Like most of you, I am a fan of various sports teams, and of course you know that I'm a fan of Kentucky basketball. I have to say, so you just don't take my word for it. According to CBS Sports, quote, While college basketball has an impressive group of bluebloods sitting at its table, only one program belongs at the head. Kentucky. I have strong opinions on UK basketball. Brett Becker and I, I should say, have strong opinions on UK basketball. Because I love UK, I wouldn't send my dog to Louisville or Duke University. No offense if you went to either of those institutions, but I'm sorry if you did. I've been known to shout at the television. From time to time, I've been known to go on a boycott of watching the Cats win. They had a certain coach that many of us thought needed to go for several seasons. I'm a fan of Kentucky basketball. But the truth is, my being a fan makes absolutely no difference to the success of Kentucky basketball. Even though I love UK, a lifetime of fandom probably hasn't made any difference in the success of that program whatsoever. It's given me wonderful memories. I watched a lot of those games with my grandfather and would even hear him talk about wonderful teams of yesteryear, names of champions from long ago. And it was sort of a heritage and it was just something you did growing up in my family. That's what you did. And it's meaningful to me to be a fan of UK basketball. But again, it's not so important at the end of the day. Not one player knows my name. Not one coach knows who Jason Hutchinson is. My fandom has made very little difference. And the truth is, for most of us who are Reds fans, or Bengals fans, or SC Cincinnati fans, we're very passionate about these things. But at the end of the day, we also know that our fandom doesn't make a huge difference in the success or failure of the team. If so, the Reds would be winning World Series. But alas, we do know that. It doesn't take any of the enjoyment out of being a fan, but we know a fan is a fan. But it's different, of course we know, if one is a player, if one is a coach, a manager, or even to a much smaller degree, a fan who actually goes to the games all the time and is super involved. But even at that, we know that fandom has a limit. Fans are fans, and there's only so much to being a fan. I share that with you this morning because in the context of the Christian faith, in our culture, in the context of the Christian faith, I would argue that the default position of many who call themselves Christians is that of being a fan. is that of being a fan. In other words, we believe in what Jesus did. We think Jesus has no rivals as far as our affections go. We love to sing about Jesus. Some even love to shout their praises to Jesus. But here's where we need to recognize a distinction. In John 6, Jesus has a crowd of fans who have come out to the wilderness. We'll remember 5,000 fans. That's a lot of fans, especially for that day. They've come out to the wilderness, but they're fans. They think highly of Jesus. They love the things that Jesus does. But we get to the end of our New Testament passage and we find that those fans have all dissipated. And that Jesus at the end of the day has very few actual followers. What I would argue this morning is that Christianity in the United States is very much like that. That I think Jesus has lots of fans. but sometimes I wonder how many followers he has. Robert Godfrey, a great teacher, noted that Jesus never diluted his message to make it palatable. Jesus never said, let's figure out how to make this as easy as possible. His teaching often delivered in parables sifted true believers from those seeking convenience. And so we look at John 6. In John 6, the crowd wanted bread. Jesus offered himself as the bread of life, demanding total allegiance. And God underscores this truth, writing, Jesus is demanding. His demands are not harsh. He is loving, caring, providing, strengthening, but his love calls for transformation according to God's truth. not complacency with our preferences. Jesus calls us to be disciples, followers. And so to tie this in with the illustration, Jesus calls us to be players in this game. He calls us to get up off of the bench and to get in the game with blood, sweat, and tears. This, by the way, is James point. When James says in James 1, 22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. So what in this world does this have to do with Ehud in Judges chapter three? When we come to Judges chapter three, we come to a really messy story. It's literally a messy story. We come to a story where when we read it we're not sure what to think of Ehud if we're honest. Ehud does a lot of things in this story that seem a little bit sketchy, but yet he's put forward as an example for us. And when we consider Ehud in the context of Judges 3, I think that we look at Ehud that way because we read it without considering the context. And as we do, I think that you're going to see Ehud in a different life. I want you to see Ehud as someone who is determined no longer to be a fan. but to actually be a follower, to actually live according to the dictates of God's word. And I think you're gonna see that as we go through this text in a