14, 14? He says, if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Well, not at first glance, it seems like, wow, that's great. Anything I ask, he will do it. No, that's not what he says. What did he say? If you ask anything in my name, his name is that source of power. It is that character. It's that knowledge of God's will. It's who he is. He knows exactly what to do, and he never does anything except God's will. If you ask for something according to God's will, he will do it. Another big problem. I don't know. I don't know what God's will is. When I have a relative or a friend who becomes very sick, I don't know what God's will is. Is it God's will that my friend or my relative would get better? Or is it God's will that they would get worse and eventually go to be with him sooner than later? I don't know how to pray. So we do the best that we can and we rest. We rest in the knowledge that there is someone better than us who perfectly knows God's will, and he is always interceding for us on our behalf, according to it. He's always praying for us. So in these moments, when we feel at a loss for words, and anxiety starts to take over, that I don't know what to say, and what's going to happen if I don't know what to say? Is God not gonna come through for me because he needs me to use this ordained means in order to do something in my life? we can rest. And sometimes that's all we have. God help us. Holy Spirit, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to ask for, but you do. So I'm in for whatever you're asking for. You keep praying for me. Now, the obvious question comes up as we think about the practical day-in, day-out lives of Christians, when we think about how the Holy Spirit is praying for us, and really it's our prayers that are secondary to His. They don't have any real power of their own, but only the power that He's giving them by praying along with us, that common question comes up. Well, if that's the case, and God already knows what we need before we ask Him, then why in the world are we praying? because we're joining him. We're not doing some independent thing that he needs us to do. We're joining him. You'll never see this, but you could imagine my son and I on a tandem bike riding down the street. Who's really doing the work? I am. He's also pedaling, though, right? He's joining me in the work of pedaling. But I don't need him to get the job done. If he gets tired, and he will, if he begins to complain, and he will, if he stops pedaling, and he will, we're still going to get home. Why? Because I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to get tired. I'm going to get us all the way there. But even then, I keep saying to him, Josiah, keep pedaling, man. Keep pedaling. We're getting there. Keep pedaling. Look at me. See the way? Try to do it in the same rhythm as me. Do it just like me. Look, we're coming up here. We're gonna make a right. It's right down there. Keep pedaling. That's something like, that's a really bad illustration that falls short of what it really is, but it's at least a picture of what's going on when we're praying. Holy Spirit knows where we're going. He is the one who is peddling all of his supernatural power. And we're just following right along behind him and giving thanks for him all along the way. And so this is very important for us to remember. We should be a praying people, not because it's all up to us. but because we have been united with one who has all control and all power and knows God's will perfectly. And he is praying right along and right for us all at the same time. And that means we need to be a praying people. We need to see this for what it is. Listen to the end of verse 27. He is interceding for the saints. for the saints, those are the Christians. All of those who have been chosen and saved and brought into God's covenant, those are the people that he's interceding for. Therefore, those are the people who are following along with them in prayer. This is an exclusive privilege of Christians only. Again, why it's so important for us all to make our calling and election sure, make sure that we are in Christ Because if we are not, we do not have this kind of care going on for us. If we're not Christians, the Holy Spirit is not within us. And he is not interceding for us in this glorious way that's happening here. Now, that's just one part of the way that God is comprehensively caring for us. That word comprehensive, it means total, all around. That's just one way. Well, let me show you another way that God is comprehensively caring for us as Christians. As a result of the Holy Spirit's prayers, God the Father is causing everything to work out for our good. That's what Paul says next in verse 28. The second way that God is caring for us is he is conforming us to the image of his son. Paul says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose. That's probably a verse many Christians have memorized. But it's one also that really requires some spade work. We need to slow down and dig some of these words out that he's using. Let's do that for a moment so we can really soak in the riches of what he's doing. in causing all things to work together for us. Go back to the beginning of verse 28 and notice these careful words. We, the saints, know that God causes. That's the first word we should pay attention to. That means that God is actively working. Things are not just rolling along or floating down a river willy-nilly like, he is causing them to happen. God causes what? He causes all things. All things. What kinds of things? All things. Good things. Yes, of course. Even bad things, yes, of course. The worst of things that could ever be done to us. The worst of things that we could ever do to ourselves. Whatever comes in and out of our lives, He is causing all things to do something. And what Paul says is he's causing all things to work together. Like weaving a beautiful tapestry in which all of these different colors are being woven in and out of each other to make this incredible finished product. That's what God is doing for those who know Christ. He is causing all things to work together. and to work together for good. Not just any kind of good, for our ultimate, redemptive, eternal good. He's changing the kind of people that we are. He is working in us something that no one else could ever do. He is causing all things to work together for good, and he's doing it. to those who love God. Now, this is an interesting thing for Paul to say because throughout Romans, the big emphasis has not been on our love for him, but on his love for us. At every turn, he's been exalting how much God loves us. God loves you. He's made promises to you. You can trust him because of his love for you, but suddenly he turns it around. He says that God does all of this working of good to those who love