In Jesus name, Amen.
Amen, alright if you want to take your hymnals, turn to page number 397.
Page number 397. Little as much when God is in it.
Page number 397.
[singing]
Welcome back everyone.
The verse of the week is Psalm 51 verse 10.
Psalm 51 verse 10.
"Created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
That's Psalms 51 verse 10.
So there's times for 10.30 this morning and 3.30 this afternoon.
There's Wednesday evening Bible studies at 6.30 p.m.
So many times where yesterday at 10.30 there was a salvation and today at 1.00 p.m.
and there was another salvation which brings our total of salvations for October 1st to 7.
Which is a total of 84 for the year so far.
Alright, today was church picture day so I hope you had a chance to get your photo taken
and get your family taken and hey, it's good to have that.
That was a blessing, beautiful setup so I'm really glad that that happened.
November 11th will be the next homeschool day.
So if you plan to attend please just let Ms. Kylie know.
November 15th will be the next Cheney Soul winning.
Let Ryan know so he can organize that event.
November 23rd will be the kids choir practice after the morning service.
So if you wish to have your kids in the choir, I'm sure for a holiday special,
please just let them know and have them ready then.
On November 30th will be the next men's preaching night
and we're going to mix that with a pie social.
So sign up for preaching, sign up for a pie,
and let's have a good night that night.
Kids, remember Proverbs 28-13.
If you can memorize that, tell Miss Kylie you can receive a piece of candy.
And if you have any other prayer requests that need to be in the bulletin,
please let the Thompsons know.
With that, let's turn to the Lord in prayer.
Heavenly Father.
Alright, so if you want to take your blue psalm books,
turn to Psalm number 119.
Psalm number 119.
And if you do not have a blue psalm book,
please raise your hand,
and I will give you a copy.
119.
Psalm number 119.
I said, thy testimony.
Pray for the office.
Give what we can, Lord.
Even if we only have two minds,
the Lord will do as much when you are in it.
Everybody to Sure Foundation Baptist Church,
if you could go ahead and take your Bibles
and turn to 1 Peter chapter 2.
1 Peter chapter 2.
And as always, here at our church,
we read the entire chapter before the preaching.
1 Peter chapter 2, the Bible reads,
"Wherefore, laying aside all malice
and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that ye may grow thereby,
if so be ye have tasted the Lord is gracious,
to whom coming as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious,
ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house
in holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture,
behold, I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded.
Unto you therefore which believe he is precious,
but unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner,
and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of a fence,
even to them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.
But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation,
a peculiar people, that ye should show forth
the praises of him who hath called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light,
which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy,
but now have attained mercy.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,
a stain from fleshly lust which war against the soul,
having your conversation honest among the Gentiles,
that whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
they may by your good works, excuse me,
whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
they may by your good works, which they shall behold,
glorify God in the day of visitation.
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's stake,
whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors,
as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers,
and for the praise of them that do well.
For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men, as free,
and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness,
but as the servants of God, honor all men,
love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king, servants.
Be subject to your masters with all fear,
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the foward.
For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief,
suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it,
if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently.
But if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently.
This is acceptable with God.
For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.
Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.
When he suffered, he threatened not,
but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
Who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye were healed.
For ye were as sheeps going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.
Brother Jake, could you please pray for the preaching?
Amen.
Alright, so I know it's been a minute,
and this sermon is going to be a little bit different than how I normally preach.
Because today, kind of like one of those things, you have a big event,
and I don't know if you've ever seen like a big soul winning missions trip or something,
and then you come back and you preach on that.
Well today, the sermon is reflection on having a babe.
Reflection on having a babe.
This is not how to have a good child, I'm sure I'm too young on that,
but I'm going to just say life is about experiences,
and even though I'm a very academic person, I love to study, I love to do that,
you can learn everything through a book, and you can have knowledge,
but yet you do it, and it is very different.
So today I just want to give some reflections.
The reason why is I believe having a child is such a deep meaning,
and it is kind of deep in my understanding on many different things.
It's hit a bunch, I'm going to try to hit many different topics,
and here's the thing is, one of the most important takeaways from this, I believe,
is having a child, as we call the heavenly father, having the chance to be a father,
I do not say I understand the mind of God,
but yet I think I adapted a deeper understanding of the love of God
by being a father myself for a short time.
And I think it's so important to understand this, and so if this sermon doesn't hit everything right,
it's more of a, I would say a spiritualized sermon, a more reflection sermon,
it's not a hard doctrine sermon, you disagree with anything, that's probably fine.
This is just the way it hit me, and I'm just sharing that with you, hoping you'll be edifying.
But here's the thing, if you're in 1 Peter chapter 2,
just go back to 1 Peter chapter 1 to verse 23 very quickly.
And it says, "Being born again, not of corruptal seed, but incorruptible."
We cannot be born again spiritually until we are born
and understand that we do come from a corruptable.
But Lord willing, through a good life, we will by the world be saved,
which we will live forever, for all flesh is grass,
and all the glory of man as a flower of the grass.
The grass withered, and the flower thereof faded away.
It is incredible to hold a newborn life, and yet as great as that is,
it is so mind-bending, at least for me to think.
This little man is incapable of all, so gentle, so small,
but I have no control of what he will be.
I can raise him and do all that.
He may grow up to be one of the greatest pastors.
He may grow up to be a drunkard.
I don't know what his life will bring or the fate of that,
but it's amazing to think that at one point I was so helpless and small,
and even if I have my pride and think I've made it so far in life,
I have gone so much, I've done so much, I'm still just this babe.
I am nothing of this world.
This world will forget me quicker than anything,
and yet even though that saddens me, it humbles me when I look into my son's eyes.
Just a babe. We grow for a little and we fade, but yet in the flowering,
just when we see the flowers, don't we love to see flowers?
I ain't even a man, just nod.
Women, you know how the flowers are beautiful when they're in bloom?
Isn't it beautiful to see new life?
It's humbling. It's part of life.
But here's the thing, the Word of God endures forever,
and this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you,
verse 1 of chapter 2 where I had you read,
"Wherefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, all hypocrisies,
indies, and evil speakings as a newborn babe."
