Please open your Bibles this morning to the book of Titus.
The book of Titus.
We are beginning a new sermon series this morning in the book of Titus.
I can't remember exactly what page that is in and your pew Bibles there in front of you.
It's in the 915 to 940 range, right there.
What is it?
938.
If you want to use your pew Bibles there in front of you, you can find that on page 938.
The book of Titus.
This book is a letter from the Apostle Paul to a fellow minister in the gospel, a co-worker, Titus.
And as he gives Titus instruction and encouragement, instruction for the churches there in Crete,
we can gain insight, we can gain knowledge for what a church of sound doctrine ought to believe and ought to do.
We can gain insight for our church as we think about our life together in the days ahead.
So let's look there now.
Titus chapter 1.
We're going to be in verses 1 through 4 this morning.
Paul writes,
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth,
which accords with godliness,
in hope of eternal life,
which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began,
and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching
with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior.
To Titus, my true child in a common faith,
grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Would you pray with me once more?
Lord, as we begin this book,
we commit our time in your word to you.
We ask that you would stir our hearts' affections for Christ,
and would you be pleased to shape Seawee Bay by the power of your word.
We pray and we ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Imagine with me that you are in the first few months of a brand new job.
You've wanted this job for a while,
and now you're here.
You're getting your feet wet and beginning to go about your work.
And you've been given a book that provides your job description
and job descriptions for every single fellow worker in the company.
And as with many new jobs,
your first few months are spent with some on-the-ground training.
You had this world-class mentor
who really seemed to know what he was doing.
He walked you through the ins and outs of what the work would look like
but then the time comes when the mentor leaves
and the work begins.
As you begin to get into the weeds of the day-to-day grind,
you realize there are some major problems here.
There are people here in this company, in your workplace,
that don't seem to follow the book at all.
In fact, they seem to know what it says.
I think they could pass any written exam on protocols and procedures
that you might give them.
Sometimes they seem like they know even more about the book than you do.
But something is off about the way that they go about their work.
They don't seem to have any interest in actually doing what they're supposed to do.
And not only that, but they sound so smart
that they're beginning to convince everyone else around them
to live this way too.
You got a mess to work through.
But thankfully, your old mentor comes through again
and he writes you a letter
to remind you of your call
and your confidence.
That yes, what you're doing is hard.
Yes, this is a big challenge.
But press on because it is worth it.
Well, this is exactly the situation that Titus finds himself in
in the book that bears his name, the book of Titus.
Titus is one of Paul's converts.
Paul had shared the gospel with Titus,
seen him come to faith.
And now Titus has become a fellow co-worker and companion of Paul.
They've labored together already in the church at Corinth.
And now Paul and Titus have traveled together to the island of Crete,
seeking to bring the gospel to this pagan island
and share the gospel to build the church.
And they've seen the Lord work in power.
They've seen souls saved.
And the church was starting to be formed.
Churches were forming on the island.
And now Paul has left Titus behind
to establish and continue the work that was started.
But as you might imagine,
Satan hated the work that was going on in Crete.
Satan, as we saw last week,
hates to see the health of the church.
He hates to see the church grow.
And so what he did was he sent false teachers there in Crete.
False teachers who would spread lies
and do everything they could to stop the work of gospel ministry.
They're spreading lies and divisions.
False teachers have crept into the church.
And so Paul, as a good mentor would,
he writes to Titus to remind him of two important truths
as he continues the work in Crete.
Two important truths.
He reminds Titus of the call and the confidence of gospel ministry.
The call and the confidence of gospel ministry.
This is going to be our outline this morning.
If you're a note taker, I encourage you to write these down.
It'll help you to follow along.
This is the call and the confidence of gospel ministry.
And what I hope we'll see in our time together
is that, yes, this is a book written to Titus,
but this is also our call and our confidence as believers.
As we go about the work of gospel ministry,
we share this call and we share this confidence
with Paul and with Titus and with every believer in Christ.
So first, we see the call of gospel ministry.
The call of gospel ministry.
Every Christian is called to the ministry of the gospel.
We may not all be called to be pastors
or called to be church planters.
We may not be called to be an apostle.
Paul here is uniquely called in his role
as an apostle of Christ Jesus.
But every believer, every Christian,
is called by God to join in the work of gospel ministry.
