And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the 12, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs for the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, the one I will kiss is the man seize him and lead him away under guard. And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi, and he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, have you come out against a robber with clubs and swords to capture me? Day after day, I was with you in the temple teaching and you did not come to seize me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled. And they all left him and fled. The word of the Lord.

Today, we continue in Mark. We’re coming towards the latter chapters. And as I was preparing, I was reflecting upon This new phenomenon in our culture, I don’t know how new it is, I guess that all depends on how old you are, but the podcast, right? Podcasts are long form interviews, which I particularly enjoy. Lots of them have different topics, different themes, health and nutrition, right? Things like that are very popular right now. Optimizing health, right? Intellect, life, really. Often they’re led or hosted or promoted by elite individuals, those who’ve gone through and achieved much in their lives. And of course, when you watch these, we feel bad like we’re lazy because of the great things that they’ve accomplished. But given my limitations, you might think I’m a masochist for enjoying these things. I’m not. But perhaps for me, it’s kind of like fiction, right? It’s a great story, even if it will never be true. And there are repeated common themes that we see in these kinds of interviews, common threads that pull through these tales. And like beyond all physical and earthly odds, we see, we hear often in all possibilities, right? Individuals digging deep, achieving great things. One such account, of one of these men who would take normies, right, like normal people and put them through the wringer, if you will. Hard, hard work, grinding it out, some physical challenge usually. And one of these normal men I recalled seeing a small in statue, round in form, light on muscle, was going through some grueling physical test, some challenge. And it looked like he was truly about to die. And the person running the thing kept motivating him and cheering him on, yelling, you can do it, you will do it, just dig, dig, dig. And surely much can be accomplished in these kinds of situations by sheer will, by going hard. But the man in question, While giving it all he had, and even though encouraged by the leader of this thing, could not do it. He could not. He would not. For him, failure was not only an option, but likely an inevitable outcome. A friend of mine would often make observations that many times the church acts similarly concerning how they view people’s nature. and their ability within their own nature to grow, right? And they’re standing before the Lord. Yes, you can do it. Yes, you can. And we do see this where it’s the core teaching of some churches and some swaths of the, some branches of the Christian family tree. And my friend told me once, and maybe you’ve seen this or heard this, about a sermon that he heard once today’s text where the point being made was just that right and that is this uh the the person who takes the sword and strikes off the servant’s ear right and the application that was being made by this minister was that believers should see this as a great example right of courage of christian courage right how brave You could be, and how important it is for us to be courageous in our Christian lives is to join with this disciple, seemingly in his sword work, I guess was the point.

Main Point: The Text Does Not Promote Christian Courage

Well, I think it’s pretty obvious that as we look at this text, it has really zero to do with trying to promote Christian courage. If you read it carefully, really, if you read it at face value, there’s no hidden nugget there. of some great example of Christian courageous discipleship. And actually, when you read the text, it’s just the opposite. Particularly in context of what we’ve seen leading into it. This text shows us something that is deeply lacking in Christ’s disciples, where there’s a complete abandonment of God. And there’s a revelation in this text that the state of man necessitates a different story than a sermon that’s merely one that says, you can do it. Go and be courageous, be brave. The text actually exposes that as not only weak and ineffective, but as a lie. concerning who we are and what our actual needs are. And so with that in mind, let’s look at the text and this doesn’t fall over.

The Betrayers: Judas and the Religious Leaders

And we begin by seeing what the actions and the ways, the motives and the means, if you will, of these betrayers. And notice the cast of enemies that we have here in our text. They’re not hidden, they’re not obfuscated or hard to find. We are immediately introduced to the great betrayer, Judas. as well as the crowd that has been sent from who? From the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. As we’ve been reading the book of Mark, we’ve done so long enough to not be shocked by this, but included with those who were coming out against God and against God’s Messiah, we have what? One of his own guys, right? It’s very clear from the text. And Mark reminds us that he is one where it says, Judas, who was one of the 12, right? and he has come out against the Messiah.