I've never read that verse and realized,
do you know how you can set aside all those things?
It's impossible for you unless you're newborn.
The little boy back there is the only time in his life
he will not have any malice, any guile, any hypocrisies,
indies, or evil speakings.
He's not capable of it. He hasn't done that.
It isn't amazing. You don't got to get too old before that's true.
You have a two-year-old. You have a new one.
There's some envy about who mom picks up.
To not have all that, which God is commanding you to do,
you would have to be like a newborn child.
And I thought that was mind blowing. It's like, this child,
and I'll get into the doctrine I flex on,
he does not have any derailing.
He doesn't have evil speaking.
Sometimes he screams, but he's hungry.
Don't blame me. That's not wrong.
He's just like, hey, the one feeling I have,
that's not evil. That's not wicked.
But to put aside all malice and guile and hypocrisy
and any evil speaking, that's a newborn babe.
Because hey, you know as a newborn babe,
the only thing you can do, it says right there,
desire milk.
Literally all they can, that's all they figured out what to do.
They get grumpy, they have some gas or whatnot,
but all they can do is ask to be fed.
And God says when you have your second birth,
that's what you need to return to.
That's exactly how you need to be.
All you need to do is just turn to His Word and just take that.
And what's interesting to me when I reflected on that
is hey, not only is it just true that the child is literally sinless,
he can't even have an evil thought yet.
That's how he would wish us to be.
But you're not going to be like that.
But you should return to the Word of God like milk.
Because despite what people say, be like,
here, use a commentary, use a devotional, it's just too much.
Weird, God says it's like milk that you can give to an infant.
And as a babe in Christ, if you can't take the Bible, you're ill.
I guess you need to be put on an IV and get something even simpler,
but you're not, you can never be grown.
If you can't take the milk of the Word, you can't ever get the meat,
so you can't ever become a theologian, a philosopher,
if you can't take the straight milk of God's Word.
And I just get that by looking at this.
I've had a lot of time holding a child through nights, through hospital trips,
and all that, to think about what does this mean to me.
And this is just kind of some of a reflection.
As a newborn babe designed the sincere milk of the Word,
that you may grow thereby, the only thing a babe can want
is milk, and it helps them grow.
As a newborn Christ in your second birth,
all you should really seek for, and I understand,
I'm talking to so many people that have had years of years
or a life longer, but the milk is what you need to grow.
The sincere milk.
You know what's crazy? That's all you need to grow.
Now preaching helps, there's different ways to deliver it,
but it says you can grow thereby.
And in verse 3, in chapter 2 it says,
"If so, be ye of tasted, the Lord is gracious."
Isn't it amazing?
When you receive your second birth,
if you would just humble yourself and just seek the milk of the word,
then you understand, hey, you all loved,
God died for you, and then he gave you a blueprint for your life.
If you understand, and he wrote it in a way that affects you now,
he wrote it a thousand years ago and it's applicable to you right now.
Why? Because the creator of the universe wrote it for you.
And you understand, that is a gracious God.
You understand that God is gracious because he gave you everything you need.
Look, all a babe needs is that milk.
Isn't that incredible?
Isn't it insane that some people just think that's accidental?
You're like, just randomly we produced everything a baby needs.
It's strange because if they didn't involve the suckle, they would die.
Anyway, all parts of the sermon I could get lost on
and keep you here for like six hours thinking about,
because I've had a lot of time thinking about, you know, having a baby.
But it's crazy. But understand what God says.
He says, "As a newborn baby, design this here that you may grow.
And if so, you have done that. You have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
If you would just take the Word of God, the milk, the clear teachings of the Bible,
and you just eat that. Just look, look, we all get interested in revelations,
maybe how the world began. Hey, maybe, you know, whatever you can get lost in.
But you know what? The things that will keep your life and make you grow are actually the simple things.
The milk of the Word will help you grow. And if you understand that, you can see the grace of God.
Because guess what? What He wants from you is not always the most complicated thing.
And in the sermon this morning, He says, "You know what God wants from you? Do what you can."
What a grace! Let me tell you this. Our Heavenly Father is graceful.
He's the God of grace, God of patience. He's full of grace.
And hey, if you have accepted the grace by getting saved, you'll understand that He is grace.
But isn't it interesting that we call Him our Heavenly Father?
Because let me tell you this. I don't think I've ever understood grace better than the past month.
Maybe a month and a half, we include my wife, as she, you know, there's a lot of things going on.
She needs a lot of help. You have to give a lot of grace.
But what's interesting with a child, it is one way. One way grace completely.
And I've come to understand how amazing that it is.
If you would turn, turn to Romans 11, if you could.
Romans 11 verse 6. Romans 11 verse 6.
Because let me, this, I don't know if I've ever heard this put together.
It's so clear, so that it just boggles my mind.
And I'm sure I will bring it up to somebody at some point.
But Romans 6, or sorry, Romans 11 verse 6, it says,
"If by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, works is no more works."
When you get saved and born again, you receive that grace with no works.
Let me ask you this, with your first birth, did you earn it by works?
You absolutely did not. It is insane to think that you did.
Because let me tell you, that kid is lazy. He just eats and sleeps.
But I'm going to tell you this, I have to give grace all the time.
Let me just say, and we have grace with different people in different ways.
Because let me explain this. If my boy comes up and he had pooped his pants,
when I try to help him with that, he pees on me, he then pukes on me,
and then cries he wants to be fed. If that's Honda, he's getting kicked out of the house.
But then that one gets a lot of grace. It ain't cool, right?
So grace is a little bit different, because we understand, because it's one way.
It's just never boggled my mind that this child, who I have affection for, grace for, patience for, has never done a thing for me.
And I realize I've grown up in a transactional society, and I've never truly understand so deeply how much that is,
that truly to see all the virtues that God asks us to do, it actually needs to be exactly one way.
So it does not matter how it comes back to me, and even though I think I have grown in patience,
grown in love, grown for fellowship with the brethren.
Man, having a child you learn one way, that's pure.
I don't think I've ever understood that.
And let me tell you, if God gives me grace, why?
Because He loved me first.
