Take your Bibles now. If you turn for our New Testament reading to our sermon series out of chapter, from chapter, sorry, from Mark. Now we’re at the end of chapter six this morning. Starting in verse 45, verses 45 to 52. Before we hear from the Lord, let’s ask his blessing once more upon the preaching and the reception and the hearing and the reading of that word. Let’s pray.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we do again thank you that you have Come to us in the power of your Holy Spirit as you’ve made us able to praise you and to give ourselves to you. We pray now as we seek your face and your word and seek to hear to the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would send your Holy Spirit to us, even afresh, that we might not merely come as tasters, but as children who are hungry and long to feed upon every word that you say to us. And so we pray for grace, that we may sit under your word, that we may listen to your voice, that it may break through our hearts and, by your gracious love and your passion, change us, transform us into the likeness of Jesus. And so we ask, Lord, that you would, by your word and through your Spirit, Do us good as we come for your counsel to hear from you and for your presence. We pray, minister to us according to the wide variety of our needs, but bring every one of us, Lord, we pray, to see that you have provided all that we need in Christ. And that when we come to him and find our all in him, we ask this all for his glory and for our good. In his name and all God’s people said, amen. Amen. Mark 6, starting at verse 45. Please give your attention once more. This is the word of God.

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out at sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass them by. When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost, and they cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. and they were utterly astonished, for they did not understand about the lows, but their hearts were hardened. So far the reading of God’s word from the Old Testament. This is the word of our Lord. You may be seated. May he indeed add his blessing upon the preaching of that word at this time.

As we look through this gospel of John, up to this point, chapter six, towards the end, And consider, we try to identify, consider in a more definitive way why what is there is there. Why these things happen and why Mark is, by this we’re giving us, this history. And as we consider why this miracle in our text this morning is here, we have to deal with the fact that this is awfully, can be difficult sometimes as we read this, as we consider it just to make sense of it, right? Why this particular story is in the Bible. Why Jesus decided to take this action at this time. you may say that it’s pretty clear why Jesus walks on the water. And most of us, well not most of us, some of us may think it’s because the disciples were in trouble and he saw them in need and so he went to them. And this of course is in keeping with his character as we know, his compassion. We’ve seen this before in Mark many times already. In chapter four, for instance, we saw the great storm come upon the sea, and these seasoned sailors were facing this fierce storm that was so fierce, and they are fearful of their very lives that are going to end. And Christ does come, and he does steal the storm. And so it makes sense here that the disciples are in trouble, and so Jesus walks on the water to deliver them. The problem is, though, they aren’t in any trouble. The text never tells us that they were in danger. Were they tired? Yes. Were they frustrated, probably, because of the crosswind? Surely they were. But they’re not in any kind of physical danger. We don’t hear the kind of description that we heard in chapter 4 about this sea and about their fear. Notice in verse 48 there, it says, He saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. Right? So there’s a wind going in the opposite direction of where they want to go, and it’s going to take you a while to get to the shore. They’re not any kind of jeopardy or life threat. And so it’s not enough just to say, well, Jesus walked on the water because they were in trouble because they weren’t in any trouble. In this miracle, no one is sick. There’s no grave danger. The storm itself is not life threatening. So why does Jesus send them off and leave them alone in the water only to go and greet them in the middle of the lake by means of walking on the water? And that’s not the only thing that should strike us as odd. Imagine the first time we would hear this or read this text. Maybe it struck you as we read it. There are some peculiar phrases in here. If you look with me as you read this, what probably and hopefully struck you as odd, it says Jesus leaves them. He took their leave of them, right? He says, you guys come, and then he forces them on the boat and sends them away. And it’s interesting the word there where it says he compels, it really says he compels them, right? Where it says that, let’s read it again here. Yeah, immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him. He made them, it’s the word is he compels them to go get into the boat. And while he leaves, takes leave of them and says, and goes off by himself to pray on the mountain. And so on the mountain, he sees they’re in distress. And he comes all the way down from the mountain. He makes his way out to the sea. And then it tells us this. It says, he meant to pass them by. He meant to pass them by. And these are the kinds of little tidbits