surprising way. I want you to see this man whose story is messy, who is seemingly questionable in some of the things that he does. I want you to see him as a mighty man of God. What I would like us to see together in the text first this morning is that Ehud is a man for God. Then I want us to see that Ehud receives a word from God. And then I want you to see this, and this is true for Ehud, it's true for every faithful follower of God, time immemorial, and that is that victory and rest require conflict. Victory and rest require conflict. So let's first consider Ehud, a man for God. Look with me at verses 15 through 19 in our text. Verses 12 through 14 set things up. And you hear this familiar refrain that the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Get used to that, by the way, because we're going to read it over and over and over again. But we're also going to read that the Lord raised up a man. And so that's what we read in verse 15 through 19. Let's read that together. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a what, church? A deliverer. That's important that your Bible, the Word of God calls Ehud a deliverer, a deliverer that the Lord raised up no less, not a man who just got excited about things and determined to do something for the Lord. This is a man raised up by the Lord. He is a deliverer. His name, of course, Ehud, the son of Gerah of the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon, the king of Moab, and so Ehud is a man with an important job. He is to take the tribute that is to be gathered among Israel, essentially to pay off their oppressor, Eglon, king of Moab. Verse 16, and Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. And he presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now, Eglon was a very fat man. And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute, but he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal. So let's just stop there. Now, I have called Ehud a man for God. We know what Ehud does. And so that presents a difficult question for us. Was the taking of Eglon's life sin? Because there's deception involved in what Eglon does. It's clear that there's deception. He doesn't go in brandishing a sword, he hides the sword. He goes in to deliver a tribute. Having delivered it, he leaves with those who have delivered it and determines to go back and have private audience with the king because he says, I have a message for you, king. Well, let me give you the answer to that question and let me explain to you why I've answered it that way. Was Ehud's taking of Eglon's life sin? The answer is no. It's not sin. And here's why. I'm going to answer this biblically and then ethically. First, biblically. In verse 15, we see that Ehud's actions aren't sin because the Lord raised Ehud up for this very purpose. We read that in the text. Ehud is a deliverer. He is called by God. And that we see the remainder of this story. And we should see the remainder of what Ehud does as done in obedience to God. There's nothing in the text that would allow us to question what this man is doing. There's no note of unfaithfulness, which is what we'll get with a judge like Samson and many other judges. There's no note of unfaithfulness which we even get with a man like Gideon. But we don't get that with Ehud. We have no reason to question that his motives aren't pure motives, that his actions aren't driven by the hand of the Lord. But we also recognize that it doesn't look clean at all. It isn't ethically tidy such that you can put a bow on it and call it perfect. But it is also exactly what you would expect to happen in the time of the judges. It's exactly the sort of thing that you would expect to see. So after being told the Lord raised him up to be a deliverer, again, we aren't given any information to doubt his choices as if to question their validity. Ehud does what he does as an instrument of the Lord. And this is important because the last thing we hear concerning God's people in verse 12 is that they again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And the people cry out for a deliverer and the Lord pays or provides a deliverer. Now let's pay attention to this. God as God could do as he sometimes does and send a plague upon the Moabites. Could God do this? Yes and amen, God can do that. A matter of fact, God does it. Among the Philistines in 1 Samuel 4, we know that God destroys armies. He destroys the Assyrians during Hezekiah's reign. God doesn't need anybody's help. But what I want you to notice is that that's not God's ordinary means. God's ordinary means, especially in the book of Judges, is not to do that sort of thing. God's ordinary means is to work through people. Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn to Exodus chapter two. Exodus chapter two. And I just want you to see it here. This is one of the most momentous occasions in all of Scripture. Now we know what the Exodus is about. God works mighty miracles in Exodus. He sends ten plagues upon Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He delivers God's people through the sea miraculously and defeats defeats the Egyptian army and defeats Pharaoh. But I want you to notice how this begins at the end of chapter 2. The people of God are in slavery and we read in Exodus chapter 2 verse 24, And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew Look at the next two words in chapter three. Now, Moses. You see it? What does God do? What does God do in Judges chapter three? When God's people cry out, he does the same thing he did in Exodus. When God's people cried out for deliverance, God worked through a man. And so we see it again, that God is working through Ehud. God raises up imperfect men to be delivers for the people of the Lord. And we'll see him a bit later in the book of Judges, not too long from here, we'll see him working through a woman who has a desire to please and glorify the Lord. that God's ordinary means is to work through His people. And I want you to see that. We shall see this again and again in the book of Judges, that God raises up a follower, a deliverer. And there's important practicality in this. Nowhere in the Bible are we ever given example of godliness in a man or a woman who loves God, who worships God, but does nothing practically to exhibit faith. I want to say that again. That's not set up for you in the Bible. There's no good example in the Bible of a man or woman who appears to love God, who seems to worship God, but does nothing practically for God. In Ehud, we see a man who loves the Lord, who desires faithfulness to the Lord, and who goes out to serve the Lord. In fact, when we look at the Bible, instead of seeing a man or a woman who loves God or appears to love God, who appears to worship God, but does nothing practically, we hear again from James in James 2. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food? One of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled. But you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? That's also faith by itself. If it does not have works, it's dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. James says, show me your faith without your works. And I will show you my faith by my works. Here is Israel. Here is Israel. I wonder what you think in Judges chapter three. Let's just imagine that you're in the hill country of Ephraim and you're in the Jewish community and you get to knock on the door of your everyday Jew and you ask, sir, do you have faith in the God of Israel? What do you think he's going to say? He's going to say, of course I have faith in the God of Israel, but it's Ehud. that shows he has faith. It's Ehud that does something about the faith that he possesses. And you're gonna see this in a really cool way in just a moment. But we see that biblically, it's the right thing to do, but then we see ethically it is as well. Ehud's actions also pass the ethics test. Ethically, for Ehud to do nothing is for Ehud to break God's law. Why would I say that? I say that because Ehud, like all of us, are commanded to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. Ehud has the opportunity when called by God to end the subjugation. and correct the idolatry of God's people. For him not to do it is sin. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, helps us out here. Of course, we know that Bonhoeffer had a hand in a plot to take the life of Adolf Hitler. The same question has been asked about the actions of Bonhoeffer. Was it ethical for Bonhoeffer to play a role in that sort of thing? Well, here's what Bonhoeffer said, and something that I agree with. He said, silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. Ehud has an opportunity to act. Not to act is to act. For Ehud, this certainly would have been the case. For Ehud not to act would have been faithlessness and disobedience. It would have also assigned his own people to continued subjugation. And it would have made their calling to be holy as God is holy, to be a nation of priests, impossible, impossible. And so he acts. Ehud is a man of God, but he also has a word from God. Join with me again as we look at Judges 3, and we'll begin there at verse 15. Sorry, at verse 19. But he himself, Ahud, turned back at the idols, this is after delivering the tribute, near Gilgal, and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. And so he commanded silence, the king command silence, all his attendants went out from his presence and Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber and Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. And so Ehud delivers his message from God. His message from God for Eglon came at the tip of a sword. I want us to consider the importance of Ehud's actions in the context of the Sori. Note first, these are the actions of Israel's deliverer. The way the text describes Ehud is that he's a man of action. Right after we hear that he is a deliverer, what is the first thing we find this deliverer doing? He's making a sword. Now Ehud would have had to make this sword because of men and women under subjugation were not allowed to have instruments of warfare. One thinks of when Saul and Jonathan went to battle the Philistines, that Saul and Jonathan were the only two men with a sword. You weren't permitted to have these if you were under subjugation. And so what does he do? He makes his own. And he makes a sword so that it can be hidden. And we're told that Ehud is a left-handed