But what is that?
What exactly is gospel ministry?
What is the aim of our ministry
as individual believers in Christ?
And collectively, what is our aim together as a church?
Well, Paul tells us in verse 1.
Look there with me.
Verse 1.
It says,
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
for, what's he writing?
For, what's he working?
For, this is what he's laboring.
For, for the Savior,
the sake of the faith of God's elect
and their knowledge of the truth,
which accords with godliness.
That's the mission.
Every phrase is important here.
They're all connected.
How does the old song go?
The head bone's connected to the,
what is it?
The shoulder bone?
The shoulder bone is connected to the,
the rest of the body.
It's all connected.
Whatever the song is,
it's a brilliant song.
Every part is connected.
And in Paul here,
the same thing is happening.
He's, he's giving his aim for ministry.
And he says,
all of it is connected.
Election is connected to faith.
Faith is connected to knowledge.
And genuine knowledge of the truth
is connected to godliness.
So let's look at each part here.
Every phrase is important.
He says,
he says,
he's laboring for the sake of the faith of God's elect.
That is gospel ministry in a sentence.
That is gospel ministry.
Gospel ministry is,
is laboring for the sake of the faith of God's elect.
Whether externally by evangelism,
as we seek to share the gospel broadly with the lost,
and we see men and women come to faith in Christ for the first time,
or internally in the church,
through the training,
the discipling ministries of the church,
seeing,
seeing followers of Christ,
disciples of Christ,
grow in their faith in Jesus Christ.
Gospel ministry is laboring to see people come to faith
and grow in faith in Christ Jesus.
Is that your ambition?
Is that your aim?
Is that your desire for our life together as a church?
Now,
election may be a scary word for some of us.
That word gets a bad rap.
But we need to see this,
that Paul's understanding of election
was the reason he gave his life
to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.
For Paul,
election was the reason
he went to share the gospel.
He believed that in every place he went,
God had elected or chosen.
That's what election means.
He had chosen men and women unto salvation.
And he believed that he was appointed as a servant
to spread the seed of the gospel far and wide
with the confidence that the Lord would cause it
to bear the fruit of faith in his chosen people.
He was,
verse 3,
entrusted by the command of God to preach the word.
So he writes,
verse 1,
he writes,
for the sake of the faith of God's elect.
This is what God had shown Paul in the city of Corinth.
You might remember Acts chapter 18.
Acts chapter 18.
He had labored there in Corinth.
He had preached the gospel,
wearing himself out.
Some of them accepted the message.
Some of them rejected the message.
And the Lord spoke to him one night in a vision.
Acts chapter 18,
verse 9.
The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision,
Do not be afraid,
but go on speaking.
Do not be silent,
for I am with you,
and no one will attack you to harm you.
For I have many in this city who are my people.
And so he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.
Why?
Because God had many in that city who were his people.
Many who were to become his people by hearing and receiving the word in faith.
Paul labored because he saw this connection between election and faith.
But what is faith?
What is faith?
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
We are saved through faith.
That's what we're aiming to produce in God's elect.
So what is it?
You know, this is one of the most watered down,
diluted,
stripped of its power words in the English language.
You can tell I have a hard time with this.
Okay?
You hear people say,
Just have faith.
You have your faith.
I have my faith.
Or keep the faith.
He's a person of faith.
She's a person of faith.
What are we talking about?
What does that mean when we talk about faith?
No one is saved by just having faith.
No one is saved by keeping the faith,
whatever that means.
No one is saved by being a person of faith
unless that faith is in someone who can save you.
See, faith is a tether.
It is a rope.
It's a chain that you throw outward,
away from yourself to connect you to someone or something else.
We often talk about faith like we just throw it up in the sky
and we just believe it's going to latch on to something that's going to help us.
That's not biblical faith.
Untethered faith will save no one.
No one who has fallen into a pit is saved by just having a rope
unless on the other side of that rope is someone who is able to pull you out to save you.
Saving faith, in the Bible, saving faith is genuine trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.
That's the only kind of faith that saves.
Faith is the rope that ties your heart to Christ and all that He is,
all that He's done in the gospel,
and His reliance on Him alone,
His dependence on Him alone is outward reaching towards Christ,
saying, I'm not worthy of trust.