I can love Him because He first loved me.
That's the way I would treat the child.
I don't think I've ever seen that so purely.
If you're in Romans, go ahead and turn to Romans 15.
Actually, you turn to 1 Thessalonians 5.
You turn to 1 Thessalonians 5.
I'm going to read Romans 15.
Romans 15 verse 1 says, "When they are strong,
all they bear the infirmities weak and not to our own pleasures."
I've had so much time to focus on the virtues of a Christian
in the past, you know, month or however long it's been.
That's amazing, I think.
When I implement that to the way I'm supposed to treat
and the way you have to treat an infant, it's the purest form.
I always have in my mind, when I think of virtue,
I'm thinking of man to man, adult to adult.
I mean, you know, even Honda, I mean, like, as a teenager to me.
But that's great if you work man to man, but you understand the virtues.
It should be in the mind, I believe, to the purest sense,
and if you don't agree, that's fine, to what you would treat an infant.
Because it is one way, and it is not going to be reciprocal.
And what it says is, if you are strong, if you are a strong man,
then you should be able to bear other people's problems.
You should be able to lift them up.
You should have the infirmities of the week,
and can you get weaker than a newborn infant?
My gosh, I don't know how true it is,
because I've supported that neck since day zero.
Because I've been hurt, and you better support that.
So I think it's like, it's literally paper like,
"Oh, it's been freaking out."
But I have supported that with all my strength.
But let me tell you this, even though, yes,
it's talking to the brethren as a whole,
a lot of these are just spiritual things,
but take the metaphor of a child is all I'm asking for this sermon.
That literally, you can support a child,
you learn how to take care of the weak,
those other than the sickly,
the ones that don't pay you back.
It is a one-way love and relationship,
and I believe that's how God the Father actually asks us to do it.
And for me, I'm calling myself out.
I don't think I've ever truly recognized that.
You're in 1 Thessalonians 5,
1 Thessalonians 5, look down at verse 14.
It says, "Now we exhort you, brethren,
warn them that are unruly,
comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak,
be patient towards all men."
I tell you, you'd have to do that with all children.
You have no choice.
I think it's very clear why, most of the time,
when you see people that can take care
of those hardest cases,
those that are actually born
with physical defects or mental defects,
isn't amazing it's usually not their only child.
They have others.
I think the Lord does that so you have people
can train, because let me tell you,
if you have many, many children,
obviously you're great, and you can see that
whether you've ever had children or not,
that parents of parents of parents,
lots of kids, they have a certain ability
to deal with drama, patience,
stress, all that,
and yet they usually can still show grace
to other people. Why? They've been
trained. They've taken the
weakest minded, the sickliest
sick, the weak feeble,
the ones that, they can't even walk!
You see, the parents,
they've got one on their back, one under their arm,
and they're dragging a sword behind them,
and they still have to call two others to fall.
God is literally telling you to do this,
and I understand in context this isn't about children,
but can you all see how having children
would lead you to having
the virtues that God has already asked you to do,
to have the patience to lift up that
you take your strength that you think you have
and the glory of your life before your flower
fades, and what you do is you help the others.
And that is something you just have to do
when you have children. And I truly believe
seeing grace, because giving the grace
to a child, as I've already said, hey,
you're going to lose stuff,
cry stuff, lose sleep,
you know, all this, why?
To take care of someone who is not thankful to you,
they just expect it.
It's funny, in every other context of my life,
I've always been like, well Lord, I guess I'll do it,
and this one, it's a joy. And I'll get to that.
Here, you turn to
you turn to 1 John
4, 18, 1 John 4,
verse 18. And I already quoted this,
but I'll say it again, 1 John 4, 19,
it says, "We love
Him because He first
loved us."
We love Him. We love Jesus.
We love God. Why?
He first loved us. We could not
have gotten saved before He first
loved us and showed us the grace
through His Word, through what we did,
and having a soul winner expound the Word
unto us. But understand this,
I don't think I could have ever understood
what that truly meant.
Like, I just took it by faith, like, that's
what the Word says, that's what I believe.
But to understand, when I look at this child
who I believe recognizes
me now, but I don't think he
can't comprehend love. But I'm turning my
whole life upside down for him. And I do it
with joy and happiness.
And I expect nothing from it, because there's nothing
that will come from it. And if you go back
one verse from that,
in 1 John 4
18, it says, "There is no
fear in love, but a perfect
love casts out fear, because
fear has torment.
He that fear is not
made perfect in love." And kind of what
hit me here, and maybe
I perfectly said, "Sleep to five
and everything going on in the past month, I am
probably insane." That's fine. But I want to
explain this, is that, not to go
into many details, there was complications,
there was this, but the child came out,
it was fine, you know,
had a bruise on his head, you know, it's whining,
it's crying, but man, I haven't slept in nights,
I have it, and finally the child
calms down. He even kind of smiles.
It is calm. And I could feel
sleep take over me as the overwhelming
peace of having a sleeping child
who takes over. And then do you know what crawls
into the, the edge of my mind?
It's calm because it's dead. I mean, it makes
sense. I literally woke up multiple times
being like, "Oh, he's so peaceful, so calm."
This is perfection. It must be because
he's dead. And I, I don't mean to,
I'm not, my only point is
I scared myself into not sleeping
more nights than I could have slept
because I was so worried. And let me tell you,
that was not perfect love. I eventually had to
be like, "He's fine. He's
always been fine. If the baby's sleeping,
stop poking him to see if he's breathing.
Alright? Leave him alone!"
And maybe I'm insane. Maybe that's just me.
But I'm going to say, I was
freaked out many times because nothing was wrong.
Because he's always whining. He's always
rolling. He's always hard. But then a few times,
now here's the thing is, now he's sleeping.
I have a fear. Give it to God.
You know? He's sleeping. It's
great. And now I can feel that love
more perfectly because I don't have fear.
I don't want to say, I know things happen,
but I had no reason to believe that. I was
freaking myself out. And that's not perfect
love. And if I don't have that
anxious over nothing, I can love him more
purely. And as it says, I'm
loving him first before he could ever love me.
And I just think that's an interesting reflection
of God's Word in our life.