of like, hmm, that we unfold and talk about in our midweek study. What does that mean? Like, why go through all of that trouble If his intention is just to pass them by, going out on the sea, to pass by them. The NIV translates this text, and it doesn’t work, but it says he was about to pass them by. But Mark 6, 19, well, the ESV translates right and says he meant or he desire, he intended to pass by them. This is the same word that we just read in Mark 6, 19 about Herodias. And it says that she had a grudge against him, John the Baptist, and wanted to put him to death. It didn’t say she was about to put him to death. She meant to put him to death. She wanted to put him to death. That was her intention. And so the ESV gets it right there, to pass them by. He intended, he desired to pass them by. And so notice they’re struggling. And then he walks past them as you go out onto the lake. But again, why go through all of that, all that way, if you’re not going to stop? What’s going on there? There’s something that I think we’ll look at that I think is paramount and will really give us the key to understanding this passage. But why do this? Why doesn’t he stop? If you’re gonna stop, why go out there in the first place? Did he not see them? Surely he did. Was it that difficult? He couldn’t see what was going on and lost his way, as some commentators say. And it’s really sadly silly how the more liberal commentators try to explain these miracles away like that and de-miraculize the New Testament as it were. I just made that word up. Unfortunately, that kind of language just won’t work. It won’t allow for that. It’s very clear that it said, he wished to pass them by. Jesus himself intended to pass by them. And again, it stands out as strange. And then there’s this third thing, this third phrase that stands out in the text that should seem very odd to us as we read it. And that’s the final statement that’s in this text. It’s that textual comment at the very end in verse 51 and 52. And it says, he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased, and they were utterly astounded. Now that makes complete sense, right? They saw somebody walking on the water. He gets in, the storm stops, and they’re amazed. That makes sense. They just saw a man walking on water, right? We get that. But it’s verse 52 that kind of makes you wonder. It says, They were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves. They did not understand about the loaves. right before this is the feeding of the 5,000. This is a reference to the loaves, the 12 loaves, and the two fish. They were astounded. Why? Because they didn’t understand about that, right? So he’s writing this text. It says they were amazed, but the only reason they’re amazed is because they didn’t understand about the loaves. Had they understood that, they would not be amazed, right? That’s what we get at. So why is he bringing this up, this feeding of the 5,000 into this story? Why is he bringing that story into this story about the walking on the water, right? It’s not amazing enough that he just walked on the water and he stopped the storm. The real problem is they didn’t understand about the bread. Why didn’t he bring this up to them that they didn’t understand this when he was telling us about the bread, right? Why isn’t this tagged on to the feeding of the 5,000? We would think. Well, it seems clear because of this that Mark’s intention, again, through the Holy Spirit, is for these two stories to be somehow tied together, linked together. And we must see them that way. And somehow the inability for the disciples to grasp all that’s going on here is because they didn’t have the ability to grasp what was going on in the feeding of the 5,000. And these things strike us as strange or they’re not incidental in Mark’s gospel. And it’s these very things that we have to think about and look for the clues that as we look at this text, they’ll reveal to us what God intends to show us about his son, about his son’s person, about his son’s work. as he has come. And God gives us these hints in the text. He wants to tell us about who just who this Christ is and why that is of any importance to us to begin with. And we’ve seen throughout Mark’s gospel, Christ has and he continues to demonstrate who he is and to call for faith, to call for belief in what he is saying. How does he do that in our text today? Well, he does this in the things that he says and the connections with which they come, right? And we see this in these three parts of the text where it says, we’ll look at again in more detail, he meant to pass them by. And then the second part of this will be, it is I do not fear, right? That he says to when he’s on the water. And then thirdly, that they didn’t understand about the loaves, right? So this kind of way that this text is mapped out, is constructed. He meant to pass them by, as I do not fear. And then this commentary that says they didn’t understand about the loaves. So this morning, as we look at this text, let’s look at these things to see what God revealed to us in this particular miracle. And so the first thing that we’re gonna look at again is that phrase, he meant to pass them by. And it’s interesting when some commentators and scholars look at text, and they come to a place that really they can’t explain. They explain it away. Somebody just jammed it in there, or it’s gotten misplaced throughout the textual transmission, which we don’t believe, of course. And it’s one of those things, too, you know, you’re looking at a particular verse, and you have a