Judas’ Betrayal

So this one with whom, think about that, whom Christ has broken bread, this one with whom Christ has shared his life and has poured and invested his time and life into, who has been this close to Christ, he is there as one of his willing betrayers. He’s the one who’s driving actually the whole thing forward. And you’ll notice this is truly amplified in a heartbreaking way when he uses, the way he uses the sign, the signal to the soldiers and to the crowd whom it is that they are to arrest. And he says, the sign that I will give you will be I will kiss the one whom you are looking for. And when you see me kiss this one, seize him and bring him under guard. And the word there for kiss, is interesting to reflect upon. There’s a number of different words in the Greek language for to kiss. This one is the same one that’s used in that very well-known beloved story of the prodigal son. You recall when the father sees the son after he’s been out in the squalor wandering at his lowest and he sees him and he runs to him and he embraces him and he kisses him. He lavishes on him affection. embracing, showing with a kiss, showing the unity, the solidarity and affection of a father and a son. This is the word that’s used here. This is the sign that Judas uses to turn in this one who has given him so much of his life to Judas, this one of the 12. And so in one sense, we’re shocked. And they were also told ahead of time, right? So kind of we’re not, Christ said beforehand that there would be one among the 12 who did this, was going to do this very thing.

The Religious Leaders’ Opposition

And also we see with him, Judas, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders. And this of course is a shorthand way of saying the entire leadership of Israel has come out as representative of the nation against Christ. It’s one of those things that if you’re familiar with the Old Testament, you realize just how heartbreaking this should be, right, in context, thinking about what’s going on there. And that’s that God, out of all the nations of the earth, chose this nation, not because of her great stature, not because of her strength, simply because he set his love upon Israel. And so we have that tautology, right? Repeating the same thing in phrases. There was a common phrase a number of years ago when people say, it is what it is. That’s a tautology. But that’s the very thing that God answers as to why. I loved you because I loved you. Simply because he set his love upon this nation. And we read in the Old Testament about how the Lord had coddled Israel. from infancy all the way to adulthood, and had been there as God for her. He separated them. They were separate from all the rest of the nations of the earth. And he invested this special relationship, placing his name upon them, and he puts his laws over them to rule them and to keep them in safely, his heir to live. And he had given them kings and prophets, and priests, and he’d given them a method for atonement, right, to deal with their sins. He had revealed himself specially and uniquely to this nation, and we had cast his love upon, why? In order that they might be a light to the other nations, and that they might reveal the glory of God, the God of scriptures, the true and the living God. And yet, under the cloak of darkness, those who are to be a light to the worlds, have come against God and against His anointed with swords and clubs to arrest His anointed and to ultimately do away with Him. I guess while those are surprising, in some sense heartbreaking, we have seen it coming, right, far off, because Mark has revealed this to us very early on in his gospel.

The Disciples’ Abandonment

And though we know this story, it’s not new to us, the next section, that his betrayers of Jesus is the one that is to take us most by surprise, right? And that his disciples, to a man, all flee in Christ’s greatest time of need. It tells us very plainly in the text in verse 50, and they all left him. They all fled, just as Christ had predicted in the previous verses. There are three categories or groups in this narrative here that betray him. There’s the leadership of Israel, there’s Judas the betrayer, and then there’s all the rest of the followers of Christ. And all of them, in one way or another, betray Christ and make it known that they’re unwilling to follow him. And it’s interesting that scripture, God’s holy word, expresses enough about these three groups to where we see some of the motives of why they are. For us to get some insight into their motives as to why they would do that very thing, betray him. Why would they ever hand him over or look to seize Christ or flee from Christ and betray the Lord Jesus. We’re told first of Judas, Right? It’s because of his own greed and his desire for possessions and money was willing to betray the master. There are probably other reasons that we can’t, we’re not going to get into this morning, but then we have the leadership of Israel. represented by these three groups. Their motive was, the reason for them is their desire for power, right? They love their own glory. They love their own prominence. It was being challenged by Christ. He was threatening that. And so they wanted to do away with him. And then the disciples, right? What is their motive? What is their reason for betraying the Lord? Well, ultimately it was because of their own desire for self-service, right? Their desire for safety, their own self-comfort, and their own fear of what would happen, what would come to them if they were to remain with Christ. Ultimately, they separated themselves from the Lord as well. And so we have pride, riches, self-service, and then we’re introduced to this last character.