Now here's the thing, turn, uh,
if you can't keep up, I know I'm going to move fast.
Romans 12 verse 9, it says, "Let
love be without dissimulation.
Uphold that which is
evil, cleave to which is good."
Let me explain that, like, this is
maybe just a reflection on me, you can judge me all
you want in this, but I'm not sure
I have ever actually loved without
dissimulation before. That is a word
that is a concept that I understand
philosophically.
I understand what an ideal
love would be, but I have found
that I expected most of my relationships
to be transactional in some way.
The church member, you know, I do this
and this, I expect basically
certain things, otherwise I get grumpy.
Or, you know, at least hold it back,
need to work past that, race ships,
it's just, I found that I, I did not
understand how transactionally
I viewed relationships
until you have an infant. I love without
the simulation. I'm like, oh,
I'm going to throw away his diaper, maybe
my pants now, I don't know, like everything's destroyed.
Can't be angry at the child.
Like, at least I have not. Like,
grant you, sometimes you haven't slept at all
and all this, and sometimes, like,
my lovely wife, do you mind
watching the child for a little bit?
Maybe it's a little less of an archetypes,
but I don't know if I've ever actually
loved without the simulation. And what
I'm trying to say is, I feel
for mere grumps, not that I understand
the mind of God, but for a
moment in time and a deeper
thing that I personally have never
experienced, I understand
the glimpse of what I think God's
heart is. And some of these words
and these expressions, these ideas
seem more alive because now I
am having just a drop of perhaps
that grace of God within my own
life as my Heavenly Father reflected
in the physicality of being
a father. I just think that's a wonder.
In Romans 15, in Romans 15
in verse 5, Romans 15 in
verse 5, let me explain,
this is necessary. Now the God of
patience and consolation
grant you to be like-minded one
towards another according to Jesus Christ.
And I know all these are about the brethren,
but understand, do you have to have patience
with kids? You have to have patience with kids
when they're not your kids, if you're going to be
a good church member, alright? But having
a child or an infant
or a pregnant wife, patience
is not just a-
like, it's a necessity. And I think
having a child, cause you know when- you know
how quickly a child will be calm
when it wants? You know when you need to stop
calming them? When they- when they stop
telling you they need to be calmed? Here I
am! You know, I feel I'm in the height
of my glory, the prime of my life.
I've got someone who doesn't even speak English
ordering me around. I thought this was America.
You've got to have patience. And may
God grant you a like mind because
He's the God of patience. Can you imagine how long
suffering He is with us? I'm talking about the
firstborn, but everyone who's
been born again is because the grace of
God He's shown to you
and giving you a feeble-minded little
one that needs all your attention just to
stay alive teaches you so many things
and patience is just an absolutely necessary
one. If you turn to Colossians
1, Colossians 1, while you're
turning there, in James 1 verse 4
it says, "But let patience have
perfect work, that you may be
perfect in
entire, wanting nothing."
And I thought this as I'm here
4 a.m. holding my child
so my wife can have a break, I'm thinking
you know, you have patience
you have everything you want, because everything you want
if you had patience you'd be like, someday
at some point, this verse
never hit me as hard as I did when I
heard it, like I said
4am, holding a child who's a little
I don't know, gassy, he ain't sleeping
I can already tell, this isn't
going to be a peaceful morning, it just says
but let patience have
her perfect work
because let me tell you this, if you have
you already love, you love the child
you have the grace to show that whatever
they do, you let it go, but if you have patience
you have no current wants
and do you understand, you know
what drives us mostly mad
is our desires, our wants
and here's the thing is, the worst thing is, I want it now
and you have children, you better be like
we'll put that off to the side, I don't even care what that is
it could be like, man I want a sports car
yeah that's gonna have to go away aside
sometimes like, I want a hot food
you're gonna have to do this
sometimes like, I want a non-pute covered shirt
well, eventually we'll get there
patience work her perfect work in your life
and I was like, my goodness
what's a desire if I just have patience
and God says, I know how to give you good things
if you just wait upon me
I know how to give you that and I know how to give you more
if you just have patience, what do you care?
my gosh
holding a child in the middle of the morning
I'm not upset, I'm not grumpy
I realize, if I just have
patience in all areas of my life
what am I suffering from?
patience is such a virtue
and having a child, an infant
just reflect this so much
if you turn to Colossians
in Colossians 1 verse 10 it says
you might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasures
being fruitful in every good work
and increasing in knowledge of God
strengthen with all
might according to his glorious
power unto all
patience and long suffering
with joyfulness. And this is exactly
what I was trying to explain. You can
get all work done. You can get
everything done. You can get through
all those things. You can work for God
and you can increase in knowledge. Hey
how is, excuse me,
how is Brother Remy learning Greek?
Patience. It is, how is he
increasing in knowledge? Over and
over again he gives. He's saying he gives
what he can towards it. It takes
time to learn a language. Some of us
won't do that. Hey, how do you get anything
that's worthy done? Patience and
time. And it's literally saying,
and here's the thing is, having a child
explain this so much because it says,
"Strengthen me with all might according
to his glorious power until patience
and long-suffering
with joyfulness." And like I said,
like, I totally get that whole joke
where people are like, "Oh my gosh, you're
getting put on, you haven't slept and all
that, and hey man, what's
the next one?" And here's the thing is, in
a trans-actual, you know,
value-based society, you're like,
"Well, let's write all the positives and all
the cons and we'll just kill our society."
But it doesn't, that's actually, it doesn't add
up. You can put all the negatives there
and joy. Well, now I'm
going to take all my anti-depressants and
all this because I don't feel joy. Well, make
your life harder. Have a kid. And I'm like,
I'm not even being negative. Like, it doesn't
make sense. And let me tell you, like I said,
academically I study, I say, "Hey, the Lord of God says
'Hey, happy is the man who has many of
them.'" And I have them, I'm like, "Wow." Yeah,
life is not easier, but it's more
fulfilling. And what are people missing
in their life? Fulfillment.