man. He's a Benjamite, a left-handed man. Well, you should know that that was supposed to be sort of looked upon. Don't get mad at me, left-handers. Don't get mad at me. But that was looked upon in context as sort of a disability, especially for a fighting man to be left-handed. But Eglon is a left-handed man, and he makes a sword to hide on his right thigh so that he can grasp it and use it. And that's the first thing we hear about Ehud. He's a man of action. He intends on doing something. Then we hear that he's a man of action and delivering the tribute, and we also see The Ehud has a word from God for himself. Now, we've already been told that Eglon has captured the city of Palms, which is rebuilt Jericho, just across the Jordan River, just across the Jordan River. City of Palms is rebuilt Jericho. And look at verse 19 with me, if you would, because this is a very important verse. Let me get you up to speed what's going on. Ehud has delivered the tribute. He's been to see the king of Moab. Now he turns back to travel west, back in to what one would consider Israel. He has to cross over the Jordan to go into his homeland, which is controlled by Moab. So verse 19, but he himself, turned back at the idols near Gilgal. Let's just stop there. That's momentous. That's momentous. When Joshua came into the promised land, the first place that any Jews placed their, their first place in Israel that any Jews put their sandal in the dirt was Gilgal. Consider the text in Joshua 4, 9. that Joshua 4.9 records, and Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of Jordan in the place where the feet of the priest bearing the Ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are there to this day, the writer of Joshua tells us. And so Joshua had an altar erected so that the Jews would always remember the mighty hand of the Lord and holding back the water so that the people of Israel could cross And the first thing he did was to build an altar to the Lord. But after that, you had this enormous group of people, and none of the males of Israel had been circumcised in the wilderness. So they were entering the promised land, but they hadn't taken on the sign of the promise. And so right after building the altar, we read in Joshua 5, 8 through 9, that he commanded that all of the men be circumcised. It says, when the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, today I've rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this very day. So get this, at this place, there was an altar to the Lord constructed. So to say to all of the people of God, remember what God has done for you. Remember that it is God who brought you here. It's the place of sacred ceremony. It's the place of commitment. And Ahud has just gone and delivered tribute to a pagan king. And he's turned around and he's walking back home. And he gets to Gilgal and what does he find? What does verse 19 say? He arrived at the idols at Gilgal. Not the altar of Gilgal, but the idols. Now you can see the problem with Eglon. Eglon is doing what so many try to do when they seek to wipe out a population. They wipe away all the signs of their history. This is actually included, I think, the UN's definition of genocide. That part of genocide is removing the history of a people. And this is what Eglon is doing, and he's replaced the altar of God with idols. And Ehud has arrived there, and he said, enough. This is enough. And with the sword on his right thigh, he returns to Eglon and says, I have a word for you, a word from God. for you. And so, he takes action. Eglon, we had this description of him, it's gross, of Eglon. Eglon is severely overweight. But we also ought to know that this helps us to understand the justice in what is going on. This was a day and age when men and women died of malnutrition. And here's a king who is severely overweight. And you see this picture of a man who's severely overweight because he's taking food out of the mouths of babies. He's taking the food from families to feed himself. Not only that, but he is demanding that Israel bring an offering. A tribute, which is nothing more than a blackmail payment. While Israel was called to bring God offering, it is Eglon that is demanding the tribute. This was a tool of economic and religious oppression. And in this setting, Ehud is a unique minister of God's word to Eglon. Matthew Henry wrote of this, what message from God but a message of vengeance can a proud rebel expect? And so God speaks in justice and judgment to Moab and Eglon. Just as Ehud's sword has two sides, so does God's judgment. And the sword of God's judgment brings death to his enemy as it brings salvation to his people. So we see that God has a word for Ehud. God has a word for Eglon, but he also has a word for his people. Look at verses 28 through 30, specifically just in verse 28. Here, God speaks by the mouth of Ehud. Ehud says to the people of the Lord, the Lord has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands. Pay attention that it's the Word of God that causes the people of God to rise up and take action. Ehud, the man of God, has delivered the Word of God to the people of God. And when that happens, they rise and take action. And pay attention as well that