The Unnamed Man: A Symbol of Failure

Strangely enough, it’s kind of weird when you first read it, jumps out at you, this strange character, this man who’s unnamed, really, and ultimately undressed. On the first reading, and again, it really is, as we read it, kind of weird. It’s only found here in Mark. It’s not in any of the other Gospels. And so because of that, many believe that this individual, the naked guy fleeing, is actually Mark himself. Regardless of who it is, It’s recorded here deliberately for a reason. It’s purposefully included in the scripture aid, handed down in scripture aid for the church, right? Think about this as we’re going forward here. And maybe you’ve not thought about this or considered this before, but you’ll notice that this individual, this one shows some promise at first, right? Notice what it says in verse 51, and a young man followed him. which is what all the rest of them failed to do. He followed them. All the other disciples fled from him. They’ve all gone in the other direction. But this one, showing some promises, doing what disciples are called to do. He’s still following the master, even in his time of need, even in the midst of his suffering. He’s joining himself to Christ, right, to the master. So far so good, right? At least that’s how it initially reads. And then as quickly as we have hope, we see what? That he is seized. And it’s kind of cool as you look at it, that word seized him in verse 51. Mark’s been repeating this word throughout this section of the scriptures repeatedly, right? And it’s a way for him to join what is happening to Christ and this particular man. You’ll notice what Judas said when he was bringing the leaders, right? He says what? I will show you who the one is whom you are to seize. And I will kiss him. And then it says immediately Judas went and kissed him and they seized him and took him under guard. Christ even uses the same word himself. And he says, I was with you day by day in the temple. Why didn’t you use those opportunities to come in to seize me? And so there we have this unnamed man, following Jesus, and he’s seized as well as Christ was. And we think, well, this guy, he’s gonna experience the same fate as Christ, right? They’ve got him. This one will at least go along with him and join himself to the Savior in this ordeal. Maybe then we could preach a sermon on courage if that was to happen, right? About this guy. And then encourage all of you to do so, to go out and be courageous. to remain with Christ, but of course, that’s not at all what happens. It’s not how the story ends. As soon as they seize this man, what happens? He finds himself in a situation like his savior, and what does he do? The text says he leaves his clothes behind as he runs off by joining the other disciples in their desertion. In my mind, I have the picture of those cartoons when they would run and their clothes would still be remaining there. But what is he? He does so and he flees. And what is his state? What is the description of who he is at that time? He’s naked and ashamed. Naked and ashamed, right? Remember those two descriptors. Consider that, right?

Echoes of Adam in the Garden

And so follow me here. The text begins with Christ facing this fate. He says, rise, let us go, my betrayer is at hand. And the text ends with this man fleeing from that same faith. Two very opposite reactions to a similar situation. Christ has begged, right, remember, if there be any way for this cup to pass, Lord, let it pass. Not my will, your will be done. And as soon as he gets his answer, Christ sets himself toward the cross, he obeys the Father’s will, entering into this particular fray, if you will. And then this man, on the other hand, finds himself there and he flees at the first sight of danger. And so what is Mark trying to do in this text, right? And mapping this out this way, right? If we look closely, we see the connections here. We have like a macrospective description of what’s going on. And you’ll notice that this man fleeing at the end of the text that we had some hope for, you know, potentially courageous. This one who would look like he might at least join in the sufferings of our savior. But in the end, he does what everyone else does. He becomes part of the group of betrayers, faithless. And it’s more evidence of what Christ, I’m sorry, what Mark is trying to do to get through to us. And that is this, that there is no one courageous in their midst. None of them is brave or courageous. There’s no one who can willingly will join with Christ. The whole of the group that they’re in, they’re all undone and none of them are valiant, if you will, right? None of them are righteous. None of them can be celebrated or set up or lauded as some kind of example, which we can imitate and follow. Each of them finds themselves guilty within this text, which is precisely why they’re there. This is part of what Mark is deliberately showing us here, through the Spirit. And here’s what I’m trying to draw our attention to, is what’s been laid out by the Spirit for us here, right? And so listen. What does this remind you of, right? Who is it? Who is it that comes to mind looking at these kind of broad outlines here? There’s a particular individual from scripture who’s being echoed down to us in this instance. Did you hear at all the text is echoing of the first man? There are echoes of Adam here. Adam, the first man. Now, that may seem odd, might sound odd, but you’ll notice the setting of our text. Where is it? It’s in a garden. It’s in a garden. We’re told in verse 32 that they have come to the garden of Gethsemane, where Christ is praying, and it is there that the betrayal will take place. And it ends with what? Man naked and in flight from the garden, which is exactly what Scripture tells us happen, right? Once Adam joined himself in the sin of rebellion against God, he finds himself naked and hiding from the presence of God, fleeing from his presence until he’s ultimately banished from the garden because of his sin. And again, Mark is contrasting the response of everyone participating in this cast of betrayers, especially disciples. He’s contrasting that with the response of Christ. The crisis has come to them all. and none can endure it. They all bail. Everyone flees, abandoning the Savior who stands there alone. And one of them is so panic-stricken that he tears away from the grip of his captors, willing to flee even in the humility of his nakedness. The disciples have left behind their dignity. They’ve left behind their calling as disciples. They’ve left behind the one who gave them life. when he called them to be his own. Doesn’t that sound like a story we heard long, long ago in the garden? This one who the Lord crowned, crowned Adam with dignity and honor. He clothed him in a majesty as a king and a ruler, his vice-regent to care for the world, who gave him the very breath of life. This one still, in all of his humanity, This is what he rebels against God, the God who made him, to where he finds himself in terror in his presence and seeking to flee from that presence. You see, original sin is betrayal against the God who’s made us. Cashing in on the goods of this world against the God who gave those goods. And all of these groups here in this text have done the very same thing. Whether it be for pride, as we saw, or whether it be for greed or wealth, or just self-preservation, self-service and comfort. All of them have chosen these things and given over their faithfulness to God for the goods of this world. Precisely, The same as our first father did in the garden, Adam, right? When he was called to honor and obey God, to represent all of humanity there, to live before the face of God, Coram Deo, doing everything that he did to the glory of God. And yet instead he elevated himself. He saw what was delightful to his own eyes, exchanged his affection and his love for God, for what he was told he could not have. He saw what he could not possess, how he could become wise, and how he could promote himself. And ultimately, this is what he chose over God. And in so doing, all of his children have chosen the exact same faith. And it’s shown right here in our text.

