God's Word, Philippians 1, verses 18 through 26.
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out from my deliverance through your prayer
and the supply of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed.
But with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I live on in my flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor.
Yet what shall I choose? I cannot tell, for I am hard-pressed between the two,
having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and the joy of faith.
That your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
You may be seated.
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.
Let's pray.
O Holy Spirit, please magnify Christ.
Lord, please open our eyes to see your glory.
To see our King Jesus alive, working, leading, ministering, and advancing his own kingdom.
For your glory we pray.
Amen.
I know several of you, like me, have been wrestling these weeks with the fall to sin or the disclosure of hidden secret sins of some Christians who are very well known.
So my sermon title today from this text is, Who Can Finish This Life Well?
I've shared with you before, and it continues to be true.
One of my greatest fears is that I would fall and bring shame to Christ in his name.
I know many of our men have shared that as well.
And we don't trust ourselves.
We need the Lord to preserve us every day that we're alive.
Who can finish this life well?
You probably heard that as Paul's focus in that passage I just read.
He's afraid of bringing shame.
And he wants Christ to be magnified.
And he's got his own imminent death in view.
Can Paul finish this life well?
Without bringing shame to Christ?
That's what's troubling him as well.
My encouragement to you in two short sentences is this.
Who can finish this life well?
Some don't.
You can.
And I would like to walk through these phrases, really.
Just these couple verses.
And do our best to get at the meaning of the Holy Spirit as he inspired and breathed out these words for the church.
My first observation is this.
To finish well, feed what you feel with what you know.
To finish well, feed what you're feeling.
Feed that with what you know.
Paul has a Christ-redeemed view of what has happened.
I think verse 18 could very easily be divided into two verses.
He had just talked about how you look at the church all around and you see the evil motives exposed.
He says,
What then?
Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached.
And in this, I rejoice.
And that's where we left off last week.
He has a Christ-redeemed view of what has happened in the past.
But then I think that next phrase, he shifts his focus to what will happen in the future.
He says,
Yes, and I shall rejoice.
I look back at the confusion within the church, what's visible.
And I choose to rejoice when Christ is preached.
Now, looking forward, I shall rejoice.
It's a simple future verb.
Nothing extra bold or confident.
And it's simply a statement of fact.
Looking forward, not knowing what will come.
I shall continue to rejoice.
He says,
For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance.
Well, we've been seeing how Paul went and preached in Jerusalem, how he was also one misleading people,
and he was arrested and attached to a chain to a Roman soldier ever since.
And most likely, his trial has several parts.
He's not yet faced Caesar for the final verdict.
But he has reason to be hopeful.
As we read in our passage, he still has an inclination he might get to see the Philippians again and be released.
But he's also not very certain.
He's sending his letter through others.
He might not get to see them.
But what he does know in verse 19 is that in this,
no matter what comes of this,
it will turn out for my deliverance.
Well, what is it that is Paul's true fear here?
He doesn't know if he's going to live or die.
There's only one thing keeping that sharp blade of an iron axe from his sensitive skin on his neck.
And that's the whim of the emperor.
He says, I shall rejoice for I know.
His rejoicing is tied to his feeling.
To what he knows.
He says, I shall rejoice.
This will be my experience as a Christian.
I shall in the future.
I shall experience rejoicing.
For I know.
Someone said it's like an umbilical cord.
You know, the umbilical cord ties that baby as it comes out of the mother's womb.
And inside the womb, this little cord into the belly button provides the food for the baby to live.
His rejoicing is fed through this umbilical cord of what he knows.
It's not rooted in a mood.
And it's also not rooted in his own stoic resolve by his own flesh and power.
It's not.
It's through the knowledge that God gives him through the word.
That's what feeds his rejoicing.
Christian joy is only fueled by true Christian doctrine.
To know God through his word.
That's what feeds true Christian joy and true Christian experience.
Now, it's possible to have a lot of knowledge about God.
And to have no experience of God.
Someone said there's there's one foot that will keep you from heaven.
It's that distance between the head and the heart.
If you know God only in your head, but not in your heart, you don't know God.
It's possible, Al Martin commented, to possess Christian truth without feeling.
