Thank you. It is a joy to be with you.
If you've got your Bibles open, it's Ephesians 4,
but we're also going to look a little bit at Ephesians 1.
As an American pastor some years ago wrote a best-selling book,
as it turned out to be, about the local church,
its core conviction was this.
The local church is the apple of God's eye.
It's the focal point of all that he is doing in the world.
Now, look around.
Look at one another.
This was his conviction.
If you're a Christian here this morning, part of this local church,
you are part of being the apple of God's eye,
the focal point of all that he's doing in the world.
That actually well reflects the main theme of Ephesians as a letter.
In fact, there's no other letter in the New Testament
that kind of has such an expansive, such a soaring,
such a cosmic view of the place of the local church,
which looks so ordinary.
Look at that.
Look at one another.
So ordinary.
So weak.
So apparently ineffective and inconsequential.
But in God's economy,
it's these companies of God's people,
small and large,
scattered around the world throughout time,
is the focal point of all that he's doing against the back cloth
of all that is happening in the world,
the rise and fall of nations,
the coming and going of prime ministers,
wars and times of peace.
God is working constantly,
and he's doing that through the local church.
And the point is, in chapter 1, verse 10,
the whole unfolding storyline of the Bible
is encaptured in the fact,
in the story of salvation,
which is a story of God working every single day
through his people in the world,
through the whole course of human history,
with one great aim.
There it is in verse 10,
to bring all things in heaven and earth under Christ.
That's where it's going.
If you're a Christian, that's your destiny.
That's where you and I are going.
And Ephesians shows us,
through Jesus' death and resurrection,
how God will bring into being this new creation,
the new heavens and the new earth,
as it's called elsewhere in the book of Revelation.
It's the kind of world that we long for.
It's the kind of world that we sing about.
Famously, John Lennon sang about it in the 60s and 70s
with that song, Imagine.
Most of you are of an age and time,
well, you'll remember that song.
But what was he singing about?
He said, I hope someday you'll join us,
and the world will be at one.
The world longs for peace.
The world longs for unity.
The world longs for oneness.
But it can't deliver it.
It's not in the power of humankind
to deliver the kind of world that we want.
And yet, the fact that we long for that kind of world
is all part and parcel of the imprint of God's image
in our heart and our soul.
We've lost that world.
We lost it in Genesis.
But it's a world that's going to be regained,
as John Milton put it,
paradise regained,
that's spoken about in the book of Revelation.
That's the journey of the Bible,
from paradise lost to paradise regained.
But that world isn't going to be regained
by human beings.
It's going to be regained by the intervention of God.
And he's begun that through the death
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So what's going on in history,
against the butt cloth of all that's going on
in our own lives,
and in the history of our nation,
and the history of the world right now?
It's this.
God is building his church.
As Ephesians puts it,
one world, one body, one people.
And before we get to the passage in Ephesians 4 this morning,
I just want to remind you,
if you're a Christian,
of something that you're in danger of missing every day
and losing sight of,
and I can see from some of your faces
that you're losing sight of it,
it's the incredible privilege of being a Christian.
It might not feel like that here this morning,
but if you're a Christian,
you are amongst the most privileged people
in all the world.
You really are.
Why?
Well, as Ephesians 1 puts it in verse 4,
you're chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
Or again, adopted as God's sons,
heirs of all that he owns,
to be adopted into the family of God.
The story is told of the little boy who was adopted,
and he was getting a lot of grace from his mates at school.
And in the end,
he turned around and said,
at least my father chose me.
Your fathers had no choice in the matter.
You were just given to them.
Isn't that brilliant?
Adoption is at the heart of the Christian experience.
A father in heaven who so loved you personally
that he purposed, he chose you to adopt you into his family.
Paul is saying to this ragamuffling church in Ephesus,
this is who you are.
Christian here today in Brunsfield,
this is who you are.
You are chosen.
You are adopted.
You are, verse 7,
redeemed through the death of Christ.
As Peter puts it,
not with silver and gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ.
How much does God love you?
That much.
To give his son.
You fathers here,
can you imagine any scenario
where you're willing to give up your child
to rescue another person?
This is the immensity of God's heart and God's love
that he has given his very best,
his only begotten son,
to rescue us.
That's the value that he puts upon having you
in his family.
Do you see the thing?
You couldn't be of greater value.
You couldn't be of greater worth.
