If you want to make a name for yourself, make good money, have influence, get power,
you don't move to Flesherton, Ontario, or Dawson, B.C.
You don't move to Chibougamou, Quebec.
You move to Vancouver, or to Toronto, or to Ottawa, or to Montreal.
If you're really ambitious, you move to New York City.
That is the strategy to get big and powerful, and to get money, to get influence, to make a name for yourself.
And it would seem that the early church, in wanting to see the gospel spread, would employ such a strategy.
And in some cases, they certainly do.
But, we come upon a section in Acts chapter 8, where conventional wisdom and best practices kind of go out the window.
And we see that God, in His sovereignty, will save who He wants to save, how He wants to save them,
and He will grow His church any which way He wants.
God, in Christ, and in Him alone, will build His church.
We look this morning at Philip, the second part of chapter 8, where Philip leaves Samaria.
He meets this Ethiopian eunuch, this official in the court of Candace.
And we gather some very important principles and truths about the gospel, but more importantly, about Christ.
Next, we'll look at three points.
I was talking to Christine.
This is not about this sermon.
But I talked to Christine.
I'm like, listen, I do a lot of three-point sermons.
And, I mean, I wasn't trying to convince her.
She wasn't complaining to me at all about it.
But it's a simple way to break up the text in a way that is digestible.
95% of us think in categories in this kind of way.
So if you're just like another three-pointer, yeah, another three-pointer.
But listen up.
Here are the three points.
The first point.
Christ will rescue using the obedience of His people.
This is how Christ grows His church.
Christ will save through His Spirit and by His Word.
So He builds His church.
And Christ will restore and redeem, not in part, but in whole.
So let's look right off the bat.
Christ will rescue who He wants using the obedience of His people.
Philip, if you remember from chapter 8, the first part of it, is enjoying great success in Samaria.
The crowds that were gathered around this character named Simon the Magician,
who deceived the people, so much so that they elevated Him to divine status.
They called Him the Great One.
Now, through the proclamation of the Gospel, are embracing Christ as the Great One.
Many were baptized.
If you remember last year, I talked about a thousand-year rift between the Jewish people
and the Samaritan people were repaired and restored.
And that the words of Christ in Acts chapter 1,
that the church would spread from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria,
was being fulfilled.
It was a remarkable, remarkable time.
And just like that,
Philip is commanded to go to a desert road in the middle of the day,
the hot of the day,
without explanation.
That bit about going there in the hot of the day,
we read in verse 26,
Rise and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.
Saying go down to the south is definitely to go down to the literal south,
but in the original language,
it is a turn of phrase that also means at the height of the day,
the hottest it would be.
So,
Philip leaves Samaria,
where there is a boom and revival happening.
People are coming to faith.
Words of Christ are being fulfilled.
Centuries,
millennia-long issues
and animosity are being restored.
It seems like that would be the place to stay
and then strategically leverage for whatever was going to happen next.
But to leave Samaria to go to a desert road in the heat of the day
seems unbelievably non-strategic
and defies conventional wisdom.
But it was an act of obedience.
And Philip obeyed.
Sometimes we are told the reason along with the command that God gives us.
We read in scripture things to flee from
or we feel the Holy Spirit leading us to give or to stand tall
or to make very clear decisions for his glory.
And we know the reason why.
We're given the command.
We're explained in a sense either through scripture
or just the Holy Spirit acting upon our intuition.
If we do this,
this is what will happen.
This is why I'm doing it.
We're given answers.
That makes obedience quite easy in some ways.
I mean, obedience is not easy,
but it makes it easier.
However,
sometimes,
and I'd say more often than not,
we are called to obey God
and he doesn't necessarily give us the reason
or does he explain what will happen to us,
what the consequences will be.
He just calls us to obey.
We are simply assured that as we seek to obey Christ,
by his spirit,
we will be provided for in the areas of our need.
But how that will happen,
when that will happen,
is not necessarily explained to us.
It makes obedience very difficult.
I got permission from Christine
to share this story.
Before we were married,
Christine was on a bit of a fast track
in a political job.
She worked for the Minister of International Trade
and she was being considered
to be the Director of Policy.
Now, she never gave me permission
to tell you about that part,
but I'm happy to sing my wife's praises.