Whatever you think you know of God, if he has not shattered your heart and filled it with his own holy presence, then you don't know him savingly.
But the other is also true that it's impossible to feel a genuine Christian experience without knowledge.
See, first, the light of Christ comes through your head.
You hear the gospel.
And this is good news for you, too.
And that light of Christ coming in through your understanding.
It warms your heart.
It's light and fire.
That's what it is to be a Christian.
Paul says, I shall rejoice for I know what I know will not be taken away from me.
And I know that one way or the other, Christ will be magnified.
That's his focus.
You might wonder like me, well, is he referring here to the what I know?
Is it that he will have confidence?
He will have boldness.
He will have the strength in the worst of temptations.
Those are more the gifts.
Or does he know that it's the spirit of Christ that will be supplied?
And the answer is you can't separate the gifts, strength, boldness, confidence from the giver.
If you have the spirit of God through Christ, you receive all of his gifts.
And the giver is never separated from his gifts.
So your confidence comes from knowing that Christ dwells in you by his Holy Spirit.
And you can rejoice only when you have Christ.
So to finish well, feed what you feel with what you know.
Number two, you'll want to walk out this life well.
If you think of what you are stepping into next.
You'll want to walk out the very last steps, even if it's with a limp in this life.
If you think about what you are stepping into in the next life.
In verse 19, he says, yes, I shall rejoice for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance.
Do you remember in 2 Timothy 4.13, how Paul wrote to Timothy and he said,
When you come, bring my cloak and my books, especially the parchments.
You remember that?
And that was about two years later.
That's at the end of his time in prison.
Paul wants the word of God with him and the books explaining the truth of God to help keep feeding him,
feeding his soul and his feelings.
His body is cold.
He needs a cloak.
But it's the truth of God that keeps ministering to him.
And even though Philippians is written much before that,
Paul most likely had some portions of scripture or he had it memorized in his head and in his heart.
Because when he says this phrase in verse 19,
This will turn out for my deliverance.
He's quoting from the Greek Old Testament.
That's a word for word for Job 13.16.
So Job, that's the book about the man who lost everything unjustly.
And he's wrestling with the goodness of God.
You think about Paul studying the book of Job for this time of imprisonment,
this time of final trials and the suffering in his body.
And he's quoting back to the church from the Old Testament what God used to minister to him.
This will turn out for your deliverance.
That phrase will turn out, that verb, it literally means to come down from.
As in coming down from a ship.
So here he is in Rome, you know, ships are coming and going.
They're carrying merchandise all over the world.
And you see people coming down from a ship onto shore.
That same verb is used in John 21.9 where it says,
As soon as they had come down onto the land,
they saw Jesus who had prepared a breakfast for them with fish and bread.
You remember that story?
So here's the word picture.
Paul's on the ship over which he has no control.
And it's the last years of his life.
But he knows when I get off of this ship, of this vessel, this life,
I'm stepping onto the shore of the kingdom of heaven.
And he's keeping that in the forefront of his mind.
This ride that I'm on now that I have no control over in this life.
When I step off of this,
I'm stepping into paradise with Jesus Christ.
And that gives you strength to forbear and to long suffer.
You know what you're stepping onto next.
Our confession of faith speaks of the perseverance of the saints.
Really, if you look at how it's worded,
a better description is the preservation of the saints.
God preserves his people to the very end.
Listen to this wording from 1689.
The same God who first called you continues to still call you.
And he begets in you and nourishes in you more faith,
more repentance, more love, more joy, more hope,
and all the graces of the spirit until your immortality.
God provides all of that.
He's the one who birthed those graces in you.
He's the one who will continue supplying you with them.
And though many storms and floods arise and beat against them,
you who are saved by Christ in no way shall ever be able to be taken off of that foundation and rock
upon which by faith you are fastened.
Let that come for you.
Christ, he's the one who went on ahead and he's waiting for you on the rock of paradise.
And you're fastened to him by faith.
And he's the one pulling you and preserving you and supplying you everything you need.
And the storms and the winds and the destruction of the waves,
it's pounding this vessel.
But Christ is the one pulling you and he is a rock.
He will pull you all the way to the end.
When Paul says,
This will turn out for my deliverance.