Joy. And God literally says,
look at this, patience and long
suffering. What is long suffering? Suffering
long. I love old
words. And if you ever, even if
you rudely learn Latin, that's how all
they are. It sounds fancy to our ears because we don't
know what to say. They literally just take words and
it's like, there we go. That's the whole
different thing. But long suffering
means you're suffering for a
long time. Joy.
American mind just exploded.
I have a headache. Drug. I'm
not happy. Another drug.
Well, why don't you, you know, and
look, look at me when I say this, why don't you change
your diet, get a little exercise. Whoa.
No, no. Quick. I like candy.
Give me in candy form. Just pop it.
Tick tack. Let's go. But God literally
says you need to have patience
to do all his glorious work and all his
mind. How do you strengthen and increase knowledge?
It's patience. With
suffering. With joy.
And I think without your mind, without experiencing
something that has brought that to you.
And here's the thing. I'm sure in
other parts of your life, if you train for a
sport forever and you got injured, but yet you had
to train, you found joy in suffering for a long time.
But I'm just saying, a child, an infant,
all that, long suffering with joy.
It just blew my mind. Patience.
And here's the thing is, just to continue on with the virtues,
what else does God love to see in people?
How about meekness and humility?
Meekness and humility. You go
to turn to Proverbs 16 and
verse 19, Proverbs 16, verse 19,
and Proverbs 29 and
verse 23, it says, "A man's pride
shall bring him low,
but honor shall uphold
the humble in spirit." I think one thing
that is just very good for the spirit,
and I have seen this for years, long
before I ever had a child,
long before I even had a wife, to be honest.
The men of this church that preached
had kids. One thing that was very
interesting is I saw through that
and I can see in myself now,
how uppity and prideful
and arrogant can you get
with baby puke all over you?
It's not something we ever bring up
but I have seen wise
people, honorable people
and let me tell you this, there's something about having
a child, children that
humbles you because you may want
to be the most proper, militant
perfectionist there is
and there's not a problem with that
but it's really hard if you have
three kids running around screaming all the time
right? If you have four, five of them
or you just have one that's
gassy. You're holding a kid that's
farting all the time, it's really hard for you to have a
very stern conversation and
anyone here probably knows like
and I'll just say me and my wife do this
it's not this but like you know we'll be
saying something about each other and the kid will make a noise
positive or negative like yeah
that's right, he agreed with me
you know
humbling, it's something meekful
of this because hey
if you turn to Proverbs 16
verse 9 it says, "Better it is
to be of the humble spirit with lowly
spirit, than to divide in the spoils of
proud." Something about having little kids
it's just going to humble you
it's going to make you meek
because it's so hard, you just can't
like you have kids dragging you
in every way, you want to do this
they want to do nothing, like everything
and nothing about that, and it's hard
you have to have the patience, you have to show
that grace, and you have to have that love
and one sided for them, all the virtues
coming down to show what humbleness
and in Galatians 5.23 it says
meekness and temperance against such
there is no law
meekness and temperance
let me see, I mean
there's just something about having a little kid
I mean, you guys know for a long time
I'd be up
force my wife up, she'd make food
get this, we'd pick people up
we'd drive, we'd get all there
have all these things, try to make sure that
everything is ready for church, and now I'm like
we almost got to church on time
the first time we came back man
I haven't traveled much with the little one yet
it's humbling, take your timetable
and then just put them in and get patience
it'll happen
I feel like I'm on island time now
yeah brother
we'll make it, don't you worry alright
it's humbling, and I have to take a lot
of my pride, of what I've built up
and this is how it's going to be
and I'm still the man of the house, I still have to
set a distance, but there's a grace period
there's more of a grace period
than there has ever been before
and I just think that's humbling, that's meekness
and here's the thing is, if
nothing I've said makes anything, these are all the virtues
that, as I'm just holding a child
and like I said, a lot of the sermon came at
4am, you know, just
holding a child, just thinking like, wow
God, I think this is why
it's so true, you know, the wife of your youth
I think you're supposed to, if you have
this, how much of a life do you spend
in the correct order of things, taking care of
others, if you have a child young
in life? I'm a hypocrite
but here's the thing is, I can reflect
what is right, and I can see the virtue
of what it was, what it should have
been, but here's the thing is, these are all
the virtues, you know,
excuse me, and I think I can
understand more of what God
calls virtues quicker because I've had the experience
of having to give these all one
way, I have to love without
receiving, I have to give grace without
receiving, I have to have patience, and I
have to have the humility to handle
someone who needs my strength
to merely survive.
And with that long-suffering,
I find joy in that. I think for a moment
I can better understand when I see God,
like, how do you deal with us? And I've always
tried to think, like, man to man, like, man,
I just don't know if I could give Jason that much
grace if he was the children of Israel towards me.
But then I think of, to God,
I'm probably not even as great as
this infant. I'm a babe who
just needs the milk, sincere milk
of the word. And if I see that
as how God would see me, I see more
so what the grace and long-suffering
he would have for me. Because for a moment
in time, I see unreciprocal,
one-sided love in my
own life. And I go, "What
gracious God that I serve."
Now here's the thing is, I've gone through many
virtues. And I'm sure there's many that I've missed.
These are the ones that hit me. But let me tell you,
it's not just virtues of the Bible I've
seen. There are doctrines. And these are
not in any particular order, as nothing in this sermon
really is. But I will tell you this,
there are doctrines I see now that
I understood academically, that now
I'm like, I just don't know how
you could not have this. And let me explain this. This is
very strange. Whether you know this or not,
I haven't seen my parents because
of, they have moved on for over 15
years. But here's a doctrine that
hits me very hard now,
is in Ephesians chapter 6,
verse 2, "Honor thy father
and mother, which is the first commandment with promise,
that it may be well with thee, and
thou mayest live along
on this earth." My parents have been dead for a long
time, and I will say over the past
month, I've had more respect for them
than I probably did in the
last 20 years of their life.
There's nothing I can do with that, because
despite the rights and wrongs that happen in our
lives, I think so much of the later time,
I've always heard, "Well, yeah, yeah, I'd give
you milk," and I'm like, "Who cares?"
Because I don't remember that time in my life. I cannot
imagine what a different relationship I might have had
had I just had children right out of high
school, because it's humbling to think
this is how I once was.