She was doing pretty well
and a few months in,
she felt the call to ministry
and potentially lifelong ministry
and had no idea
if this was legit from the Lord
or if this was just something
that she was potentially feeling at the time.
and in an act of obedience
through lots of prayer,
made the very career-altering decision
to quit
before the decision was made
about elevating her to Director of Policy.
And she worked some jobs
for about six months
and then she decided to go to France
for a year
to work with a missionary couple
in a small, dinky town
that didn't even have a bakery,
a French town without a bakery.
An hour north of Paris
called Le Deluge,
literally the flood.
Lovely couple
and she was going to stay there for a year
to see if she was called to ministry.
Now, I kind of ruined that in one way
and didn't ruin it in the other
because we started dating
and she never stayed in France,
but that's a part of our story
and that's another story.
But Christine made a decision
to follow the Lord,
to obey the Lord,
had no idea what would result
and at the time,
it cost her very much.
Obedience isn't easy.
It can be very scary.
It can be something that
causes us to have sleepless nights,
but it is
Christ's will for us to obey him.
And this is what we see here.
Philip obeys Christ
and he does not know
what will come of it.
Again,
I mean,
put yourself in his shoes.
You are seeing
some serious success
in what you're called to
and then you're called away from it,
but not to another city center
where you could,
again,
leverage the successes here,
over there.
Instead,
you're called to a desert road
in the heat of the day.
The heat of the day here
is very hot in the summer.
In the desert,
in the Middle East,
it is unbearable.
And that is what Philip is called to.
It doesn't make sense.
Meanwhile,
unbeknownst to Philip,
Christ is at work
in this man's heart,
this Ethiopian eunuch,
this official,
this high-ranking official
in the court of Canis,
who's essentially
the effectual leader
of all of Ethiopia
and the kingdom
that stretches from,
can't think of maybe
modern-day Ethiopia,
but it's stretching
from the south of Egypt,
from Aswan,
which is on the Nile,
all the way,
even past Khartoum
in what is today Sudan.
It's a huge area.
And God is already at work
in this man's life.
The narrative continues.
If you follow with me,
verse 27.
And Philip arose and went.
You see that obedience right there.
And there was an Ethiopian,
a eunuch,
a court official of Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians,
who was in charge
of all her treasure.
He had come to Jerusalem
to worship
and was returning,
seated in his chariot,
and he was reading
the prophet Isaiah.
And the spirit said to Philip,
go over and join this chariot.
So Philip ran to him
and heard him reading
Isaiah the prophet
and asked,
do you understand
what you are reading?
I'll just pause there.
This is no peasant farmer.
This is this high-ranking official.
Like I mentioned,
the whole stretch of land
from essentially southern Egypt
to past Khartoum in Sudan.
He's an incredibly influential
and trustworthy person
in Candace's kingdom.
He has the ear of the queen.
It's a bit of a big deal.
He also seems to be a God-fear
with a high regard for scripture.
He is coming back from Jerusalem.
I measured out
how long it would take
to drive,
I mean to drive,
how long the journey would be
rather from Khartoum
all the way to Jerusalem.
It would be over 3,000 kilometers
this guy traveled
to worship the Lord in Jerusalem.
As it turns out,
he is a very strategic person
after all
for the spread of the gospel.
His heart is ready
to hear God's word.
He has influence in Ethiopia
and he is reading
the scriptures
as Philip shows up.
And really we see here
not chance,
but God's sovereignty at work.
The omniscience of the triune God
who knows the beginning
from the end.
Only he knows
how all of these decisions
will reverberate.
He knows that Philip's obedience
will result in him
meeting this Ethiopian eunuch
on a road
that nobody should really be on
at that time of day.
Only God is sovereign over all.
We would do well, friends,
with not telling God
what will work
and what won't work.
That doesn't mean
we can't voice our fears
and our apprehensions
when we are praying to him
if he is leading us.
But let us not be people
to underestimate
the Almighty God,
how he sets things up,
how he works history,
how he orchestrates
men and women.
Let us not tell God
what is and what is not strategic.
What we see here
is a very, very strategic move.
Not in human standards,
but in God's standards.
So if we return back to the text,
we see the official
in his chariot,
which would almost certainly be
some kind of caravan,
some covered wagon,
either pulled by horses
or an ox.
It would be quite the group
of people traveling together.
He would have quite the entourage.