This word deliverance can be translated as deliverance,
but mostly it's translated over 40 times in the New Testament as salvation.
The exact same word.
This will turn out for my salvation.
It can refer to deliverance from enemies,
but it can also be more broad.
It can refer to health and well-being of preservation.
That which concludes to the soul's safety.
Future blessings in Christ for eternity.
All of this, this ride,
it will turn out for my final salvation in Christ.
What does Paul have in view?
Well, we read in Acts 4.12,
what the Holy Spirit poured out on all the churches is proclaiming
through the early church and through Paul.
Acts 4.12 is this salvation is none other than Christ,
for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
And this, even these trials will turn out for my salvation in Christ.
Our confession goes on to say in the same chapter,
the sensible light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from you.
Some of you shared with me even this morning,
you're in a time where prayer is cold.
The goodness of God seems clouded.
His light raised to warm you don't seem to be reaching you.
The trials of life,
our own faith that's so weak,
and the temptations of Satan,
they can obscure the good, strong, preserving hand of God from us.
It can be hard to feel that sometimes, can't it?
But the scripture confirms,
as our confession captures,
that you shall be sure to be kept
by the power of God
unto your final salvation,
because Christ purchased you
as his own possession.
He engraved you
upon the palm of his hands,
and before time,
God wrote your name
in the book of life.
He will preserve you to the very end.
He is longing for you to be with him,
and he's preparing your soul for eternity.
So you will want to walk out this life well
if you think of what you're stepping into next.
Number three,
to finish well,
you and I need two things.
To finish well,
we need prayers
and the supply of the Spirit
to empower us.
To finish well,
you and I need prayers
and we need the supply of the Spirit
to empower us
to finish well.
That's what Paul states in verse 19.
He says,
through your prayer
and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
all of this will turn out
to magnify Christ
and for my salvation.
Through your prayer, church.
What is prayer?
Our catechism says,
prayer is an offering up
of our desires to God
for things agreeable to his will
in the name of Jesus Christ
with the confession of our sins
and thankful acknowledgement
of his mercies.
That's what prayer is.
And Paul says to the church,
to this congregation,
through your prayer.
prayer.
Your is second person plural.
Collectively.
All of you together praying.
And the word prayer
is in the singular.
Through collective prayer
of the church,
offering up one prayer together,
one voice to God
for God's kingdom to advance.
It's the efficacy
of congregational intercession.
It's a body
locally gathered,
in person,
together,
supplicating,
asking,
crying out our desires
to God
with boldness,
one voice
lifted up,
one spirit
in the name
of Jesus Christ
because we stand
forgiven by him
and we're praying
out of gratitude,
out of the abundance
of joy
and confidence
we have
that Christ's kingdom
is advancing.
And he says
it's through your prayer
and the supply
of the spirit
of Jesus Christ.
One Greek scholar
said if we didn't have
all the rest of the Bible
to inform this
doctrine of prayer
and how God works,
with only this verse,
we would be,
we would have to believe
and conclude
that the spirit
only supplies
that for which we pray.
I mean,
he could not have linked
congregational prayer
and the supply
of the spirit
more closely
than he did here.
And how he used
the language
under the inspiration
of the spirit.
What does he mean
by the supply
of the spirit?
The supply
of the spirit.
The ESV
and the Christian
Standard Bible
translate this
as the help
of the spirit.
The NIV
translates it
as God's provision
through the spirit.
He says it's
the spirit
of Christ.
In Ephesians 4.16
he describes
how the whole body
joined and knit together
by what every joint
supplies.
The same word there.
Supplies for the whole body
to function.
So what does
this supply mean?
In Roman literature,
this word was used
to describe
providing all
that would be needed
for the housing,
the food,
the clothing,
and all of the other needs
of generous supply
for a choir
that would serve
in a Roman theater.
So you picture
this troupe
that sings together
all the different parts
in harmony,
a glorious production.
They're one unit,
one voice,
and you have
a great patron
that has plenty of money
and he's going to supply
all that they need
to be able to exercise
that gift
and sing together
as one voice.
Isn't that a beautiful picture
for congregational prayer?
fully supplied
by the Spirit
to use the gifts
he's given
to sing out
the melody
of the gospel.