I can't bring myself out of this pit.
Only you are.
Only you can.
I'm not righteous.
You are.
I'm not worthy of praise.
You are.
I'm not Lord of my life.
You are.
You alone are God.
That's saving faith.
That's what we're laboring to see in our evangelism externally,
in our discipleship internally,
in our marriages,
in our relationships,
in our friendships,
in our hospitality,
in our life.
We are laboring for the sake of the faith of God's elect.
And for that to happen, church,
it requires knowledge of the truth.
Knowledge of the truth.
You know, one of the craftiest lies
that the devil has told the church
is that somehow knowledge
is an enemy of the faith.
That you have your spiritual people over here
who feel and experience,
and you got your intellectual people over here
who think and who study.
The Bible doesn't talk that way.
They are connected.
You can have faith without knowledge,
but that knowledge,
that faith will not save you.
Some of the most devout men and women of faith
are Muslims,
Jews,
and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Their level of devotion,
their level of faith is astounding,
but they are trusting lies.
They've tied their ropes to dust.
You can have knowledge without faith,
but that will not save you.
Even the devil believes the facts about Christ.
Even the demons believe and shudder.
It doesn't help you to know
that someone's up there
on the other side of the pit
if you don't trust them to pull you out.
You see, we need both.
Knowledge and faith.
We're aiming to produce both.
You don't have to have much knowledge.
You don't have to have
an upper education degree
or years of training,
but you have to have enough knowledge
of the truth
to latch your heart
and your mind
onto the message of the gospel
and say,
I trust that to be true.
I believe that message to be true.
I know and I believe
that I'm a sinner.
That's knowledge and faith.
I know and I believe
that I am separated from God.
Knowledge and faith.
I know and I believe
that apart from the grace of God,
I will die in my sin
and go to hell.
Knowledge and faith.
I know and I believe
that Christ lived,
that he died perfectly in my place,
that he died on the cross for my sin.
I know and I believe
that he rose from the grave in my place.
I know and I trust him
when he says,
if anyone believes in me,
he will not perish,
but have eternal life.
So on the basis of that truth,
that knowledge,
my mind convinced
and my heart awakened,
I trust in Jesus Christ.
It may be that you've never
trusted in Christ.
And if that's you this morning,
if you hear these words
and you say,
I've heard that,
but I've never believed that.
I've heard that knowledge,
but I've never trusted that.
Do you believe him?
Do you know him
and trust him as your savior?
Repent and believe the words of truth.
You see, church,
when we preach and proclaim the gospel,
we are proclaiming knowledge
that if believed,
will save sinners
and equip saints.
But don't leave it there.
Don't be content
to leave it there.
What does Paul say?
Election is connected to faith.
Faith is connected to knowledge
and real,
genuine,
saving knowledge of the truth
is connected
with godliness.
For the sake of the faith
of God's elect
and their knowledge
of the truth,
which accords
with godliness.
You see,
this was the big problem
here in Crete.
False teachers
have crept in
and were teaching
that you can keep
the information
and you can keep
the knowledge
and you can go on living
however you want.
As long as you know
the right facts.
They were driving a wedge
between saving knowledge
and godly living,
saying you can have
one without the other.
But Paul here says,
any who truly know the Lord
will bear the fruit
of godliness.
See,
the roots of election
are hidden from our eyes.
We can't see that.
But the fruits of righteousness
in those who believe,
that's visible.
That we can see.
Some of you,
I know,
grew up farming.
And you can drive
by a field
and tell exactly
what crop that is
out there growing
before it's even
born any fruit.
I can't.
Okay?
I'm helpless.
I'm absolutely clueless
when it comes to that.
We'll be driving
by a field
and someone in the car
will ask,
what is that?
And I'll say,
I don't know.
But if it's bearing fruit,
I can tell you,
that's a blackberry bush.
That's an apple tree.
How do you know?
I see apples.
I see blackberries.
I see the fruit
that it's producing.
Jesus tells us
in Luke chapter 6,
what?
You know a tree by what?
By its fruits.
He's not talking
about a tree.
He's talking about us,
about our hearts.
The only way
that we're able to see
and to discern
the internal,
hidden state
of someone's heart
is by the spiritual fruit
of godliness
in their life.
saving faith
accords
with godliness.