study Bible, and you go, and that verse is not, you know, they skipped over that one because they didn’t understand it either. I don’t know if that’s the case with you, but I say this all the time. We’re looking for verse 48, and they go from 47 to 49. And so they kind of punch, or they fudge out of that. But this one strange detail he meant to pass them by is to really open up this text for us. If we look at it carefully and see just why Mark uses this language and why Jesus meant to do this, why this was his intention. It’s not a random phrase, but there’s no randomness around, no filler, no fluff in Scripture. It’s all inspired. spirit-wrought and intentional. It’s not a random phrase. It’s not as seemingly random as sometimes some verses are in Scripture. They’re not. And it’s a phrase that is interesting enough throughout all of the Old Testament. He meant to pass them by. It’s not new to the student of scripture. And if you sat down and thought about it, I’m sure that you could think of times where this happens in the Old Testament. You’ve all heard it. You’ve all read it in your reading. You’ve read the stories about it. And if you don’t immediately come to mind right now, but because in Mark, it seems he’s just as we look at it, he’s just walking by the boat. But if you remember your Old Testament, When God would say to his servants that he was going to reveal himself to them and to show himself in all of his glory, he would describe that showing of himself in his glory by this very phrase, as passing them by. God said to Moses, for instance, remember on the mountain, hide yourself in the mountain, and I will let my goodness pass by you, and I will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, Yahweh. He says in the very next verse, it shall come to pass that when my glory passes by you, I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand as I pass by. Those are pretty common words. It’s the exact same language you read in Elijah, or when God does the same thing to Elijah. Remember, he’s on Mount Harab when God says, I’m going to come and reveal myself to you, and he uses this exact same language, 1 Kings 19, verse 11. And he said, God, he says, go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passes by. And a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke it to pieces, the rocks, pieces in pieces, the rocks before the Lord. Or think of Job, right? Think of Job, that very long book. He has this conversation with his friends. There’s too much detail to go into. But in chapter nine, It says, behold, he’s speaking of his frustration to his friends in this inability to comprehend them. They’re not buddies, God and Job, where they can meet eye to eye. He’s far above me and beyond me. And he says, behold, he passes by me, and I see him not. He moves on, but I do not perceive him. And that wouldn’t seem like really a big deal all by itself. But when it’s taken in the context of what’s going on in Job at the time in this speech to Job to his friends, it becomes awfully hard to ignore that Mark is likely playing on something of the words here. He’s playing on the words here from the Old Testament in this theme. And here are the words that Job says. alone stretches out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea? And then it says, Behold, he passed by me, and I see him not. He moves on, but I do not perceive him. Who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples the waves of the sea? And that’s a little different from the ESV we just read. And this is because you probably know that the Old Testament is originally written in Hebrew, a little bit of Aramaic. And as time passed, the language of the times changed, and Greek becomes the speaking language of the common people. And that Old Testament Hebrew was translated into Greek, right? And a lot of times in the New Testament, we have quotes from that Greek Old Testament, right, from the apostles of Christ himself. They’re quoting the Old Testament in Greek. And when you look to Job 9, verse 8, where it says, he trampled the waves of the sea, it reads literally, this is what it says, Job, reflecting on God, it says, he alone walks on the waves of the sea. And then here comes Mark, saying, Jesus walks on the water, and he intended, he meant to pass by them. And so what? What is the deal with this? What does this have to do with anything, we might be thinking? Well, as you look at the Old Testament, every time that phrase is used, with that kind of context in mind, where God is arriving, it’s always used in reference to the divine appearance of God, where he reveals himself in his glory to his servants. And then here comes Jesus, into the midst of the storm, and there’s no danger. but rather there’s weariness on the part of the disciples. And he goes there with the intention to pass by them. You see the connection here? He goes there with the intention to say, I’m going to reveal to you my glory. I’m going to show you who I am. And that language is only used of one person in the Old Testament, trying to reveal their glory. And it’s always of Yahweh, the Lord God himself. There’s only one person who has the power in the Old Testament to walk on the waves of the sea. And Christ comes walking on the waves of the sea with his intention of revealing his glory to his disciples. It’s not random, right? It’s not disconnected. It’s truly mind-blowing. This is a paradigm changing of how you look at this text, how you look at this miracle. And so let’s look at the rest of this text and see if this further shows this out, if