And Philip, in a sense,
by obeying God,
also risks much
because the people,
if you remember the story
of the Good Samaritan,
such roads are littered
with thieves and killers.
And what's to say
that Philip wouldn't be mistaken
as one?
He's just by himself
and he just shows up.
Could he be mistaken
for a killer?
But instead, he obeys
and he runs up
to this official
obeying the Lord.
And what does he see?
He sees him reading
the scriptures.
And he asks a very simple
yet very profound question
in verse 30.
Do you understand
what you are reading?
And this leads us
to our second point,
that Christ will save
through his spirit,
by his word.
So look with me,
verses 30 to 35.
Actually,
verse 30 to 33 here.
So Philip ran to him
and heard him reading
Isaiah the prophet
and asked,
Do you understand
what you are reading?
And he said,
How can I
unless someone guides me?
And the official
invited Philip
to come up
and sit with him.
Now the passage
of the scripture
that he was reading
was this.
Like a sheep
he was led
to the slaughter
and like a lamb
before its shearer
is silent
so he opens
not his mouth.
In his humiliation
justice was denied him.
Who can describe
his generation?
For his life
is taken away
from the earth.
The scripture passage
is found in Isaiah 53
verses 7 and 8.
And it's the fourth
and final servant song
in Isaiah.
I mentioned this
over Christmas.
I forget which sermon
but Isaiah has these
four servant songs
they're called.
And in each song
there's this mysterious
figure who
on one hand
seems to represent
Israel,
God's people
but on the other hand
seems to
have the description
more of God.
He does some
wonderful things
and it comes to a climax
in Isaiah 53
where this servant
suffers by
he suffers on behalf
of other people
so that other people
would enjoy
the riches
and blessings
of covenant relationship
with God.
And this is what
this Ethiopian
official,
this Ethiopian eunuch
is reading.
Specifically
he's reading
verses 7 and 8
like I mentioned
and in verse
33 which is
verse 8
of Isaiah
53
it reads this,
in his humiliation
justice was denied him
who can describe
his generation
for his life
is taken away
from the earth.
And it describes
this suffering servant
who
before
in a sense
he can
produce offspring
and have a legacy
he is cut off.
And we see
a similarity
with this suffering servant
being identified
with somebody
that would have
in a sense
no legacy
of his own.
Somebody who might
be a eunuch.
Somebody who
cannot have
his own natural
children.
You see
the Ethiopian
official
is searching
the scriptures
for Christ
but Christ
is searching
him out.
Is pursuing
him.
Is looking
for him
so to speak.
So he reads
the scriptures
but he doesn't
understand them.
He needs them
expounded
and explained.
The explanation
of God's word
is an explanation
of God's will
and helping us
to understand
God's character
and this is
accomplished
by God's
Holy Spirit
and also
teachers in the church
and this is why
we are committed
as a church
to going through
scripture
to not have
me come up
and spout off
whatever I've read
this week
or whatever
hobby horse
I'm currently on
but rather
proclaiming
heralding
sharing God's
word
and doing
my best
to explain it
and trusting
that God
is going to
bless that.
God reveals
himself through
his word.
Notice that
the Ethiopian
isn't just
merely reading
the word of
God though
he is humble
and he is
submissive in
heart
and what does
he say?
How can I
understand
unless somebody
guides me?
and then he
invites Philip
to explain
to him
what the
scriptures say.
Listen,
you meet
somebody who
has a lot
of prestige,
a very important
person.
They don't invite
random people
to explain
to them
truth.
You don't
see that
kind of
person invite
somebody in
to explain
anything.
There's a
gap, so to
speak,
between Philip
and the
Ethiopian
official.
But this
Ethiopian
official,
he is hungry
to hear
God's word,
to know
God's touch
and he is
humble enough
to invite
Philip in
to submit
to his
teaching.
We see here
also that
humility is the
true currency
of the church.
God opposes
the proud
but gives
grace to
the humble.
Humility allows
us to have
the right
posture before
Almighty God
so that we
may hear,
mark, learn,
and inwardly
digest God's
word.
That's from
the collect
of the second
Sunday in
Advent.
It's a
beautiful,
very concise
way that we
ought to
approach the
scriptures.
But we can
approach the
scriptures if
we're not
humble.
We're not
asking God
to humble
us, help
us, give
us ears to
hear.
We must ask
questions of the
text and of
God and not be
afraid to voice
our lack of
understanding and
objections.