Friend,
if you or me
or anyone else
claims to be
a follower of Christ,
we should expect
to see them follow.
If you or me
or anyone else
claims to be
a child of God,
born again
as a child of God,
we should expect
to see the fruit
of new life,
regeneration.
If you or me
or anyone else
expects
and claims
to have our roots
down in God's grace,
to be rooted
in the grace of God,
we should expect
to see the fruits
of godliness
in our life.
Not perfection,
but progress
and pursuit
of godliness.
Putting off
the old man,
putting on
the new.
Church,
this is the call
of gospel ministry.
I want to hang
this as a banner
over every ministry
of our church,
over the preaching
of the word
is for the sake
of the faith
of God's elect.
A knowledgeable faith,
a godly faith.
Over our discipleship
of one another
is for the sake
of the faith
of God's elect.
Over our children's ministry
and the children's wing
is for the sake
of the faith
of God's elect.
But how can we be certain
that this will be accomplished?
What is our confidence?
Do we have any assurances
that all of this work
will be worth it?
That our efforts here
as a church
and the ministry
of the word,
that it won't be in vain?
As we labor
and we look together
towards the new year
and all that we have
planned together
as a church,
as we launch out
as a gospel preaching church
in this area,
how can we be confident
that our ministry
will be effective?
Look with me
to verses 2 and 3.
Verses 2 and 3.
This is our confidence
of gospel ministry.
All of this
that we are aiming
to produce,
faith,
knowledge,
godliness,
all of it,
Paul says,
all of it
is in hope
of eternal life.
In hope
of eternal life.
Our pursuit
of knowledge
and the truth
is in hope.
Faith is born
in hope.
Our pursuit
of godliness
is forward looking,
onward looking
to the hope
of eternal life.
Our confidence,
church,
is in God's
eternal promise
and in God's
appointed means.
God's eternal promise
and God's
appointed means.
Christians are those
who have the hope
of eternal life.
hope.
We believe
God so loved
the world
that he gave
his only son
that whoever
believes in him
should not perish
but have what?
Help me.
Eternal life.
That's our hope.
But we don't speak
about hope
the same way
that the rest
of the world does.
The way that we tend
to use that word,
hope,
is anything
but certain.
I hope it stops
raining so much.
Right?
I hope the Braves
will catch the Mets
and take over
first place.
I hope the economy
straightens out
sometime soon.
All of that
is wishful thinking.
It's hopeful thinking.
There's no certainty
in that.
That's a wish.
It's not a certainty.
It's not grounded
in truth.
But see,
the Christian hope
of eternal life
is not wishful thinking.
It is certain hope.
100% certain.
It's more certain
than the sun rising tomorrow.
It's more certain
than your next breath.
Nothing is as certain
as the hope
of eternal life
for all who are in Christ
because God has promised it
to be so.
Look there
at what he says again.
God,
who never lies,
promised this hope
before the ages began.
Numbers 23,
verse 19
tells us,
God is not a man
that he should lie
or a son of man
that he should change his mind.
Has he said
and will he not do it
or has he spoken
and will he not fulfill it?
See,
our confidence
in life
and in ministry
is the certain hope
of eternal life
promised by God
who never lies.
See,
the false teachers
there in Crete
were teaching falsehood.
They were proclaiming lies.
They were selling lies.
They were deceiving many.
And Paul says,
believe the promise of God.
Remember the promise of God.
God never lies.
Church,
listen to me here.
everything else
that you set your hope on
in this life
will disappoint you.
Everything else
that you set your hope on
in this life,
if you set your hope
on the economy,
I guess you're probably
pretty disappointed
right now.
If you set your hope
on politics,
politicians,
you will be let down
and disappointed.
If you set your hope
on the uncertainty
of riches,
you will be disappointed.
If you set your hope
ultimately on a relationship,
a friendship,
a husband,
a wife,
you will be disappointed.
But if you set your hope
fully on Christ Jesus,
you will never be disappointed.
Because God,
who never lies,
has promised eternal life
in Christ
for all who believe
before the ages began.
Do you see how certain
that is?
How unshakable
that is
before the ages began.
Ephesians 1,
remember this,
it told us,
God chose us
in Christ
before the foundation
of the world.
Before the ages began.