You couldn't be of more significance.
This is your identity.
And that's why,
because we're sealed with the Holy Spirit,
verses 13 and 14,
there's a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
so that we cry in our heart,
Abba, Father,
we are aware of our relationship with God,
that we are called to live,
verse 12,
for the praise of his glory.
I'm sure you've been through Ephesians 1 at some point.
If not, it's a great passage to return to.
But that's who we are as Christians.
And I just want to remind us of that.
Before we come to chapter 4 today,
because getting hold of that is so important
to our everyday life and service of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Or as it puts it in chapter 1,
in verse 1 of chapter 4,
as a prisoner for the Lord,
I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling
you have received.
You see, as a Christian,
you've been chosen,
you've been adopted,
you've been called into God's family,
and he's given you a purpose.
And the purpose is to live a life worthy of who you are.
Remember that film,
Saving Private Ryan?
There's a very poignant scene at the end of it,
where 50 years or so later,
Private Ryan,
now an old man,
returns to visit the grave of Captain John Miller,
who had led that band of people.
It's a true story, isn't it?
He'd led those troops to rescue Private Ryan.
And he's there now,
Private Ryan,
with his wife,
with his children,
with his grandchildren.
They're all gathered around that grave in France,
in that cemetery.
And he turns to his wife,
and he says,
tell me that I've earned it.
Tell me that I've earned it.
You see,
he was aware that the sacrifice,
what was made for him,
had granted him a life that John Miller never knew.
He was aware of the enormity of the cost of it.
And his instinct was,
tell me that I've earned it.
Tell me that I've earned it.
That's so, so related to that deep instinct within us
that thinks we can earn our salvation.
Do you see the point?
We can't earn it.
There's nothing we can do to earn our salvation.
It's a gift of God.
Those words of Private Ryan
are the very antithesis,
the very opposite of the gospel.
Because the gospel says you can't earn it.
It's a gift.
The gift of faith,
the gift of grace given to you.
You can't earn your salvation.
God has done it all.
And knowing that God has done it all,
knowing that we respond to God,
not out of duty,
but out of love.
The Christian life isn't duty,
it's devotion.
It's the response to love.
Knowing that he's done all those things for me,
what can I do but love him in return,
with his help,
day by day?
It's the response of love.
And here in the verse 1 to 16 of chapter 4,
it spells out kind of what it means, therefore,
to live a life of devotion.
What's the implications for us,
as a local church,
to the immensity of God's love
and God's goodness to us?
Well, it is simply this.
First, it's to be a peacemaker.
And secondly, it's to be a bodybuilder.
A peacemaker and a bodybuilder.
Verses 1 to 6.
As we've already seen,
you see, there's an instinctive longing
in the human heart for peace,
for unity.
We have things like the United Nations.
The nations come together,
long for unity.
But if anything so illustrates
the total impotence of a nation
or nations to get together to create unity,
it's the United Nations.
We have a united kingdom.
It's a very dangerous thing
to talk about in Scotland, isn't it?
The united kingdom.
You see, there's this longing in all of us
for unity, for togetherness.
But as we've already seen,
left to ourselves,
we can't create that.
But the gospel creates it.
Christ has won the peace
and he's created unity for his family.
Firstly, Paul talks about it in chapter 2.
It's a peace between God and his people.
In Christ, verse 13,
you who were once far away
have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
He himself is our peace.
But it's not until we have that vertical peace
with God that we can begin to have
peace with one another.
You'll never have horizontal peace
between people.
Without first,
you have that vertical peace
between a person and God.
That's what God is creating
in the gospel.
Verse 14 of chapter 2,
He has made the two groups,
Jew and Gentile,
naturally hostile to one another,
one and destroyed the barrier,
the dividing wall of hostility.
You see, the gospel has the power
to do something
that no other human institution,
philosophy, religion,
whatever you might want to call it,
has the power to do.
It's to create a global community.
And you can illustrate this very easily.
You've had surely the experience
of being somewhere else.
You're away on holiday,
whatever it might be,
and you meet another Christian.
And immediately,
there's a bond between you.
Now, last May, I think it was,
I was very happily walking along
the promenade
in a place called St. Brellard's Bay
in Jersey.
Beautiful.
And the sun was shining,
and like the typical Brit abroad,
I had my T-shirt,
take my T-shirt off,
have my knotted hanky on my head,
no, I didn't really.