Humanity’s Guilt and Christ’s Faithfulness

Notice who’s left. Notice who’s left at the end of this. No one’s left. Everyone has deserted the Lord Jesus Christ because everyone is joined with Adam in the same sin of rebellion against God. And some of us, as we sit here and we think of original sin, right? We think of Adam so long ago, some theoretic thing, right? Even some, you know, just a theory, so distant. And this strange story about a tree and about fruit and the trees and eating or not eating. And we think, how could his actions there possibly find me guilty? Yet the scriptures are crystal clear, Adam did not just represent us, he represented us accurately. He wasn’t just any representative, he was the best representative that we could have had. Made in the image of God, righteous and upright in his character, and still in the midst of temptation, he failed. And we have agreed with Adam. Every one of us. We have agreed with him time and again and again in our own lives. We have joined ourselves with him in those sins. And we have over and over said, I prefer prestige to God’s glory. I prefer my own wealth, my own comfort, my own honor over God’s honor. These are not simply things that Adam did long ago. And oh, well, it kind of sucks for me. No, we’re left in a terrible fallen world because of it. These are things that Adam did because we would have done the same thing. And we’ve signed off on his decision every single day of our lives. The men in this text who earlier said, master, we have left all to follow you, literally says leave all so they can, right? These are the ones, what did they do? What did they end up doing? These ones who testified boldly and declared that. We left all for you. They literally leave all so they can get away from him. And this is what Mark is declaring to us. This is the very point of the gospel, that all of us find ourselves here in the text, but not as the heroes, right, as we want to represent ourselves. Not as someone who’s seeking a way to emulate courage of a disciple or some honorable act of another. But rather what? Christ is left alone in the middle of this text as an innocent sacrifice and everyone else in their guilt wants nothing to do with him, but to betray him.