when God's Word is delivered to the people of God, that it's an opportunity for them to express that faith that had lain dormant for far too long. God is calling them, in a very true sense, to rise up and take action. The text tells us that they won victory over 10,000 well-fed, strong Moabites. And where did it happen? at the fords of the Jordan. Same place. Same place where the idols were. The same place where the Moabites tried to get rid of any sense of God's hand. It's there that the Moabites fall. And the men of Moab are described not once but twice as strong, able-bodied men. They're strong, able-bodied men because they've been eating the food of Israel. And yet they fall at the hands of God's people. We see an importance here of the place that it happens. At the place where one crosses the Jordan, it is Gilgal. The word picture we are given is unmistakable. God is not mocked. Further, they are fleeing Israel and are trapped at the place where they decided to remove the traces of God's mighty hand. That's where they fall. And pay attention to the people. Strong, able-bodied men, because these desert dwellers of Moab were fed on the fruits of Israel. and they pay the price for it. Finally, I want you to see that victory and rest require conflict. Beloved, in order to achieve victory, God's people must fight. Now we've been over this. I've just described for you how we fight in a different way that Paul has said that our enemies are not flesh and blood, but the same principle holds true. that in order to achieve victory, God's people must fight. We have here at the end this very difficult passage about Shamgar. Shamgar, the son of Anath. Why is he there and why is he important? Well, I think one reason he's there is so that you might see that it's not as if they can just rest on their laurels. It's not as if they can just not be concerned any longer with fighting. But Shamgar is there so that we would understand that during this 80 years of peace that fighting still continued, it still went on. He's also interesting. Shamgar is included as an addendum Because his feat took place in this 80-year time period, but the lesson is clear. For them to have 80 years of rest, they will have to fight again. Beloved, listen, there's never a time, never a time, this side of heaven for you, where you can think I've made it. I want you to hear me, and I'm not pointing any finger, well, I am, but not purposely, pointing at all of us, me too, Some of us think that we have. You've not made it. We are fighting until we draw our last breath. We are fighting until we draw our last breath. We are fighting sin until we draw our last breath. And so we see this man, Shamgar. Shamgar's really interesting because he's described as a son of Anath. That, of course, doesn't mean anything to us as modern day Americans, but it would if you read it in context because Anath was a Syrian deity. It was a pagan god. So what we should understand is that this is a man mighty for the God of Israel, for our God. And so we understand that one of two things is going on here. Shamgar is either A, a convert from paganism, or B, the son of an Israelite named after a pagan deity. that God uses in the fight for faithfulness. And it teaches us something, doesn't it? Whether he is one or the other, whether it's one or the other, that God redeems people out of darkness. And as he redeems people out of darkness, he uses them for his glory. You may be here and a lot of what you've heard this morning sounds really strange to you. If you don't know anything, I want you to know that our God is still in that business. Our God is still in the business of redeeming people out of darkness, of saving people out of darkness, and using them for his glory. It's hard to read Judges 3 and find where the cross is, so I'm just gonna go straight to it. I want you to know that Jesus Christ, God's very own son, came and lived a sinless life. And he lived a sinless life so that he could die for sinners like you and I. Jesus, of course, died upon a cross and on that cross he took the full wrath of God for your sin and my sin. Word of God says that if we repent of our sin and believe in Jesus Christ, believe that Jesus did live a sinless life and he died in our place and he rose again three days later, that if we turn from our sin, And if we believe in Him and receive Him as our Savior, that we will not perish, but have eternal life. That is the business that God is in. And if you don't know Jesus, let me invite you to repent and receive Him today, which leads me into the application quickly. First point of application is that God doesn't want fans. He wants obedient followers. What we see in Judges 3 with Ehud is that God's word requires action. All Israel cries out to the Lord, but Ehud makes a sword. Ehud makes a sword. God uses Ehud because God had this man's heart. He was unlikely, he was left-handed, but also well-equipped to be the man that God would use. Beloved, I want you to see that deliverance doesn't come when people hope it comes. It comes by faith. It takes the faith of a man like Ehud to decide to act upon it, to act upon God's promises. And the same is true for us. Faith requires action. Faith requires us to do something