we see other evidence of this in the text. You’ll notice the very next thing that we’re told in the text is that they saw him, they thought it was a ghost, and they were terrified, okay? But immediately spoke to them, he said, and said, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. And again, the English doesn’t help us much here because it sounds like what’s going on is that Jesus, he’s walking in the water, he’s gonna pass them by and they freak out. Why is that? Because they thought it was a ghost, right? They thought it was a sighting of ghosts. It’s a phantasm that looks like Jesus. That’s the word where we get phantasm from is actually what it says here. We know it can’t be Jesus. People don’t walk on the water, and so they’re terrified. They don’t know what’s going on. And there’s this interruption by this ghost sighting, and it reads, then Jesus says, hey, don’t sweat it. It’s just me to calm them down. And that’s what we think it might say, and our takeaway from this text would be. But literally, it reads this way. Listen to how amazing and awesome God is and God’s word is. Literally, he says this. Take courage, I am, do not fear. Take courage, I am, do not fear. And that’s that same phrase as most of you are probably recognizing, ego emi, right, in the Greek. Ego emi, I am, and it’s used all over the gospel of John when Christ wanted to show what he’s doing as the good shepherd, what he’s doing as the door of the sheep, what he’s doing as the one who turns water into wine. In all these passages, he does this by declaring, I am, declaring to them, I am. And he approaches the disciples in this particular text, ours this morning, and he says, You need not fear, for I am, using that same name that Yahweh God himself used to reveal himself to Moses and to his people again and again. When Moses asks God, Who shall I tell them sent me? And God says to him, You shall tell them I am sent you. And this is strong evidence that that’s what’s going on here, as we look at what Mark is telling us through the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit is telling us through Mark. And what’s most compelling that this is what’s happening is this last phrase that reads, again, out of place, if we were to believe that Scripture could be out of place. It makes us quizzically think, right? Mark 6.52, they were amazed, it says, after they’re terrified of this ghost sighting. for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Their hearts were hardened. Why is this? Why make this comment at the end? They were astounded because they didn’t understand the loaves, and it seems odd. And it is because as a Jew, the biggest event in their whole history and their identifier as a people was the exodus. And any observant Jew, if you ask them, what marks them out as a people? And the one event, the one event that marks them as God’s people preeminently is that God came to them specifically and personally and delivered them from Egypt, from out of bondage. And the true great events that took place in this one movement of the Exodus are what? There were two things that stand out in its history that are celebrated in Jewish culture. And one is that God fed them manna in the wilderness. And secondly, God conquered the sea on their behalf in bringing them before that even through the Red Sea, right? So there’s this feeding of this heavenly bread in the wilderness, and then his conquering of the sea on their behalf. And then here’s Jesus in chapter six of Mark, right before this story, gathering Israel into what? The wilderness. And feeding all of them with a provision of bread that is unnatural. It’s not earthly. provision of bread that’s unnatural. They have five loaves and two fish. And when the whole thing is said and done, they collect what? Remember, everyone eats and is satisfied and filled, and they collect 12 baskets, taken up when it’s all done, basketfuls of bread. So think about what’s going on here. Christ is declaring to them in that action, I am the shepherd king of Israel. Who else in all of your history has fed you with miraculous bread? Who am I? Is what he’s saying. And he’s saying, but the disciples, he says, the disciples, because of the hardness of their hearts, don’t get it. They can’t put all the pieces together. So when he’s walking on the water, he says, the only reason they’re amazed is because they don’t understand the loaves. If they understood it and all that was going on there in the feeding of the 5,000, they would have already known that he’s Yahweh. And they would already know that Yahweh is the one who walks on the back of the sea and tramples the waves underneath him. And these things are often linked in the Old Testament, right? The feeding of the 5,000 and the conquering of the sea, where the Psalm 77 says, your way, O Lord, was through the sea, your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were unseen, you led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses, and it goes on. And so Mark is playing on all of that history It’s not discarded. We don’t read the Old Testament and then, you know, be thankful that our chore is over, right? This is a great benefit to us because it was great. That was the scripture of the day at the time. This is God’s working in unity throughout redemptive history. And Mark is playing on all of that history. And Christ is intending to bring all of those recollections to mind when he leaves that mountain from his prayer to go walk on the water with the intention of passing by them. that they might know for certain that the one who