When I think of who I am, it is
never the infant. It is
never, I would literally die
if you decide to just leave me outside
like some girl going to...
that's not part of the sermon. There are
horrible things that happen. There are horrible
things people do, but let me tell you this, this child
relies on the strength
of those stronger than it.
And it is just expected.
But I'm going to tell you this, I
cannot, I've never
never had a stronger opinion like
wow, honor thy father and mother, it's
too late for me, but my gosh does it make
so much sense now, because guess what, I
think honor your parents is like this,
because hey, who gave you your first birth?
Your mother and father. Who gives
you your second? The first command.
You love God your heavenly
father. If you don't love your heavenly
father, because you never loved your earthly
father, I bet it's a little bit harder for you to get
saved. At least I think that's probably in my life
is what happened. But my gosh,
I have been sitting here with
parents over a decade gone
going, wow, I did not honor them.
And somehow holding my own child
in my own lap made me reflect of my
own shame for where I was in my own
life. And I'm just saying that is
a doctrine, even though I believe that
the Bible says when I got saved, that's
what I accept. It's just something different where I go,
wow, what they did for
me. What I made later in life
and all the problems that I ever remember
wasn't during this stage.
So that is something that just boggled my mind.
This one may sound funny.
I don't know how many of you, maybe your child
took it differently. The first
washing was very painful.
This child did not
like getting bathed.
Now I think later, I think we all maybe like
that's at least my, I remember like kid, but that's like
five, six, you know, they love baths.
First one he hated it. They're like, where are you going
with this? I'm like, hey, Proverbs 26 verse 11.
As the dog returns to his vomit, so does the
fool return to the folly. But I thought about it, if I'm
lying this, your first birth, man, that
first time he gets water, he's like, ah! It wasn't cold,
it wasn't hot. Hated it. Screaming.
You would have thought we were like
rubbing like, I don't know. It just
thought this was the worst thing ever. And I
thought, you know what? That's pretty much like
a newborn Christian when you
start cleaning up their life. They literally think
it's the worst thing ever. Like, I can't live
without that dog! Dude, I'm just
washing you. Dude,
we're using a soft cloth.
We're not getting it at all. Like
screaming. And I'm talking about myself.
Man, I've told you there's things I did not
let go. Like, first washing wasn't
good enough to clean my life up when I got
saved. And it's funny, I mean, I saw
our, you know, little
baby Paul there, man. He was
just, like, he wasn't even dunked in the water.
Like, it was like a little spray on his leg.
He's like, this was kind of me when I
first came to the church. I'm like, what do you
mean I gotta get rid of this? What do you mean
that this is what I've always... I
think it's fine. Yeah, this infant thought it
was fine too. He's pooped himself and he would
stay that way forever. I've decided I
want it clean. You're like...
So I literally thought, like to me, it hit me.
I was like, man, I guess the first time
I clean. But hey, after you start cleaning up
your life, eventually you don't
want to be dirty. Maybe the first one you
just kind of got to work through. This one,
you know, at this age he doesn't have a choice.
I'm hoping, you know,
hoping by the time he gets old enough that
he does it himself. And don't we
want that from a babe in Christ?
Hey, at first it may be hard
to clean up a little of your life, but at one point
you might find you enjoy it. What you
once loved you despised, and hey,
we might be able to let
go of the folly of our past. It's
at least a thought. Another thing that has helped me
a lot with this child, for me personally,
like I said, this whole sermon is about me.
I hope it's edifying, but I'm just saying
all about me. How about prayer?
I'm going to say, having this child
has changed my prayer life.
One, I've had a lot of
prayers. I think all of you who
have taken time to pray through the many
prayer requests I gave over
like, I don't know, four, five, six
weeks. So one, I've
had to have a lot of faith in God because
I'm completely powerless. I think I always
said, you ever want to see a man lost and
confused and powerless? Put him in a
birthing room. I don't know what I'm doing there
other than to be more awkward than anything
else there. I am completely powerless
and I don't know what I'm here
to do, but I feel lost, confused,
and I've never wanted
to go back to work so quickly.
I'm out of place!
There's a lot of blood and action going on
and I don't know what to do. He said,
"Praise God, so pray." Pray, pray,
pray. But here's the thing is,
turn to Romans 8, Romans 8,
Romans 8 and verse 26, it says,
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth
the infirmities, for we know not
what we should pray, for we ought.
But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us, with groanings which
cannot be uttered. And he
that searches the hearts, knoweth what the mind
of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints, according to the will of God."
I'm like, "Paul, what does this bring up
to?" I've always said, "Well, it makes
sense that God can speak in all tongues,
so if we don't word our prayers right, he can
translate it for us." But now
actually having an infant
cry, I go, "I don't even think we
need words." It's always been interesting
to me when, before I had a child to
see mothers, I hear a kid, I'm like,
"Is he in pain?" They're like, "No, they're laughing."
"No, he's just gassy."
I think they're having, like, a horrible time.
But now that I have a kid, he
prays all the time to me. He's like,
"Meh." I was like, "Oh, he just wants to roll
on the side." "Meh." He's hungry.
He's got gas. I'm translating
his prayer through amazing intercessions
because I'm having this, and that sounds
ridiculous. I'm not saying spiritually, but now I
understand that literally because he knows
the will and the spirit of my mind,
he can translate that. So even if you
just, at hard times, if you just
believe to God, they can translate those prayers
into what you actually want, because
if I can do that for an infant, I'm sure
the spirit of holy God can do that
to the throne of the God the Father.
The different whines I can
translate, I'm sure God
can translate them. So it just
helps me understand, because I think
sometimes when you get saved, maybe you just wonder
am I praying correctly?
Am I using the right words? Did I go in
the right order? I mean, I think
I used an axe,
you know, you gotta appreciate,
you know, there's acronyms, the order
that you pray and all. And if I'm
wrong, you disagree, perfect, because you probably
have a better prayer life than me, but I'm going to tell you right now,
from what I experienced with having a kid,
I just tell God what I want,
I honor Him in the way that I think I
can, and I'm not sure the words actually
truly matter. I want you
to pray, I think you should do that, but I'm just saying,
if it's not perfect,
God will translate that, because I know
that baby back there is
not using proper
grammar to offer when he
wants food. And I believe that's the way
that is receiving this. Not
that that's what the Bible is saying, that's not out of context,
but the way I am understanding in this metaphor
of having a child, that's the way I
think this verse came out to me when I thought
about it. I don't need to be perfect,
he's my father, he knows
what I want, I just need to
ask. Where are you like, well,
how often had you asked?