And you probably
picked up on this
and our focus
has been Trinitarian
this morning.
He calls it
the Spirit
of Jesus Christ.
From the one God
proceeds the Son.
The Son
ascended to the right hand
of the Father Almighty
and he pours out
and from Father and Son
proceed the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit
acts in a different,
a more powerful,
more abundant way
in the New Covenant
than in the Old.
The Spirit
of Jesus Christ Himself
with His people.
And through the Spirit
of Jesus Christ
the Church receives
a full provision
of strength.
The more I've thought
about what this means,
the Spirit of Christ
poured out for the church.
I've come to the conclusion,
I'd love to hear
your thoughts.
The finished work
of Jesus Christ
is what secures
the blessings
that the church needs.
So,
the Spirit of Christ
specifically has in view
the active obedience
of Christ
on our behalf
now applied to us
as the energizing
strength and power
that we need
to walk
as His people.
in other words,
Jesus Christ
came without
any help.
We have the Holy Spirit,
the help,
the provision,
the supply,
and Christ came
without the curse of sin
and with the help
of the Holy Spirit
but no help external,
no help from any man.
And He accomplished
what we need.
His life
was tested
and He proved
powerfully
in the flesh
that all that God
requires of righteousness
He has fulfilled
and He will now
supply
the righteousness
that He accomplished
in His life
to the church
to use all of our gifts
for His glory.
Paul had tasted this.
He had experienced
what this was.
by His own flesh
He was
dragging out Christians
throwing them
into prison
and beating them.
He thought
He was serving God
according to His flesh.
And now
the opposite
has happened.
Paul is the one
drug away
undressively
tried
and thrown in prison.
And where He is weak
the Holy Spirit
is strong.
And in His weakness
He's seen God
minister to the
Praetorian Guard
to give Him
an audience
before Caesar himself
and He's proclaiming
the gospel
of Christ
in Rome.
And how did He get there?
What was the path?
It was the path
of the cross.
It was strengthened
by the Spirit
of Christ
that as He suffers
and gets pressed
lower and lower
and lower
and squeezed
tighter and tighter
more of Christ
came out of Him
for the glory of God.
This is a hard thing
for me to apply
and encourage you with
because
we're a small enough
congregation
I know
some of the hard things
that our congregation
is going through
right now.
But the same Holy Spirit
that gave Paul
this strength
that Spirit
dwells
in every true believer.
And because Christ
is the one
who has walked
that path
of the cross
and it's the Spirit
of Christ
what you feel
you are not strong
enough to endure
any longer
the Spirit
of Christ
promises to supply
you
whatsoever
God
ordains
for your life.
And I know
right now
there are some
hard things
that our body
is going through.
To finish well
you and I
need prayers.
We need to pray
for one another
and we need to pray
specifically
that God
will supply
the Spirit
of Christ
to one another
in those hard trials
we're enduring.
Number four
to finish well
beware of your own
weakness
and fix
your hope
on God's grace.
To finish well
beware of your own
weakness
and fix your hope
on God's grace.
I believe that's what
Paul does in verse 20.
Paul says in verse 20
according to my
earnest expectation
and hope
Christ will be
magnified.
Let's look at these words
earnest expectation
it's to wait eagerly
with your neck
outstretched.
You know what this is like
if you've been around
little kids
and they haven't seen you
for a while
come up to that window
and stretching the neck out
just can't wait to see you
when you're coming back.
Earnest expectation
that Christ
will be magnified.
What does that look
in our lives
to live a life
earnestly expecting
Christ to be magnified?
Watching to see
how he's going to do it next.
Peeking out the window.
I hear the story
in a person's life
I don't know
what's going to come next.
When the page turns
what's the next chapter?
How will it read?
I don't know.
I'm going to pray
for the supply of the spirit
and I'm going to earnestly
expect it.
I'm going to try
to watch very carefully
and see how Christ
will magnify himself
in what seems
to be impossible.
In the word hope
confident faith
that God will provide
all that he
has promised.
See when your hope
is in the grace of God
you will never
be disappointed.
Grace has been
the theme all along
hasn't it?