The Gospel: Christ’s Obedience

That’s what ultimately makes the gospel genuine good news, right? It’s not because the gospel says, dig in, you can do it, you will do it, dig, dig, dig, keep trying, you’ll be a better person. Just dig in and you’ll become courageous. You’ll stand up for God when you need to. The gospel doesn’t say that. Rather it says, the gospel is good news to us because we know that the opportunities have come and we have not been courageous. If we were in the garden, we would not alone have been the one who stood with Christ. Rather, we along with everyone else there represented in this cast of betrayers would have done the same thing because we have all joined ourselves with everyone else in rebellion against God and hatred for what is good and right and holy. That’s terrible news. That’s an awful situation. The only people who are prepared for the gospel that Mark represents are the people who can see themselves in this text, not as the heroes, but as the enemies of God. those who are justly guilty, as every other traitor in the text, right? But you’ll notice the text doesn’t end there. It’s not the end of the story, this story within the greater story. There remains in the text, this one, standing in the midst of the garden, ready and willing to what? To obey the voice of his father, whatever his will may be. And unlike the first Adam, This one, the last Adam, has wrestled in the garden. He’s stared temptation in the face. He has asked for a way out. And when he was told no, he got up and he said, let’s go, my betrayer’s at hand, and willingly handed himself over to the sacrifice as that sacrifice that was coming, right? That’s the big difference. There’s a big difference. There’s one standing in the garden who is faithful, who does not flee, who willingly faces the judgment before him, who ultimately gave up his position of power to enter into this story. One who gave up the riches of the kingdom of God, right? The power, now the riches. He gave up the riches, all that was his of the kingdom of God to become a man born in poverty to join into our poverty in this story. This one who deserves all honor, this one who deserves all self-service gave that away and humbled themselves in order that he might serve those who had all life long done nothing but resist him. He gave the comforts of his own that were his as God the Son in order to enter into our story and to say these words, right? Not my will be done, but yours. your will be done, those words that the first Adam never uttered. When God has specifically given Adam his will, Adam’s, given Adam God’s will, Adam’s response was, not your will, but mine be done. And he suffered the devastating consequences and that for all of his progeny after him, by ordinary generation, all life long it has been said, what we’ve been begging for is for God to stand back and say, okay, thy will be done. Lord, I want my way. But God in his mercy does what? He enters into our story, he’s willing to give up his way so that those who had always failed him might be delivered, including you and me. And the reason that everyone in this text stands guilty, brothers and sisters, is because Adam was never able to say those words that Christ did say. Thy will be done.

Christ Takes Our Shame

So what’s left in the text? Christ in captivity in the hands of his enemies, everyone else pleased or absent. Jesus too will be stripped naked, leaving his cloak behind. But not because he fled, but because rather he remained. He will join this fleeing man in his nakedness and his shame, he will join us in our shame, in your shame and in mine, in our disobedience, in our judgment that we deserve from the Father. He enters into that. He takes that. He who knew no sin, right? The glorious verse you all know. Would what? Would become sin for us that we through him might become the very righteousness of God. This is the only way back into the presence. of God the Father without shame. And don’t you see, we have all been faithless ones time and time again. And yet this one who is faithful, who has borne our shame, so that we might gain access again to God without fear, unashamed, clothed in his righteousness. And as you read the rest of the gospel, and as we read forward in history into the book of Acts, you will see that these men They will stand. They will stand. They’re transformed. There’s many who will die for the name of Christ. There’s many who will have the boldness to go to their graves because of the great confession. But before scriptures give us that story, it makes sure that we know the true story, that these are not heroes first and foremost. These are sinners like you and like me. in need of a savior, and that there’s only one true, courageous, obedient son, Jesus Christ, the Lord, the one who gave up his own will in order that we might become children of God. And so we are. No longer children of wrath, sons of disobedience, as we’re described. You belong to Christ if you claimed him for yourself and exercise the faith that he’s given you. You’re his and he is yours. You’re children of God, sons and daughters of the king. That’s a glorious thing. And unless Christ undoes what Adam has done, what’s our fate? We all will die. And here he is willingly giving himself up so that we might have life. true life, we’re shown the faithlessness of the disciples here and our own faithlessness in this very story. So we might know that in all of our good deeds, in all of our bad deeds, that this relationship and the gospel is not first and foremost based upon anyone else’s doing, but on Christ’s doing, on his work, not the disciples or any particular bystander. and in particular a disciple, none of them are faithful. It’s only this one in the midst, Jesus is faithful.