But we're just walking along there,
Val and I,
and then suddenly,
this guy leans over outside of this,
it's kind of like a hotel,
but it was all open.
And he said,
Trevor, it's Trevor,
it's Trevor, isn't it?
I go, who's this guy?
It was your pastor.
And that's why we're here today.
It was a direct result.
But the amazing thing,
isn't it?
You've surely been there.
There's an immediate rapport.
There's an immediate brotherhood,
isn't there?
You're in the family.
You've never met them before,
but they're a brother and sister
in Christ.
It's just one of the reflections
of what God does in the gospel.
It's incredible, isn't it?
God brings us together.
But it's not man-made,
it's God-made.
We don't create this unity,
it's a given.
But you remember what Paul says
here in Ephesians?
Maintain the unity of the gospel
in the bond of peace.
You see, unity is not something
we create, it's given.
You're in Christ,
I'm in Christ,
it's given.
All we can do is destroy it.
Or maintain it,
which is Paul's point here.
He's calling us to be peacemakers.
Not so much peacemakers,
but actually peacekeepers
to maintain the unity
in the bond of peace.
The challenge here
is not to destroy
what God instinctively
and intrinsically creates
in the gospel.
But how do we do that?
Well, Paul is really helpful here
because he tells us
four ways
in which we can
keep the peace.
The first
is there
in
verse 1
or verse 2.
Be completely
humble.
Be completely
humble.
You see,
this is why I wanted to remind us
who we are in Christ.
If you know yourself
to be chosen
and adopted
and the recipient
of God's grace
and totally unworthy of it
but lavished
with his love,
if you know yourself
to be made alive
to God,
to be given
a glorious hope
of the future,
surely there's no room
for pride in that,
is there?
It's all stuff
that God has done
for you.
You haven't achieved it.
You're not better
than the next person.
Very often you're worse
than the next person.
But this is what God has done.
And if he's done it
by himself,
humbling himself
unto death.
So there's no room
in the Christian life
for pride.
Now, that's easy to say
but pride is the first thing
to enter us.
It's the heart of sin,
isn't it, after all?
The big eye.
And it's the last thing
to leave us.
That self-preservation,
that instinct
to want to be first,
to be noticed,
to be applauded.
It's profound.
And yet,
here in the Gospel,
God sets about
making his people
a humble people.
Not a Uriah Heep
kind of humble.
Charles Dickens
wrote about,
you know,
oh, I'm ever so humble.
Not that kind of thing.
But the outlook
upon life
that realizes
that all I am
and all I have been given
is a result
of the grace of God.
And it's astonishing.
It's wonderful.
And I'm valued
by God
beyond my wildest
imagination.
C.S. Lewis
put it like this.
Humility
is not thinking
less
of yourself
but thinking
of yourself
less.
That's brilliant,
isn't it?
It's not thinking
less of yourself.
Don't devalue
the value
that God has given
to you.
You're the most
privileged person
in the universe.
But because of that,
think of yourself
less.
Reflect the Father.
Reflect the image
of the Son.
Reflect the Spirit
that indwells you,
that looks to the needs
of others.
Think of the people
who've made the greatest
impact
on your Christian life.
Have you got them?
Got that person?
Probably several.
But that one person.
I would
venture to say
that the quality
that has impressed you
and left such an impression
upon you
by that person
is that they were humble.
They were humble
because they denied themselves.
They put up with you.
I'm thinking of one guy
particularly,
a guy called Ian Oliver
who when I became
a Christian
for probably two years,
every Thursday lunchtime,
we would meet up,
I'm showing my age now,
at the Wimpy Bar.
I don't know if you still
have Wimpy Bars.
They were the precursor
of McDonald's.
And we would meet up
in the Wimpy Bar
in Leicester Square
for an hour
and he was basically
discipling me.
It cost him a lot.
Every time he paid
for the meal.
But it wasn't simply
the cash it cost him.
He gave his time.
Not only the hour
we were there,
the half hour each way
that it took him
to get there.
All the way through
there was that sacrifice,
there was that humility
in order to bless me.
You've all got people
in your lives like that.
That it costs them.
It costs them
to serve you,
to grow you
in the faith.
They were humble.
They wanted your best.
They wanted your flourishing.
They wanted your improvement
as a Christian.
Paul goes on to say,
be completely humble
and gentle.