Paul keeps repeating
the name of Jesus Christ
and the grace of God.
That's what he fixes
his hope on
and he will not
be disappointed.
The source of hope
is fixed
on Christ
and his grace.
Well I said
to finish well
you need to beware
of your own weakness.
See the first thing
Paul says
in verse 20
is in the negative.
He says
it's my earnest
expectation and hope
that in nothing
I shall be ashamed.
In nothing
I shall be ashamed.
The word ashamed
means disfigured.
No matter what happens
I don't want my face
to get distorted.
I don't want to get
bent out of shape
over whatever
happens to me.
And his real fear
is that he would
not bear witness
faithfully
of Christ.
That he would
disgrace
his Savior
in his final
moment of testing.
1 Corinthians 2
23
Paul wrote
we preach
Christ
crucified
to the Jews
this is a
stumbling block
and to the Greeks
it's foolishness.
And here he is
in the capital
in Rome
itself
proclaiming
Christ
crucified
knowing that
to their ears
this is utter
foolishness.
But in Romans
1 16
Paul wrote
I am not
ashamed
of the gospel
it is the power
of God
to save.
So we get
this insight
that from his letters
Paul is very
worried about this
he knows it sounds
like utter foolishness
but yet
the spirit
helps him
to not be ashamed
and to continue
proclaiming
Christ
and him
crucified.
To finish well
beware
of your own
weakness.
Paul does not
want to bring shame
to the glory
of God
he admits that
to the congregation
he asks for their
prayers
and he counts
on them
and then put
positively
to finish well
we need to fix
our hope
on God's
grace.
That's what he
says next
he says
with all boldness
as always
so now also
I have confidence
that he who began
a gracious work
in me
will complete it
until the day
of Jesus Christ.
We saw that
earlier in Philippians
in 2 Corinthians
12 9
he said
my grace
the words of
Jesus to Paul
my grace
is sufficient
for you
and in Hebrews
4 16
he speaks
of this boldness
this confidence
he says
we go boldly
to the throne
of grace
and we obtain
mercy
and find grace
to help
in time
of need
he's fixed
his hope
not on his own
strength
he's aware
of his weakness
but his hope
is fixed
on the grace
of God
in this life
there's a battle
this battle
is described
in Romans 17
as the experience
of every Christian
I'm sorry
Romans 7
it's the battle
between the remaining
sin in our flesh
and the battle
between the spirit
of God
inside of us
our confession
says that
in this war
between your
renewed spirit
and the sin
that lingers
in your flesh
although that
remaining corruption
for a time
may much prevail
and yet
through the
continual supply
of strength
from the
sanctifying spirit
of Christ
the regenerate
soul
in your inner
being
does overcome
and so who
God's
saints
do grow
in grace
God perfects
his holiness
in you
he energizes
you to press
after the heavenly
life
and to continue
growing
in evangelical
obedience
to all the
commands
which Christ
as head
and king
in his word
has prescribed
to his people
to finish well
beware of your
weakness
this battle
will not stop
until you take
your last breath
but have confidence
and fix your hope
not on your strength
but on the grace
of God
his grace
his strength
his energy
will be with you
till the very last day
in the part
of your soul
that he has
regenerated
and he's working
that out
to the rest
of your life
that part
will overcome
by his grace
my fifth
and final heading
is that to finish
well in
this life
ask for that
same grace
to magnify
Christ in you
more and more
you will finish
well if you live
by his grace
more and more
to magnify
Christ
in verse 20
he says
my prayer
is that Christ
will be magnified
specifically
he says
in my body
Paul had hopes
of still visiting
Spain
he's going to
continue to write
letters from prison
and he's going to
continue praying
for the advance
of God's kingdom
he's resolved
these things
however many days
or years
he has left
so he's praying
that Christ
will be magnified
in his body
in Acts 20
24
Paul said
I do not
count my life
dear to myself
so that I may
finish the race
with joy
and the ministry
which I have received
from the Lord Jesus
which is to testify
to the gospel
of the grace
of God
and he prays
that God
will be magnified
in his body
in life
so our life
is not our own
we belong
body and soul
to our faithful
Savior Jesus Christ
and if he has you
alive
so that you can
magnify him
he stirs your heart
to think of someone