God’s Concern for Us

And you know, far too often we’re obsessed with how we feel, right? It’s the world we live in. The feelings are all important. And we begin to believe that God’s obsessed with how we feel too. But you know, God’s interest and concern is not primarily about what you feel. What God is interested in is you, is you. You who suffer, you who are the source of other suffering, right? The you who hides in shame, the you who has both good days and bad days. And this, your God, your heavenly father, meets you where you are. And Jesus, your Savior, He is a friend of sinners, the Savior of those who are in need of the Savior, which truly is all of us, all of the time, day by day, and moment by moment, right? And the reality is, unlike those encouragements from the podcast of self-will that we began with, the encouragement from this text is not that. The encouragement from this text boldly cries out, you cannot, you cannot, and you won’t. But Christ can, and Christ did, for you who belong to him. And that truly is, dear Christian, good news. Exactly because what you were unable to do in your weakness and in your inability, Christ has done. He’s provided all that we need. No work remains to be done. Christ has done that so that you might gain again, standing before your God without shame. May we praise him for the goodness that is ours in the gospel. And may we take that gospel with us back into the world as we go. And may we truly through the gospel bring light and hope into this world, flooding the world indeed with the word of truth for the glory of God.

Let’s pray. Our dear precious Father, we love you and we praise you. We pray that you would help us to never fall into indifference in the glorious truths of the gospel, to never fall into indifference or apathy, even in our worship of you. It would never be apathetic or have a yawning indifference when we answer the call to come, to be served by you and to be challenged and fed and refreshed Lord’s day by Lord’s day. Father, we pray that you would help us indeed to preach the gospel to ourselves daily because daily we need to hear the truth of who we are before you. We daily need to be reminded that despite our sins, all of those sins, we cannot out-sin God’s grace. We cannot undo with our faithlessness the faithful one. Lord, we pray, help us to realize and to remember and to believe, Lord. Give us faith. Give us strong faith to trust the truths of what you’ve told us in your word outside of ourselves, that we have died and been raised to walk in newness of life, to do those very good works that we were created to do, to ordain for us, and for the foundation of the world. Lord, we do pray for Providence Presbyterian Church. We pray, Lord, that you would continue to protect us, continue to be a wall of protection from the world, from our own sins. We pray that you continue to fill us with a love for one another as we seek, motivated by the love of Christ, Lord, His glory, to grow and to know Him. Lord, we pray that you would, if it’s your will, glorify your name by filling this church, by filling other faithful gospel-preaching churches, that you would call your people in, that they would indeed reflect the glory of who they are in Christ, the glory of Jesus himself, that your fame would be spread throughout this city and throughout the lands. Lord, we pray for this church. We pray for all of us, Lord. We have various needs. in the fallenness of our lives and of our persons and of our, Lord, of our bodies in a fallen world, where we pray that you would indeed restore and heal those things that cause us to struggle in this world relationally, financially, Lord. We praise you and we confess, as you say, the Catalan 1,000 hills are yours. It is all yours, Lord. Help us, Lord, from doubting you having too little or from forgetting you by having too much. Or we do pray that the sweetness of reconciliation would be affected where it needs to be in our lives for the operation of the spirit, Lord. And we do pray for those who have chronic or acute issues in their bodies, Lord. Sometimes it is hard. to move from hour to hour, let alone day by day. You know, what we feel so often is misery in these bodies where we pray that you would give us, give us eyes to look outside of ourselves and indeed to rejoice in the suffering that we go through, knowing that you are a good God and that you love us, that you do not lie to us. Lord, we pray especially this morning for the Beiler family, we pray continue to strengthen Corbin. Lord, we pray for the team that’s working on him, all the doctors and all the complexities. Lord, we give that up to you and we ask that you would indeed work in his body, work in his mind, work with that team to bring him whole again. Lord, we do pray that on the other side, of this event, and on the other side of the things that we go through, big or small, that we would not be unchanged, but that we would see you afresh, that we would see you in deeper ways, Lord, and that we would trust you more. And we thank you for growing us through them. Lord, we pray for Amber as well, as she seeks to care for him. Lord, we love the people that you have bound us together in. Lord, we pray that we would show that love in special times of need like this. Lord, we pray that you would be with us now for the remainder of this service and even on into this day that is your day. We would indeed focus our hearts and our souls on the truths that you tell us, Lord, that you would change us, that we would walk in a way that reflects our profession, Lord, and that profession is that we love you and we want to love your way. So Lord, we pray, change us by your spirit. It’s the only way it will happen. Increase our faith. Bless us now as we proceed. And Lord, once again, we thank you for your love for us. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you that your promises are sure, Lord. We ask all of this. Through your spirit, in the mighty name of our Savior, Jesus. Amen.