2 Timothy 1,
verse 9 says,
God saved us
and called us
to a holy calling,
not because of our works,
but because of his own purpose
and grace,
which he gave us
in Christ Jesus
before the ages began.
You see,
our salvation in time,
our calling to faith
in Christ in time,
our holiness in time,
Paul says it's not
because of our works
in time.
It's not because of anything
we've done in this life.
Rather,
it's rooted
in the eternal plan
and promise
of God.
That's our confidence
in this ministry.
We can't lose this
or mess this up
because this promise
was made to us
who believe in Christ
before we even existed.
Now,
let's come full circle
here,
church.
We're laboring
for the sake
of the faith
of God's elect
and their knowledge
of the truth
which accords
with godliness
in hope.
How is that hope
given?
How does anyone
move from death
to life?
From darkness
to light?
How does anyone
move from the hopelessness
of the world
to the hope
of eternal life?
Look with me
once more
to verse 3.
Paul says,
at the proper time,
God manifested
this hope
in his word
through the preaching
of the gospel.
How is hope manifested?
How is it brought
about in the hearts
of the lost?
How is it revealed
and made known?
Paul says,
through the preaching
of the word.
How do the elect
come to faith
in accordance
with knowledge
of the truth
in accordance
with godliness
and hope
of eternal life
through the preaching
of the word?
Why does Paul
preach the gospel
even when it cost him
everything?
Imprisonment,
ultimately death.
Why do we place
such a high emphasis
on the preaching
of the word?
Why do I spend hours
every week laboring
to explain four verses,
all the four verses
to you this morning?
is because,
church,
we believe
that God's word
and the preaching
of the gospel
is God's appointed
means to manifest
hope,
to manifest
the hope
of eternal life,
to bring about
hope in the hearts
of the lost
and to fix hope
in the hearts
of the saints.
What God purposes
in eternity,
he brings about
in time
through his
appointed means.
God accomplishes
his purposes
through means.
And our confidence
is that this word,
as we proclaim
the glory of God
and the gospel
of Jesus Christ,
is 100% effective
in accomplishing
the plan of God,
even when we don't
see it.
You remember the
verses that Treg
read for us
this morning?
Isaiah 55.
It seems like
every day we've
been getting rain,
finally we have
had some sunshine
out here today.
I told Amanda
I wasn't sure
if we moved
to Allendal
or Seattle.
It's been raining
so much.
But if you're
a farmer,
you know
the importance
of rain.
Rain gives life.
It's effective.
It's what waters
and nourishes the soil.
It brings growth.
It brings life
from the ground.
Rain is good.
It's the means.
It's the tool,
the instrument
of life and growth.
Isaiah 55 reminds us
that God's word
is like the rain.
Isaiah 55,
verses 10 and 11,
he says,
For as the rain
and the snow
come down from heaven
and do not return there
but water the earth,
making it bring forth
and sprout,
giving seed to the sower
and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be.
That goes out
from my mouth.
It shall not return
to me empty.
Listen to this.
But it shall accomplish
the purpose
for which I send it.
It shall accomplish
that which I purpose
and shall succeed
in the thing
for which I sent it.
The word of God
is 100% effective
in fulfilling
the plan of God.
Hope is formed
in the hearts
of the lost
and hope is fixed
in the hearts
of the redeemed
by the preaching
of the word.
Every one of you
who's a believer
in the room
knows that to be true.
How did you come
to faith in Christ?
Whether it was
a friend,
a family member,
a church service,
a pastor,
a radio program,
or by yourself
with the word,
someone,
somehow,
some way,
God sent his word
to you
and it landed
on fertile soil.
And that word
caused growth
in your heart.
The growth
of the hope
of eternal life.
The certain hope
of eternal life
planned and promised
in Christ
by God
for you
before the ages
began
was manifested
in your life
through
the preaching
of the word.
See,
God has appointed
the preaching
of the word
as his chosen means
to accomplish
his eternal purposes.
He does not
bypass us
in his plans.
He works in
and through us
as we together
proclaim the truth.
This is why
we send missionaries
to the ends
of the earth.
Why we pray
for a different country
every week
that the Lord
would send
the truth,
send the word
out to Bhutan
this morning.
This is why
we preach the gospel.
I stand here,
Treg stands here
week in,
week out
and proclaim
the word of truth.