in the church
someone in your life
a loved one
who you need
to pray for
you need to ask
for the supply
of the spirit
for them
and he wants
to bring opportunities
for you to show
the love of Christ
and to tell others
of your Savior
who lives in you
you magnify Christ
by your life
but here Paul
is also very aware
that his death
might be around
the corner
most likely
when he says
that Christ
will be magnified
in my body
that's what he's
thinking the most
about right now
and he wants
the church to know
don't be anxious
about anything
dear church
if my head
rolls off
of my body
into that basket
you can know
that it came
off the body
of a rejoicing
man
who wants Christ
to be magnified
and that I'm
with him
Romans 6 5
says we have
already become
united with Christ
in the likeness
of his death
so every day
he gives us
to live and breathe
it's for his purpose
for his glory
to be magnified
in you
we don't fear
death
like the world
fears death
we're already
spiritually united
to Christ
in his death
and united to him
in his resurrection
I learned from
our congregation
this week
of a family
crippled by death
the thought of death
the anxiety
medication
unable to do
normal life activities
with such a fear
of death
such hopelessness
I love how
this Puritan
explained the contrast
Thomas Brooks
we should lament
over that dead man
or dead woman
whom hell
harbors
whom the devil
devours
whom divine justice
torments
we should lament
and we should be
earnest to proclaim
Christ
every soul
that God brings
into contact
with you
today and this week
is a soul
headed to heaven
or to hell
and Brooks
goes on to write
let us rejoice
that's the theme
of Paul's letter
let us rejoice
over those
departed believers
whom Christ
embosoms
and whom all
the court of heaven
comes forth
to welcome
let Christ
be magnified
in my body
one way or the other
because we rejoice
when Christ
is magnified
that word
magnified
children
you've done
an experiment
we get like a
detective
piece of glass
that magnifies
whatever's on the other
side
you can look at
bugs up close
some of you
have have
doctorates
in the sciences
and you've looked
at microscopes
you spent hours
understanding
magnification
I thought about
how a magnifying
glass is never
the object
it's never
the focus
is it
the purpose
of a magnifying
glass is to
see
the true
object of
interest
through it
that that
would be
enlarged
and that the
glass would be
transparent
that Christ
be magnified
in my body
for Christ
is the head
and his church
is his body
and if we live
we live in Christ
in Christ
we move
and we have
our being
we as a
as a church
as a congregation
we should be
that way
we should be
transparent
so that when
people look
they don't see
anything of man
they see Christ
magnified
through this
little body
we are a glass
through which
Christ reveals
himself to
others
and that's
why we're
alive still
there's an
old hymn
that goes
like this
I serve
a risen
savior
he's in
the world
today
I know
that he
is living
whatever
men may
say
I see
his hand
of mercy
I hear
his voice
of cheer
he lives
salvation
to impart
in all
the world
around me
I see
his loving
care
and though
my heart
grows weary
I never
will
despair
I know
that he is
leading
through all
the stormy
blast
the day
of his
appearing
will come
at last
he lives
salvation
to impart
you ask
me
how I
know
he lives
within
my heart
that's
Christ
magnified
in his
people
Ephesians
316
it's by
his grace
that Christ
dwells in
your hearts
through faith
to make you
become rooted
and grounded
in his
great love
and from the
riches of
his glory
God grants
for you to be
strengthened
with power
through his
spirit
in your
inner self
so take
courage
church
and take
comfort
God wants
you to
finish
well
he wants
Christ
in you
to be
magnified
so put
your confidence
once again
in his
unfailing
grace
amen
let's
pray
Lord I
thank you
for these
dear
brothers
and sisters
for this
precious
congregation
the beloved
bride of
Jesus
Christ
you're
preparing
your
bride
Lord
for you
for that
great
wedding
feast
we long
to be
with you
Lord
and we
thank you
that
now we
trust you
by faith
and you
involve us
in this
glorious work
you're doing
of preparing
your bride
for yourself
help us
to pray
with Christ
for his
bride
and help
our lives
to magnify
you
more and
more by
your grace
and by
your strength
for your
glory we
pray
amen
spend some
moments reflecting
and responding
to the Lord