It helps not
for us to
read through
scripture day
in and day
out or Sunday
in and Sunday
out and close
the Bible and
not seek to
understand.
Children can
understand God's
word.
It is simple in
that way but it
requires for us to
use our gray
matter, to ask
questions, to
wrestle through
God's word.
It's what we're
seeing here with
Ethiopian eunuch.
Verse 34, the
eunuch asks
questions of the
text after we
read Isaiah 53,
7 and 8.
The eunuch says
to Philip in
verse 34,
About whom, I
ask you, does
the prophet say
this?
About himself or
about someone
else?
Then Philip
opened his
mouth and
beginning with
the scripture, he
told him the
good news about
Jesus.
The careful
reading of
scripture makes
way for
salvation.
Here we see
something very
similar to what
Christ did on
the road to
Emmaus, the
risen Christ.
He is disguised,
he meets the
two disciples as
they are walking
and he begins,
it says, with
Moses and the
prophets to
explain about how
all the scriptures
concern him.
And this is what
we are seeing
here, the
explanation of
the scriptures.
And we see
also that Christ
here is the
key to
understanding
everything.
The gospel of
Christ, it
helps us to
understand the
true purpose of
creation, the
patriarchs, the
exodus, the
deliverance, the
conquering of
Canaan, the
judges, the
kings, the
exile, everything
in the Old
Testament.
The key to
truly understanding
it is Christ.
Tim Keller, who
has gone to be
with the Lord, he
is the pastor of a
Presbyterian church in
New York City, he
talked about how
Christ, reading the
New Testament and
seeing Christ in
the New Testament
and then re-reading
the Old Testament
is like watching the
sixth sense for the
second time.
If you know the
movie, there's a
ton of Easter eggs
in the movie the
first time you watch
it, the second time
you watch it, ah,
that's what this
means.
And anyways, it
opens your eyes to
this whole other
story that is being
played out.
God's word contains
life because it
testifies to the
life giver, which
is Christ Jesus.
And friends, this
Jesus, he saves by
his spirit through his
word, but he also
restores us not in
part, but in whole.
And this leads to the
third and final point.
Look with me, verses
36 to the end.
And as they were
going along the road,
they came to some
water and the eunuch
said, see, here is
water, what prevents
me from being
baptized?
And he commanded the
chariot to stop and
they both went down
into the water, Philip
and the eunuch.
And Philip baptized
him.
And when they came up
out of the water, the
spirit of the Lord
carried Philip away and
the eunuch saw him no
more and went on his
way rejoicing.
But Philip found
himself in Azotus,
this modern day
Ashdod in the
Israel.
And as he passed
through, he preached
the gospel to all
the towns as he went
north until he came
to Caesarea.
This official has been
searching for God.
And he's been making a
long and expensive
pilgrimage to
Jerusalem.
And maybe it's his
first time.
Maybe he's been making
it for years.
It's arduous.
It's very expensive.
And because he is a
eunuch, the best he can
do when he goes to the
temple is he can go to
the court of the
Gentiles.
If I had a picture of
the second temple,
there are various courts
or malls that people can
go in but go no further.
So if you are a non-Jew,
you can go to the court of
the Gentiles, but you can't
go in any farther.
If you're a Jewish woman,
you can go even farther
than that, but you can't go
as far as Jewish men.
And then if you're a
priest, you can go into
the holy place.
If you're a high priest,
you go to the holy of
holies.
There's degrees here.
At most, at most, even if
he was allowed to go into
the court of Gentiles, that
would be it for him.
He didn't have full
communion, in a sense, with
God, worshipping with
God's people.
Deuteronomy chapter 23,
verse 1 says,
It's speaking of eunuchs,
and there is more to say
about that, and maybe it'll
hit the Sunday follow-up on
Wednesday when I send it
out.
But in short, eunuchs were
barred from fellowship among
God's people.
He traveled over 3,000
kilometers to worship at the
outer gate.
But he did it because he was
desperate for God.
There is a hunger in this
man where he wants to touch
God, to know God.
With Philip on that desert
road in the hot of the day,
God comes to him.
The man that could only go to
the gate or the court of the
Gentiles, who couldn't ever
even hope in his wildest
imaginations to go to the
holy of holies, where
symbolically, but also in a
very real way, the presence
of God resided, comes to
faith, and the Holy Spirit
makes his dwelling within him
so that he himself becomes the
holy of holies, the very place
where the presence of God
dwells.