was in their midst is no less than Yahweh that we have in the Old Testament, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God of Israel, one who led Moses, the one who conquered on behalf of Joshua, the one who enthroned David. This is their God standing before them. Jesus is saying before this, but they don’t get it. And he says, because their hearts were hard. And I mean, I hope that as you see this in the text, that this amazes you a little bit, right? This is awesome stuff. This is the kind of thing that should warm your heart and get your blood flowing, right? As you read through this and you grasp what’s going on there. It should get you excited about God and about His word. It’s an exciting thing. It’s exhilarating. And I pray that His word would be exhilarating to you. And this really shows us the incredible way that God has revealed Himself and united the Testaments and revealed His work for us by and in His Son. But even if you’re amazed by this, you’ve got to ask the question. You’ve got to ask the question, so what? So what and now what? Those are questions, as you read Scripture, you should always be asking yourself. So what and now what? And part of this is because we’ve become rightly used to believing, we understand that Jesus is God. We know that. This is a secret to us. But if you put yourself in the shoes of the disciples, this man they have been traveling with and living with day in and day out declares to them, he says, that God that you’ve read about all of your growing up, all of your life from a child on, I’m that God. I’m the God who almost killed Moses by passing by him before him. I’m the God that told Elijah, you had better hide because when my presence comes before you, these mountains will be shattered. And Jesus says, that’s me. That’s what he’s saying to them. And how are they to respond? Are they supposed to say, well, sure, you know, we know the Trinity, we get it. Do you blame them for not putting this together, being able to deal with all of this when somebody before them in human flesh says this? But you see what is amazing and should be amazing to us As you look at this phrase that Mark used, he intended to pass them by. As you look at this usage in the Old Testament, every single time that usage brings sheer terror to the one who is either experiencing it or speaking of it. Think again of Job. He’s basically saying, God is so high above me, who am I? He passes, were he to pass by me, I couldn’t even comprehend it. I couldn’t even sense it because he’s just so far beyond me. Moses and Elijah again are told literally, hide yourself or you’ll die. And yet Christ here in his humanity is willing to reveal God the Father in all of his glory and majesty in the weakness of human flesh towards these disciples who are terrified, though their terror is not for the right reason. They’re terrified because they think they’ve seen a ghost. They think he’s a ghost. They’re not terrified because they realize that this is the God of all creation right before us. And so do you see in all this the glory of the incarnation of Jesus? This one who comes in human flesh, this one who is God himself, Yahweh, the maker of heaven and earth, Israel’s Redeemer, the one who has caused the sun to shine and caused the grass to grow, who’s given the very breath of life. He clothed himself in humility, in the humility of our own humanity. that we could bear for the reason that we could bear the side of him, that we could be in his presence without fear. And so much more as we see going forward, you know, in each of these divine epiphanies or appearances in the Old Testament, when God encounters man, God has shown to be great and glorious, but also terrible, also terrible, consuming fire. in his holiness, fearsome in his majesty, and unable to be gazed upon or known by mere sinful man. And this one, the God of the Old Testament, has shown himself here, clothed in human flesh, for the reason, what? That you and I might be able to know him and to see his character and to approach him without fear, with boldness. Because we see without a shadow of a doubt how gracious and merciful and kind and willing to save he is. We see all of that in his person because Christ has revealed to us once and for all the full glory of the father. And that is what you need to realize as you read through Mark chapter six. The disciples aren’t being robbed by this epiphany. They’re seeing more of the glory of God than Moses ever saw. Elijah saw nothing compared to what these disciples are seeing. This is God for you. Christ says, anyone who’s seen me has seen the Father for I and the Father are one. This is God in all of his glory. More than he has revealed in the Old Testament and more revelation is being given at this present time because we have the full picture, the culmination of all of his revelation to us. Jesus shows us the nature, Jesus shows us the nature and the ways of God. as they truly are. And he shows us to God what God has always intended for us. But we could not fully perceive because of the sinfulness of man. When God passed before Moses, he told him, I’m gracious. I’m merciful, willing to yield. I’m forgiving. I’m a forgiving God. But you don’t understand this. We don’t understand this until you see the cross with God and human flesh dying to bear the sins of the world. You can never fully perceive or comprehend how gracious God was until he entered our story himself and displayed for us his glory and his doing and dying on this earth. And so does this matter? Or if you ask the question, the so what