How quickly
unity is fractured
by our lack
of gentleness.
You see,
gentleness comes
from a heart
that knows the Saviour.
The one who said,
come unto me,
all you who are weary
and heavy laden,
and I will give you rest
for I am gentle
and lowly of heart.
gentle
is not weak.
We're told Moses
was the meekest man
upon the face of the earth.
He was a strong man.
He once killed
another person.
He was probably
a very big,
powerful guy.
But God said
he was meek.
He was gentle.
Why?
Because he'd experienced
the love and the grace
and the mercy
and the humbling of God.
And that made him
gentle.
This is the point
that's being made here,
isn't it?
This same spirit
of Christ,
the one who is gentle
and lowly,
is a spirit
that indwells you
and me,
Christian.
So let's be gentle
with one another.
It's the secret
of true unity.
The third way
is that of patience.
Verse 2 again,
be completely humble
and gentle.
Be patient,
bearing with one another
in love.
See,
none of us,
this might come as a surprise,
none of us
are the finished product.
We're not in heaven yet.
So we struggle
with sin
every day.
We struggle
with the old nature.
We're all work
in progress.
I had a friend
from Northern Ireland,
one of the elders
at Chessington,
who took 18 months
off of his work
to come and serve
in the church.
And after two months
he came to me
and he was quite troubled
because he thought,
you see,
working in a church
was the ideal job.
He thought,
this is it.
I can leave my business
in the oil business
and all the aggravation
of that.
I'll be working
in a church.
It will be a taste
of heaven.
And he said to me,
Trevor,
I've come to the conclusion
that Christians are great
at loving one another
from a distance.
Isn't that true?
I can love anybody
from a distance.
But you put me
in a team with them.
I want to do it this way.
They want to do it that way.
It's a recipe
for conflict
and disaster,
isn't it?
I need to be patient.
Once I was
in the Philippines
with another
of the elders
from Chessington
visiting a missionary
couple that we'd sent
from Chessington.
And we were walking
along this street
one day
on the island
of Mindoro
and this guy
was coming towards us
and he had a T-shirt on
and it said
on the front,
don't give up on me.
Now,
in the Philippines,
it's a wonderful climate,
just like Edinburgh
on a spring day.
Everybody's walking
about in their T-shirt
and shorts.
That's all you need.
And they've all got
emblazoned
with little messages
on the front.
So we're thinking,
this is probably
a pop group.
Don't give up on me.
Strange name,
but nevertheless,
probably a name
of a pop group.
But the answer came
when he walked past us
and on the back
of the T-shirt
it said,
God's not finished
with me yet.
Don't give up on me.
God's not finished
with me yet.
Christian,
in our dealings
with one another,
remember that.
God's not finished
with that brother
and sister yet,
just as he's not
finished with you.
And the older you get,
this is my experience,
I want to speak
on behalf of my wife
on this occasion as well,
I think it's this.
You realize
how innately
selfish
and self-centered
you are.
And it's a lifetime
experience
of God,
the Holy Spirit,
striving with you
through disappointments,
through failure,
through tragedies,
in order
that we might bear
the resemblance
more of his son.
Don't give up on me.
God's not finished
with me yet.
So be patient.
You see,
patience,
what does patience do?
Patience extends
to other Christians
the thing
that we're very good
at extending
to ourselves.
Patience.
We're always ready
to excuse ourselves,
aren't we?
There's always a reason
why I've acted
in a certain way.
I can be patient
with myself
because, wow,
I'm still a work
in progress.
Yeah, but so
is the other Christian.
They're a work
in progress as well.
We're all a work
in progress.
So be humble,
be gentle,
be patient.
Make every effort,
he says here.
Make every effort
because there was
nothing half-hearted
in the way
that the Lord Jesus
gave his life
to seek
and save
the lost.
So being a peacemaker
has those four elements
to it.
Humility,
gentleness,
patience,
and the desire
to go the extra mile,
to make every effort.
Take the initiative
of sorting out differences.
Is that instinctive to us?
No, it's a remarkable work
of the Holy Spirit,
isn't it?
Well, let them come.
Let them come
and say sorry to me first.
Then we'll get reconciled.
Is that how God
acted towards you,
towards me?
No, exactly the opposite.
He came seeking
and saving the lost.
He took the initiative.