God. to those who because of God's love have loved him. They have been changed by him. They're not just people who have been benefited by the different blessings that he gives people around the world. Those blessings have changed them. In fact, when he says those who love God, he clarifies the next phrase, to those who are called according to his purpose. So who is it that God is working all things for good? It's for those who are called. according to His purpose, those that He has called out and brought to Himself. Again, this is not something that's happening to every person. It's happening to those who are called. Now this is where we get into some deep truths. Truths that are going to cause us all kinds of consternation in our hearts. We're going to have to work with them. And no matter how long we're Christians, it's going to be one of those things that's just hard for us to get. But it is important that we get it. Because if we don't get what's coming next, we will miss a very big part of how God cares for us. Paul goes in verse 29 and he explains what he means by those who are called. And he says, for those people whom God foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that his son, Jesus, would be the firstborn among many brethren. for those he foreknew. That word foreknow, as you can tell from the two words that are put together, is to know beforehand. And as the scriptures teach us, God has known certain people from way back before the foundations of the earth. But here's the important part to get. Here's the part that is so difficult to hold onto and to embrace. When Paul uses the word for no, he does not mean that God just knows what's going to happen. When he uses the word no, he is talking about an intimate relationship of love kind of knowing. It is not that God, from eternity past, looked down into the corridors of time and he saw which people would, by their own choice, choose him, and those were the people that he decided he would save. But rather, before anything had ever happened, he had already, by a sovereign choice of his own, foreknown certain sinners, and those that he foreknew he also predestined." There's another big word, right? That's a controversial word, right? What does that word mean? It means that before, pre, a destiny was laid out, something that could not be changed and would definitely come to pass. For those whom he foreknew, whom he set his love on way before anything happened, he also predestinated them. He gave them a destiny that he would make sure would come to completion in the end. And those people would be conformed to the image of his son. Those are the people that he chose by an extravagant display of grace. to save and bring to himself. If you're here today and you have faith in Jesus Christ, you've repented of your sin and you've placed all your trust in him, when you had no power to save yourself, there you are. That's you, that's me, we made it. We're in the scriptures, that's us. We are those whom he foreknew. And you know what's so beautiful about this? is it puts us as Paul has been doing throughout Romans, it puts us right there with our Savior. Because listen to what is said about Jesus in 1 Peter 1.20. This is another way that we know the word foreknow doesn't mean he just knew what would happen and he made his decision to save based upon our decision to be saved. Listen to what he says in 1 Peter 1.20. For he, Jesus, was foreknown. before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you." Jesus himself was foreknown. It doesn't mean that God the Father just knew that Jesus would want to come and be the Savior, but rather that before anything had been done, before the foundations of the earth, God the Father foreknew Jesus. predestinated what would happen, that Jesus would come and would be our Savior, and with Him, He foreknew us. This should bring us incredible comfort. This is one of, if not the most comforting doctrine in all of Scripture, because it means that God did not leave our eternal destiny up to us. He didn't leave it up to us that we would find our way in or earn our way in. He took care of it for us. He secured our salvation. He did not just make it possible. And I am so grateful for that. Because the Bible is clear that every person who's born in this earth is a sinner. That all of us are shackled to our sin. There's nothing that we can do on our own that we would escape. If you're alienated, hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, as Colossians says, and if God had chosen to make salvation possible, who would come? No one. No one would come because no one would be able to. We needed God to do this incredible work for us, and he has done it all. Let me give you one more passage of comfort as we think about how God has cared for us in this way. Listen to Ephesians chapter one, verse three through six. Blessed Paul, again, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. That means he has blessed us with our place. We are secured in heaven and that cannot be undone. Just as our eternal security is just as sure as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, a loving act. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will. to the praise of His glory, of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved Jesus Christ. What an incredible act of love. And that act of love is not just something that happened in the past. It's not just something that's taken us to the future. It's something that's at work now. And that is what he's doing to care for us in the present moment. He's conforming us to the image of his son like a sculptor would. Have you seen a sculptor take some clay and control all of the pressure and control all of the temperature and the speed and all of the tools? And in the end, this lump of clay that was just plain and just formless Suddenly it looks like a person. That is what God is doing for you and me. He is taking everything that comes in and out of your life, and He is crafting you. He is shaving away what is not needed. He is making the necessary intentions and changes so that in the end, we will be, as Paul says, conformed to the image of His Son. And there is nothing better than that. There's no one better to try to be like than Jesus Christ, and that's what God is doing in us. In fact, everything in our lives must work for our good and for our salvation because of this. This means that all of our fretting and all of our worry is a complete and utter waste. All of our disobedience, all of our resistance, being tough clay that doesn't want to be molded is entirely counterproductive to what God's will is and His will will be done. So instead of fretting and worrying, instead of disobeying or resisting the potter's hand in our life, good things and the bad things that come in and out, the scriptures tell us over and