This is why
we share
the good news
of Christ
with the lost
and evangelize
our lost friends
and neighbors
and co-workers
and family members
is because
apart from
hearing the word
of God,
no one can come
to faith in Christ.
I love the fact
that Romans 9
and Romans 10
are next to each
other in the Bible.
I encourage you all
to go home
and read those
two chapters.
Back to back.
Don't stop.
Read all the way
through Romans 9
to Romans 10.
Go home,
do that this afternoon.
They hold hands.
They're friends.
They get along.
Paul wrote both
chapters,
I promise.
Romans 9,
he highlights
the sovereignty
of God
and salvation.
He highlights
God's purposes
in election.
He says to Moses,
I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy
and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion.
That's a whole other sermon
or 20.
But in the very next breath,
here we are
in Romans 10.
Everyone who calls
on the name
of the Lord
will be saved.
How then
will they call
on Him
whom they have not believed?
How are they
to believe in Him
whom they have never heard?
How are they to hear
without someone
preaching?
And how are they
to preach
unless they are sent?
As it is written,
how beautiful
are the feet
of those who preach
the good news.
Faith comes through
hearing
and hearing
through the Word
of Christ.
election
is connected
to faith.
Faith
is connected
to knowledge.
Knowledge
is connected
to godliness
and all of it
is lived
in this rock-solid
hope
of eternal life
promised by the mouth
of God
through His Word
to all
who believe.
Church,
that is our call
and that is
our confidence.
That's the ministry
that we are to be about.
That's the ministry
of the gospel.
This is like
a good father
who
years before
he ever
even has a son
promises
that
one day
he will take
that future son
to the ballpark.
No work,
no school,
no homework,
no distractions,
just him
and his son
enjoying time
together.
The point
isn't the ballpark
as fun as that
will be.
The point
is time
together
with dad.
And years
later
the day
comes
and his
son is born.
And this
little baby
has no
idea
what his
father
has planned
for him.
That this
great day
has been
planned.
This great
day is
coming.
Not a clue.
He just
cries.
And wiggles.
And eats.
And sleeps.
But one
day when
the time
is right.
Only the
father knows
when.
He wakes
his son
up.
And he
hands him
two tickets.
And he
says I
planned
something
for us.
Will you
come
with me?
Would you
like to
come
with me?
That's
the word
extended.
That's
the word
preached.
And the
son reads
the words
on those
tickets.
He sees
what it
says.
He sees
what the
invitation
is all
about.
He sees
the names
of the
teams and
that the
price of
admission
has been
paid in
full.
He doesn't
have to
pay a
dime.
He can
come
without
cost to
himself.
He studies
those tickets
day in,
day out.
He knows
what they
feel like,
how they
look,
how they
smell,
what they
say.
That's
knowledge.
And looking
at those
tickets,
he believes
that this
is good.
That his
father will
fulfill his
promise.
He's
trustworthy.
He's proven
himself to be
worthy of
trust.
And so he
trusts that his
father is going
to keep his
word.
That's faith.
faith.
And every
night when
the boy goes
to bed, he
looks at those
tickets.
He sleeps with
them on his
pillow.
He wakes up
and carries
them in his
pocket and he
marks down the
days on his
calendar.
His whole life
is shaped around
that coming
day until the
day arrives at
last and he
can finally
enjoy the
realization of
the promise
that was made
before he
was even
born.
That's hope.
Church, that
is what we're
laboring to
see.
That is the
ministry of
the gospel.
Let's pray.
Father, we
thank you
that for
those who
are in
Christ, Lord,
that is
your doing.
And we
pray that
our faith
would be a
knowledgeable
faith, knowledge
of the truth,
that you would
grow us in
knowledge of
the truth.
Would you
grow us who
believe in
godliness?
Would you
strengthen the
hope of
eternal life
that you have
placed within
our hearts?
And Lord, we
pray, our
prayer is that
we would see
faith born in
the lost for
the first
time, even
this week, as
we share the
gospel.
And we pray
that faith would
be strengthened
here by
instruction in
the truth and
growth and
godliness.
Lord, would
you do it?
Would you be
pleased to do
that here among
us?
We love you,
Father, and we
pray all this in
the name of
Christ.
Amen.