It's a remarkable thing to
consider that this man, who
has no business, in a sense,
being in God's presence,
becomes the very temple of God
himself.
He wanted to touch God.
He wanted to know God.
Well, God wanted to touch him
and know him.
And he is baptized.
And he comes into this covenant
relationship with God.
God answers his prayers, and it
is an unbelievably beautiful
picture of how God redeems and
restores those that are far away
and broken.
Not only that, but this man, as I
mentioned before, he could have no
children.
That's why eunuchs were, in a
sense, valued in the ancient
world, because there was no chance
that they could impregnate anybody,
that they had no, in a sense, a
legacy of their own so that they
could be trusted, I guess, to a
higher degree than other people who
weren't eunuchs.
He had no legacy of his own.
And yet, he becomes the very vessel
by which the gospel would then
travel to Ethiopia.
Irenaeus, in the second century,
says that this Ethiopian eunuch,
apparently his name was Simon Bacchus,
he would go back to Ethiopia and
spread the gospel, and that's how it
took root.
He becomes, this man who cannot have
any children himself, becomes the
spiritual father of an entire
segment of the church.
One that still exists to this day.
We also see that it's a fulfillment
of Isaiah chapter 56, and this is
what it says in verse 3, continuing
on to verse 8.
Let not the foreigner, clearly Simon
Bacchus, the Ethiopian eunuch, he's a
foreigner.
Let not the foreigner who has joined
himself to the Lord say, the Lord
will surely separate me from his
people.
And not let the eunuch say, behold, I
am a dry tree.
For thus says the Lord, to the eunuch
who keeps my Sabbaths, who choose the
things that please me and hold fast my
covenant, I will give him my house, and
within my walls a monument and a name,
better than sons and daughters.
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
That's legacy right there.
And the foreigner who joins themselves
to the Lord, to minister to him, to
love the name of the Lord and to be his
servants.
Everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does
not profane it and holds fast my
covenant, these I will bring to my
holy mountain and make them joyful in
my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their
sacrifices will be accepted on my
altar.
For my house shall be called the house
of prayer for all peoples.
The Lord God who gathers the outcasts
of Israel declares, I will gather yet
others to him besides those already
gathered.
Beautiful picture of how very far God's
arm of redemption can reach.
The Lord saves and restores not in part
but in whole.
In ways far greater than we could ever
hope or ever imagine.
An outcast man with a disfigured body,
whether it was by his own hand or by
someone else's, it's not told to us.
However, he's no longer forever outcast.
He is not forever somebody without a
legacy, but instead finds hope and meaning
and purpose in the gospel of Christ.
His life is not just restored, but it is
a living testimony to the life-giving
spirit of Christ Jesus himself.
It's not just that this damaged man,
this broken man, this in a sense
mutilated man is just given a few
scraps, but he is restored and is used
in ways that he could never hope that
he could be used for.
He is given such a wonderful gift.
Earlier this week, I watched a series
and it's a longer story to it,
a longer explanation, but I'll try to
sum it up here.
It had a remarkable scene in it.
In it, a Japanese father, he returns
home and after he returns home,
it's very clear that his relationship
with his son is severed, it's broken,
it's destroyed.
In this whole severed, broken relationship,
a mug is destroyed and this mug,
in a sense, represents their relationship
and it's in pieces, it's shattered.
So we aren't given much in the way
of background, but this is very clear
what the mug represents.
And the father, in a moment of clarity,
he begins repairing the item, this mug,
and presents it to his son as a picture
of contrition and restoration.
And it turns out, what he is doing
is not just a nice prop that the writers
threw in the narrative,
but it's a Japanese practice called kintsugi.
And this practice is where you take a broken item,
a broken vessel, a pot, something ceramic
or made of, not necessarily a costly item,
but what you do is you repair it with plaster
and powdered silver or gold or platinum
so that the cracks aren't hidden
but are accentuated with precious metal.
And you can look it up if you go home this afternoon.
Kintsugi dishes are stunning.
They're gorgeous.
And what is remarkable is that the item is repaired
with the cracks not hidden
but accentuated with something both beautiful and costly.
The piece ceases to be an object of failure
but of restoration and beauty.