Luke 18, Luke 18,
this is Jesus saying,
"He spake a parable unto them, to the end,
that men ought always to pray
and not to faint, saying,
'There was in a city a judge
who feared not God, neither
regarded men; and there was a widow
in that city, and she came unto him,
saying, 'Avenge me of my adversity!'
And he would not for a while.
But afterwards
he said within himself, 'Though I fear
not God, nor regard men,
yet because his widow troubled me,
I will avenge her,
lest by her continually coming
she weary me.'
The Lord said, 'Hear what the unjust
judge said, and shall not God
avenge his own elect, which cry
day and night unto him through his
bearing long with them?'
Like, where are you going with this?
It's very interesting,
and I am saying, I am using
the analogy of a
baby's cry as a prayer.
And I don't know if you know this,
if they just, eh,
I'm probably not going to go check on them.
But if it's for a long time,
my curiosity is going to get piqued.
Are you saying our prayers are like cry unto God?
It says cry day or night.
So, sometimes when we're like,
God, I just, ah, he's like,
you got gas, it will work out.
But if it's day and night, you're asking
and asking and asking and crying
and fearing to him.
Let me tell you, as a father, I know
I need to go address that. I cannot just
leave the child screaming throughout
the night without doing something.
That's the way I feel that the God
is saying you need to call unto him.
You're like, well, that's just one verse. Well, in Luke
11, Luke 11, Luke 11, verse 5,
it says, "And he said unto them, Which
of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him
night, and say unto him, Friend,
lend me three loaves, for the friend
of mine in his journey come to me, and I have nothing
to set before him. And from within
shall he answer, and say, Trouble me not,
the door is now shut, my children
are on bed, and I cannot rise.
And I say unto you, though he
will not rise and give him, because
he is a friend, yet because of
the importunity will he rise
and give him as many as
he needeth. Here's again, Jesus
gives another analogy, where he
says, you know, when a person in the most
inconvenient time, and let me tell you this,
you have an infant, boy,
two to four a.m. is
go time, for something.
That's their best. You think
night is the time to sleep? No, my
friend, that's the time to bring
bread in the form of milk, or burp,
change diapers, you're going
to do all this, and you know what? It's like
ugh, well I'm locked, I'm in bed,
I'm all, I don't care. I'm
going to keep on, in this story, knocking,
asking for bread, and the baby,
opportunity, repeatedly, and you know
when, you know when Jesus told him this?
Right after teaching the Lord's prayer,
important is it for you to continuously
ask, and you're like,
God's using, like, a
rude neighbor in the middle of the night,
and an immoral judge, or a woman?
He's like, yeah, ask, ask,
and what I'm saying is, I found it
very quickly that within the first month,
I hear just the, he'll work
that out, and it keeps coming, and I'm like,
ah, he's asking
for something over and over and over again,
I'm going to respond a little bit more,
so in this verse, I'm not saying God
is using, I'm using
the example of a kid crying, but
it's literally saying, ask over and over
and over. For everyone that asks
to receive it, and seeketh, findeth,
and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
If a son shall ask
bread, any of you
that are father, you will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for fish, will you give him a
scorpion? Or if he asks,
shall ask for an egg, you offer him a
scorpion. Now that's just saying,
he's using the example because most people he
speaks to probably have kids. Look,
the same way a kid will ask for something,
if a kid will scream and is like, I want
milk, I want milk, I want milk.
You're going to give him sand? Not even
unless you're insane, evil, you're
going to give him milk. And I believe this
is how I reflected as, like I
said, I prayed a little bit more regularly,
a little more, frankly, a little
more passionately in the past
month. And this is just my
reflection. I think understanding this
that if I picture the way God views
me as the way I view an infant,
at least for me, I'm not telling you how to. I have no
good verse that that's the way God sees you. But in
my mind, it helps me understand the
virtues and various doctrines.
Very quickly, as I know I'm running out of
time, I just want to hit a few more. Here's
one I believe just
logically, but now that I have a kid, I
believe that you don't believe this. There is something
wrong with you.
I believe in the age of accountability.
You turn to Ezekiel
18, Ezekiel 18,
but in Romans 7 it says, in verse 9,
"For I once was alive
without the law, but whence the commanding
came, sin revived and I died." Paul
is saying at one point
he was alive and not
under sin. Alright?
And why I want this
one is I believe that made
logical sense that, hey, not everyone there,
but let me tell you, you hold
a newborn, you're like,
to hell with you. I like,
I'm like disgusted at that. I
literally think you would have to be an
an a literally all-male
reprobate gathering, men
dressed in white dresses come up with something
as evil as that. To literally say,
sorry, I didn't put oil on your head
so, yeah, your child's in hell.
Not my fault. And you know what's crazy
is they say because of original sin.
We're all doomed until you come
to the Catholic Church. You will go to
hell. That little boy,
that little child, girl, whatever,
that newborn infant,
literally you look at them and I don't care,
I walked down the hospital, anyone
from the age of 10 to 90
who saw the
under a couple of days old child
was like, "Oh." There's something
pure about it that literally
I cannot extreme, I cannot put
it on paper, and I cannot show you
through a picture, but you see it in person, you
go, "Oh." And there are people going,
"Hellbound. There's something wrong
with you." If you turn to Ezekiel 18 and
verse 20 says, "The soul that sinned,
it shall die. The son shall
not bear the iniquities. The father
needs shall the father bear the iniquities, son.
The righteous of the righteous shall be
upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked
shall be upon him." Literally right here,
I know there's a whole doctor. All these things
can be spread out through a whole sermon.
"You shall not be punished
for the sins of your father in God's eye."
So how could original sin exist?