about what we believe to be true. Consider that one of the most precious pictures of redemption in the Bible is the story of the prodigal son. We love the story of the prodigal son. It makes us weep for joy. And we know that. We know that story that the prodigal took his inheritance and squandered it in worldliness and finds himself longing for the food that the pigs are eating. And then he wakes up. And in Luke 15, 17 and 18, it records this, but when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger. And then in verse 18, I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. What does it require? It requires action. We are stuck in verse 17. It's no good to him. It's no good for the prodigal son to realize the following. He comes to himself and thinks, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish everything. It's no good to say God is good. Yes and amen. Unless we do verse 18, I will arise and go to my Father and I will say to them, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you faith acted upon. You tracking with me, church? We got to do something about what we say we believe, for that's what belief is. Dear ones, redemption itself requires a rising and going and repenting. Jesus doesn't want fans. In fact, in time, he will turn them away. He wants followers. And so let me finish with this, and this is real straightforward and simple. We gotta get off of our bottoms. Abandon our comfortable seats in the stands and get in the game. I think that's what Ehud teaches us. Because we read Ehud's story and we just feel, oh, that's a mess. But it's obedience, and it's better than disobedience. Sometimes when we think of serving God, we think of what I can do or what I can't do, and we take spiritual gift surveys and we sit on our butts and we don't do anything. Get up and go. Follow the Lord. Jesus saved you to use you for his glory, not so that you could float along in comfort and bliss. Your own victory and rest require conflict. And so let me ask you to ask the following questions. Ask yourself, is my life consumed by relatively meaningless pursuits? Is my life consumed with relatively meaningless pursuits? Hear me say this. There's nothing wrong with a meaningless pursuit now and then. There's nothing wrong with going to fish. That's not going to change your life, probably. Might turn you into a liar. But it's relatively, relatively meaningless. What I'm getting at is, what are you doing that has eternal implications? Or is your life full of meaningless pursuits? I think that so many of us are pursuing our own comfort and our own ends that we drift off into meaninglessness and we make such little impact. Ask yourself, am I doing anything that requires faith in order to succeed? Am I doing anything that requires faith in order to succeed? We all ought to answer that question, yes, in any way, yes. But are you doing anything that requires faith? Ask yourself, does my life exhibit faithfulness to God? Would my family say that my life exhibits faithfulness to God? Would my coworkers say that my life exhibits faithfulness to God? Would the person that I just met in the grocery store yesterday or at the gas pumps, and we struck up a small talk, would they say that my life exhibits faithfulness to God? And finally, ask yourself this and be honest. Am I a passive fan of Jesus? Or am I a man or woman of action? It's going to look different for a teenager as it would for an 80-year-old saint. For an 80-year-old saint, a man or woman of action would probably be a man or woman on their knees for their church, for their lost family and friends. or a teenager, it might be a little bit of that, but it might be just some hard work for those that are in need. But you know the answer to that. Are you a man or woman of action or a passive follower of Jesus? Dear ones, Jesus calls us not to come and be fans. But Jesus says to us, come, follow me. Let us pray. Jesus, give us the strength and fortitude to do that very thing, to come and follow you. Challenge us, O Lord, for surely our culture is awash in meaninglessness. with the promise of peace and prosperity. But we know, O Lord, that peace and prosperity only come when we are at your side, living obediently for your purposes. Father, help us to follow the example that we have in a spiritual sense, of course. that we might be men and women of action, that idolatry might make our blood boil, might make us sick to our stomachs, and that it might propel us to action. Father, that you would have the glory and that your people would be blessed by it. Oh God, Help us to consider whether or not we are taken up with meaninglessness. Help us to consider our faith and whether or not we are doing anything that requires faith in you. Help us to ask ourselves, Lord, whether or not we exhibit faithfulness to be challenged by that. and to be moved from our passivity into active service for you in some way, oh Lord, that we might be used of you for your glory. Oh God, I pray that if there are any here who don't know Jesus, that they might seek that salvation from the darkness to be used by you. And God, that you might, through your Holy Spirit, work among us now. For this we pray in Jesus' name and for his glory, amen.