And it's not common anymore,
but it is used for holding something beautiful
or you bring it out when there's a special time or occasion.
So the healing of Christ is similar to this kintsugi
for it doesn't discard the broken vessel
nor does it pretend that there wasn't real pain or brokenness.
Instead, it is put back together by Christ
infused with his very spirit,
his very costly self on the cross.
This eunuch is going to remain a eunuch his whole life
but now he is a vessel used by God
to accomplish God's will.
His legacy is forever.
It is a wonderful, beautiful picture of God's redemption.
Some of us have gone through a lot of brokenness
and some here that I've had the privilege
to counsel or talk with,
I have sometimes said,
and this is a confession, a true confession,
that's the Lord brings healing
but you know what?
Likely we'll have to limp into eternity.
And on one hand, that's true.
But on the other hand,
it surely downplays the power and healing of Christ.
Christ heals to wholeness, not in part.
And ultimately, yes,
we will not be made completely whole in this life
but in the life to come.
But in this life,
he offers healing and restoration.
And he doesn't throw a scrap.
So for some of us who have gone through stuff,
it is almost impossible to think how God can restore it
and yet he can.
And he'll infuse you with his very self
so you become a vessel of great glory,
not of your own but of his.
This is great hope for us, of course,
but it is especially hope for some of our family
or friends or people we know
who struggle through deep pain of gender confusion
who, God forbid, might have
or will go through some kind of medical procedure
that will be irreversible.
And almost certainly,
there will be regret that follows
in the months and years to come.
But what this story tells us
and what the gospel tells us
that in Christ,
he will not just repair a little bit
but he can use that life
to glorify him in ways
that you just would never have
if you hadn't gone through the brokenness
to where he then puts you together
and then you shine for him.
Great, great, great redemption
and glory that God will do
through people that have gone through
some terrible, terrible medical procedures.
Christ is in the business, friends,
of restoration and redemption.
No situation is so damaged
that it cannot be repaired.
No person is so far gone
that he cannot be redeemed.
No damage so severe
that Christ cannot recover
and make beautiful.
I'll close with this.
Christ is cut off
so that we can be grafted in.
He is crushed
so that we can be raised up again.
He is shamed and punished
so that we can go free.
And friends, the freedom that he brings,
again, it's not in part
but it's in whole.
And it is a freedom
that you will not be able to achieve
in this life apart from him
but only through him.
I'll close with this.
What immediately follows
the servant song of Isaiah 53
is God's eternal covenant of peace
that he makes to all those
that are called
and saved
and respond to him.
Hear these words of hope
in Isaiah 54
verses 1 to 5.
Sing, O barren one
who did not bear.
Break forth into singing
and cry aloud,
you who have not been in labor.
For the children of the desolate one
will be more than the children of her
who is married,
says the Lord.
Lord,
enlarge the place of your tent
and let the curtains of your habitations
be stretched out.
Do not hold back.
Lengthen your cords.
Strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread abroad
to the right and to the left
and your offspring
will possess the nations
and will hope
and will people
and desolate cities.
Fear not
for you will not be ashamed.
Be not confounded
for you will not be disgraced.
For you will forget
the shame of your youth
and the reproach
of your widowhood.
You will remember no more
for your maker
is your husband.
The Lord of hosts
is his name
and the Holy One of Israel
is your Redeemer.
The God of the whole world
he is called.
Let us pray.
Father in heaven,
we thank you
that no matter what
we could possibly go through
the deepest depths
of hell on earth
that we could go through
is not too far gone
for your redemption.
Not just to bring us up
to a mediocrity
but to repair us.
Infusing us
with your very spirit
so that we shine
and we are vessels
to be used for you
given opportunity
to shine
for your glory.
Lord,
thank you for this
Ethiopian eunuch
and for his legacy.
Thank you so much
that there is a church
in Ethiopia
to this day.
Lord,
we thank you
that
even when we
struggle
to trust
in your word
and we might be
cynical towards
your promise
of healing
that doesn't change
who you are
as the great healer.
Lord,
we thank you.
help us to know you
in greater measures
but more importantly
to know
that you know us
in greater measure.
We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.
If you have children,
now is the time
to sign them out
of Messiah Kids
and we'll quiet our hearts
just for a brief moment
as we enter
into a time
of intercession.
and we'll continue
toρίás
for a long time