Because of Adam's sin,
because of Eve's sin, we're going to
hell is stupid. And if you
literally look at an infant who unfortunately
has a tragedy and dies
and you're going to go, "Judah got last
rites done?" It's wicked.
And I'm just saying as I looked into my child's
face and I thought about these things, I'm like
I can't, I can't even have respect
for someone like that. Before when
it was just an academic debate, it's like
this or that, but looking at a child that new
and just that purity, that innocency,
will you literally call it
innocent age?
It just boggles my mind.
Couple more. Turn to 1 Timothy
3, 1 Timothy 3.
Or we've read this one multiple times.
I think even Pastor Thompson is going through this
currently. I think it has hit me harder
why having multiple
children is a
necessity that God placed for
people that would lead his house.
In 1 Timothy 3 and verse 4
it says, "One that rules as well as his own
house, having children in subjection with all
gravity." I've already gone through all
the virtues
that having kids just by necessity
will develop in a person.
And why don't you want someone who
leads as the shepherd of
God's flock to have the virtues
that he wants? And let me tell you,
I am sure there are great hearted
young men who try
to give their life to God by going to
schools, academics, maybe giving
themselves to church. They may serve
well, but there is something
I can see of why God
says, "I want you to take the most
feeble, weak person
in your life. You have to take care of them
for years, and once you show yourself with
that, you're ready to help
the newborns
in Christ. I first want
you to take care of a newborn life,
and then you can understand
how to take care
of more of the second
newborns, or born again.
I'm sure you
guys have better grammar than me, but you understand
what I'm saying. God has
said this is the standard.
And what's interesting is so many people have
thrown out this standard. Paul
was a great person who did not do this,
but he was not a pastor.
He planted churches,
and others will have better
studies, and I'm sure he found good
men to probably follow what the
standards were. Peter met
these, and he led some church somewhere,
but Paul went out and did many great
works. We view him as the greatest Christian
ever. He obviously took
the message of the sermon, and he gave
what he could, and he said, "I still haven't given
enough." But the thing was, he
does not, that did not give
him, he planted many churches,
he gave a lot of works, but I can definitely see the
value, the education that this
would give you beyond any academic
education. Let me tell you, I'm a very academic
person, but I can see why
this was placed here more so
than I ever could before.
It's just the way it is. And for
all these things, I believe children strengthen
your path, and
I see why you should have it earlier
in life. In 1st Timothy 6,
just for time I'll just read it,
"But they that which are rich shall fall into temptation
and snare, and into many
foolish and hurtful lusts,
which draw men into destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root
of all evil, which while some
covet it after, they have erred
from the faith, and pierce themselves
through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God,
flee these things, and follow
after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love,
patience, meekness.
Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life,
whereunto thou art called, and has
a good profession before many
of witnesses. Many people are wondering
why is America falling?
Why is this country
doesn't look like it's going to be the greatest in the world
moving forward? Why do we have so many
ills and moral ills in this society?
It's because people follow
the root of all evil. We
followed money. We followed
people's lust. You know
what they gave up? Children.
We don't have children in
this country. Hundred years ago
or more, we used to be known for having
12 kids, 14 kids
in America. That's what we had.
And let me tell you, I told you all the
virtues. And let me tell you, it says right here
follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience,
meekness. If you have kids, you
are driven to do this by your
own conscience and necessity.
That literally having kids in
your life, especially the newborns
that need so much attention and grace,
patience, and faith just to
care for, develops us.
And if people just did this, and I
am not an example of this,
didn't younger life, would
it not shape them into the future of
their life? Would it not build them?
Isn't this what god wants? But hey,
I'm just speaking to myself. What
was I thinking in my young life I needed?
I gotta get them vengeance.
I gotta make myself money. I gotta
set myself in a career. I need to
do this. I need, I want to do this.
Man, I got a bucket list and that's just
gonna slow me down. I gave up
who knows what. For what?
Vainglory, bank account.
The bible says, man, riches
they fly away as birds. I don't know where
it all went. Not with me now.
But luckily this little guy is. Children's
strengthens our paths and I'm not here to beat
anyone down because I'm not an example of this.
I can't tell you like, oh, this is an example.
All I can say is I understand
now why God probably did this because I've tried
to show the virtues that having a child of
such young life and I understood academically
before but now in practice and
experience I can see why.
God uses the example of he's
our heavenly father. Even though I've always thought
well I think of my father when I
was like 25 late in his life and I
helped taking care of him. This
is, you don't have to do this but for me I'm
always going to view I'm an infant.
I'm a helpless child that
needs my help. I need to rely on him.
I need to have faith on him. I need to give
faith on him because he's given me grace
in the way that I see I give grace to a child.
I think that is the way
I should view my relationship with God.
And I'll end with this. Psalms
127
verse 3 says, "Lo,
children are a heritage of the Lord,
and the fruit of the womb
is his reward.
As arrows are on the hands of the mighty men,
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak
with the enemies at the gate."
As I said, this whole sermon was just a reflection
of what I've seen having a child.
I'm trying to say, I
could consciously, okay, man,
all that seems worth it, all that.
It's a spiritual thing, I think.
It doesn't need to make sense.
And I don't think I've ever experienced something in my life
so revolutionary like that.
Yeah, you can, we can put it on the boards.
Oh, it's costly. Oh, you lose sleep.
Oh, you do this. There's a lot of cons.
But yet, patience along suffering
with joyfulness. For many things in the
Bible, it came more alive to me having this
experience. And if you do or
don't have kids, it's not the issue. I'm just explaining
what I have felt and why I think it shows
that the Bible is true. I know this is a
very different sermon. I hope you found something
edifying in it, something that showed.
Maybe it hits some point.
But I'm just going to say, I thank God
that the child survived. I thank God
that I had the chance to raise it. I thank God
that He's entrusted the child with me
and it's changed my life so much and I hope
it does develop me even further in life.
With that, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for today.
Thank you so much for allowing us
to preach this sermon.
I hope it is edifying. I hope it
was valued to others. I know it's mostly
very sentimental for me, but I hope it
was also edifying to you and shows
the power and truth of your Word.
All this in Jesus' name. Amen.
[inaudible]
Do you just want to pray? Amen.