and now what of this text, does it matter? And I would simply ask you, does it? Does it matter? Think of your suffering and your sins and your fears and your losses in this world. And your overall fatigue that most of us feel and exhaustion with this particular life. And if you don’t think you felt too much of that, talk to someone who’s a little older than you, as I’ve said before, has a little gray in the hair, right? And they’ll convey this to you. And then consider these words of comfort as you think of that. for they are for you. They are from the God of the Old Testament, God Almighty, the one who died and rose to purchase you to himself, the one who tramples the sea of evil in order to keep you from drowning, because he has drowned for you, the one who feeds you in the midst of the wilderness on the way to glory, your true homeland, in order to bring you to that place of eternal rest promised throughout. He speaks to you in the midst of all of your struggles and all of your sins and fears, and he says to you, Take courage, I am, fear not. Take courage, I am, fear not. And here’s what I need you to hear as you hear these words. It’s what Christ intends you to hear as you hear those words. Fear not, I am, take courage. And listen to the voice of Christ from his word. From one more passage, Isaiah 43. Verse 1 says this, But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you. for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, I love you. I give man in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, right, listen, Isaiah 43, verse five, fear not, for I am with you. Right, and did you hear that part there, that last part? I give peoples in exchange for you, men in your return. Who would have known that that would be fulfilled by Yahweh becoming man and giving him his life in exchange for you? This is why he wants you to hear this. He wants you to understand it and actually believe it. How much is God for you? So much that he can say to you without a shadow of a doubt, you are precious to me. You are honored and I love you so much that I’m willing to give man not just a man, and that man is Christ Jesus, in exchange for you, and that’s exactly what happens. Therefore, wherever you find yourself, whatever situation you find yourself in, the midst of, even this day, remember, fear not. He says, I am, I am, and I’m with you. Take courage. Let’s pray.

Our heavenly Father, we do praise you For this, your word, we praise you that you’ve preserved and given to your church this most sure word, Lord, that we can grow and know, and that we can live out of what we read in gratitude and thanksgiving for your love, and we can know you better and know you best, Lord. We want more of you. We praise you for the way that you work and for your that very great awe and love and great mercy in your work amongst your people. Lord, we long for you and for a closer walk with Jesus, our Savior. May we indeed find our life there. May we see who we are, who we really are, and what is really promised to us, and not despair in this life, but even rejoice, seeing that you’re the one who’s going to bring honor and glory to your name, and you’re going to fill your kingdom from every tribe under heaven. Help us to believe that we are truly dead to sin and alive to Christ, to walk in newness of life for your glory. We pray for those who suffer in our midst, Lord. You know that none of us are without suffering, but Lord, we pray, encourage us. Whatever situation or station in life we are in, young or old, married or single, help us, Lord, we pray, to have a longing for your word and longing to be filled with your word as we are filled with your spirit and as we know you better and as we love and follow Christ more. And we’d be so loving and caring for one another that again, as you say, the outside world would see as they have historically, the outside world would see and that they would wonder about and be captivated by the peculiarity of your people. Use us in our lives to witness to your glory in this dead and dying world in such need of the gospel. Lord, we pray for those that we love, that despise you, that don’t know you, that have no interest in you. We pray, Lord, that you would, if it’s your will, prick their hearts, bring others into their lives, bring our words before them, and use them by your Spirit, that you would give them faith, that you would give them life, and that they would worship together with us, the only Savior, for souls, Jesus Christ. We thank you that you have fed us afresh this day with Christ, the bread of heaven. We’re about to partake of the supper of Christ, the bread of heaven. As we’ve heard your word to us, may we indeed see that this is our life and our sustenance, even in feasting and even in famine. Lord, we praise you and thank you that we can come before your throne by virtue of what Christ has done, his merit for us in our place. Our Lord and our God, we praise you and thank you for his sacrifice and the provision of your grace. Lord, again, we pray that you would help us to believe that you’ve done all that was needed for our life and eternity through Christ. We often see our failure and our brokenness, and it’s overwhelming to us. Help us at these times to look to Christ’s perfection and always in his strength and his satisfaction and draw us again in our hearts to glory, to that which is better, to that which is best. Lord God, we pray, bless us and carry us this week in this pilgrim land. Seek your face for the sake of your glory. We ask this all in Jesus’ name, amen. Amen, yes.