Making every effort
is actually
swallowing our pride,
emulating
the Savior,
making every effort
to be patient
with that person,
to be united
with that person
for whom God
has joined together.
As we say
at the marriage ceremony,
let no man
put asunder.
See, unity to God
is precious to him.
It's the marriage
of his bride
to his son.
Let what God
has put together,
let no man
put asunder.
It's a fearful thing
to cause another
Christian,
especially a younger
Christian,
to fall and stumble
and fall away
because of our lack
of humility,
because of our lack
of gentleness,
because of our lack
of making every effort
to be patient
and even be ready
to be wronged
in order to be
a peacekeeper.
It's a big calling,
isn't it?
This is massive.
But it's also
accompanied by another
thing, isn't it?
Verses 7 to 16.
We're getting towards
the end now.
We must close.
And that's to be
a body builder.
What's it say here?
Verse 16,
as each part
does its work.
What is that work?
It's the work
of building up
the church.
And the point
of building up
the church
is not that we
can have a nice
club where we're
all good mates
with one another.
It's always for the
benefit of the world
outside.
Do you remember
that Psalm?
I think it's Psalm 133
talks about how
blessed it is
with brothers and
sisters dwell together
in unity,
for there the Lord
bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
Flip that around
for a minute,
would you?
What happens
when a church
becomes disunited?
What's the first
thing to go?
You tell me.
What's the first
thing to go?
Graham?
See,
it's the only name
I know in the room.
Well,
I know his wife's name,
Alex,
but I'm not going
to ask her because
she's going to give
us lunch later.
What's the first
thing to go when
a church is disunited?
A heart for the
world,
isn't it?
There the Lord
bestows his blessing
when a church is
united.
The converse is true.
When a church is
disunited,
it loses a concern
for the world
outside.
And the world
outside looks at
it and says,
don't talk to me
about a message
of peace and
unity,
how God has
reconciled it.
it hasn't.
Look at you.
You're arguing
with one another.
You're disunited.
The message
has no value.
They can
discard the
gospel.
You see,
unity
is just so
core to
the proclamation
of the
gospel.
But how
does the
church grow?
How does it
become strong?
Well,
verse 7 and 8,
to each one,
grace has been
given as Christ
appointed it.
This is why
it says,
when he ascended
on high,
he took many
captives and
gave gifts to
his people.
This is how
the church
grows.
That's a
reference to
actually Psalm
68 that has
a picture of
a conquering
general who's
giving out the
gifts, giving
out the spoils
to his army.
And here's the
conquering king,
here's the Lord
Jesus Christ,
and he's about
building his
kingdom in the
world through
ordinary men and
women like you
and I,
aware of our
frailties,
aware of our
failings,
aware of our
sin, but
redeemed,
made right with
God, and
empowered to
reach out with
this gospel
through the
grace God
gives us.
To each one,
grace has been
given.
And Paul here
isn't talking
about so much
salvation grace
as service grace,
the ability to
use the gift
God has given
us for the
glory of his
name.
A variety of
gifts are given
in chapter 4,
aren't they,
that display our
unity and our
diversity.
But actually,
Paul doesn't list
here, he does
elsewhere what
these gifts are,
but here he talks
rather about the
role.
So, he says in
verse 11,
Christ himself gave
apostles and
prophets.
Now, they're not
the Old Testament
prophets, they're
the early New
Testament prophets
that together with
the apostles gave
us what we call
the New Testament,
a Bible for
every generation.
But then he goes
on in verse 11,
then there are
evangelists,
pastor, teachers,
shepherds, who
all have this one
thing in common,
they share and
teach the word of
God.
In other words,
God gives every
local church,
its leaders,
in order that
the church,
every member of
the church,
might flourish
together.
Church is never
to be a
spectator sport.
You see, if only
they'd listened to
me last night,
Chelsea would be
in the cup final
today.
But they didn't.
And the problem
was they couldn't
hear me.
I mean, I was
shouting at them
from 400 miles
away at a TV
screen.
Living the
Christian life is
not a spectator
sport.
That's the point.
It's not that the
pastor, teachers,
the evangelists,
they're the ones
out there doing
the work, and I'm
just shouting them
on, go for it,
go for it, Graham.
No, no, no.
They're like player
coaches.
They're on the
pitch, and we're
on the pitch.
And their role is
to use the word of
God to encourage
us, to equip us,
to strengthen us,
to challenge us,
to inspire us,
so that each
member does
its part.