over again we should give ourselves to Him. That we should do whatever we can by His grace to be moldable clay, to come before Him and ask Him Please mold us. Please change us. Do whatever you need to do to make us like Christ. There's nothing we want more. And the Holy Spirit is praying the same thing all along the way. Father, conform them to the image of your Son so that they would put on display how glorious you are. So there's two ways that God comprehensively cares for us. He intercedes for us by his spirit. He's conforming us to his son. And then number three, he is going to deliver us to his kingdom. Listen to this again. We have more of these rich doctrinal truths. We need more time to unpack them than we have today. But this is what Paul says. And those whom he predestined, whom he predetermined where their lives would go. He also called them. This is something that you may hear theologians call an effectual calling. It's a calling that makes a change in us. It's not just calling out to see what we will do. It's calling out the way Jesus called out to Lazarus in the tomb. It's an effectual, working, powerful calling. It's a calling that makes a difference. I don't have any power like that. I call my children all the time and nothing happens. But when God calls his children, they always come. And you know what that does for me? That gives me so much confidence in my evangelism. Because I know there's nothing I can do when I call people to come to Christ. There's no, I've tried. There's no kind of argument that I can win. I'm not smart enough to talk them into the kingdom. But I know this. I know that as we go out and share the gospel, God is faithful. That those whom he predestined, he is going to call them. And they are going to come. What confidence that gives us. If we don't know that, we have no confidence. And maybe that's why we're not real good at sharing the gospel. Because we forget this too much. When we preach the gospel, some will be saved. Not because of us, but because of Him. He's going to do it. He goes on, he says, those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified. Remember justification? That's that legal declaration that you are free. You are no longer under the penalty that would keep you out of his kingdom. No longer under the wrath of God that would cause things not to work for your good. He has justified them. Here it is, those whom he justified. He also glorified. All of those are in past tense. Those are all put in past tense to show us that there are things that are already done. And you know what the craziest one is? The glorified one. Is anyone in here glorified? I've read in the Bible about glorified bodies, and I can tell you there are none in here. None. So why does he say glorified, not will glorify? Because it's already done. It's already secured, there's no question. And it's been done since the very beginning. It was all laid out. And he's going to have his glorious, wonderful way. This golden chain of care for us is amazing. Have you ever cared for someone? Someone who really needed your care? They couldn't do anything for themselves? If not, think about what it would be like to have someone that you loved who in an accident became a quadriplegic. And they can't do anything for themselves. They can't feed themselves. They can't dress themselves or bathe themselves. They can't get anywhere. But real love would compel someone to care for them and to care for them in every way, to do everything that they needed. I am so grateful as I read this passage and I meditate on these truths I am so grateful that God cared for me like this. He did everything that needed to be done, and He has brought us in. It is a glorious, glorious reality. And because of that, we can be the people He saved us to be. Because of that, we can be people who obey Him, who want to be conformed. We can be helpful clay. We can be people who keep peddling in our prayers all the time, knowing that he has his plans and he's working them perfectly for our good. And if we could take away three applications today, these would be the three I would encourage you with. As you see this incredible care that God has given to us, it calls us to a great responsibility. None of the doctrines in God's word lead us to any kind of fatalism in which we just say, well, it's already done, so I guess there's nothing for us to do. Don't need to obey, don't need to pray, never. But rather all that he does is what motivates us to do all of these incredible things for him. And here's the first we learned today is to pray. we should all take some time and consider how prayerful we really are. Are we praying as people who have the confidence of a God who has done so many great things for us? Who has all power, all sovereignty, all wisdom, all goodness? Well, because of this, His Holy Spirit is praying for us. Let's join Him in that. Let's pray with zeal and gusto. Let's pray with confidence. Number two, as we take away from this, let's love God. Don't forget that that's how you know that you're one of these people. You love God. His love has changed you. You don't just think he's a good guy. You don't just like to read the Bible every now and then. You don't think it's a good idea to be a religious person. You love him. Because you love him, number three, let's conform ourselves with his help. to the image of his son. Let's find every way that we're not like him and fight to be like him. That is what God calls us to. And it's all a part of his comprehensive care for us. Boy, there is no better place than to be in Christ because of all of this. We would love to talk more with you if you have questions about the gospel. If you have questions about what it means to be a Christian, we want to talk with you this week after the service. And as we prepare our hearts to sing again, I hope that we'll take these truths to heart and let's hold onto them like Mary did, treasure them in our hearts and to think deep thoughts about the way that God has cared for us so that we will love Him and walk with Him all of our days. Let me pray for us. Father, thank you again for your faithful, comprehensive care for us. You have been so good to us. Help us to love you. Help us to be fervent in our prayers. We know that our prayers, along with the prayers of your Holy Spirit, make an incredible difference in our lives and the lives of other people. Make us prayerful people. Make us people who love you more and more every day. Help us to be people who really know you really love you. And then we also pray that you would continue to do this great work. We can see nothing better for our own lives than to be conformed to the image of your son. And so, Father, we ask you to do that for us. Keep changing us. Keep molding us. Keep filling us. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.