That's a glorious
picture, isn't it,
of unity, of
body, that God
says here, God
has given to
every Christian
a gift, many
gifts very often,
but at least one
gift.
At least one
gift.
So if you know
Christ this morning,
have you asked
yourself, what is
that gift that God
has given to me?
What are those
gifts that God
has given to me?
And how does he
want me to use
them in his body,
and where can I
serve him?
I'm about the
day and age where
I can remember
choruses from being
sent to Sunday
school as a
child.
Although it
wasn't a Christian
home, I was
sent to a
brethren Sunday
school.
There's one that
always stays with
me.
There's a work
for Jesus.
How does it
continue?
Those of you
that know it,
come on, don't
be shy, you
brethren amongst
us.
There's a work
for Jesus.
None,
dearie me,
none but you
can do.
I really am
aged, aren't
I?
There's a work
for Jesus.
None but you
can do.
It's a great
thing, isn't
it?
See, you live
next door to
those neighbours.
It's only you.
You are in that
office, in that
university, in that
college, in that
school.
You're in that
workplace.
There's a work
for Jesus.
Only you can
do.
God has gifted
every one of
us and set
us in our
different places
and given us
this work to
do.
And we're in
it together and
we're a team
together and we
need one another
together.
And as
Graham mentioned
at the beginning,
we come together
on a Sunday to
encourage one
another, to
remind ourselves
who we are,
to patch up
some wounds,
if needs be,
in order that we
can go back on
the front line on
Monday morning.
Because that's
the picture.
The church is an
army, Ephesians
6.
We're in a
spiritual battle.
It requires
prayer.
It requires
protection.
It requires
that we support
one another.
Because that's
the way an
army wins the
victory.
It's a glorious
picture, isn't
it?
So here we
are, called
to be
peacemakers and
to be body
builders.
leaders.
We build
ourselves up in
all sorts of
ways, not just
here on a
Sunday.
When we meet
with another
Christian, perhaps
read the Bible
with them, or
just over a
cup of coffee.
When we invite
people into our
homes.
When we meet
in our small
groups.
When we serve
together in
teams.
I want to do
it this way, you
want to do it
that way.
What did that
guy say on
Sunday about
unity?
Yeah, let me
start to be a
bit humble.
This is the
way it works.
It's a glorious
thing when you
see God at
work in a
group of
Christians who
are so
diverse in
so many
different ways.
Educationally,
socially,
racially.
It's only God
can do this in
the gospel.
It's a glorious
thing to behold,
isn't it?
It's for his
praise and
glory.
Friends, as
you know, we
live in a
comfortable,
pleasure-seeking,
self-seeking
culture.
And it can be
like a cancer
to the soul.
And we need
to repudiate
that culture
and the
spirit of the
age and
have the
spirit of the
master who
says, I've
not come to
be served,
but to
serve.
So this
gospel is
gloriously
counterculture.
It means that
daily the
Lord calls us
to follow
him, to
follow him.
in a life
that's
characterized
by unity,
humility,
and a
desire to
build up
by fellow
Christians,
that together
we can reach
out to the
glory of God,
to a lost
world around
us.
Well, may the
Lord empower
us daily to
live up to
our calling.
That's our
calling.
Whatever day
job we do,
this is our
calling,
Christian.
Let's
pray.
Heavenly
Father, we
thank you for
this glorious
book of
Ephesians.
We thank
you for the
remarkable,
the astonishing
example of
the Lord
Jesus, who
came not to
be served,
but to
serve.
Lord, help
us to
embrace that
every day
when our
old nature
constantly wants
to be served.
Help us,
Father, indeed,
to be peacemakers.
Help us, even
this day, if we
need to, to
reach out to
another
Christian,
to put
things right
and show the
glory of the
gospel to
reconcile.
Help us,
Lord, to be
those who
want to use
our gift to
build up the
church.
Thank you that
you've gifted
every one of
us, no matter
what our age,
what our
situation.
Thank you,
Father, for
that gift of
prayer that
you so often
have given to
our older
brothers and
sisters who
do this
invaluable work
behind the
scene to
strengthen those
on the
front line.
Lord, in
all these
things, may
Jesus Christ
be glorified,
we pray.
Help us, we
ask, day by
day to live to
your glory and
for our good.
Amen.